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.