"We're Adopting" Photo Shoot

by Bethany

To begin with, full credit goes to Dan for this idea! Back when we first started talking about adopting, he said that he really want to announce our adoption plans in a creative way. We've seen other people do this, and it seemed like a neat way to share such an important life step with "the world" - at least the small part of the world we know!

As Spring 2015 rolled around and we prepared our adoption application, we decided we wanted to do a photo shoot during our most favorite time of the year in DC, cherry blossom season.

We are blessed to live in a beautiful city, and Spring is arguably the most beautiful season here. After a dreary winter (sidenote for our Northern friends and family: yes, we have it easy compared to Erie and other points north!), it is oh-so-wonderful to see the first signs of Spring: flowers sprouting, and trees bursting into color everywhere you look. It even makes the work commute more bearable!

The shoot was Dan's idea; I was in charge of props.

In preparation of our shoot, I bought craft supplies from Michael's and fashioned a banner. My goal was to make it joyful and fun!

I also bought a fancy chalkboard and chalk, and after perusing Pinterest, I decided that the alphabet blocks from our toy box (for our visiting kid friends) would work great to spell out the name of our website. A nice tie-in with kids and playfulness!

We were blessed to have a perfect Spring day on a weekend for our photo shoot, and a willing photographer: our friend Ben, who Dan lived with before we got married, and who is now a seminarian studying to be a priest for our Archdiocese. (And who is going to Rome for 5 years of study!! Not that we're jealous...)

The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception - one of our spiritual homes

The location of our photo shoot also had meaning for us. Dan want to Catholic University as an undergrad, and we met on the CUA campus when I moved to DC to start grad school. He asked me to be his girlfriend, and on our first dinner date, in a lovely little spot called Mary's Garden:

And we have spent many hours studying on CUA's campus, attending Mass at the Basilica, and just being together here. So it was a natural fit for us to take our "announcement" photos here!

The whole afternoon was just wonderful: sunny, happy, fun. At one point, a woman nearby read our banner and said, "Congratulations! What are your names? I will pray for you!'

Here are a few more shots:

And here we are with our photographer, Ben:

Afterwards, the three of us enjoyed some beers and soft pretzels at a nearby pub - it was the least we could do to express our gratitude to Ben!

All in all, we're both really pleased with how the photos turned out, and excited to share them with others! It was fun to do something really concrete, and it made the adoption seem that much more real: we have photo evidence now: We're Adopting.