Jay
100 Good Wishes Quilt
When we were waiting on Audrey's adoption, I had all this free time and heard about a tradition in China. To celebrate a new life, families would make a Bai Jia Bei (100 Good Wishes Quilt). When a woman is pregnant, her friends and family each contribute a single patch of cloth with a good wish for the baby. 100 pieces of fabric are collected and are used to make a quilt. At the delivery, the mother and father greet their newborn baby by wrapping the baby in the quilt which is believed to be filled with the good wishes of all their friends and family. I made Audrey a 100 Good Wishes Quilt and she still loves it today.
With Sam's adoption, one of my friends from China told me she'd never heard of this tradition (ha!) but I thought, I loved the idea anyway so I decided to make Sam a quilt too. I collected fabric again and started making him a quilt but was entirely overwhelmed with two kids and hired a woman to finish the 1/2 made quilt for Sam.
Today Audrey mentioned that I better get started on Jay's quilt.. So I played around with the idea of just buying an entire quilt and calling it a day. But, I gotta at least try! So, I'm calling on all my friends to help me out with two things... 1. Does anyone know someone who I can hire to sew the quilt for me? AND, 2. I'd love to find 100 people interested in contributing to the quilt...
If you are interested in helping out, here’s what I need:
1. Choose any fabric you like – it can be from a fabric store or can be something that you have at home
2. Cut one 8-inch x 8-inch square of the fabric - This will become one of the squares in Jay's quilt!
3. Then, cut a separate little square of the same fabric
3. Write a wish to Jay on a piece of paper or an index card and glue your little square of the same fabric to the card. We will put these cards in a scrapbook so that when Jay is older he can match up the fabrics and see who gave him each piece of fabric in his quilt and what they wished for him.
4. Then either drop the fabric and card off to us or mail it to us at: 7807 Asbury Hills Drive, Cincinnati OH 45255
I always thought the scrap book would be amazing to pull out when my kids go through the "why wasn't I wanted" stage and I could show them the 100 people who WANTED them and all the wishes they had for them. This conversation has never happened - Audrey and Sam have no question about how much they are wanted and loved from our friends and family. I know you'll all welcome Jay into your lives too - But lord knows this kid will need a quilt too, so any help would be amazing!!
Thank you!!!
Surprise #2
This is the week of getting updates!! Hope Station was at Jay's orphanage a few days ago and then all the kids dragged them into the courtyard for a surprise - The orphanage staff was throwing a birthday party for Jay!! He wore a crown, had a cake, blew out a candle, and had a special celebration just for him!! I'm so happy he's in a caring place where he is made to feel special.
Surprise!
I was browsing facebook this Sunday and saw Hope Station's new Orphan Sunday video. I was brought to tears when I saw that Jay (aka Josiah) was highlighted in their video this week. Such amazing work they do!
Happy Birthday!!
Last weekend, Hope Station hosted a Birthday Bash for all the kids at Jays orphanage! Most of the kids don't know when their birthday is and none of them have ever experienced a birthday party, so this was a special celebration for everyone! They had balloons, parachute games, a piñata, candy, and every child received a gift specially selected just for them. I think Jay loves his bowling set!! Happy Birthday to my little guy, I can't wait to spend many more birthdays celebrating with you!
Updates!
This adoption has been a harder wait than Audrey and Sam's adoptions, because Jay is real to me. I see his face and am impatient to get to China! But an amazing gift that helps during this wait, is Hope Station. Hope Station is an agency that serves the orphans in China and works closely with the orphanage in Chengdu where Jay lives. I know that they love Jay and are interacting with him and helping his emotional and developmental growth. They worked hard to find his forever family: Meet Our Kids: Josiah (soon to be Jay)
They post pictures and videos frequently. It's amazing to get a glimpse into Jay's life before coming home. I cherish every picture and will use them to make sure Jay remembers his early days. They've posted tons videos of Jay:
Making funny faces! (earliest glimpses of Jay... from a year ago!!)
Charging!
Reading books!
Being a goofball!
Sword fighting!
And as I watch each video, I analyze every little detail. In this video, most people might see a toddler having fun: Josiah blowing bubbles I see that he's standing on his own, he has fine motor skills that allow him to put the wand into and out of the bubble bottle, I see him smiling, I see he interacts with other people when he's giving bubbles "cheers" to others, and the most important thing I see in this video is when his good friend gets a bubble in her eye, he walks over to make sure she's alright - he shows EMPATHY!
The latest video I've seen is Jay saying Goodbye to a friend who is being adopted... Goodbye Video. Little does he know, his forever family is working hard to bring him home!!
Oops, I did it again!
I'm calling this my "OOPS adoption!" I always felt like I'd have a bigger family, but I came to accept that wasn't what was in the stars for me and was completely happy with my family of 3. Until the evening of June 24th when the sweetest face smiled at me across the computer screen. I spent the next few days emailing back and forth with an adoption agency, an orphanage director, and an amazing agency (Hope Station) that was interacting with this little guy. My mind was rationalizing why this was a crazy thing to do, how my family was stable and happy as is, how it would be hard to raise 3 kids on my own, how he was older and it could be a really hard adjustment, but my heart just kept going back to him. Finally on July 9, I decided to listen to my heart and be courageous. I took a leap of faith and submitted a Letter of Intent to adopt Min Haijun. On July 12, I received my pre-approval to adopt and was official "matched" to Jay Haijun Baker!
Audrey and Sam are beside themselves excited! Audrey remembers going to China and adopting Sam and can't wait to do it again. She's been working on getting our office converted into a 3rd bedroom that will be "just perfect" for Jay! Sam cannot get rid of his smile - he's so excited to be a BIG BROTHER!
Just like how Audrey named Sam (she was really into Dr Seuss's Sam-I-am at the time), I wanted Audrey and Sam to name their brother. On his orphanage paperwork, his Chinese name was listed as Min Haijun. There were two American agencies working with him - Bay Area Adoption Services who named him "Jonathan" and Hope Station who named him "Josiah." So his paperwork, had one of those two "J" names all over it. In the two weeks we were considering the adoption, Audrey, Sam, and I were referring to him as "J" and the name stuck! We decided a 1-letter name was a bit pretentious :) So we went with "Jay!"
We immediately started the Home Study process which has become a bit more cumbersome than it was a few years ago. Audrey and Sam both were individually interviewed by a social worker, we went through two family interviews, I was interviewed several times by a social worker, I completed educational modules, a fireman inspected our house, we had a home safety audit completed, the dog's vet wrote a letter that our pets were well cared for (seriously!), I had blood and urine samples collected, my physician wrote a letter supporting my physical and mental health, and the kids' pediatrician wrote a letter about their health. And, FINALLY, our home study was approved on October 15 and I submitted all of our documents to US Immigration asking for permission to adopt!
We're one step closer, little man!
Audrey and Sam are beside themselves excited! Audrey remembers going to China and adopting Sam and can't wait to do it again. She's been working on getting our office converted into a 3rd bedroom that will be "just perfect" for Jay! Sam cannot get rid of his smile - he's so excited to be a BIG BROTHER!
Just like how Audrey named Sam (she was really into Dr Seuss's Sam-I-am at the time), I wanted Audrey and Sam to name their brother. On his orphanage paperwork, his Chinese name was listed as Min Haijun. There were two American agencies working with him - Bay Area Adoption Services who named him "Jonathan" and Hope Station who named him "Josiah." So his paperwork, had one of those two "J" names all over it. In the two weeks we were considering the adoption, Audrey, Sam, and I were referring to him as "J" and the name stuck! We decided a 1-letter name was a bit pretentious :) So we went with "Jay!"
We immediately started the Home Study process which has become a bit more cumbersome than it was a few years ago. Audrey and Sam both were individually interviewed by a social worker, we went through two family interviews, I was interviewed several times by a social worker, I completed educational modules, a fireman inspected our house, we had a home safety audit completed, the dog's vet wrote a letter that our pets were well cared for (seriously!), I had blood and urine samples collected, my physician wrote a letter supporting my physical and mental health, and the kids' pediatrician wrote a letter about their health. And, FINALLY, our home study was approved on October 15 and I submitted all of our documents to US Immigration asking for permission to adopt!
We're one step closer, little man!
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