Laughner's Journey to Ethiopia

Tuesday We slept from 11pm to 4:30am and then it was back to the airport at 5:30. We met a really nice couple from Florida coming back from India. They were on our flight to JFK. They took Benjamin and me under their wings and helped us through the Dubai airport which is very large. They helped us get through passport checks, to find our gate, and even had breakfast with us. I truly believe God knew exactly what we needed and placed them with us. They even sat right in front of us on the plane. Our flight taking off from Dubai, was late. We had 4 crying babies on our section of the plane. We started taxing off and got to the run way, when they discovered that we were carrying bags for a passenger that never boarded. So they took us back to the gate to remove the bags. We were then up in the air. They told us hours later that there was a passenger having medical problems and that we were going to need to make an emergency medical landing in Munich, which soon changed to Amst...

Monday Monday morning, we loaded up all of our stuff and said good bye to the staff at the guest house. We were off to visit Kind Hearts where our other sponsor child attends. Fikre, Zellalem, and the new driver Joe picked us oup. We stopped by the bank to exchange money, bought Addis tea, 200 bananas, and 200 mangos. The bananas and mangos cost 840 birr, about $44 in US money. Can you imagine buying all that fruit in the US for that amount of money? We then continued our journey to Kind Hearts. It had rained the night before. Some of the dirt roads were mud pits. I can't believe that we made it there without getting stuck. When we arrived at Kind Hearts (another care point center), where our sponsor son Yibeltal is, the kids were smiling and waiting for us. They were all lined up and holding a poster that said happy birthday Benjamin on one side in English with our date and one side in Amharic with their date. Ethiopia is one of the only countries that do not follow our cale...

Sunday, Sunday morning, I finally woke Benjamin up after 13 ½ hours of sleep. He had a quick breakfast of bananas and water melon. We then loaded up the van and headed off to church. We went to the Beza International Church, the English service. We started out with an hour of praise songs. We were in a large beautiful building, praising God with people from all over the world. Everyone was smiling and worshiping one God. If was beautiful. What an amazing God, we all worship! After about an hour of singing, they collected offering and dismissed the kids to childrens church. Benjamin decided to join the kids and went outside with them to a tent in the parking lot. I was proud of him for going. I have to say that I was more nervous about him going than he was. The service was good, there were a few things that were said that didn't sit quite right with our group. It made for an interesting chat after the service. We then had a picnic lunch of rice and vegetables and rice an...

Our drive back to Addis. We were up and on the bus by 6:30. We made a few stops in nature for bath room breaks. At one of our stops that was supposed to be a very short stop Rob Tennant, our leader and pastor, said to Benjamin, (while standing behind the bus) I will race you to the top of this mountain. Ready? Well Benjamin just started to run, I yelled stop, you are in the road, Rob grabbed him. Thank goodness, because there was a car coming. They then walked to the other side of the road and said go. They ran about half way up the hill and then had to walk the rest of the way. I was getting nervous, it was a pretty good size mountain. They made it to the top and smiled for a quick picture. Well let's say going up was much easier than coming down. I was really scared that they were going to fall down the mountain. Well Rob did manage to fall a little and come back with a need for a few bandages. I finally asked Fikre to go and save my son. Rob later gave me a hard time a...

Well it is now Friday, our last day with the kids! I don't know that we could have ever prepared ourselves enough for this day. Our day was amazing and beautiful. I know I have used these words a lot, but I don't know how else to describe it. We arrived at the care point and were greeted like every other day. Kids were everywhere blocking the door way, just waiting to touch us whether it be a high five, a hug, a kiss, or a hand on our arm. They were waiting to show us that they were wearing their new stuff for their sponsor families pictures. We were greeted every day with so much love! All of the kids were happy and just wanted to be close to us. After loving on the kids for a a little bit, Benjamin and I took Kalkidan aside and gave her the new shoes. I don't know for sure, but these may be the first new pair of shoes that she has ever had. She was so excited, smiling from ear to ear! I gave her the sandals first and she tried them on and smiled. I then asked her...

We woke and went to breakfast. Benjamin had dry corn flakes as the milk here is scalding hot. We then grabbed supplies and headed to the care point. When we arrived once again all the kids we're hanging out the gates to get to us. I was I the back of the van, last one to get out. Kalkidan was there waiting reaching in the van window and yelling "Lori, I love you", she took my hand and led me into the church where Aunt Virginia and Uncle Jim's sponsor child was. They both were stuck to me like glue. Once again, Benjamin was surrounded by kids. They absolutely love him. He has been a real trooper. I have received many compliments about how well he hanging in there, being the only kid on our team. Benjamin has a really great heart and is really getting it. He has even learned some Amharic phrases to help lead the kids activities. We handed out more care packages, hair ties, dresses, decorated t-shirts, played volley ball, and much more. Today the church team started p...

Today we left the hotel at 8:30, to head to the drop in center. Once again we were greeted with so much love. Kalkidan, was right there waiting for me. She was all smiles and yelling "Lori", when I got close to her she rn into my arms, she was stuck to me like glue! We quickly set up camp for the day, Bible skits, recreation, crafts, and care packages. I worked with the care package station. I can't even begin to tell you, how Important that package is to them. They were so excited about the letters, pictures, and goodies, They went around showing every one that had time to look. While working with care packages, I passed out back packs and had them write their name on them (sim means name).i then gave very one a cloth doll, girls got dresses, and hair ties, Benjamin helped entertain the kids while they waited for care packages. He is sure that he worked much harder than me. We then left the drop in center for lunch, Kalkidan, got to go with us so that we could go to her...

On Tuesday we left for Kombolcha 6:30 am and drove until 4:00. Such great scenery on our way. We started out in Addis with the wonderful sites and smells of Addis (lots of exhaust fumes). Our first stop was a nature bathroom call. We lined up in a row of trees and did what we needed to do. It wasn't pleasant but it didn't kill us. We drove a while longer then stopped to get our driver some breakfast. We then drove a few more hours, stopped along the side of the road, climbed a hill, and had a spaghetti picnic. It was a beautiful view. We ate. The kids down below us walking home from school, were wondering what we were up to. The kept laughing and waving to us. 2 kids climbed the hill to see what we're up to. We invited them to eat with us. We fixed them a plate of spaghetti. They were not sure what to do with it or the forks. Eventually they ate some with their fingers but they were not fond of it. We took a team picture on the hill, and then headed back the van. What we...

We woke up Monday morning, got up and had breakfast with the team. Benjamin was not feeling well. We managed to sneak out long enough to go shopping and I bought some great stuff. We saw a little boy begging. Myndi and Benjamin were heart broken. Benjamin gave him some birr and they both gave him a snack. Shopping in all those little shops is truly an experience. You have people trying to sell you stuff, begging for food, wanting to wash your shoes, wanting to sell you gum, etc. After shopping we headed to fashionAble. Benjamin was really sick, so our driver dropped off the team and took us back to the guest house. Benjamin rested for a while and then started eating and drinking, we even went for a walk and even looked at some little shops. We came back to write in our journals and play games. It was a fun evening of UNO with Myndi, Carey, and Benjamin.  We headed to bed, so we could leave for Kombolcha in the morning.

We got up at 3 am to get ready for the airport. At 4 am we headed to pick up Carey Douglas. We then headed to JFK airport in NY. We arrived there just before 7 am. Tom pulled up to the curb to drop us off and say good bye. Carey,Benjamin, and I loaded 6 50 pound bags, 1 70 pound bag, and 6 15+ pound bags onto 2 carts and headed into the airport. We went to the Emirates counter, since they weren't en for another few minutes the lines were not long. The guy that checked us in was super nice and put everything through and didn't charge us anything extra. We then headed for breakfast knowing it would be a while before our flight. After breakfast we ran into Myndi, Glen, and Ty. Ty and Benjamin had fun being silly. After a while we said good bye to Glen and Ty and headed through security. We had no problem getting through security, unfortunately though we found out our flight was delayed by 2 hours. 2 hours is all we had between flights in Dubai. They kept promising us we would be ...