Over this past week, Dave and I have really tried to get our photo profile together for the agency here in Jacksonville. Basically, until they have the profile in their hands, we can't move forward with the process. With the agency, when a birth mother is ready to select a family for her baby, the birth mother is shown profiles of couples that meet her criteria. We needed ours done to even have the chance to be chosen.
Can I just say that it's really hard to "sell yourself" in the profile? Dave and I are just not the type of people to toot our own horn. There is so much pressure on you while creating your profile. You want it to look nice, because obviously, if it doesn't, you may never been chosen. It needs to include information about yourselves, your life together, your jobs, pets, house, friends, recommendation letters from friends, and your dear birth mother letter (Ours is a 20 page photo profile.) It needs to include pictures that make you look friendly and loving, but not ones that make you seem like you're overdoing it. It's a good idea to have some pictures with children, but too many of those and you look like you're trying too hard. Needless to say, it's not something you can just sit down and accomplish in one hour. I think all together, I worked on ours for over 15 hours this week (hence the lack of blogging). I've gone through picture after picture (and if you know me, we have tons of pictures), trying to find the right ones. We've written and reworded things a million times. I've changed picture layouts and tried to make the layout pleasing to the eye.
We finally finished last night. I got a coupon in my email for 25% off our profile books (we needed three for the agency here in Jax) and was determined to get it done by midnight in order to use the coupon. I think we officially ordered them around 11:20. Close, but still with time to spare, right? :-) I got an email this morning saying that they have been printed and shipped and should arrive sometime before the beginning of next week. Once we get them in the mail, we can take them to the agency and we have the opportunity to be chosen. One step closer to our goal. I went and got in bed last night and felt like a lot of pressure has been removed. One more thing could be crossed off on my list.
Then...I went to sleep. I kept having nightmares that our book was messed up, that the birth mothers hated it, or that we had to start all over again. Needless to say, it as a night of major tossing and turning and the relief that I had felt last night was gone. Now, panic had taken over. I'm just having to remind myself that we did the best we could and we aren't perfect people. If it's not 100% perfect, if there is one misspelling (even though we checked it a million times), that life will go on. I am just having to trust God that, now that we've done our part, He can do his, more than what he's already done so far. It's hard and I'm not going to lie and say the panic is gone, but I just can't worry about it too much.
Well, I've got more to share, but it's time for small groups with the girl teens at our church. I know that I'm leaving you hanging, but I can't be late!!! :)
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1 comment:
It's so hard to come up with a profile that accurately depicts you in just a few pages. It is usually one little thing that will catch the right birth mom's eye. You can never predict what it'll be. I heard a lot of criticism fromfamily members about our profile because I put too many "fun" pictures in ours. Our birth mom said she chose us because we "look like we have a lot of fun!" So you never know. All you can do is be honest :) I hope your wait is a short one.
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