Las Vegas Hospitals

I visited these four hospitals while Jess was at his conference. Again I can not say enough about these amazing Nurses who take care of the moms and the families of these special babies. I know it is not an easy job or even the best part of the job to take care of these special situations and circumstances but I have to say Thank You to all those amazing nurses who do their very best to take the very best care of moms and babies.

This is the first hospital we stopped by in Vegas. It had been a long day of driving but this was an awesome way to end the day. The nurses at this hospital were so sweet and very appreciative of the blankets. Most of these blankets were made by Jan and her group, Preston and his Eagle Project and my Aunt Pam, my Mom, Grandma and Me. Thank you to all who continue to donate blankets and help us out in our project.

Dixie Regional Blanket Drop

On our way down to Las Vegas we stopped blankets by Filmore Community Hospital and Aslo Dixie Regional in St. George. While at Dixie Regional the nurses (who by the way are SOOOO Amazing) told us about a new room being added to their wing. It is a Demise Room. A family who had a still born (I believe) in their hospital several years ago has been fund raising to pay for this special room. Any patient that they know whose baby will be still born, fetal demise or won't live long after birth will deliver in this room. It is not all the way finished just yet but they let us see it and take pictures of it. Jess and I loved it, I cried of course. Jess is now motivated to find out how we can fund raise and get more of these rooms in more hospitals. I am so excited to see it when it is finished and hopefully we will be able to post pictures when it's completed.

Pictures of the Demise Room.

The nurses all showing off the blankets.

Ammon's Birthday

We celebrate Ammon's birthday every year (his Angel Day).

My Easton and the Angel statue at the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

My sweet girls!

Every year we release blue and white balloons for our baby Ammon. The kids like to give the balloons hugs and kisses and send them to Heaven. Sometimes the kids will whisper I Love You's and other sweet messages to the balloons and then send them up into the sky.

Ashleigh sending her hugs and kisses to Ammon. I was so proud of our little girl. She has some issues with her brain and we are working through them. Balloons and flowers scare her to tears. Today she was able to smell the flowers with me holding them and even hold her own balloon and even give the balloon hugs and kisses to send to Heaven and our sweet Ammon.

Easton sending his hugs and kisses to Ammon.

Jax sending his hugs and kisses to Ammon.

Emma sending her hugs and kisses to Ammon.

Sending kisses on our balloons to our precious Ammon.

Jess and I letting our balloons go together. I was already sobbing by this point.

After letting the balloons go and us watching them float up to heaven.

Preston's Blanket Drop

The above pictures are from the University Hospital. They were so excited to receive these blankets. And even more excited that young men had made them in pursuit of their Eagle Award.

We dropped blankets off at the IMC Women's Center. It was so exciting to watch Preston deliver the blankets he and other scouts had made with the help of their awesome Mom's!! I am so impressed with Preston. His family gave me a CD with pictures of his project in the making. I am in the process of getting those pictures on the blog as well. So be watching for Preston's Eagle Project posts too. I know the hospitals were equally impressed with this amazing young man. Congratulations on achieving Eagle Scout. You are AMAZING!!!

Silent Night

I have always loved Christmas music. It fills my heart and home with such peace and joy that I can't wait for Thanksgiving to be over so I can play it all the time. I get away with playing it from time to time throughout the year but not as much as I would like. Silent Night has always been one of my favorites. Seven years ago I started having a hard time singing this song. I never really tapped into why until last year. One of the ways we have described the night our precious Ammon was born was silent. He only lived a few short minutes, he never made a sound and yes he was born at night. My sister and I love to sing together, especially Christmas music. Today someone asked me if we would be singing and where so they could come listen. She also asked if she could make the request to have us sing Silent Night. Every time I sing this song I can't stop the tears from flowing, but this year I am going to try. One of the ways we have described the night our precious Ammon was born is silent. He only lived a few short minutes, he never made a sound and yes he was born at night. We believe he was too perfect to have to live on earth and go through the trials of life and that all he needed was his mortal body. We view his "Silent Night" as a "Holy Night" and while all may not have been bright, we were very calm. That does not mean we weren't greiving but there was a calmness about the room, especially once the doctors and nurses left and Jess and I were alone. Ammon was our "holy infant" and it was a "tender" experience and now our baby boy "sleeps in heavenly peace". I know so many of you who talk about your babies who are born sleeping. They "Sleep in Heavenly Peace" and yes it is a "Silent Night" when they are born. There are no immediate cries and squeals and in our case most of the doctors and nurses said nothing. It is very silent. I think this is why I have such a hard time singing this song. But I do remind myself it is a song about our Savior and that He is caring for our son and loving our son in Heaven until the time we get to meet him there. How grateful I am for the birth of our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ and for my personal belief in Him and in the plan of salvation and for my knowledge of families being together forever. I know so many of you come from different faiths and beliefs, but I truly believe that our precious babies are being cared for and watched over by Christ and Angels in heaven. And that our babies are watching over us; Angel Babies!!

Jan

I am finally getting pictures up on the blog :)!! This is Jan. She and her Relief Society group decided that their service project this year was going to be making blankets for us to send to hospitals. They donated over 730 blankets(7 boxes of blankets). I had the great opportunity of meeting Jan and her husband. Jan and I talked that morning for over an hour about all the wonderful miracles and things that happened to help this project continue to move forward. I am so grateful for all the many hands who helped make these blankets. Many of these blankets came from across the country too. One woman is on a sewing forum and several women joined in from there. I can not tell you how grateful the hospitals are and we hope and pray that they are giving hope, peace and comfort during difficult times. Love: Jess and Joleen Haag

Preston

This weekend we had the privilege of meeting Preston and his family. Preston is an AMAZING young man who decided to use the blankets as his Eagle project. Preston and company was able to make just over 500 blankets. We have loads of pictures that will be coming very soon. We went to two local hospitals to help re-stock their supply from last year. It was incredible. We have lots of blankets that we are so grateful to all who have helped us. THANK YOU PRESTON and FAMILY and FRIENDS for your generous donation and support. Love: Jess and Joleen Haag For those just joining our blog you may want to go back to the first posts and read those. Also if you are looking for our contact info please e-mail us at jjhaag5@yahoo.com and put operation blanket drop in the subject line.

Neal and Angie

Several months ago we met Neal and Angie and delivered blankets to St. Marks hospital. Here are the pictures I have been promising. Yes I figured out how to fix my blogger :)!! We had a lot of fun meeting the people who inspired us and helped us get started with blankets. We feel like they are part of our family. This sweet couple is truly amazing. You can read more about them and their story at Calling All Angels.

Close To My Heart

When Jess and I started this project last January it was always in the back of my mind that one day we would hopefully be able to donate blankets to Darnall Army Hospital where our story started. We are putting out feelers and gathering information as to how to make this happen. Most civilians are unaware of how the Army/military works. Donating to an army hospital may be a little difficult, not that they don't want the blankets but that there is a lot of red tape to work through and a lot of different avenues to clear first. But... even if it is difficult it is we want to do. Our story started in an Army Hospital. Jess was in the Army and the Army has a huge part of our heart and our family story. Army wives, soldiers and their families sacrifice and give all to our country and to our safety and peace of mind. We want to do this one small thing for them. For those who loose their babies to have a little tiny peace of mind that there are those out there who love them and do understand. So we will keep everyone posted and updated about what we find out and what happens. It may be a long road but we are more than willing to travel it. Please keep the blankets coming in. There are so many hospitals that need them. Love: Jess and Joleen Haag

Motivation

Is there anyone out there besides me who needs a little MOTIVATION? Last night I received an e-mail from a most amazing and inspiring woman. She contacted me earlier this year and wanted to have her Relief Society group make blankets for us at their project this year. They had a goal of 250 blankets by August 31st. So far they are at 500 and the blankets keep pouring in, and from all over the United States as well. I am hoping to post more of their story soon. I am truly humbled by the power of women. We see a need and we jump in and help out. I am amazed by the grace, love, caring, willingness to serve and help that women have. I have so many wonderful and amazing women in my life that I look up to and love dearly. Some of these women and the ones who steped up to take care of me and my family after the loss of our baby Ammon. I will never forget those women who so lovingly and gently came into my home bringing in meals and hugs and words of comfort and taking my children for an afternoon out. And while we were not all connected in belonging to the same religion, we were all connected as women and in our friendship and love for each other. I have been blessed to get to know some truly outstanding women through this blanket project as well. One of those being the Amazing Angie Guymon, she is the one who had the idea before us and let us tag along and follow what she was doing. I look up to her so much. Another woman is Amanda Wilkinson, she is a daughter to one of the most amazing women I know and love so much Stana Kjar, she lost her son last year when we were starting this project. I love her courage and strength and determination. Plus she just knows how to say everything so well. My Mom, Grandma and Aunt Pam are also not to be forgotten in this list of women who are just AWESOME!! They have been the wind pushing me forward and upward. Today I am grateful and inspired and spurred onward to motivation by all these women. And those who aren't named as well but have impacted my life, there are so many to name so I will just start mentioning names here and there :)! And I just want to say Thank You and I LOVE YOU!! Love: Joleen Haag

Blankets, Blankets, Blankets

We have been working hard to unpack all of our boxes and expecially the ones with the blankets and material in them. I have been needing a project to get my hands busy. Keep the blankets and stories coming. We would love to feature anyone who wants to share here. My Aunt has a bunch of blankets made and ready to go. Jess and I have a bunch as well. We haven't counted them just yet but we are looking for hospitals to take them too since we pretty much stocked up the Wasatch Front last fall.

February 2012

I can hardley believe that we are almost half way through February. Our dear sweet friends who got us started with this blanket project are moving to Utah for a few months. We have only talked over e-mails, FB and blogs so I am super excited to meet them. We have posted their link before on our family blog. Their group is called Calling All Angels. We are hoping they will guest post here once they get settled from their move. We have also invited them to take blankets with us to a hospital as well, that is why you haven't seen any pictures yet for this year's blanket drop. We are starting to make blankets again and would love anyone who wants to join in to do so.

Also something new for this year-- we would like to put a card with each blanket, so for those who don't sew but scrapbook/ craft and would like to make cards for us we would LOVE it if you WANT to. If you want to make your own cards to go with your blankets we would LOVE that too. You may make blank cards and send them or you may feel like writing something inside the cards as well, we would LOVE that too :)!! We have also had many people ask if we are going to do blanket parties again and we may. This year has been a little crazy so far but we are hoping to get something planned and out there. When we do another blanket party we will also have a card making station as well so you can come and make cards even if you don't sew or have an blanket to work on. We are working on rag quilts that will need to be clipped too. If anyone has any ideas or questions please feel free to leave comments here or e-mail us at jjhaag5@yahoo.com and put Operation Blanket Drop in the subject line so we don't accidentaly erase or delete your e-mail. Thank you so much to all who are undertaking this project with us.

Much Love,
Jess and Joleen Haag

New Year 2012

Happy New Year everyone!! This year is going to be an exciting one, I can feel it in my bones. Last year we had such an amazing response to Operation Blanket Drop that we have decided to extend it to this year as well. We have already received almost 100 blankets. My Aunt Pam and the choir group she sings with is already up and running with this project. We have had all kinds of donations so far and there is even one young man who is hoping he can do his Eagle Project with us/ for us. He is waiting on approval from the board. I am praying they will allow this to be Eagle Project worthy.

For those who are new to our blog and project let me fill you in quickly. First we make and donate blankets to hospitals for still born and fetal demise babies and their families. These blankets are for the families to help with the healing process associated with the loss of a baby. We accept new blankets only. They can be store bought or hand made which ever you choose. The sizes vary we take 10"x10" all the way up to crib size. Babies are born at all stages and range in size. If you would like to donate please contact us (Jess and Joleen at jjhaag5@yahoo.com) and we will send you the mailing info or if you live here in Utah (along the Wasatch Front) where you can drop them off. Each blanket needs to be in their own ziplock type bag to help keep them clean and also so we can write on the bag the size of blanket and that it is for still born/ fetal demise babies.

For those who are returning from last year we have made a few changes as to how we are doing things this year. First, we are not going to wait until Ammon's birthday to take the blankets to hospitals. As we get enough blankets to donate we will take them and drop them off. Second, we have stocked most of the local hospitals for the year (if not several years) so we may be taking the blankets to other hospitals outside of the Wasatch Front. And last, please email us your picture with your blanket for our blog if you so desire and if you have a story to share with us please do and we will feature your story here on the blog. You can choose to remain anonymous or you can give your name we don't mind either way. Sometimes sharing your story will help someone else to heal or give them the faith and courage to keep moving forward. We love to hear all of your stories even if you don't want them shared here, please do share with us. The best part of receiving a blanket is when it comes with a story. If it's okay to share your story/ experience just let us know otherwise we will keep it private.

And last-- we have had so many people ask us about hospitals and which hospitals the blankets are going too. It is a process and it is very time consuming to find and contact hospitals who want the blankets. Most hospitals are so excited about the blankets but not all have storage capacity. This means that one hospital may be able to handle storing 50 blankets while another can handle 200 or 500. Most hospitals can handle 50 to 100 blankets it's the trauma hospitals (usually the bigger ones) that can handle more. We appreciate all input and suggestions. And we love, Love, LoVe, LOVE taking these blankets to hospitals but we do have to consider their needs and try not to overwhelm them with blankets as well.

Thank you for all of your help with this project and we are hoping to be able to take more blankets this year to more hospitals.

Much Love,
Jess and Joleen Haag
jjhaag5@yahoo.com