Where in the world has more than a year gone?
Jess and I, last February, picked up our family and all our belongs and moved to Washington State. It has been an incredible year and we love our new home town of Wenatchee. The area is beautiful, the people are amazing and friendly and life is a lot different than what it was in Utah. It has taken me almost a year to acclimate to a new state, routine and life. Now that I am feeling settled and with the New Year upon us I have made a few goals for this year. One is to start decorating our house (because we are not going anywhere anytime soon) and another is to get back on track with baby blankets! This year I have decided to have "one little word" to help me remember and define my goals/ things I would like to accomplish this year. That one little word is "CHOOSE" (you can read more about it on the family blog). Choose to continue with operation blanket drop.
Now that we are in a new state I would love to start taking blankets to the hospitals here in Washington. We love to go on adventures as a family (again check out the family blog) and have decided that this year when we go on our adventures we will find hospitals along the way and deliver blankets to them. So there is not a "due date" for the blankets if you choose to join in with us. The rules are all still the same and if you don't know how to sew and want to help we have had many people in the past who just send fabric, thread, gallon and quart size ziplock type baggies for the blankets to go in and any materials to help make blankets. Then I happily make them. I also have family and friends who help make them as well. We have also had many people donate their scraps of fabric which help make smaller quilts and blankets. The blankets are sized from 10"x10" up to crib size 36"x36" and can be made from any fabric or material. We try to give each hospital a variety of sizes and I try to let you know on the blog, Facebook, Instagram and now twitter (say what? Yep I joined the twitter club too) what sizes we are in need of.
We will be in Utah this spring (we have not finalized dates yet but sometime over Spring Break) and will be happy to pick up blankets then. You can always drop them off at our mom's houses. You can mail us blankets or if you are local and not too far away we can pick them up or you can drop them off at our home. Look below for ways to contact us for drop off locations and mailing addresses. In years past we have had blankets come to us from all over the United States, from Germany, Australia, Canada and Ireland. E-mail us a picture of you showcasing your blanket so we can post it here on the blog. We love hearing your stories and if you are okay with us sharing we post them here on the blog, just let us know if your story is okay to share and if you would like names and locations changed to protect privacy. We have had many ask if we accept baby beanies and gowns. We accept and donate to the hospitals what ever we are given. If you make beanies rather than blankets and want to help out we'd love to have them.
Thank you for helping us help other families to have a little peace or comfort during such a difficult and trying time! I am excited for this new year and to see what it brings. And I am excited to see all the blankets you make and donate. We will be hashtagging with any combination of the following: #babyblankets #operationblanketdrop #choose #stillborn #fetaldemise and #blankets
Much Love: Joleen and Jess
Contact info:
e-mail: jjhaag5@yahoo.com please put "operation blanket drop" in the subject line.
Facebook: Joleen Peery Haag
Instagram: jjhaag5
Twitter: jjhaag5
