Wish #50

Wish #50 is from Brad Camphouse and family.  He was dear enough to inform her that I beat him up when we were younger.  What a great example!  He gave her a great wish "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff".  I am so lucky to have him and his beautiful family in our lives.  Thanks Bradley.

Wish #49

Wish #49 is from Paul and Shanda Nash Family!  They include a great Rith Hulbert Hamilton quote.  This quote is to remind us to time spend with her and appreciate each moment we have.  This is a great wish.

Wish #48

Wish #48 is from my Aunt Maria who did a wish for my Uncle Gary who passed away a few years ago.  This means so much to me.   The wish is that he will look down on her.

Wish #47

Wish #47 is from my Aunt Maria.  Her wish is that she will be loved and cherished by her family.  I will consider this wish granted.  We love her so much already.

Wish #46

Wish #46 is from the Mackey's and all of their girls! Their wish is for her to be happy and healthy.

Wishes #43 - #45

Wishes #43 - #45 are from the Boyce Family.  Each of the kids have a wish with the support of mommy and daddy.  Diane and I have been friends for a long time and I was lucky to have her as a roommate.  I am so happy for their family and we are grateful for all their support.

#44: Madison wishes her to "Have Faith in Every Footstep"
#45: Riley wishes she will remember where she came from as she is a daughter of Heavenly Father
#46: Tyler wishes for strong body and lifetime of good health

I cherish each wish and I know she will too!

Wish #42

Wish #42 is from Beth Smolko and her family.  We met in PA school and she adopted her little girl from Korea.  She has been a really big support through this process.  I love her poem. A Big Thanks to the Smolko Family!

Wish #41

Wish #41 from the Schmidt Family.  Samantha is my best friend and her family has been a second family to me since I was in elementary school.  Dennis and Eliza provided material from Samantha's old pillow. Their wish included, "We Trust God is going to give you his best because you have left the choice with him".  She will be so blessed to join the Schmidt family and have Olivia as a friend.

Wish #40

Wish #40 is from Mary Shaw.  She has been such an inspiration to me over the years and I was so happy to get her wish.  "May balloons and butterflies go with you throughout your life."  Her fabric is from Hawaii.

Wish #39

Wish #39 is from Kim Ashley.  Her wish is for a long life of blessing.  I love her great Snoopy material.

Wish #38

Wish #38 is from Great Aunt Raedene, Great Uncle Lyle, Cousins BJ and Melissa.  They sent a beautiful poem "Dear Sweet Daughter" which is about adoption and explains many of our feelings during this Waiting time.  They wish for us to be great parents.  I hope and pray we are.

Wish #37

Wish #37 is from Melissa Jensen.  She sent a poem to her cousin, "Today I Kissed an Angel".  My favorite line is A family by a miracle blessed by this angel child.  She will truly be a miracle.

Wish #36

Wish #36 is from Jill.  I am so thrilled to have the Hawaiian print.  It is very suiting for Brian and I.  I love her wishes for the baby and I am so grateful that she also blessed the parents.  We need every blessing we can get.  She will be the biggest one yet.

Wish #35

Wish #35 comes from her Aunt Jenny and Uncle Trent. Their wish includes a Welcome Home Baby Girl poem.  They included a great wish starting off with "Throughout life remember who you are."  She will be lucky to have the two of you to lean on and look up to.  Thank You.

Wish #34

Wish #34 is from the Ormson's.  This wish is one of my favorite designs with wishes of laughter, charity, joy, hope, humility, love, and patience.  Thanks Katrina!  I miss you and can't wait to meet your little ones.

Wish #33

Wish #33 is from Aaron. The last of the wishes from the Edding Family.  His wish is for her to have fun with the dogs.  It was great having all of them here for Thanksgiving and I think they all had a little fun with the dogs too.

Wish #32

Wish #32 is from her Cousin Josh. He has the same wish for her that I think he has for himself.  He hopes she gets to swim in the pool alot!

Wish #31

Wish #31 is very special.  Austin made a drawing of his cousin as a "A baby in Brian's belly"!

Wish #30

Wish #30 is from Calvin and Kristene with the classic song by Jiminy Cricket and a wish that all her dreams will come true.  She will be lucky to have the two of you as her Uncle and Aunt.

Wish #29

Wish #29 is from Annice.  She is a dear friend of ours from church.  She choose to highlight Ladybugs which is known for Good Luck with Adoption!  Lets hope for the Good Luck. Thanks!

Wish #28

Wish #28 is from the Hill Family.  Tiffany works with many adoptive families and yesterday was National Adoption Day!  She was able to help 31 families finalize their adoptions.  I have to admit I was so jealous but I was also so excited for each and every one of them!  Thank you for sending her a wish of safety while we wait to have her in our arms.  This is what we pray for everyday and night.

Wish #27

Wish #27 is from from "adopted" family members Cherri and Dan Lindquist.  They shared a great quote from K Larsen, "We witness a Miracle every time a child enters this life...."  She will be lucky to have the two of you in her life.  Thank you.

Wish #26

Wish #26 is from her Aunt Sarah.  With a great Dr. Suess quote!  Can't wait to share Dr. Suess with her.

Wish #25

 Wish #25 is from her Uncle Nate.  "He Who Trims Himself to Suit Everyone Will Soon Whittle Himself Away" Raymond Hull

Wish #19

Wish #19 comes from friends of my mom.  The Zwiebel Family recognize her as a blessing, which we all know she will be. Thanks.

Wish #18

Wish #18 comes with LOVE and JOY from Ed and Nicole.  Could this fabric be any cuter!

Wishes #20-24

Wishes #20-24 are from the Heaton Family.  Each one is so unique and perfect.  We miss all of you and can't wait for you to meet our Mei Mei.

Mason and Logan creating beautiful pictures.

Lexi with a family portrait and Jared with his favorite Chinese Proverb:
"Don't Be Afraid of Going Slow, Only of Standing Still"

Natalie with an Emerson poem:
To Laugh Often and Much

New Floors

Brian and I decided to put in new floors.  What a disaster.  Now I live on the couch in the living room surrounded in clutter!!  I think I know where my wishes are but I will hurt myself trying to get more to post so I will have to post again soon!  IT WILL ALL BE WORTH IT. . . . I hope.

Wishes #16 & 17

Wishes 16 & 17 are also from the Chadburn family.  I can't wait to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to my little one!  The Little things...

Wish #14 & 15

Wishes 14 & 15 are from our good friends Robin and Clint. They actually provided us with 4 fabrics and four wishes from the two of them and their beautiful family. The first two are poems from unknown authors.  They are both some fitting and very appreciated.

Wish #13

Wish #13 is another wish from Kate Dutler.  This wish is for Baby Bo to see many miracles in her life.  I love it!

Wish #12

Wish #12 comes from Kate Dutler.  Her wish is to follow the Lord and walk in righteousness.  This would be a wish I would want from her too.  I also hope she could walk in those shoes!

Wish #11

Wish 11 is from Josh and Dani who are dear friends of Brian and I.  In this wish they share the Marianne Williamson's, "Our Deepest Fear".  My favorite line is, "We were born to make manifest the Glory of God within us. It is not just in some; it is in everyone."

Wish #10

After a difficult few weeks.  The wishes are back.  Thanks to all my family for the support.

Wish #10 comes from the Merrill family who with miss having as our neighbors.  I love her poem.  Precious one- so small, so sweet. Dancing in on angel feet. Straight from Heavens brightness. What a miracle you are!

Wish #9

Wish #9 is from the Newbolds, who mean more to me than I could ever express.  Their wish is a Buddha proverb: You, yourself, as much as anyone in the entire universe deserve your love and affection.

Earlier this week my Nana was able to join my Baba in Heaven.  I miss her so much already.  I am confident that she is dancing up a storm and enjoying the reunion with so many family and friends who love her.  I am so grateful for all the support over the last few days.  We love you Nana!

Wish #8

Emily wishes she will play in the snow and learn to ski which may be hard to do in Arizona.  She also has a wish that we will be matched by Christmas.  I pray her wish comes true!

Wish #7

Kate can't wait for her to come home and play princess with her!

Wish #6

This wish has become the most surprising wish yet.  Brian's mother created a wish from his Grandma Nulph who passed away 10 years ago.  She was able to provide us with fabric Grandma Nulph purchased over forty years ago for a baby quilt she was never able to make.  We are looking forward to making our quilt with her precious fabric.  We miss her.

Wish #5

This wish comes from the Orme Family.  They will be her Great Aunt, Uncle, and cousins.  They included Legacy of Adopted Child Poem as their wish.  This is a perfect way to describe many of our thoughts and feelings.  She will have love from both her biologic family and her adopted family.  We are grateful for all the love she is already receiving.

Wish #4

Wish #4 is from Aunt and Uncle to be Michelle and Curtis. Their wish included sharing Galatians 5: 22-23. We absolutely love the fabric! Thanks Curt and Michelle!!

Wish #3

Wish #3 comes from Grandma and Grandpa Bolander, who are already Great Grandma and Great Grandpa to many others.  They shared the following quote, "Babies. . . are bits of stardust blown from heaven to fill our hearts with hope and love."  We love you Grandma and Grandpa!

First Wishes

The first wishes come from Brian's parents.  They wished for our baby to find joy and happiness as part of an eternal family.  They also shared a poem that has become dear to my heart, "A Red Thread to Asia".  I plan to hang this in her room.  I am so grateful for all of the support and love form those that are participating and we are planning on posting a wish a day until all of them have been shared.  We love you.

Bai Jia Bei

Below is the letter we want all of our family and friends to read and be a part of!

To Our Family and Friends,

As many of you know, Brian and I are adopting a baby (or two) from Taiwan. Recently we were informed that it may be another 6 months until we are matched with our new baby. In the meantime we are trying to keep ourselves busy and distracted as the waiting gets harder and harder. We would like all of you to become part of our wait and help us to develop a generational keepsake.

Many of the families adopting from China and Taiwan have a tradition to welcome the new addition home. This tradition started during the Qing Dynasty, when the Empress had a robe made for her son with the best silks of the 100 most powerful families to protect him. Today, this tradition has evolved into 100 different fabrics from family and friends to create a quilt of good wishes. We would love to do this for our little one. This is called a “Bai Jia Bei” (100 families quilt) or better known as “100 Good Wishes Quilt”. This quilt will decorate her wall, cover her bed, and eventually be passed down through her generations. We need your help to honor a tradition from her home land and welcome her to her new home from all those that love her.

If you would like to participate, below is the list of what to do:

1. Please select a fabric. We would love her quilt to match her room with prints/colors in the red, yellow, or brown shades. If you find the perfect fabric outside of this color scheme, then she will love it and we will make anything work. Pick something that is meaningful.

2. Please wash the fabric prior to cutting.

3. Cut 9” square to be used for the quilt and a smaller piece to be attached to your wish.

4. MAKE YOUR WISH: Be creative and send a decorated page or plain note (no bigger than an 8 x 8) containing your good wish, prayer, quote, lyric, poem, or other thought that you want to give her. Please attach a scrap of your chosen fabric to your wish. Use the great scrapbooking skills I know you all have. Please remember to include names with your wish and for family include your relationship to her (aunt, uncle, cousin, etc.). For families, the fabric can be from one member or individually. We need 100! These written wishes will be placed in a custom photo album so she will know how much she was loved before she ever came home to all of us.

5. Mail your fabric to our address. If you do not have this, leave a comment and I will email it to you.

I know we all have busy schedules, but we hope to get all the fabric pieces together as soon as possible so we can finish the quilt before she comes home. Please send them to us no later than Oct. 1. Rather you participate in this quilt with us or not, please include her in your prayers that she will come home soon.

Please continue to follow our adoption blog at bolanders.blogspot.com. We will post each of the fabrics and share all the good wishes. We will also keep you updated as the quilt comes together. Thank you so much for all of your love and support.

Waiting Update

Thats the problem with WAITING, not much in the ways of updates. We completed our I-600A forms and fingerprinting, which is for immigration. We were informed of a date, time, and location to be processed. This allows us to have advanced processing for our child when we are finally matched. It is was an eye opening experience. We were in a long line waiting outside a government office and I think we were the only ones there that were already US citizens. The process was quick and efficient. They told me they process over 250 applicants in a day.

Now we continue to wait. . .

Adoption Time Line Begins

Our adoption process has been going on for a very long time, although we only official started in Jan. 2011. This is when the paperwork insanity began. We have gone through multiple hurdles and accomplished some very big goals and now are in the "Waiting" mode. This is the hardest. Up until now it has been go go go and now all we can do is wait. We have also started our fundraising which will become critical soon enough. Below is a list of where we have come from:

1. Hope Study Application completed, reviewed, approved, and court certified

2. Built a fence around our pool in order to get home study approved.

3. Agency Application completed, reviewed, and approved

4. Trip to Taiwan to see the country, meet some amazing people, and visit an orphanage (this was turning the Japan earthquake!)

5. Sent in I 600-A, awaiting approval

6. Received our bracelets for fundraising in the mail today!!

7. Ongoing prayers that we will be able to add to our family soon.

Now that we have something exciting to Blog about and since we have had multiple request to start, I will try to make this at least a weekly occurrence. Thank you for all the support! I think the next few months are going to be some of the most difficult in our lives.