To continue on with my holiday "gift ideas with meaning" theme, I want to tell you about a beautiful book that is now available, with the proceeds benefiting orphans in Ethiopia and families who choose to adopt them.

"Faces of Layla: A Journey Through Ethiopian Adoption" is a beautiful, large, hard-cover book that is full of stunning photographs of life in Addis Ababa and of Ethiopian orphaned children living at Adoption Advocates International's Layla House orphanage. The photographs are by photographer Emma Dodge Hanson, the foreward is by author Melissa Fay Greene and the text is by author Jennifer Armstrong.

The photos capture the lives of the children and some of the staff at Layla House, as well as some powerful scenes of life in Ethiopia.

I got to see a copy of the book this weekend and it truly is stunningly beautiful, and it is definitely not only for AAI families. If you are an adoptive parent of an Ethiopian child, if you have a heart for children in Africa or if you enjoy beautiful photography, you will find this book to be a treasure. It would make a wonderful holiday gift for lots of people on your list (especially people that "have everything" or are involved in adoption).

Best of all, Emma Dodge Hansen is donating all of the profits of the book to AAI's Grace Fund. The GRACE Fund was developed to assist families who might not have the means to cover all of the costs of adoption and who would like to adopt one of the children (or siblings) who seem to wait the longest for adoptive families. The fund reduces the agency fees and could be available for families adopting children designated by AAI as more difficult to place, including older children, sibling groups, special needs children and children who have been waiting over 18 months for a family.

We do not have any children from Layla House, but we did benefit from the GRACE fund for Belane's adoption, and we do have (soon to be) three Ethiopian children. As soon as I saw the book I knew that I would be getting one for our coffee table (for the day when our kids are old enough that we can have a coffee table and put fancy books on it). :)

You can order your copy on the Benefit Orphans site, or if you want it gift wrapped and sent with a lovely card to someone for Christmas you can order it by click on the "Donate Now" button on the AAI website (it will take you to an order form).

Happy Shopping!

Other suggestions for "holiday gifts with meaning":

AHOPE for Children

Heifer International

Angel Covers



*If you have not yet participated, make sure you visit this post and enter the fun giveaway for National Adoption Month thanks to Curls.

* Photo from AAI