Laughner's Journey to Ethiopia

One year ago on July 18th we received our referral for Daniel! Enjoy the video, and see what a difference a year can make!

On June26th we packed up the mini van and the 7 of us headed off for Virginia. We drove to Fredrickburg VA. It took a lot longer than it should have. We got stuck in DC traffic and at one point made it 5 miles in one hour. We just kept watching the GPS say you have an hour to go... we would drive an hour and it would still say you have a hour to go. We got in late that evening just in time for a nasty thunder storm. We were lucky enough to stay at a friends parents home while they were away. On Sat. morning we got up and drove towards DC and then took the subway the rest of the way. We spent the first half of the day sight seeing DC. We saw the Washington Monument, Lincoln's Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, WWII Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, the White House.... then we decided to stop by the BBQ Festival for lunch. Well we were having so much fun we spent the rest of our afternoon there. We had lunch (lots of free samples), the girls played many rounds of Knock Out (basketball) Sara cam...

Today is finally our last day of school. Today is Allison's last day as a 6th grader. She will be leaving Chestnut Hill and will be moving on to Jabbish Brooks. Allison has had a great year. She was in a play, played piano for the pit band of another play, played clarinet in the 6th grade band, was in the 6th grade chorus, accomplished another year of piano lessons, played basketball, passed the safe sitter course, had great grades all year, among other things. Today is Michael's last day as a 3rd grader at Swift River. He will be moving up to Chestnut Hill school. Michael has had a great year. He played, soccer(3 sessions), basketball, flag football, is taking guitar lessons, has had great grades, and been a part of many other things this year. Today is Benjamin's last day as a kindergartner. He is leaving Cold Spring School, and moving up to Swift River. He has had a great year. He played two sessions of soccer, t-ball, flag football, and made many new friends. He had a g...

Our Daniel that we all know and love, even when he stuffs things down the toilet and Dad is out of town. Yes that is duct tape holding the lid down, no you can not use the toilet, yes you need to go all the way upstairs to use the toilet. Happy Fathers Day Dad, you get to take the toilet apart when you get back from CA. Michael turned 9 this week. We went to Red Robins for his birthday lunch. He got a new guitar, strap, and carrying case. He had 10 boys over Sat. from 4:30-9:00 to celebrate. We had challenges, a digital scavenger hunt, bingo, pizza, and ice cream sundaes. It is hard to believe that he could be 9 and going into 4th grade. We had a fireplace and bookshelves built in. This took a while but was worth the wait.

"Think of the plight of the orphan somewhere right now out there in the world. It's not just that she's lonely. It's that she has NO inheritance, no future. With every passing year she's less "cute," less adoptable. In just a few years, on her eighteenth birthday, she'll be expelled from the orphanage or from "the system." What will happen to her then? Maybe she'll join the military or find some job training. Maybe she'll stare at a tile on the ceiling above her as her body is violated by a man who's willing to pay her enough to eat for a day, alone in a back alley or in front of a camera crew of strangers. Maybe she'll place a revolver in her mouth or tie a rope around her neck, knowing NO ONE will have to deal with her except, once again the bureaucratic "authorities" who can clean up the mess she leaves behind. Can you feel the force of such desperation? Jesus can. She's his little sister. What if a mighty ba...

We are very excited to say.... The Laughner Family will be at the reunion!We can not wait to meet all of you!