Grandchild #20 is here!

After waiting nearly two years, our precious little Mason Ian Copeland is here! That sounds like a long time--and it was--but after losing Baby Avery at 20 weeks gestation...of which Anne was on bedrest for half that pregnancy...combined with Mason's pregnancy...with six weeks of bed rest, enduring nausea, sickness, and confinement to her bed (in and out of the hospital)...we are so happy to have our little Mason here, safe and sound.

We are also so proud of Cameron and Anne and their never-failing desire to have a baby they could hold and love! Anne was a brick, probably having over 50 shots during her time on bedrest. And Cameron held down a full-time job, taking care of two young ones, and moving to a new home while Anne was in the hospital...all with the help of wonderful people in the church and a great sister--Amy...it was all worth it! "Queen Anne," as the doctor called her! The bed looks great, unless you have to be there day and night for over six weeks!

We visited Anne the day before Mason was born and got to wheel her out to the "Healing Garden"--a place of Peace, Serenity, and Hope. Believe me, after taking four kids out there, I think they'll be calling it something else!

Cameron and Anne, Jaxon, and Sydney--the day before Mason was born.

Jaxon had some important things to tell his mom when we visited.

Notice the enormous pile of rocks--this was before Isaac used them as flying objects!
Garrett, (Jeff and Amy's son, 5 yrs.), Jaxon, (Cameron and Anne's son, 4 1/2 yrs.), Sydney, (Cameron and Anne's daughter, 7 yrs.), and Isaac (Jeff and Amy's son, 2 yrs.)

Anne with all her many ID tags and bracelets from her long stay in the hospital!

The next day, Anne had to have an amniocentesis to make sure Mason's lungs were developed enough for delivery. It took all day to get the results back, but when we got "It's a go!" Anne literally leaped out of the bed and actually walked to the operating room! I was there with Cameron and we all cheered! The surgical pants they gave to Cameron were a bit big! Let's just say that "one size fits all" does NOT apply here!

After waiting one hour in the waiting room, I heard a lullaby over the loud speaker signaling that a baby had been born. I just knew it was baby Mason--and sure enough, it was! I had to act quickly to take this picture as they whizzed little Mason by, taking him to the warming bed in the nursery. Both Cameron and I had so many tears of joy, I wasn't sure I even got a clear picture!

Taking Mason's footprints.
Little Mason's color and breathing weren't quite what they wanted shortly after birth, so when Amy brought Sydney and Jaxon to the hospital, we had to wait for a little while, as the nursery wanted to make sure everything looked ok before they brought him to us. He ended up staying in the nursery three hours! Needless to say, we had to keep the kids entertained in the meantime. They were so good but so anxious to see their little brother!Cameron sharing the videos of the baby with Jaxon and Sydney. Jaxon and Sydney with Grandma Laura.Sydney took a picture of her mother recovering from the c-section!The wait took forever--so after several visits to the nursery window, the nurses got him ready. Sydney and Jaxon became Mason's "official escorts" while accompaning the nurse down to their mother's room. Anne hadn't been able to see Mason for very long after his birth and before they rushed him to the nursery, so she was anxiously awaiting, too! And yet ANOTHER bracelet is added!

Anne, Mason, and Aunt AmyThree Generations

The proud daddy!

How grateful our family is for the blessing of this healthy little baby!

Shanghai, Day 12

Since this was going to be our last day in Shanghai, Mike the driver, said he wanted to take us one more place--a big Catholic cathedral which was over 300 years old. It was interesting, but not nearly as beautiful as the ones in Europe--don't tell him that, though. We still really enjoyed seeing it.

George found a Chinese broom over by the gate and was fascinated by it. He still has it in his hands.

I wanted to take a picture of all the helpers that I have talked about so much.

George; Yuali - pronounced Wah-lee, Chinese housekeeper; Anna, Philippine nanny; Mike, Chinese driver, and me!

Our trip home actually took less time because we had a direct flight that they have just started--Shanghai to Atlanta. It was 14 hours, then 2 hours in Atlanta, 1 hour from Atlanta, and finally to Jacksonville. In all, we had been gone for 15 days, but you lose days travelling. It was a trip of a lifetime--one both George and I will never forget. But the best part of all, was seeing Alison feeling so much better. The last time I saw her in September was so depressing, but we were so thankful for her better health and just pray that it will continue. Thanks to all of you who have spent your valuable time reading this blog! You are very dear people to last out the whole thing!

Shanghai, Day 11

After getting home and unpacking from our wonderful cruise down the Yangtze last night, we were ready for a little calmer day today. We went to the market for some final shopping and final fittings on the suits and outfit George and I were getting.

I thought I would show a few pictures of John and Alison's beautiful home. When you are there, you really don't know you are in China, except for the constant stream of Chinese who come in to water her plants, wash the windows, check the internet, clean the pool, pull the weeds, plant flowers, etc., etc. Each has an interpreter with a little walkie-talkie who stands beside them as they each do their job. You might have five different people there with five different interpreters standing right by them. Amazing! Plus as you drive through the subdivision, every street has a guard who salutes you--rain or wind, and stands guard 24-7.

I tried to take a few inside and out of their beautiful pool in the backyard with the waterfall. Since it has been winter, all the foilage hasn't come out in full, but you get the idea.
Roscoe has taken over all of Preston's toys!

That evening, it was Parker's turn to present Family Home Evening. His lesson was on obedience, and he had George dress up as Abraham and he was Isaac. They put on a little play about Abraham and Isaac going to the mount when Isaac was going to be sacrificed. It was great! That's a wrap for the day!

Shanghai, Days 7-10

Now that we are home, I can finally finish off the China Experience. In all, I took 480 pictures! But don't get too excited, I'm only going to show a fraction of what I took. I know it's always more exciting when you have actually experienced them yourself.

Days 7-10 took place on a River Cruise down the Yangtze River. Four very strange things happened to me while on this cruise that I have to tell about first:

1. Getting deathly sick--from the plane food, from the bumpy plane ride, from a flu--I don't know, but I had to have the cruise doctor visit me in my room. He gave me some Chinese remedies which I have no idea what they were and can't begin to describe how disgusting they tasted, but they really did work!

2. Doing a perfect "10" tumble to the ground. Trying to find the hand sanitizer for Parker, I was looking in my purse and didn't notice a step in an old Chinese building where they hold operas and went flying through the air! I got the wind knocked out of me, but luckily except for a little swollen foot and a few bruises, I was okay.

3. Getting paint all over my jacket in a Chinese temple which they had told us not to lean against. Right after John reminded me, I noticed it was sadly too late

4. And finally, the most freak thing of all, starting my hair on fire while trying to use my curling iron on the cruise ship--which again they warned us NOT to use even with a converter box. In one curl, my hair was smoking so badly, George came running over to me as I was pulling the cord and trying to release the curling iron which was wrapped with my badly burned black hair and now bent into a 'v'! The smell was horrendous and we had to open all the doors and windows--but at least I didn't burn the ship down because of my vanity!

Saying all that, we had a great time these four days on a river cruise ship down the Yangtze River. We flew from Shanghai to Yichang, a ride of about 2 hours, where we caught the cruise boat. Again, we couldn't believe that huge boat with a staff of 110 and there were only 30 people on it. We really got the royal treatment!

One Chinese man tied all our luggage together (John, Alison, Bracken, Parker, George, and mine), put them on the end of a big pole and carried it from the dock to the boat. Those suitcases were very heavy! How did he do that? The trip was just amazing down the river where we first started seeing the Three Gorges Dam which has been built by the Chinese government at a cost of $28 billion to fill a two-fold purpose: 1. Help with the terrible flooding that has always taken place along the river, and 2. Provide electricity to this country which has the most people in the world. In the province that includes all of the people along the river and the city of Chongquing itself, there are 33 million people. Since we were going upstream to higher ground, we had to go through a series of 3 or 4 lockes, sort of like the Panama Canal.

The Chinese government has a beautiful garden area where they have a building that tells all about the dam project and a mock-up of it for you to get an idea of what they have done. Outside, the boys (and their grandpa) had fun running the steps--thinking they were Rocky!
The park in front of the Three Gorges Dam.
The Family in front of one of the spillways.

The government has already relocated all of the villages that are now underwater since the dam was built and are continuing to build more and more apartments to move the people because the water still isn't at its highest mark which will be 175 meters. It is sad to see that the people had to be moved from land that their families have lived on for hundreds of years, but so many were in such distant areas with no running water and hardly any contact with the outside world (maybe sometimes that might not be such a bad idea--you wouldn't know all the bad things, right?), so the government has given them a place to stay and tried to find jobs for them--as meager as they might be. Their dead have either been removed from their little tombs or the government will cement them over. It is all very interesting. Along the river, you would see stretches of hardly anyone living there and then see a small city. The little mounds are burial sites. Some have been opened and the bodies relocated. Some are going to be cemented over and left. This will all be covered over as the water rises.

At the end of the cruise, when we arrived in Chongquing at night, we felt like we had arrived in Las Vegas, it had so many lights and was so unusual after four days of basically being in the wilderness.
Locals in the small cities were pitching everything--so many looked destitute, but you couldn't help them all!
George skipping along with the front-desk girls from the ship. (Is anyone thinking "Wizard of Oz")

Aboard ship, the kids, George, and John had fun playing Hearts;

We visited Chinese temples and tried some of their tests for worthiness to enter.We took Chinese speaking lessons--Alison came along, but she is already so good, we can't believe it! We took Chinese cooking lessons and learned about the history, culture, and basically any question we had about China. The boys had a great time flying kites up on the top deck.

At night, the entertainment was fantastic--all done by the people who worked on board--the cooks, the cleaning people, the servers. They put on fashion shows, did dances, sang, played instruments, and got everyone involved. (When the two-man lion below came running in to the dance floor, he biffed it right in front of where we were sitting. Parker laughed so hard he was crying!)

And of course, we ate--at the end, I had to take a picture of George--he absolutely was so stuffed he couldn't move! We definitely need to get back to eating regular food and less of it!

But what a great experience the whole cruise was. We flew back to Shanghai where Mike, the driver, was waiting for us. We came home and saw Preston and Tyson who had stayed at home with Anna, the nanny, and she had dinner all ready for us. We had popcorn and watched 'August Rush', one of my favorite movies, and then went to bed.