Green-Land to China: Does Joann Fabrics Sell Invisible Red Thread?

I'm an emotional person. Sure, I've toughened up and gotten a little better over the years. On the one hand, I've had to, being married to Josh, who is pretty much the emotional opposite of me, but I come from an emotional family. Sometimes I just can't help it.

As with most females, these emotions take a full-speed train ride to Crazytown when I'm pregnant (no, this is not going to be yet another post in which I go on and on comparing our adoption process to a biological pregnancy again... just stick with me here!). When I was pregnant with Benjamin, my uncontrollable emotional side was brought out by an unlikely catalyst: a PBS children's cartoon. (If you think that's bad, rewind with me to my pregnancy with Gracie when I couldn't keep from sobbing while watching a Travel Channel special on Disney Cruises! Josh: "What's wrong?" Me: "*sob* They *sniff* look like *snort* they're having *sniff* so*sob* much *sob* FU-UU-UU-UUUN! * incomprehensible blubbering*")

... But back to THIS story yet again...

Here I was in sad shape already due to the pregnancy-induced involuntary bulimia, sleep deprivation, severe homesickness, and going stir crazy from not knowing many people to hang out with. One afternoon while the girls were in their typical post-nap, evergetic mood and I in my "just 3 and a half more hours until their bedtime... you can make it!" type of moods, (and Josh working late yet again) I was flipping through the channels, trying to find something to entertain them. I turned on "Arthur" (a cartoon based on the children's books). I was completely unprepared for the wallop that hit me next. In this particular episode, "Big Brother Binky," (which I am going to have to track down on DVD) the show's bully, Binky Barnes, shows a softer side while travelling to China with his family to meet his new little sister, Mei Li. 30 seconds into watching I was sobbing on the couch again while Gracie and Annie looked on - partly concerned, and partly unsurprised (after all, Mommy does cry over half the songs we listen to in the car these days too!). I explained to Gracie that what Binky's family was doing is really important and that someday we would be doing it too.

So, where in the world am I going with this? I'm getting to that. Take a break. If you need to, go and get a snack or some water... or a potty break, in Denisse's case! ;)

We actually missed the beginning of that episode, and tuned in as the Barnes family was on their flight over to China. Binky's mom presented him with a Bai Jia Bei, a quilt, and she'd made one for Mei Li too. I thought the idea of a personalized quilt was cute, but our kids have a silky blankie of some sort, and I'd missed the explanation of what a Bai Jia Bei is. So, I didn't give it much thought... until now.

A friend in South Asia who ROCKS!!! sent me a link to a blog she follows. The blog authors have just (literally... like within the past couple weeks) completed their China adoption, and I was reading over old posts about their journey. Lo and behold, there were several posts about the Bai Jia Bei they made for their new daughter and her older brother I fell in love with the idea! It's so cool!

So, now I've got you wondering "What is a Bai Jia Bei?" Well, it's also known as a 100 Good Wishes (or 100 Blessings) Quilt. In northern China, it is a tradition to make a Bai Jia Bei as a way of celebrating new life. Family and friends are invited to contribute a square of cloth along with a good wish for the baby. The squares of cloth are all sewn together into a quilt, and the good wishes are put into a scrapbook for the child. The quilt symbolizes wrapping the child in the good wishes of family and friends.

What an awesome way to show our new little one how very loved he/she is and excitedly anticipated his/her arrival is! I love the idea of being able to one day tell the baby about all the people who prayed for and supported our whole family through our journey. Of course, if I'm going to be able to tell about people, there obviously must be people to talk about. That is where you, our wonderful friends and family, come in.

I am wrangling you all into helping us make a Bai Jia Bei for our little one! Don't worry! You've got PLENTY of time at this point. I first thought of doing it before we go over there to bring along. The more I thought about it though, I think I'd like to wait to assemble it after we get back. This way, I can find some cool fabric from China to use to tie the quilt itself together, and maybe even use a scrap of fabric from the baby's "Gotcha Day" outfit or orphanage blanket or something to tie that part of his/her life into it too. Once we're actually on our trip, you know you'll be on countdown to get those fabric pieces in, but you're welcome to start sending them sooner. I'll even post pictures of some of them here when they come in.

Here's what I'm thinking specifically:

- Choose your fabric. 100 % Cotton would probably be best, seeing as it would be a shame for something fancy to get ruined if the quilt needed to be washed due to being "loved" by our little one. It can be something cute from a fabric store, something that makes you think of China (pandas; ladybugs symbolize good luck in adoption) or babies or our family. It would be even cooler though if the fabric had something personal about your family though: Maybe a print that is symbolic of where you live or something you really like. If you really want to go all out and get creative with fabric markers or needlepoint or something, that'd be neat (remember though... it MUST be machine washable!), but don't feel overwhelmed! The point is just to have something that represents you and your family, or your prayers for Didi, not necessarily to make a huge project for you.
Even though we've been matched with a boy, we're not going with a specific color scheme. I'm thinking it'll probably be some sort of red background, but it depends on what I find over there.

- Cut your piece. Just get the people at the fabric store to cut about 1/4 yard. Send that and we'll take it from there. We will use it to make two blankets: One will be a large quilt, but be more of an heirloom thing. The other will be a smaller "lovie" sized blanket (think Linus from the "Peanuts" cartoon). We'll also keep a small scrap of fabric that will go on the scrapbook page with your "Good Wish" card (a way of referencing whom each square is from.)

- Make a wish. Write out a prayer, Bible verse, poem, or good thought for the new arrival. You can go as simple as writing it out on a 3x5" card, or as elaborate as decorating a whole scrapbook page (just no bigger than 8.5x 11", please) Also, we would love a picture of your family to include in the book. Do whatever you like. If you're artistic and want to draw or something, cool! I'll assemble the scrapbook (one day... hopefully before the kids are in college!) with all the good wishes. This will become a treasure for our family.

- Don't forget to send it! As I said, you've got plenty of time at this point, but hopefully the time will pass quickly! If you need a mailing address, let me know.

Thanks in advance to everyone who participates. It may be terribly presumptuous of me to assume that anyone else will be as excited about it as I am, but I do hope you are. I just think it's an awesome, one of a kind gift for our child, and I love anything that helps us remember people who are important to us! We are thankful for all of you, and want to show our little one how cool you are too!