This evening I had the lovely job of visiting the people who put on the concert and announcing the total we raised, but before I did I was given a further £30! 
Good Morning Sunday 9th August 2026
Embarrassing problem following surgery
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I am excited because..........my foster son is coming to visit today. Hooray!! 
(He's also bringing his closest friends with him to visit his 'English family'.)
Nearly sixteen years ago a young teenage boy from Taiwan came to stay with me for a week while his homestay family went on holiday. He was here to learn English and although he had attended the local International School for a month or so he spoke barely any English and understood very little. He was overweight, shy and culturally adrift and we did our best to make him feel at home. We were so successful that at the end of the week he refused to leave us and return to his homestay family and begged us not to send him away; after several urgent phone calls between his mother and the school we were asked if we would allow him to stay for the reminder of his time in England and we agreed. He lived with us for almost a year and a half, taking holidays with us, celebrating birthdays etc. and eventually, at his family's request, I became his legal guardian. He did 'O' and 'A' levels and then went on to do a Foundation Degree, a BA (Hons) and finally a Masters Degree; returning to us for weekends and holiday periods. Eventually, after eleven years in the UK, he went back home to his first family in Taiwan where he now works as Business Manager in the family firm.
Since we first agreed to him living with us he has been a son to The Wonderful man and me, and a brother to my children. When he left I was devastated; I really thought I would hardly ever see him again, but he has managed to get home most years - and sometimes several times a year when he's heard I'm ill. He came home to attend their weddings when my son and daughter each got married and visits as soon as he can when there are new babies. I love him to pieces and am counting down to his 6pm arrival in great excitement.
What are you excited about?
I'm excited because I did a fundraiser for my charity on Saturday and got an amazingly generous response. It was a concert and I had exactly two minutes before the start of the second half to make my pitch. I wrote a mini speech (it usually takes me two minutes to draw breath!) and timed it to perfection - and then as I walked up to speak I made the decision to ditch what I'd written and just speak from my heart. As I sat down I thought I'd really blown it and tried not to rehearse in my mind all the things I thought I should have said. Then I was flabbergasted when people filed out and were mostly dropping notes into the collecting bowl. Over five hundred pounds worth!! But what has really excited me today is that I had a follow up phone call from someone who was at the concert and is now considering our tiny local charity to be the recipient of his next fundraising venture - and he usually raises big enough sums that if he does decide in our favour we won't need to fundraise again for quite a while. I'm not mentioning it to my team yet, it'll be a lovely post-Christmas surprise if it comes off. 
NanKate 
Yes, many people have dreadful things going on in their lives, but it doesn't make it any easier on you. Our problems and worries are very difficult even though there is always someone worse off.
You must be a very special person, GA. Your lovely story restores my faith in human nature.
As for myself, I'm very excited to be spending Christmas with Galen on a cruise. It will beat last year when the dog and I spent it on our own.
I'm also excited about my trip to the US in Feb when I will visit my two eldest DD's and only DGD. I miss them all so much.
To all those people for whom this is a difficult time, I hope that your troubles will pass or become bearable and that good and exciting things will come again in the near future.
I'm looking forward to putting my Christmas decorations up, wrapping the presents, Christmas Lunch x 2 & best of all Christmas Day with my family & watching DGS1 unwrap his presents & DGS2's as well, DGS2 will be 7 months old
So here he is! With me and with his friends who are from China, on their first visit to England. It's lovely to have him home.
It's a funny thing, but almost every international guest we have comments on how good my food is. Now I'm a good cook, but most definitely not exceptional, so I think the stories about English food being very bad are so entrenched that the bar is set very low. I did a roast for dinner yesterday and a traditional cooked breakfast this morning and they ate every scrap with a constant commentary about how good the food was. I think that post-war Britain got a reputation for bad food that has persisted, which is good for me because all my guests get a lovely surprise when they enjoy my cooking.
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