[savannah310]

Happy Monday!

Just want to say good luck on your last home study. I'm sure it will all go smoothly. A major milestone will be completed - that's awesome. Keep us posted.

Blessings,
Deb

[JoanneFromNYC]

Congratulations!!!!

[organicmommy]

Well we finished out last visit...and here is what we found out.

She is going to try to have our homestudy written up and ready to go out THIS WEEK. She went to her monthly meeting and was told about a baby boy that was born in February that is available for adoption. It has a sorta sad story behind it. He was adopted at birth through a private agency or attorney and the amom has been having a lot of mental issues. Well to make a long story short, the mom lost custody of the child to the state. For us it is a good thing, he is very low medical need and needs a home. He is young which is what we were hoping for.

It is amazing to me the way things work, I had been very discouraged all last week and then for her to show up with news like this only made me feel better. Even if he is not meant for us, it gave me a glimmer of hope that we would be able to adopt a young child like we were hoping for.

Now I have to get the pictures put together for her so that dh can drop them off. Problem is...we dont' have any of the 2 of us. Both of our parents are mailing us photos today so they should be here by Thursday so we can get them ready to drop off Friday. Then we get to sit and wait.

I am going to start working on a life book. I have been keeping a journal of my feelings the last few weeks with the ups and downs. Once I get pictures to use of us I will do some pages of that. If anyone has any ideas, should we use pics from our wedding? What all should we try to include in the lifebooks?

We are hoping to be able to get pictures and lots of info on the childs past so we have that as well to go on.

so that is my news for right now, I just HAD to share!!!

[savannah310]

Congratulations! Everything works out as it should!

I have been keeping an adoption journal myself and it's been a good thing. I intend on giving it to my child much later in life when she can appreciate and understand everything I wrote about.

As far as a lifebook goes... I know there are a lot of web sites out there about it...and books, too.

Keep us posted!

Blessings,
Deb

[Support2Adopt]

Jessica, first of all, good luck on the baby! How exciting! As far as a lifebook goes, I would use pictures that give a real feel of what life is like for you. Include some of the fun activities that you do, such as playing at a lake, snow ball fights, family gatherings, etc. Anything to give a glimpse as to what you and dh are like as a family. JJ

[savannah310]

Also on the life book .... gather pictures of the baby's room (if you're preparing one), the plane or car ride, your first moments together, your ride home, a picture of the birth mom if you have one, etc. Tell the story of how your precious little one made it home to you!

Deb

[bobbie]

best of luck to you and your husband with the baby!! i hope that you will keep us all posted!!! will keep our fingers and toes crossed for you!
i am also keeping a journal with hopes of giving it to our baby when he/she is older. i've found that it really does help to be able to write down everything that i'm feeling.
my husband and i were in the same predicament with pictures...i hate having my picture taken so there were very few with the 2 of us together. we had to have my mom come and take some of us.
best of luck,
bobbie

[Marfrey]

That is so awesome - I can only imagine how excited you are.

Thanks for sharing the ups AND the downs. I think this week I am where you were last week and seeing it turn around for you gives me hope that next week (or the next, or the one after) may be when things turn around for me/us.

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!

[SuburbanMom]

Congratulations on finishing things up! And that sounds like potentially great news on the baby. I'll be keeping my fingers (and toes!) crossed for you. Please keep us updated.

[Linny]

FANTASTIC!

To give an opinion of what photos to use. We went to an orientation that dealt with 'what to use'. I know a lot of people use their wedding pictures......but we were told it was a really good idea to use recent photos that were not formal.......relaxed (WHO could relax, huh?)......but I think you know what I mean.

I know we had the same problem with 'not having photos together'....and ALSO........few of the pictures had me in them....cuz I'm always the one taking pictures of everyone else!

My then ten year old, took a photo of us right after my husband got off work. Actually, I thought it was more about just 'using the film up'.....so, I let him use the camera.

You know, it was the best picture ever taken of the two of us!!!!! It was taken outside.......in the leaves.......work clothes on and everything. In fact, if you look very closely, you can see (well, at least I CAN see).....the grease on his workshirt! EVERYONE who saw that photo went on and on about how great it was/is!

We have even chosen to use it on the front of the profile itself, and continue to get compliments from others about it!

Linny

[organicmommy]

Thank you everyone for posting on the photos. So far here is what I have put together. I have 2 pages that are wedding photos so we have pictures of the entire family that the child will be part of. I have a page of the photos of the indian re-enactments we participate in and a page of our house. The house photos show the front and back yard of our home. My mother in law is send us photos we took at her house as is my mother. They should come in the mail today so I can finish them and get copies to give to our worker.
Here is my next question, I have done these in scrapbook layout as per the works request, however I do not really want to give the worker our original photos. Is it a terrible idea to make copies of these pages on a color copier to give to her?
Thanks everyone, we are so excited to be finished with the homestudy and moving on to the next part. If things all go right, maybe we can have a short wait!!!!

[savannah310]

Jessica -

We went to Walgreens and got copies of the photos. They weren't expensive and they'll be way better quality than if you copied them on a copier machine.

Also - are you putting together several photo albums? Our agency had us do 3.

Deb

[Marfrey]

Definitely do NOT turn over your originals. Go to any local drugstore or Target/WalMart (most have either a 1-hour-photo or a "kodak picture maker do-it-yourself machine) and get multiple copies made of each of the originals. You will most likely be doing "portfolios" multiple times and this way you will have good quality photos for each.

Hope that helps! Have fun and ENJOY!!!

[SuburbanMom]

We were told to provide color copies. If you go to a place with a good copier, the quality is really good and it's not *that* expensive. Another option is to take the pictures to something like the Kodak Picture Maker and get copies done, but this is more expensive.

Good luck with this. I am soooo struggling with my Dear Birthparent letter and photos!

[organicmommy]

She told us that we will only have to make up one, she keeps the orginal set we give to her and then makes copies to send other places. She said she takes them to someplace that makes photo quality copies.
She also told us that we need to write up a dear parent letter as well even tho we are going through the state. She said there are a few areas in MN that do not have an agency available so they look at the special needs facilities to help them place.
I have learned my lesson I just need to let the parents take photos even if I don't want to. This is really difficult to come up with phots when you are lacking in the availablility of them.