Home Sweet Home

We are home after many long hours of travel. We finally arrived in our home at 12:30 and made it to bed by 1:00. Sleep was not too long as Elizabeth awoke at 5:30! We tried desperately to get her back down, but she just wasn't having it. Jet lag is going to be a huge problem since our time clocks are completely opposite of home. We are awake now after a 4 hour nap:) Luckily Wills and Jack aren't feeling this too!

When we drove into our neighborhood we were blasted by love from our neighbors who had placed "Welcome Home" signs on their lawns! Wow!! We are so blessed with great friends.

Elizabeth's a little unsure of our dog Clover, but in true Clover fashion, she slept outside of her room. It was so great to come home to our puppy and to give her 2 weeks of loving!

We're glad to be back and are looking forward to introducing our Elizabeth to you all!

re: last day

Our time in China is winding down. We leave tomorrow, but we do so
with excitement and trepidation. On one hand we can't wait to come
home and resume our normal routine, on the other hand, we love China
and coming home means leaving this bucolic place. Today we visited the
Forbidden City. I was in awe of the beauty of it and could not get
over how huge it is. We did a drive by Chairman Miao's tomb, but did
not go inside as the crowds are unbelievable. The Forbidden City was
overrun by people too. Just beautiful!!

Elizabeth continues to grow more smiley and giggly by the second and
is just a joy to be around. With every day, she gets more and more
happy!!

Carrie

re: Elizabeth

Elizabeth continues to come out of her shell and steal our hearts with
her smiles. She definitely prefers Daddy and almost ignores me
completely. It is very hard, but I do know that this is very typical
of kids from orphanages. She is adorable, funny and so sweet that you
just want to squeeze her like crazy!

The last few days have been very quiet in Guangzhou. We have loved
getting used to eachother as a family. She loves swimming which of
course we are thrilled about. We have had some difficulty getting her
to sleep at night. She seems to not want to miss anything that is
going on.

Love is definitely in the air in the Howard family:)

Terry Murphy
Dir. of Sales, Eastern Region
Kilopass Technology
508-293-4237 office
617-680-5557 mobile

re: night cruise

Tonight we went on the most wonderful dinner cruise on the Pearl
River. We left the dock at 6:30 and arrived back by 8. When it got
dark out, the city came alive! Most of the buildings were lit up with
colorful light shows. I've never seen anything like it. Elizabeth
loved being on the boat and was in awe of the lights on each building.
Some of the buildings even had huge TV screens on them. It was
beautiful, really!

When we got home, Elizabeth poured the rest of Jack's Coke all over
Wills' bed. Of course, Elizabeth found this to be hysterically funny!
Wills retaliated by tickle torturing her over and over! So cute!! A
happy family moment for us all!

re: TB Test

Elizabeth had her TB test administered on Friday and it was looked at
today. It was large because of the BCG vaccination that many people in
China get which of course Elizabeth had too. We were nervous to have
her have a chest Xray for fear that she would be found to have active
TB. Her chest Xray came back CLEAR!!! YIPPPEEEEE!!! She is fine and
can come home with us with no problems!! Thank GOD!

Please pray for a little boy in our group named Sam whose Xray came
back problematic. He is at the hospital now for further testing. We
are all deeply saddened by this as he is the most animated little boy
and so much fun to have around. We hope that this CT scan comes back OK!

XOXO to you all - Carrie et al

zoo

Check out the Rhinoceros. What color do you think they should be??
Wills liked this view especially:) Was laughing out loud to himself
with another mom in our group. She took the picture too! These are
white Rhinoceros!! I just don't see it:)