Hi, I'm Boston Laughrey.
We adopted Chloe from Crimea after we learned about the plight of children with disabilities in Eastern Europe. Once we realized they were there and they were suffering, they haunted us. Those faces never really leave you, and when Stephanie asked me to be involved, I was more than happy to do so.
I am grateful for everyone who has a part in helping these children in any way, and I hope that this blog will serve to enlighten and inform. I am excited to see what happens when that enlightenment and information gives way to action and transformation (as it tends to).
Chloe is the youngest of my daughters, we have 4, and the only one with special needs.
Thank you for reading!
dedicated to improving the lives of children in Eastern European orphanages, serving their spiritual and physical needs with the love of Christ.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Monday, October 17, 2011
Meet the team: Stephanie
Hi, I'm Stephanie! And Project TLC is my labor of love.
I would never have thought twice about orphans or Ukraine if not for my son, Ralph. You see, Ralph is four years old and has Down Syndrome. His health was extremely fragile for his first two years. I spent countless hours on the internet, searching for information about Down Syndrome, pulmonary hypertension, atrial-septal defects, open heart surgery vs. device repair, and on and on and on, trying to find ways to help him.
During one of those nerdy search sessions, I stumbled across a Down Syndrome adoption blog. I was shocked to the core that children with Down Syndrome were nearly always rejected at birth in many countries around the world.
Can you believe it? I slept with one eye on oxygen saturation monitor for two years, for a child who would have likely died alone, in a crib, in an orphanage laying room if he had been born in some other part of the world. How could this be? Why didn't I know about this sooner? How could I live out the rest of my life without doing something about it?
So, after Ralph's health stabilized, and after another baby graced our family, we did do something. In the summer of 2010, we adopted Zhen and Theo, two little boys from an orphanage in Ukraine. The experience changed me profoundly.
After forty days in Ukraine and even more orphanage visits, I grew to love the other little children there as well. They were all desperate for a scrap of human contact, a kind word, a little song. Many of them had twisted bodies, were frighteningly thin, but were strangely tough. Survivors already, at the tender ages of three and four.
The day I walked out of the orphanage with Zhen and Theo to start our new lives in the USA, my heart shattered. I cried myself to sleep on the train that night. What would become of those beautiful children? The next stop for them, at the age of four, would be the mental institution. Who would love them? Who would sing to them? Who would show them kindness?
Since that day, I have thought about and prayed for those children continually. The love of Christ is compelling me to be a voice for them, to do what I can to improve their lives on earth. Project TLC is the fruit of those prayers. Thank you.
I would never have thought twice about orphans or Ukraine if not for my son, Ralph. You see, Ralph is four years old and has Down Syndrome. His health was extremely fragile for his first two years. I spent countless hours on the internet, searching for information about Down Syndrome, pulmonary hypertension, atrial-septal defects, open heart surgery vs. device repair, and on and on and on, trying to find ways to help him.During one of those nerdy search sessions, I stumbled across a Down Syndrome adoption blog. I was shocked to the core that children with Down Syndrome were nearly always rejected at birth in many countries around the world.
Can you believe it? I slept with one eye on oxygen saturation monitor for two years, for a child who would have likely died alone, in a crib, in an orphanage laying room if he had been born in some other part of the world. How could this be? Why didn't I know about this sooner? How could I live out the rest of my life without doing something about it?
So, after Ralph's health stabilized, and after another baby graced our family, we did do something. In the summer of 2010, we adopted Zhen and Theo, two little boys from an orphanage in Ukraine. The experience changed me profoundly.
After forty days in Ukraine and even more orphanage visits, I grew to love the other little children there as well. They were all desperate for a scrap of human contact, a kind word, a little song. Many of them had twisted bodies, were frighteningly thin, but were strangely tough. Survivors already, at the tender ages of three and four.
The day I walked out of the orphanage with Zhen and Theo to start our new lives in the USA, my heart shattered. I cried myself to sleep on the train that night. What would become of those beautiful children? The next stop for them, at the age of four, would be the mental institution. Who would love them? Who would sing to them? Who would show them kindness?
Since that day, I have thought about and prayed for those children continually. The love of Christ is compelling me to be a voice for them, to do what I can to improve their lives on earth. Project TLC is the fruit of those prayers. Thank you.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Welcome!
Welcome to the Project TLC blog!
Project TLC was begun as the spirit led effort of three moms, Stephanie, Shelly and Boston. Each of our families has adopted children with Down Syndrome from one particular orphanage in Crimea, a region of Ukraine. Each of us were heartbroken by the children we had to leave behind. After witnessing the magnitude of neglect and abuse happening in the orphanages, we were compelled to provide aid to those children.
Project TLC was begun as the spirit led effort of three moms, Stephanie, Shelly and Boston. Each of our families has adopted children with Down Syndrome from one particular orphanage in Crimea, a region of Ukraine. Each of us were heartbroken by the children we had to leave behind. After witnessing the magnitude of neglect and abuse happening in the orphanages, we were compelled to provide aid to those children.
We invite you to join us as we pursue the heart of the Ukrainian orphan, in the name of Jesus.
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