Team Hope FAQs:

• Can I order a copy? 

 If you really want to, yes, yes you may.  Just go to Blurb.com and search for "Team Hope: Haiti".

• What exactly is it? 

 It's a collection of news articles and emails that summarize the whole ordeal. I selected the option on blurb.com so you can preview the whole thing so that you can get an idea of what it is.  The articles were pulled off the "internets" during and right after the earthquake but most are no longer online.  I THINK that means I could technically advertise it as "Rarely Seen Before Footage", but we'll skip that part.

• Why is the picture of my kid so grainy?

Some of these pictures were taken by Team Hope members using their camera phones, then texted to me at the time.  I blame it on "low pixel quality", but let's pretend that the "internets" had to crumple the picture up to get it to fit through the tiny little "internets tubes" and when I smoothed it out on this end, that's what I got.

• Why didn't do you this as a fundraiser for Bel Haiti?

Because the Blurb.com price was already $47.95.  That's a heap o' money, particularly if you're trying to purchase one for more than one kid.  I just couldn't stomach tacking on a few more dollars when the audience that would actually be interested in this book is already pretty limited.  If I was going to get Oprah to put it on her "Favorite Things List" and we were going to sell a gajillion, then it would have been worth a few extra bucks per copy.  I tried to keep it short - it used to be 245 pages, so you're getting the "bargain" version.

• This is made up, right?

Nope.  No it's not.  We really had to go through all this craziness to get our babies home.  So worth it!

Team Hope: Haiti, January 2010 | Make Your Own Book

A Year and a Week Later....

... and I finally have the book done.

196 pages, 340+ pictures.

It's also kind of difficult when you don't have the originals of ANYTHING - you had to pull it all from the web or someone's camera phone.

Despite putting out several calls for pictures and articles, there were really only a few families who contributed. 

I've also decided that the Blurb software was quality checked by blind monkeys.  It's pure evil and maddening.  I don't think I'd use that option again (for what that's worth).

I've stressed about this way more than is healthy.  I worry about whether I've "done it right" and I have to keep reminding myself that it is what it is and you can't please everyone.

It has some great pictures of the kids.  It has the background story of how it all came together.  It shows how crazy the whole process was.  It was fun to remember the whole insane process and realize how much you forget when the situation is over.

As I type this, my son is scaling the furniture while making train noises and saying, "Pushing cars!  Pushing cars!"  And they're home.

That's really the most important thing, right?

[I didn't do a dust cover - so order a soft copy only (if you happen to be one of the families that is interested.)]

Team Hope Book Update

Hi, kids,
For those of you that care, I'm working on the Team Hope book.

The pricing with blurb.com is such that I'm editing right now to try to cut it back to a reasonable amount.  I ended up with 200 pages and that's nearly $50 per book!  I've looked around at other options and there don't seem to be a lot of choices for "self-published" books with full color photos.

With blurb.com if you want a copy you can order one.  I don't have to take orders and deal with all that jazz. And if you want hard cover you can do that and pay more - they take care of that.

I'm trying to get it down to under 160 pages (which is $39.95 for a soft cover 8 X 10).  Still a lot, but this is literally a once in a lifetime event.  (and all the money goes to blurb.com.  This isn't a fundraiser, if you were wondering)

I've taken articles and images from the Team Hope blog and added some pictures from Chareyl.  I'm trying to keep enough in there to capture what we were going through back home - not knowing what was happening with our children - and still tell the story of our friends like Harry and Guesno.  Hopefully it will be something you'll treasure.

Hope to have it ready to order soon.
Lori