Greetings!

We designed this site in order to keep in touch with friends and family who are far away and in order to communicate with other adoptive families from around the world.

When we first started researching this wonderful way to become a family we read everything we could get our hands on. Even though there are a lot of great books out there, nothing was as informative or touching as the blogs we found by adoptees, biological parents, and adoptive families. So we are writing this blog now in hopes of returning the favor. We hope that if you are dear to us you will enjoy keeping up with our adventures. If you are someone out there involved in a part of the adoption triad we hope you will find information and comfort here and provide us with some of your own!

If you would like to get in touch with us we can be reached at: becomingafamily@gmail.com
Feel free to stop by anytime. We're happy to share our family story.

Take care,
Brian and Rosemary

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

The Lifebook

So I've finally come to the place in time where I can no longer put it off. I really need to get started on Button's lifebook. Of course, I love celebrating all things Button, but not even that can help me shake my loathing of crafty projects. Bless his sweet heart this kid is definitely not going to have one of those super-special-fancy lifebooks made by the sort of mom who has a "project and giftwrapping room". I want to be that kind of mom, really I do, but I'm just not and that's all there is to it. I forget to photograph everything important, I get glue stuck in my eyebrows, I can't cut a straight line and I hate stickers. In short - I'm a very bad scrapbooker. Thank God for grandmothers or else our kids probably won't have a single surviving picture of their childhood.

So who has suggestions for EASY, no-fail scrapbooking? Ideally I would most like a website where I could drop all the pictures and text in digitally and not have to deal with all that cutting and pasting. You think I'm joking but Brian makes me use the child safety scissors. I know some of you out there are serious scrapbookers so hit me up with all your best tips and shortcuts! Or you could just volunteer to drive right over and work on it for me while I whip up something delicious for us to snack on. Now doesn't that sound lovely?

--Rosemary

11 comments:

Nichole and Craig said...

I was the same way about getting started on Jaxin's lifebook. So I went to adoptshoppe.com and ordered the This is Me onedin. It is really awesome and there are tons of spots to write and spots to put in pictures etc.

Jessica said...

Sorry. No help here. I figure I'll probably use Snapfish or some photo program like that and just drop the photos in. Then it will be hardbound. I'm guessing I'll need several age-appropriate versions, so I'm hoping I can just amend each edition rather than starting from scratch. Good luck!

Yoli said...

I used Shutterfly.com because like you, I don't have a scrapbooking bone in my body.

Wyndee said...

Oh, I have the PERFECT place! It's photoworks.com. I made both Sophie & Grace absolutely awesome lifebooks from that site. I can forward you one of the girls' to see if you'd like. I'm not crafty at all so this was the perfect "find" for me.

rosemary said...

Thanks, girls, great suggestions!

Wyndee - I would LOVE to see your girl's books. I am still trying to figure out exactly what to put in so that would be fantastic!

a Tonggu Momma said...

Snapfish works well... Shutterfly, too. For those slightly more crafty in their heads, but not with their hands, check out China Digital Scrapbooks. You have to pay a nominal fee to join, but they have lots of ideas for digital scrapbooks - no scissors or glue involved. Heh.

Chris and Terri said...

Comments were really helpful to me too!

No scrapbooking patience or creativity in me. I'm hoping to use a software or website that will enable me to print pages and then throw the pages in an album so I can add to it. Although, I need to research what to even put in it. It's not like I have a lot of history for this little girl.

Wyndee said...

Rosemary--- just e-mailed them to your gmail account.

chaniemom said...

I created my own template for a Life Book, which you can drop pictures into. I've been offering to create one for others at the cost of $25. If you'd like to know more, please e-mail me at chaniemom@yahoo.com

Maci Miller said...

Okay, first of all you are so funny and secondly, I am crafty but my days of having time for it are OVER for now! Loving all the great ideas you got (above) and heck, I want to see Wyndee's book now, too! I have 2 regular old books done already that I did during the wait, but am gonna have to go digital for the next. Let me know how you make out and which route was the best and easier for you!

Kim Hancock said...

http://www.scrapblog.com/