The task at hand...

I guess it's back to life as usual, and time to move forward with the next piece of our adoption journey.

I spent some time this last week and weekend going through electronic pictures to find which ones we might be able to use in the album we have to prepare. A few weeks ago, DoubleT pulled out our actual printed pictures from over the years, and sorted through those. I am finding that we have a lot of good pictures (and a lot I would love to throw away!), but we also have some "holes" that need filling in.

I should probably stop here and explain exactly what it is that we are tasked with. I have a bad habit of assuming that other people naturally understand what we have had the time and opportunity to learn about.

After the homestudy is complete, (at least our portion of it) the next requirement for us is to put together an album of pictures about different aspects of our life together.

How we met, our marriage, our home, our families, our friends, things we like to do... you know, just a normal scrapbook, right?

Well... yes and no.

There are actually some things we need to leave out... like we can't put too many pictures of our dogs, because that may come off looking like our dogs are our "children." Or identifying information... we have to look at the background of every picture to make sure there isn't something that could identify to a birthmother our last names, where we work, or where we live.

That means that "Picture A" has to go because he's wearing that polo shirt from the place he works, and "Picture B" won't work because I forgot to take off my name badge. "Picture C" gets tossed out because the license plate of my parent's car can be seen behind us... you get the idea.

And, then there are a few "non-typical" things which must be included in this very special scrapbook...

1. Our profile ~ a fact sheet of sorts. Our occupations, education, church life, love story, "favorites", and how we feel about adoption in general. The names we like for a boy or a girl. Whether or not we are willing to incorporate a name that a birthmother has chosen. How much communication we are willing to have with a birthmother in the future...

2. "Dear Birthmother" letters. Both of us have to write one, and this is probably the part I am most nervous, hesitant, confused, scared about right now. I can put pictures together, and I can tell someone what my favorite television show is (btw, it is Law & Order SVU... or maybe Monk! I love Type A characters!! :-)) but where do I even begin in a letter to a young woman who may be carrying our future child? What do I say? What DON'T I say? The bigger question - what does DoubleT say? Oh my goodness, that is SCARY!!!

Anyway, it is a big task, but I know we will get through it. Please continue to keep us in your prayers, specifically that God will give us wisdom and peace, especially as we write these letters...

Living in His JOY, HOPE, and PEACE...


p.s. For those who are curious, I found this link on the web about what to/not to include in a "dear birthmother letter"... Interesting!