Here are the rest of my tips on putting together a photo album for your child, while you are waiting for the adoption to be completed. You can read the first two posts in this series here and here.

- If you have weather very different from where your child lives, include a picture of that. Ben LOVED the picture we sent of the kids playing in the snow, since he had never seen snow in Ethiopia.

- For many of our adoptions, we have taken an hour or two on an afternoon to take photos just for the purpose of making the album for our new child. We have gotten several face shots of each child, and a variety of group shots.

- We have put our books together by having a page for each family member. In Ben's book we put the names and ages of his new siblings so he could know how old they were. In Belane's book (and Amanda's), we put sibling names and then "Maggie loves Belane", "Nate loves Belane", etc. for each sibling. Mom and Dad each get their own pages, but then we have always done one or two pages of Mom and Dad together as well. We have also had a page with a picture of "Belane's brothers" and a page with a picture of "Belane's sisters" and always a picture of "Belane's new family" all together.

- Consider making two copies of your album. As I mentioned, all of my children's albums have come home well-worn, (Amanda's was on the verge of no longer being a book), and I think it would have been really nice to send one copy and keep one copy to save. For Solomon we have made two identical books, and will just send one.

- I love Snapfish! There are many other photo sites with similar services, too. I uploaded pictures from my camera and my computer to Snapfish, chose a photo album style, size and color, and then got to put together the photo album online. I was able to put the pictures in any order I wanted, choose from a variety of page layouts and add captions to each page. Their small "paperback" memory books are 5 1/2 by 7 1/2 inches and are just the right size and weight for a welcome bag. I ordered two copies (and the second one got a good discount). I will let you know how the album holds up when we get Solomon home!

- If you are using an album with the clear sleeves and you have a bunch of empty pages (which is a problem we had twice) consider using the blank pages to make an alphabet book or counting book (if age appropriate) or a "learn some English words book" if your child is older (and speaks another language). I had a lot of fun cutting up pictures to go with each letter of the alphabet and labeling them in English for Benjamin. I put them on 3x5 cards, and then put the cards in the sleeves in the album after our pictures. Ben learned quite a few English words that way, and was so proud to show us that when we first met him.

- Remember that this is your child's first look at your family. Keep it simple. Pictures of your family together outside in the yard are nice, but pictures of your family all in Halloween costumes might be really confusing. Pictures from your vacation are fun, but what your child really needs to see are pictures from your normal, day to day life to help him get a tiny bit of an idea of what that is going to be like.

- Include a picture of your child. This sends the message that he is a part of the family, plus kids love to see pictures of themselves.

- Enjoy the process of creating this album for your child. For me, it has always been a very special thing to do, and it is an exciting step in the process.