smhentges

This is the place I come for good news and the biggest smiles! Congratulations!!!

So happy for you!

Congratulations! Another boy!

Great news! Congrats!

I found looking at other profiles we received at orientation was very helpful. The best online advice I found was to let the pictures tell the story of who you are and what your everyday life is, don't load it down with too much text - really hard to do when you're trying to get so much across. I tried not to write about what was in the pictures to get as much out of the little space as possible. You want the birth mother to envision the kind of life their child will live with you. Be genuine and include pictures or a theme that makes you unique, so she remembers your profile after viewing 10 others. Not everyone is into scrapbooking, but I am so I put our profile together by hand with a set of coordinating paper I bought at JoAnn's fabric (carried at Michael's, Hobby Lobby, and the like). The pages had enough on them I didn't feel the need to add anything, but we're so busy they distracted from the pictures and text. I printed the text on sort of matching colored paper on our home printer (make it an easy to read font, no fancy script, and size) and attached it. 4x6 is the standard size of pictures these days, but they quickly take up space so I ordered Wallet sized versions of many pictures (through Costco as well as Shutterfly, costco was much faster and just as nice) so I could fit in more pictures and I cut them so they ended up with a white outline - so no need to mat them. They were very specific at orientation about including your names (including last) and home town as a welcoming gesture (besides with the internet if someone wants to find you they will), not including too many pictures of other people (they're just more strangers the birth mother knows nothing about), just about everyone wants their child to have the opportunity to visit Disneyland/World so include a pic of you there if you've been, you might connect over the Harley you have in common or perhaps she always wished she'd had singing lessons and you sing in the choir - so include details like that to distinguish you from other couples. Don't let the decor distract from the pictures, but a theme makes you memorable (your state, alma mater, favorite sports team or hometown - I opted not to have bats all over our profile despite Austin being known as the largest urban free-tail bat colony in the US, the capitol featured throughout and that's where I work too...I figured it doesn't have to be an in-your-face theme). Basic format: page 1 thanks for checking us out, here we are in 5 sentences and 1-3 pics; page 2 about him (at least partially written from her perspective); page 3 about her (at least partially from his perspective); page 4 things you typically do (bbq, pool time, trips to the beach or hiking, gaming, watching sports)/ or if you have another child, make this page about them and how another child will fit right in, great opportunity to show what their child will be doing (swim lessons, birthday parties with lots of diverse family and friends); page 5 about your family/friends/community into which their child will be welcomed (showing diversity); page 6 thanks for checking us out, if you choose to move forward with adoption plans, we want you as part of our family - signed legibly with your names. Like all the paperwork, I found the profile daunting at first, but once you tuck in and focus, you make it through with a product that you don't feel sucks and the Abrazo chicks will tell you is bound to make that placement happen.

Back to letters of reference. Does it matter that the three folks we're asking all knew me before I knew my husband? As in, someone could say the were all my friends, though they know us as a couple and parents now. Thanks