Two weeks...

By -
Two weeks from today I will be on my way to Ethiopia with Children’s Hopechest (http://www.hopechest.org/). We are visiting eight orphanages over ten days in an effort to determine how we might help them meet any needs they may have. We will also be spending time with the kids.

I’m looking forward to the trip. When we adopted Daniel last year, Lori and I made a commitment to continue to identify ways to work with the great people of Ethiopia. We met a lot of wonderful people, and I can’t wait to return and find ways to contribute to the countless needs there.

We’ve received some great donations from local groups; 80 toothbrushes and 76 tubes of toothpaste from our dentist, socks, vitamins, soap, shoes, balls, band aids, shoes and more from friends. We’ve also received monetary donations. We’ll be using that money to pool with the other folks traveling so we can purchase items while in country. Another group, visiting Uganda, used their combined money to purchase mattresses for one of the orphanages, and mosquito nets for a large group of kids.

If you’re interested in making a donation, there are two ways to contribute. You can visit the Children’s Hopechest web site. Make sure you specify your donation is for the upcoming Ethiopia mission trip and include my name.

The other way to contribute is via our blog (http://laughners.blogspot.com). If you make your donation via our blog, we’ll send you your choice of t-shirt for every $25 you donate (we have two designs – the newer Ethiopia adoption shirt, and last year’s “They Are Precious in His Sight” shirts and bags).

If I’m able, I’ll be blogging my trip. I’ll also be taking lots of pictures and video.

Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers.

Tom

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Reunions (Tom)

By -
Image
The primary reason we made this trip to Ethiopia was to have Daniel and Tamenech meet their birth families as well as learn the culture and history of their native countries. In order to start the process, we hired a gentleman who we've known for many years to find them. Yonas has helped numerous adoptees find their birth families, so we were excited to learn what he could find. We sent him all of the information we had and he started his work. In short time, he had located everyone. Tamenech's family is from Sidama, a territory in the southern part of the country. They live in traditional huts in a  vlllage with no running water or electricity. We knew Tamenech had grandparents and at least one sibling. Yonas reported after a visit that Tamenech's grandfather had passed, along with one brother. Her grandmother was still around, as well as a sister (who had just gotten married in an arranged marriage).  Daniel's mother had moved to Beirut shortly after he was born, whic...
Read more

IT'S A BOY!

By -
Today at 4:25 the call came.... It is 4:25 I was sitting out by the pool just getting ready to get in. The neighbor had just left and my kids were swimming. I sit on the edge to slide in and just then the phone rings. I think I will see who it is, but I am not going to answer it. It says 703.... oh my I think that is America World, I start crying. I answer the phone and it is Terra she asked me how I was, I ask is this "the call" she says yes... I am yelling at the kids get out of the pool, on the deck, no off the deck, close up the pool, it's "the call" I am just crying and going crazy! The neighbor hears me and thinks that someone got hurt in the pool, she comes running. The kids are yelling it's our referral. I am apologizing to Terra, I am running in the house crying, shaking, and my phone is about to die. I find another phone calm down and listen to all the information. I called my husband on the cell phone to tell him (still crying), he thinks that som...
Read more