Our "100 Good Wishes Quilt"

The paperchase of this process was the easy part, and now we will patiently wait the many months ahead till we receive our daughters referral. The time frame has steadily increased, however compared to a lifetime of waiting, 18 months or so should be relatively uneventful. We welcome your good thoughts and prayers along our journey, so that we can give this baby girl a well deserved happy, loving life.
To welcome and celebrate a new life, There is a wonderful tradition in the northern part of China to make a Bai Jia Bei, or what is known as "100 Good Wishes Quilt". It is a custom to invite 100 people to contribute a single square patch of cloth. The patches are sewn together into a beautiful quilt that contains the luck, energy, and good wishes from all the families and friends who contributed the fabric.

After we received our DTC (Dossier to China) date of 10/06/06, I learned about this project and thought what a fun, loving, busy way to keep my mind off of the wait and concentrate on doing something productive. So I joined the One Hundred Good Wishes Quilt group on Yahoo and now almost 200 "Squishes" later I had to slow down. However, thanks to the wonderful people on that site, I met and swapped fabrics and good wishes with families from all over the world. From all over the US, Canada, Australia and the Netherlands, I was able to get acquainted with some very special people, some of whom I actually became friends with.

The funny thing is, I can't sew a button on, however, thanks to Melinda Keppler, I already have one baby quilt, and she is working on 3 others for me! I guess a little girl can never have too many quilts! Actually, each one is a true work of art, with the design and credit going to Melinda of course.

The most amazing part of this project was that it kept me busy for 5mths, and gave me a reason to look foward to the mail. Every day or so there were several letters that contained heartfelt wishes for our child and our family. Many of which brought me to tears, good tears of course. So for now I slowed the pace down, thinking that joining a group every now or then is better then trying to do it all at once! I finally found my sofa after clearing all the fabric from off of it!

Now comes the fun of putting all the notes and good wishes in a book that our little girl can read once she is older. I guess I will have to find my creative side for the scrapbook project.

Happiness is

Something to do

Something to love

Something to hope for.

Chinese Proverb

The love within our hearts only grows stronger with each passing day for our little Ladybug!

Dani and Ivy

LID 11/09/06

Our Journey to our Daughter

Hello, my name is Ivy and together with my husband Dani, we decided to adopt our first child from China.

Of course many ask why we chose China, and there are many reasons, the first being that we wanted a little girl and the second being that China has been very consistent with the agencies they work in assuring the process goes as smoothly as possible.

We are ecstatic about this very personal decision and elated beyond words that one day in our future a little girl, born half way across the world, will wait for us to become her forever parents. This is a journey that involves love, patience and finding the inner strength to endure the seemingly endless months of waiting. Currently we are 6 months since our Dossier was sent to China, and every month brings us closer to our little ladybug!

Well, why do I call her our Ladybug, it's easy. One day this past fall, I came home from work and found all these pretty little ladybugs flying about our front door. I smiled to myself as I know that ladybugs bring good fortune and hoped that this was a Red Thread Connection to our daughter. Yes, there are definitely connections that only those of us in this process can relate to.

"An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but will never break."

--An ancient Chinese belief

Though we both work full time, I for one am never too exhausted to keep thinking, smiling, daydreaming, and hoping that these months of waiting will result in the anticipation of holding our baby daughter for the first time.

Yes the wait is hard, so I started to blog. It's that simple. I hope that as we share this journey, we will gain the insight, friendships and strength from family, friends and those of you who have also chosen the path of adoption.

My thoughts are with all of you out there also waiting and those about to receive your referrals in the next few days. So please continue to send good thoughts and prayers so that the wait speeds up, just by a few days!

More posts and pics to come, as I become more proficient at blogging (this is officially my first time).

Welcome to my blog

Ivy