Here are some more great ideas to help you make the most of the time you spend waiting to welcome your child home.

1.  Begin to collect children’s books while you wait. Visit www.tapestrybooks.com to find a wide range of adoption related children’s books.

Some of the ones we love include:

• Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born by Jamie Lee Curtis
• Rosie’s Family by Lori Rosove
• A is for Adopted by Eileen Tucker Cosby
• I Don’t Have Your Eyes by Carrie A. Kitze
• The Day We Met You by Phoebe Koehler
• We’re Different We’re the Same by Bobbie Jane Kates
• Shaoey and Dot: Bug Meets Bundle by Mary Beth and Stephen Curtis Chapman

Click here for the entire Tapestry’s entire list of adoption and foster care books for children.

2.  Learn to cook foods from your child’s birth country or birth culture. There are many international cookbooks at your local bookstore, and you can also visit local restaurants that feature foods from your child’s birth country or culture.

3.  Begin to work on your child’s lifebook or scrapbook. Listed below are just a few websites that have different lifebooks that you can order:

• www.scrapandtell.com
• www.sharedbook.com
• www.adoptionlifebooks.com
• www.adoptionlifebooks.com/fostercare_lifebooks.htm

4.  Journal during your wait and/or write letters to your child.

5.  Research a variety of issues and challenges that affect many children who are adopted, such as sensory integration and attachment and bonding. A great resource to help you learn more about these challenges is a book entitled The Connected Child by Dr. Karyn Purvis, as well as the Empowered To Connect website (www.empoweredtoconnect.org) which has a wide variety of free resources designed to help adoptive and foster parents connect with their children.

6.  Join a waiting families group so you can share your journey with others traveling the same path. Check with your adoption agency to find out if they offer such a group or you can find out more about Tapestry’s Waiting Families Groups. 

7.  Subscribe to and begin reading adoption magazines, such as Adoptive Families, Adoption Today or Fostering Families Today.

8.  Learn as much as you can about your child’s birth country or birth culture.

9.  Learn about how to effectively deal with a language barrier if you are not familiar with your child’s first language, and locate a translator if needed. Also consider taking a foreign language class.

10.  Research transracial adoption if you are adopting a child of another race or ethnicity. You can find some great articles and resources concerning transracial adoption at www.adoptivefamilies.com/transracial-adoption.php.

11.  Make arrangements for respite care. Adoptive and foster parents often encounter the need for respite care, but they quickly realize that for a number of reasons not just anyone can care for their child. Take this time to identify and plan your potential respite care providers.

12.  Begin to prepare your child’s nursery or bedroom.

Copyright 2008 Tapestry, a ministry of Irving Bible Church (www.tapestryministry.org)