The indecision of not knowing what agency to go with was giving us too much anxiety. I finally put my foot down and made DH sign the contract. I told him that I know he will mourn the $8,000 bc we spent years sacrificing to save up that money for our down payment on our dream home. He started to list all the things we could do with that money. We talked about how taking out a car loan for $10,000 and making payments on it is different than giving up you worked hard to save. It is also hard bc we are not guaranteed to get anything for that money, so it feels like we are gambling and we are not gamblers.
I mailed the contract in the next day so we could not think about changing our minds. So I feel relieved and excited to say that we have officially contracted with our agency. There is no turning back now.
I finally finished the first draft of my profile book. Then I had to get up the nerve to submit it to the SW. After the way I was treated at my house, I have been really unsure of myself. I sent in the book and the next day she said it was nice. She only gave one little suggestion but it may take me a few days to fix it.
On the cover I put two separate photos of us instead of a couple. I did this on purpose bc they were our best and most recent photos. It has been really hard to get an updated couple shot. I have tried many times in the past year. Everyone had a couple shot on the cover, so I wanted to stand out. The SW wants us to have a couple photo.
I don't have any that are current and nice. The photo has to be nice since it is on the cover. DH's friend got married last year, so I asked his wife to locate a good photo of us. If that does not work, we are heading to sears to get a professional photo done.
How do you like my new blog design? I was on the waiting list for two months. She is great and very affordable. I just gave her a quick idea of what I wanted and she came up with the design on the first try. I wanted something cheery.
I love the new look!
ReplyDeleteDo you have any local friends who are decent photographers? A fun photo session would probably result in a great photo - and be more 'real' than a Sears photo-session. (Feel free to ignore me.)
Love the new layout! It's really cheerful! And the color scheme is lovely. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if you liked the photo on our profile cover, but we just went to a park with one of our friends and used our regular camera to capture it. It was free for us and I think it looked pretty good! I like the idea of having a pic of the two of you together on the front. It might be extra work, but I think it makes it look like you guys are a real, happy couple, ya know? Not that you're not happy, but separate pics might make a birth mother wonder... "Why don't they take nice pics together? Do they not like each other?" Or something like that. I don't know. I could be way off here. Feel free to ignore me. :)
the new design is so fun!! I think Rebecca and Stephanie have good points. A non-professional but still high-quality photo could end up being more relaxed, maybe? And less expensive! Do you have a landmark that means a lot to you? That could also be a nice way of showing something about yourselves to the potential profile-reader. Good luck!! I'm sure all the details get really burdensome after a while. But it's good to hear that the SW was affirming of your book in general!
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about gambling with the money....we did it as well. Just have to do it and hope for the best and hope the agency can make your dreams come true.
ReplyDeleteI love the blog design as well. So cheerful!
I LOVE the new blog design!! It puts a smile on my face!!
ReplyDeleteI like the others suggestions about getting a lower cost photo done ... perhaps there are students heading off to college who do great photography or maybe check on Facebook and search your local photographers.
Unless there are drastic changes in your look (i.e. long vs. short hair), you could use older photos. I used photos from our engagement photo shoot and others that weren't super recent. I figured as long as we "looked" the same, no one would know the difference.
But ... that being said ... it will be fun to dress up and get some new photos! :-D