Senior year !

John 12 th grade

School!

Molly, Callie and Emma 11th grade

Jennie and Daniel 9th grade

Maggie 8th grade

First day of school

Ella 4th grade

Gia 2nd grade

Ryan 2nd grade

Henry 5th Grade

We're Home!

We are back in the great state of Texas.  The trip was OK.   Just glad it is finished. We completed the immigration paperwork at the airport.  Cassie and Gia are US citizens now. 

Here are a few pictures. Our plane was delayed a bit because of  the weather in Dallas.  John took these pictures of our plane coming in to land at DFW. 

Cassie at home.  She was a little shy when she got here.  Maggie was on a museum trip today.  When she got home and started speaking Chinese to Cassie, Cassie started talking and laughing and asking questions. She'll be fine

  

More Later

On Our Way Home

We are at the airport in Korea.  The first flight was about 3 hours.  We have about 5 hour layover.  So here are some pictures of the trip.

This was the check-in for our flight

Clearing immigration in China

In the airport

Another way to carry your luggage

Plane next to our

Our plane to Korea

Cassie's first plane ride

 The plane was pretty empty.  Of course it was 1:15 am departure

Sunrise from the plane

Next stop Dallas Texas !!!

Last Day

Today was our last day in China.  We got Gia and Cassie's Visas so we are all set to travel.  We leave for the airport in about an hour.  We did a little shopping today and got packed.  It is about a 24 hour trip from the time we leave the hotel till we arrive in Dallas.  Once things settle down after we get home, I'll post some pictures of our arrival back at the homestead.  For now here are some pictures of our last day in China.

Gia posing with her packet of paperwork

This is the shopping area near the jade market where we went.

Some of the interesting shop names

A guy in a chicken (suit) with a flute in front of a mom and kids store

Another Cat Coffee shop

People will eat wherever there are seats and tables

Sign by the escalator

T-Shirt of the day

Molly enjoying her last sit down dinner in China.  That is the smile after polishing off 20 potstickers. :-)

Not as happy with the beef intestines.  She tried them but said they were too chewy and the soy/vinegar sauce was "nasty"

Other food picks from Molly.  Mystery soup in one of the shops.

And the number one food item that even receives a "Gross" rating from Molly - Cow Stomach Lining

Luggage packed.  Waiting for the ride to airport

Loading Luggage

Emma and Gia taking "Good Bye China" selfie

Welcome Lane Michael Coggins!

A new Texan added to the family. My niece Lara gave birth to a 6 pound 18.5 inch baby boy in Denton yesterday.  Lane is her second son and shares a birthday with our second son, Alex.  Happy Birthday Lane!

Paperwork Finished!!! for now

We had our appointment this morning at the US consulate in Guangzhou to finish the adoption paperwork and get Gia and Cassie's visas issued.  We pick up the visas tomorrow morning then off to the airport tomorrow night.  We still have to do things like social security cards and US passports when we get back to the states.  But for now we are all set to return home.

This was the only place at the consulate we could take pictures

After we got done at the consulate we went back to Shamian island with another family that was here adopting too.  Erik and Keri are from Seattle.  They have three biological kids and they were adopting their first two here, a 6 year old girl with a malformed foot like Ryan had and a 4 year old boy missing an arm. Here they are at lunch with us today.

And Cassie being bored again

Gia mugging for the camera

We didn't do much else today.  So here are a few random photos:

Gia in her dance outfit - not really.  This was actually taken a couple of days ago. The girls were bored so they pulled up one of her pairs of stretchy pants over her shoulders.  She was happy with it :-)

A really big pair of jeans.  Maybe Yao Ming's

A corporate sign you probably wouldn't see in the states

Happy Birthday Alex!