Laughner's Journey to Ethiopia

Due to the great response we received last year, we picked up another coffee pot and three more bags of fresh roasted Ethiopian coffee beans when we were visiting earlier this month. We got to watch the beans being sorted (by hand) and bagged. The aroma was wonderful. I'm not a coffee drinker, but having had so much coffee in Ethiopia, I'm starting to get hooked!  You can have one entry for five dollars, three entries for ten dollars, or ten entries for twenty dollars. All proceeds will help us fund our adoption. Email me (laughner@charter.net) or Lori (lorilaughner@charter.net) to let me know how many entries you want. BONUS: If you share our coffee giveaway on your Facebook page or on your blog, you'll receive five extra entries with your order! Tom

Imagine having 90 laughing, giggling, yelling children running towards you as fast as they can, with beaming faces and arms widespread. Prepare to be overwhelmed by them, as they reach for you to give you hugs, wrapping those arms tight around you in hugs so genuine and heartfelt, that you can't help getting caught up in their joy. A few weeks ago, our new friends the Davidsons from Missouri joined us on a visit to Kind Hearts Care Center, a small drop in center for children, located in beautiful countryside south of Addis Ababa. For me, it renewed my commitment for these kids, most of whom I'd met last year on a mission trip organized by Tom Davis and Children's Hopechest. For the others, they were able to experience the beauty, joy, and exhileration of spending a few hours with a group of children who will soak up as much love they can get. Planning for our visit had started several months prior, when we made a call to our friends and family to send us donations to ...

 Kids Care Orphanage (where Daniel spent time)  Huts that we saw.  Our Traditional Ethiopian Dinner.  Our sponsor child at Kind Hearts. Aunt Shirley and Uncle Tim's sponsor child. Monday- I woke up and ate my disgusting breakfast. We had fake eggs, burnt toast, and ok yogurt. We went on the bumpy roads dodging cars. There are no rules for the road in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We went to meet my sister "T" for the first time. She loves us, hugs, dolls, and balloons. Also at the transition home I played soccer with all the boys. On the way home I saw straw huts, people sitting on the side of the road begging, and lots of markets. Tuesday- When we woke up we went shopping in the morning. I bought a cool white Ethiopia hat. Everyone was hungry and most were homeless. It was very sad that kids had to give shoeshines to afford food and drinks. As you walk by the shops all of the owners beg you to come into their shops. The shops are very small and the main items wer...

 A scrap book for our Sweet "T".... We have a 300 piece puzzle and we are selling puzzle pieces. For $5.00 you can purchase a puzzle piece. What does this mean? It means that when you donate $5.00 to help bring T home, we will put our name on the back of a puzzle piece and you get to send a special message or well wish to go in this special book for T. She will have this special gift that shows all of the family and friends that helped bring her home!   We have sold 34 pieces and have some wonderful well wishes in her book!  We have wishes from family and friends from 3 different states at this point. Will your family or state be represented?  Today is T's birthday, her last birthday as an orphan. Would you like to purchase a puzzle piece and leave her a birthday message?  We would like to thank all of the family and friends who have sent special messages!  Please keep the messages coming!  Our 300 piece puzzle.... Is your name on t...

This is what our pile of luggage looked like, before we walked out the door! We divided everything up between the Transition Home where our daughter is, 2 orphanages Kids Care and KVI, and a drop in care center called Kind Hearts! We took a large duffel bag of items to the Transition Home and donated $100 towards supplies. We took one large duffel bag to Kid's Care (the orphanage that Daniel spent time at) and donated $100 towards supplies. We gave a large duffel bag of general supplies, plus one large duffel bag of emergency needed items to KVI. This bag included 8 mattress pad covers, 10 crib sheets, blankets, 70+ cloth diapers, 40 plastic diaper covers, and things like this. We were also able to donate $280 for supplies to be purchased. We took a large duffel bag of supplies including school supplies to Kind Hearts and a large tote of care package items to share with all of the kids, and we stopped and purchased green-oranges, bananas, powder-milk, onions, fire wood, and two lam...

Here is the link for most of the photos we took in Ethiopia last week. Since we haven't yet passed court, we can't post photos of T. http://tinyurl.com/ethiopia2010

Day 5 (Friday) Is it possible that the week is over? Do we really need to say good-bye to T today? Do I really need to sit on a plane for 17 hours? The day started with two of the orphanages in Addis Ababa from which our agency receives children for adoption. We had received reports last week that this orphanage was in bad shape, with no mattresses for the kids, and a shortage of diapers. The group before us bought mattresses, and we were asked to bring diapers (cloth), and something to protect the mattresses. We also dropped off toothbrushes, toothpaste, medical supplies, clothes, and food that had been given to us. We had already committed money from friends and family yo help where they felt a need.  Of all the orphanages I visited last year, this one was the filthiest, dreariest, depressing place I had been. The compound looks pleasant enough at first. It is a gated house, with a driveway, a small grass yard with a swing set, and a modest house and secondary building. The sma...

Day 4 (Thursday) Emotionally, Thursday was the biggest roller coaster of the trip. I got to spend a lot of time by myself with our daughter. We went to court to meet with the judge. And, we met with the grandmother for a lengthy and emotional discussion. First, an update. We did not get the final approval from the Ethiopian court. The license for the orphanage from which T came is up for renewal. Because that process is not finished, the government agency charged with making a recommendation to the judge had not been submitted to the court. The judge was very pleasant, albeit soft-spoken, and directed a question to Sara and Michael. She asked about if they were okay with the adoption. Both said they were. As soon as the court receives the recommendation letter, the adoption will be final. Lori will travel either in late December or early January to bring T home.     Earlier in the week, we had received a DVD of an interview with our daughter's grandmother. She was being asked...

Day 3 (Wednesday) Last December, a group of us made up mostly of families who have adopted or were preparing to adopt from Ethiopia, spent a week here, visiting orphanages throughout the country. It was an eye opening experience. It was the first time most of us had been outside of Addis Ababa and the differences between the capital city and the small towns and villages away from here were staggering. A year later, those differences are even more staggering. Yesterday, we traveled with our new friends the Davidsons to Kind Hearts, a drop in center about an hour south of Addis. When we were there last year, there were about sixty children. With the help of a load of donations, Lori put together 75 bags of goodies. The bags contained toothbrushes, granola bars, balloons, toys, and lots more. Well, on the way down to Kind Hearts, we learn that there are 98 now kids at Kind Hearts! New strategy: dump out all of the bags and divvy out the goods individually. It was all good, though, as we f...

Day One This is my third trip to Ethiopia in as many years. Arriving at the airport last night, and driving around town, I’ve realized that this country is starting to have that familiar feeling, like the country is a part of me as much as I’m a part of the country. I will say, though, that Addis Ababa is a huge city, and while I recognize a lot of it, I still find it hard to get my bearings. Today, we drove by the plaza where last year we watched a bunch of kids playing soccer last year. It reminded me of the great trip we had last year, how much has been accomplished since last December, but how much there still is to do. We got to meet our new daughter today! She is the sweetest little girl that you can imagine. She recognized us right away, and took to us pretty quickly. Sara is her pal, spending more time with her than any of the rest of us. I sense that she’s going to pick up on her English pretty quickly; she knows her letters and a few words. By the end of the day, she was...