If you’re not interested in maintaining a blog but would still like to make your adoption experience available to the public, or just to friends and family, there are other options.

The first is to set up a private discussion group, such as a Yahoo group where you can post pictures and information about your adoption plans and experiences. These groups can made public or private, depending on your preferences. You can even elect to have them not appear in the Yahoo groups directory if you’d like. You can post messages and photos, and members of your group can do likewise, depending on the way you set the group’s permissions. One advantage to this option is that if you’re an internationally adopting family who will be traveling to your child’s country, you can generally access your group from that country and post accounts of your trip as they happen (even in countries like China). Some blogging sites are blocked in communist countries.

Another option is to take advantage of one of the many paid “adoption journal” hosting services. Most of them focus on the travel experiences of internationally adopting families, but they do allow a limited amount of before and after adoption journaling, usually for an additional fee.

Journey to Me
The Story of You
Celebrate Adoption Journals

A third option is to create a website, which you can update periodically with news about your adoption and use as a place to share photos. Adding a guestbook give it one of the features of a blog, and comments left While not as fluid and dynamic as a blog or discussion group, it can still serve to keep friends and family abreast of your progress and give you a place to share your feelings, hopes and experiences.

No matter which option you choose for sharing your experiences, you can kill two birds with one stone: you can keep a record of your priceless experiences (print everything out and stick it in a journal or scrapbook!), and you can allow those close to you to stay on top of what’s happening in your life. If you’re really ambitious and don’t mind putting your stories out there for the world to see, you might even discover your own writing niche and acquire a devoted readership! :)

Please visit some of my favorite blogs:

Transracial Adoption
Ethiopia Adoption
Owl Haven