Exactly How Are We "In the image and likeness" Of God And How Did It Happen?

By the creation and breath of God...

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness...." Gen.1:26

We human beings were made in the image and likeness of our Creator. So in what likenesses, of God, are we made? I assume that "image" may relate to some external manifestation, and "likeness" to more transcendent attributes like God's Omniscience, Omnipotence, Omnivolition, and Omnipresence. All of the above being in minimized form like unto those of a child to his parent.  So God first made us in small degree of His own image and then breathed into us the potential of great knowledge, power, free will, and a certain presence, limited to the space we occupy, and bring into a room.

Here is the sequence of our creation:
Gen. 2:7 "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."

The word "breath" is neshamah or nishma, in the Hebrew, and is also translated "inspiration" and spirit" in English. Inspiration is akin to respiration and exspiration, having to do with one's breath.
So God breathed our spirit life adaptation of His own "likeness" into the clay, doll like, body He created in His own image. And with that spirit life likeness came the human offspring, simulation of the Father's  own likeness of  His knowledge, power, presence and volition.

All of that came with our Creation and the breath of God which gave us first a temporal body and then a "living soul" Literally "a living life". Soul, in Hebrew, is nephesh and is translated "soul" 428 times, "life" 119 times,  "person" 30 times, "self" 19 times,  "mind" 15 times, "heart" 15 times, "creature" 9 times, "body" 7 times, and "will" 5 times.  Therefore "soul' includes our very life, unique person, private self, thinking mind, pulsating heart, created creature, living body, and free will. All of that is the content of a "living soul" which each of us IS.  So we do not "have" a soul, we ARE a soul according to Gen.2:7 above ....       "and man became a living soul".

In Job 33:4, neshamah is  translated "spirit". In Job. 32:8 and 26:4 it is translated "inspiration".

So God's Breath inaugurated human life from His own lips and thereby imparted His "likeness" to every human being ever born, which we all have in common, but also He gave each of us unique and varying gifts, talents, appearances and purposes.

If God did all of that for each and every one of us, and then, when the flesh betrayed us in Eden by its disobedience of our Creator God .... He provided us a simple but costly way of forgiveness and salvation through faith in the Savior, Jesus Christ. He must love us a lot more than we love Him.