Your child's adoption story can best be told
through scrapbooking an amazing album
that you can share with one another for
many years, all the way to adulthood. As a
new mom, however, good intentions are
often put aside just trying to keep up with
the daily tasks of parenthood. Our best
keepsakes and photos end up stuffed into a
closet, as we wait for the time in our lives
when we will have enough of a chunk of
hours to do the story for our child justice.

[1] Write down your precious memories because, believe or not, soon the new ones will
overlap some of those early ones. Journal about both the little things like what your
typical morning schedule is to what some of your deepest emotions are about being a
parent.

[2] Record what you know for your child which is appropriate for his or her little ears.
Perhaps you were able to spend some time with the birth mom and you have some
personal reflections on how kind she was. Or maybe you have no information at all if
your child was adopted from an orphanage. It's important to be honest but it also needs to
be something that you can read from your book to your 5-year-old. If your child's birth
mom has many other children which she is still raising, or your child was the result of an
abusive situation, this isn't appropriate for the book.

[3] Layout the photos you want to use. You don't have to use all of them, just the ones
that are most important. Are you arranging the book chronologically? Make sure
everything is in order.