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:)

Zoo

Check out these Rhinoceros'. What color do you think they should be??

re: another wonderful day

Another wonderful day in Guangzhou, China. I cannot describe it well
enough, but it is just so quaint and lovely. Somehow I don't feel like
it's reality. Much of this week doesn't feel real. The boys keep
saying how they want to bring back souvenirs, but then realize that we
are bringing back the best one of all. A real China doll is better
than any other souvenir out there:)

Today we went to a beautiful Buddhist temple to have the babies
blessed. I cannot get over the exquisite beauty in every detail of the
temple. There were three huge gold Buddhas that we prayed to. They
were simply astonishing in their massiveness. Elizabeth was in a mood
so she didn't really enjoy herself. It was oppressively hot which I am
quite sure added to her bad mood. It was hard for us all because of
the heat.

Howard Boys and GirlS!

We Love and miss you and can’t wait to see you.  We are riddled with anticipation on getting each update, thank you for sharing this with us.  Once you do update we read/cry our way through once, twice and in Baba’s case 16 times.  Please be safe and All of Saunderstown, All of Hopkington, and lets be honest all of New England wants and needs you home! 

 

Love all the Howards

Lucky girl

Lucky family!

David Fajardo
617.413.4123
Sent from my iPhone

Hey u nuts

Love murphys and hankins

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

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

re: Today

What an extraordinary place Shamian Island, Gaungzhou is. Our hotel,
The White Swan Hotel is situated on this wonderful little island that
overlooks the Pearl River. The river is full of activity day and
night, which of course keeps Willie entertained. The pool overlooks
the river and our little waterbugs want nothing else but to swim,
swim, swim. There is a park nearby which looks over the river too. We
walked through the other day were amazed to see so many people there.
There were ballroom dance classes, singing classes, Tai Chi classes
going on all over the place. Elizabeth loved watching and dancing
amongst the ballroomers. She just smiled and laughed at the fun she
was having. What a joy she is!! She loves her Ba Ba (daddy) and her
brothers. She is still a little unsure of me, but I grow on her every
day. Today she let me give her a bath!

We miss you all, but are loving our time here so we are soaking in
ever nuance of the province where our darling daughter is from. XOXO -
Carrie

re: Daddy's little girl

We went to the gym today and Willie found the rowing machine. I think
we have a chip off the old block for sure! She rowed with daddy for a
few minutes and loved it! So cute!!

re: Elizabeth blowing bubbles

On Monday, we met our darling Elizabeth. It was quite an emotional
experience for us all! We walked into a large room filled with
families who had already received their babies. Some were crying, some
screaming and others were sleeping. It was so overwhelming that I
could barely keep my emotions to myself. When we met her, she was
uninterested in us and kept wandering around checking the scene out.
She kept returning to her nanny to get hugs. Her nannies kept sending
her back to us and she just cried. When they left the room, she
screamed the most heartbreaking scream that we all cried right along
with her. So awful! I hope that some day I can look back on Gotcha Day
and feel something other than sadness for what these poor children go
through when they are given to their new families.

Over the last 2 days, she has come right out of her shell! Her smiles
and laughs are so contagious! She loves swimming and her daddy. She is
a little unsure of the rest of us, but we are growing on her!! Wills
was so thrilled that her first word was Wills!

We are all overjoyed as we watch this beautiful little girl emerge
from the frightened child that was handed to us on Monday!

Love to all -

Carrie

re: testing

Anne -

Can you confirm that this picture made it to the blog??

Picture attached!

XOXO Carrie

3 More Days, 3 More Days, 3 More Days! It feels so surreal that we are finally leaving to bring our girl home. We are all in really peaceful places; it's so nice. We are ready for sure! 

China Group 145 Itinerary

July 17: Leaving U.S.

July 18: Arriving in Beijing at 1:50pm

July 19: Local sightseeing (Great Wall and the Summer Palace)

July 20: Fly from Beijing to Guangzhou at 9:00. Arrive in Guangzhou at 12:05

*****Meet Elizabeth at 15:00*****

July 21: Registration and Notarization at Civil Affair Office

July 22: Apply for Elizabeth's passport. Local sightseeing (Shang Xia Jiu Pedestrian Street)

July 23: Local sightseeing (Yuntai Hill Park)

July 24: Photos and Physical for Elizabeth

July 25: Local Sightseeing (Yuexiu Park and Family Chen's Temple)

July 26: Local sightseeing (Zoo)

July 27: Get the physical report

July 28: Visa appointment at 9:30. Local sightseeing (Six Banyan Temple)

July 29: Local sightseeing (Liuhau Lake Park). Swearing in ceremony at the Consulate (get visas)

July 30: Fly to Beijing at 9:00. Arrive Beijing at 11:50.

July 31: Local sightseeing (Forbidden City)

August 1: Return Home!!!!

Only 10 more days to go!! For the last few days, I have been focusing on packing. What a pain...Packing, Packing, Packing...Internationally, we can have 50 lbs. per bag, but in-country only 44 lbs. So I am packing everything that we could ever need in 4 bags, each weighing 44 lbs. I keep stepping on and off of the scale to see how much each bag wieghs! I must look so silly.

After what seems like an eternity of waiting and waiting, we finally have our dates for travel to China!! We are leaving early on July 17th and will arrive home late on August 1st. We fly into Beijng for a few days and then on to Guangzhou where we will meet our darling Elizabeth on July 20th. We are all just thrilled and can hardly stand waiting for 2 more weeks, but they will go fast, I just know it!!