The best Christmas Present ever from George and a family touring EnMei.

Here is a gift that we got from our son George on Christmas Eve from another adoptive parent. We have never met Debbie or her family but we had exchanged emails on line. They were adopting a daughter from the same orphanage that George lives at this week in China. During their tour they asked the Director if they could take a picture of George for us to send back. The Director graciously agreed and we were so excited to have his smiling face pop up in our email on Christmas Eve.

This is a copy of the email letter she sent to talking about her meeting with George. It is priceless and we can't Thank her and her family enough.


"Hi Christina---

Shen Yong is beautiful!!! He is such a happy boy! I asked the director if I can see him--when they brought him to us he ran over w/ a huge smile! They told him we wanted to take a picture for his mama and he gave an even bigger smile!! When he left, he skipped happily away.

The big room is a group room, there is one of the classrooms for the older kids, one picture of our daughter with her teacher, and then the playground. They really do care for the kids there. When we got there, Kayley was mobbed by all the nannies. They were so happy to see her! The director is very kind and caring. She gave us a bag of snacks for my two boys and for Kayley!!

When do you expect to travel? Are you and your husband going together? It really is an amazing journey!!!

Talk to you soon!
Merry Christmas!!
Debbie"


We just wanted to share the amazing blessing!

Really neat!

Love,
Christina

A Healthy Bouncing 7 year old baby boy, DOB February 29th, 2000.

Hello to all,

Here are some current pictures of George Yong Shen Copeland the upcoming addition to our family.

A healthy, bouncing 7 year old boy, DOB, February 29th, 2000!

George is currently in Ningbo City at the EnMei CWI, just South of Shanghai on the Eastern Pacific Coast, in the Zheijiang Province of China until we can travel to pick him up sometime in late Winter early Spring of 2008.

He seems to have recently lost his two front teeth but will probably only have one in time for Christmas!

Jim, I, Nicole, Sylvia, Sofia and Finneas could not be more thrilled about our new son and brother. What a fabulous Christmas gift to know we are well on our way to having him here with us soon.

We are grateful to God and to all of whom have prayed to get us here so far.

Love,
Christina and Jim Copeland


As a proud Mommy I sent around the pictures to all our family and friends by email and I got so many congratulations and well wishes back that I can tell how well loved George is already and will be forever once he gets to the US.

We received updated pictures of George today!

We were all so excited to receive pictures of George that were taken by the Director at George's Children's Home. When Finneas saw them he said, "When is he ever going to get here? I can't wait!" Sylvia, Sofia and Nicole were very happy too and it was neat to see him looking so healthy, happy and enjoying himself hanging out with some friends on the playground where he lives. He was also looking much bigger than the last pictures we had of him so we can tell he has been growing lately. And he is missing a couple front teeth on these ones. The disposable cameras that were in the care package along with the translated letter we had sent back in November through Blessedkids.com will be returned to us when we meet George in Hangzhou next year. So these will have to tide us over until then and we are greatful for them that is for sure!

Dossier to AGCI for Translation and Authentication 12/10/07

We sent in all of the documents needed for our Dossier to AGCI to be Translated into Mandarin and Authenticated as needed. We are hoping our Dossier is ready to head to China and goes in by the end of this month. It was nerve wracking to send paper originals and copies off in the mail after so many months of sweating every I and dotting every T and working so diligently to make so many extra appointments, medical forms, 4 rounds of fingerprinting, waiting on Passports, and completing our Home Study. But today it is off to be worked on by others for a while and hopefully I can recoup before the Christmas rush begins!

More Chinese Holiday Hoopla that will keep George in China a little longer.

Hello China Special Needs Families!

I wanted to let you know that we heard from Benjamin this morning and he gave us some concrete dates for the Chinese New Year. It looks like it begins on February 6th and does not start up again until February 13th , so the last day families can travel is January 25th (Guangzhou is January 18th), and the soonest you could leave in February would be the February 15th. Let me know if you have questions about this!

FDL/Favorable Determination Letter dated November 30th, 2007 from USCIS!

The following is a letter from our AGCI Social Worker that we got today.

"Congratulations on getting your FDL! Hooray! That is wonderful news!

I am thrilled to be expecting your dossier Monday. So glad Shen Yong got his care package too. It would be great to see your dossier submitted before Christmas!

Take care and let me know if I can help with anything as you are getting everything ready to send in!"


US Citizenship and Immigration Services processes the paperwork and fingerprinting needed to provide the FDL document that adoptive parents coming from the US are legal US citizens, without serious criminal records and are allowed to adopt children Internationally.