picture perfect

The idea is to give everyone you come into contact with, a better idea of the home your child will be living in, making everything more personal.

One of the latest trends in international adoption, is taking a small scrapbook with you on your trip to your child's country.

The idea is to give everyone you come into contact with, a better idea of the home your child will be living in, making everything more personal.
Here are some things you may want to include in a small photo album...

1. Cover page - Include a shot of your current immediate family. It can be relaxed snapshot or a formal portrait, it doesn't matter as long as it reflects your family's personality.

2. Family, family, family - Include a page for each person. Possibly a portrait shot and then candids. Shots of you at the ballgame, your kids at the park, your spouse at a family reunion. It doesn't have to be anything extravagant. Every little shot gives the viewer a feel for what your family life is like. For our scrapbook I took the kids out by a tree, snapped a portrait-style picture...and then added pics from throughout the year.

3. Home Sweet Home - You don't have to show everything, but you may want to include the main living areas and outside shots of your home. The new child's bedroom is also a good idea.

4. Your hometown - Include some shots around town of kid-friendly attractions. The school your new child will be attending, your church, city park, library, favorite restaurant...just to name a few.

5. Pet purrrrfect - Include shots of your pets. Showing the animals with people proves to officials how friendly your pets are and eases any concerns they may have about your new child's safety.

6. Vacations - Whether its camping in the north woods, snorkeling in the Caribbean or touring historical sites, show officials how you spend your spare time.

A nice touch is to also include translations of any text in your album. And if you aren't into cutting and pasting pictures and journals into your album, try an e-version. Sites like scrapblog.com and freedigitalscrapbooking.com offer online software that you can load your photos and text into and print off great looking pages.