A Special book

for a very special person. This book is for the person who has made it possible for us to adopt Fikir. Our agency had mentioned that some families would have the opportunity to meet their child's Ethiopian family/caregiver, and for those that would have this special opportunity they needed to make a photo book or scrapbook. Of course being the scrapper I am I opted for the scrapbook :) That being said our agency didn't even let us know that Jesse would have this opportunity. I had a feeling that I should ask them and sure enough! I am so glad that I made that phone call!!! I really wanted to make it special and I have been working on it in my spare time for the past 2 weeks (in other words the wee hours of the night when the guys are sleeping). Jesse has been great though when he was home to give me time to work on it. There were things the adoption agency wanted us to include such as our home and Fikir's room, and things that Fikir will be doing. The rest was up to us. Since she isn't here yet I had such a hard time deciding on photos! I wanted to share as much of a glimpse as possible of what Fikir's life with us will be like. This special person had, what I imagine to be, the most excruciatingly painful decision to make which has blessed us with this opportunity to love and be Fikir's parents. I am hoping this book and our letter to this special person will convey how incredibly thankful we are and how immensely blessed we feel to be able to have Fikir join our family.


**** The book is 8X8, which was a little of a challenge for me. I am so used to having the space of a 12x12 to work with.

The front cover- I used the colors of the Ethiopian flag to layer the large bloom.


The inside cover



opening page (1)- Our Beautiful baby girl!



page (2)- can you tell we are happy and excited? The tag has extra photos and journaling :)



page (3)- The tag has photos of us playing toddler board games with Daniel, and reading books to him + journaling



Page (4)



Page (5)- can't forget the fur babies :).



Page (6)



Page (7)



Page (8)- The tag on this one is actually a card with lots of extra photos and journaling.



Page (9)



Page (10)



Page (11)



Page (12)



Page (13)



Page (14) This one begins the seasons in Michigan. Tseday/Spring. I do have an extra tag with photos and journaling for this one but I forgot to photograph the lo again once I had tucked it in. I thought the recipient of the book might be interested in knowing about the season's here and what it is like, and the things that Fikir and we as a Family will be doing during certain times of the year.



Page (15) Meher/Summer. Under the tag are more photos and journaling.
And a side note- the one blank box is hopefully waiting on a photo I would like to include in the book of Daniel and his dearest friend. I am waiting on permission to use it.



Page (16) Belg/ Autumn. More photos and journaling on tag :)



Page (17) Tags with more photos and journaling :)



Page (18) Our very long letter to the one who made it possible for Fikir to become our Daughter :)




Well this was surely a labor of love and I am so thankful to have it finally complete especially with Jesse leaving in just 4 days! Now to see if I will be able to refrain from adding more tags with photos and journaling.


In case you are wondering there will be a translator present, so hopefully Jesse will have an opportunity to go through the book and letter with the special person receiving it.


more to come soon on the trip!