Thankfully the terrible heat wave has subsided at least for a few days. Now we can get out and enjoy some parks and other outdoor fun. Yesterday we had fun doing sidewalk chalk and even an outdoor play place at McD's.
Here is something I have been thinking about lately: I have been looking at kids' books about adoption and they are just missing the mark for me. I am thankful that adoption books are available but most of them are geared towards a totally different situation than that from which our children come from. And half of the books that I have looked at so far have content that is inappropriate or even objectionable to me. I am really not finding much worth reading to the kids. I told Karl that I think I am going to write my own book. My only problem is that my illustrations would be awful! I could always have Anji and Claudia illustrate the story! I have plenty of ideas for meaningful content! Anyways, maybe I will create a new adoption book that is especially geared for siblings and/or a child adopted from Latin America and if others wanted to share the book with their children, they could make donations to help bring home our next batch in the future.
The Lifebook situation is a hard one. I think ONE Lifebook would be intimidating - but THREE? Wow. It is hard to imagine ever getting it done. Oh, I know the books can be added to but at some point I would want to sort of complete them! I have been reading the book about Lifebooks and it is heavy-duty and emotionally draining. This book seems more geared towards infant adoptions which are very different than our family story. I think what I better do so I don't totally get hung up on "doing it right" is just start the general framework that each of the kids' books share and just follow my own intuition and then if I have questions I can always read up and fill in stuff as I go.
It has already been a year and a half and time together as a family is passing so quickly. I need to start them and just work on them a little each week. I know myself - this project will probably take an entire year but I know that once I start it, I will enjoy it.
Re-creating the kids' story will not only bless them in the future but will certainly bless me as I work on it. My heart pounds for adoption. Working on these books will give me time to think about the preciousness of adoption and remind me of God's faithfulness to Karl and me and to our children. We not only adopted them but they adopted us! The Lord Jesus Christ is the author of love and He has taught us how to love. He is the one who has made our bond of love possible. If it were solely up to us, this family would have been ship-wrecked! Anyway, gracias a Dios for His unfailing love. Because He never leaves us we will never abandon each other. Their story is interwoven with His story and I am excited to start this challenging endeavor!
One thing that would surely make this process easier & more enjoyable would be a Lifebook Buddy! Local or long-distance - someone to work on these books at the same time and check in with each other and share ideas, progress and even struggles as we work on this project. Now that would make all the difference! If you would like to commit to being a Lifebook Buddy, please let me know. The Lifebook Bus is ready to take off!
9 comments:
I love the idea of having a LifeBook Buddy! I am in the process of adopting siblings from Mexico. No referral yet. But once our kids are here, I think I will do the same as you, see if I can find a LifeBook Buddy. It's such a nice idea.
I agree that so many children's adoption books are geared toward infant adoption.
We are working on making a storybook for our kids about their adoption. If you have a CVS near you, in July they are going to have the 6 x 8 hard cover photo books free after the Extra Care Bucks. We are working on coming up with text to go along with photos to tell their story. This way they have an actual story of their adoption to reread and with photos there is no need to draw pictures!
I started on a lifebook for the youngest child, but haven't gotten past the first couple of pages.
Karen
Write the book Julie! There is an overall lack of good adoption books and it is difficult to find one that goes with many specific situations - go for it!
I have struggled with the Lifebook issue as well and still have not done one for any of our adopted kiddos. It is overwhelming to me. (I think I read the book you are reading about Lifebooks.)
I need to do Mateo's also. Maybe we can be lifebook buddies long distance. What do you think?
If you would like help with illustrations, my niece is quite an artist. She's attending Illinois State and will be a sophomore. She would love to illustrate books. Contact me if you're interested. And I would love to help you with your life books. Maybe I could come down with my girls some time before summer is out and we could make a huge dent?? What do you think?
It sounds like a really neat book. I have scrapbooks, but no story of my life...Sounds like a really neat idea...And write the book. I was an infant when I was adopted so books were different when I was a kids.
You are creative and I'm so proud of the mother you are to your kids.
Try using scrapblog.com. It's FREE to put download pics and use their "stickers"; backgrounds; etc. They do have some that cost, but honestly, there's really no need to do that at all unless you really love something because much of their free stuff is great. They also have some "themes" already set up as pages and you could A) just replace with your pics; B) replace with pics & words; C) do a complete overhaul just using their elements; D) or anything else you would want. The only problem is to print individual pages, you need a paid account (not sure of the cost because I simply post the pages to the web, which is free) or you could get a hard bound book, the price of which is comparable with shutterfly/snapfish/walgreens, etc.
Overwhelmed by the lifebook as well Julie! I am in need of help and ideas, too! I have tried to start one but realize nothing "fits" and so much of M & A's story is unknown.
Traci
I did one for my son using Blurb.com! In expensive and so easy to jsut drag and drop in the picutres. You could use the same template for all three kids and then just perosnalize it -- which would be a lot easier.
I wrote the content and then asked my social worker to review it and make suggetions. I then asked another adoptive mother -- who lives in another state and wil probably never have contact with my child to review the content and make suggestions. I found her help so great that I enlisted 2 other mothers that I met on-line. I have always felt I wanted to keep my son's story private -- so I felt by asking people who would understand that because they are adoptive mothers and they also live far away and do not know anyone that we know so nothing could slip out by accident would make it easier to accomplish keeping his stroy private. Their thoughtful suggestions were invaluable! I love to read the book with my son -- now 4 1/2. He has had it since he was 3 and it is so nice for him to have a story with picutres and information.
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