So much so that I have struggled to face the project head on for basically the last year. I've talked about it, around it, between it. I delegated writing prompts to Travis in hopes he would take long enough for me to muster up the courage to start our book. He didn't. He wrote something beautiful in a reasonable amount of time. And I had nothin!
Until this week.
This week I compiled photos. I cried a lot. I wrote and I wrote. We did our absolute best to show our birth mother, whomever she may be, that she is loved, supported & prayed for. We tried our hardest to show her the community her child would be raised in. I poured my heart into it. Trav helped...my best editor. :-)
24 pages later, it is finished, ordered, and on the way!
24 pages of our life. 24 pages of prayers and dreams and memories.
We feel......READY!
With that, here is a little preview. Come check out the whole book at our upcoming Adoption Garage Sale on September 19th!! We are so looking forward to hanging out with you all, sharing stories, playing games, eating lots of food together & celebrating the future! Hope to see you all there, scroll to the bottom for garage sale details.
Now that we've finished our book, I present you with...
Our Top 3 Profile Book Building Tips:
1. Take Your Time. As I mentioned before, I was nervous about our book. I wanted it to be perfect. I wanted it to convey our love and our life as clearly as possible. Here's the thing, adoption takes a long time. Raising $30,000 takes a long time. You HAVE time to make your book. Enjoy it. Have fun browsing and cataloging pictures. Wait until you're ready. There is no rush.
2. Organize your photos. Looking through tons of picture was SO FUN. But guess what, your book shouldn't be 100 pages. Before uploading tons of pictures to whatever site you use to make your book, think through what your book categories will be. Dating life? Wedding pics? Family? Vacations? You get the picture (pun intended). I created folders on my computer of the different categories we would highlight in our book. Then, as I perused old pics online and on our cloud, I downloaded them to the corresponding folder. As a result, when I sat down to start creating the book, it was a pain-free process. Every picture I needed was right there at my fingertips!
3. Have lots of Editors. Trav will always be my editor-in-chief. He's smart and he tells me when I'm too wordy. We also have loads of amazingly talented friends. Show your book off and be willing to hear their edits. We are still doing this! We purposefully only ordered one book for now (quick tip within a tip, use groupon! Our book was $5. Genius if you're going to order like a dozen or something). This way, we can have lots of people look at the book at our garage sale, at church, in the office, everywhere. We value your input!
Hopefully those tips help any of you out there considering or in the process of adopting! We are always open to sharing our journey with anyone that would like to hear it.
As always, THANK-YOU for your continued prayers and support! We hope to connect with you all at our upcoming adoption garage sale!!
With Love,
The Bryant's
Join Us September 19th for our Adoption Garage Sale!
When: 9/19/15; 9am-4pm
Where: Our cul de sac: 3231 Babson Ct. Indianapolis, IN 46268
What: A sale of all sales! We have already received an outpouring of donations and will continue to accept them up until the Friday before the sale. All proceeds will go toward Baby B. Come to hang out with us, come for a great bargain! I will be posting pics of items we've received in the coming weeks. So far, you name it, we have it! Loads of clothes, cookware, furniture, childrens' items...the list goes on.
Hope to see you there!
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