A while back I wrote a blog entry about President Putin's proposal that each family giving birth to a child will be given a sizeable stipend in order to encourage more Russian people to have children. The Russian population is on the decline, and the theory is that if people have more money they will be able to better support children so they'll have more.

In my post I was on the fence about this possible proposal. People in Russia are very poor and a stipend of any kind could mean a lot. On the various... more

Over the past couple of months writing this blog I've often stumbled onto websites devoted to Russian Brides. You know what I mean - women from Russia who are advertising themselves as potential wives for American men. Often when I search a region, like my post the other day about Volgograd, I will accidentally come upon one of these websites: beautiful women seeking marriage with American man. Here's one, for example, that advertises a Romance Tour. This... more

Some major agencies came up for accredidation in the month of May - Frank and Children's Hope International among the list - and did not receive automatic re-accredidation. Because of a new law instituted just days before the re-accredidation of these agencies they were unable to comply in time.

Here is a list of agencies currently accredited in Russia, and this is what JCICS (theJoint Council of International Children's Services) says about the re-accredidation mess:

May... more

. Artificial twinning refers to the practice of adopting two unrelated children who are closer than 9 months apart. Artificial twinning is discouraged by most domestic adoption social workers; the only way to get around this is to adopt internationally. Some international agencies encourage the practice, some discourage it. Most countries, Russia included, do not prohibit the practice.

The reason it's discouraged domestically is because artificial twinning puts a great deal of stress on the adoptive parents and causes undue hardship on the children who are being adopted. Going from... more

Little J has announced that when he grows up he will marry me. I remember Big J saying the exact same thing at about age 3 or 4, so I am well prepared for this level of mommy love.

"You can't marry your mommy, honey," I explain. "I love you very much, but I'm already married. When you grow up and be a man you will find someone your own age to love and marry.

"YES I CAN MARRY YOU!" Little J says, being his usual intractable self.

"No, you really can't."

"I will marry you. We will have lots of girl babies together. I will get you lots of babies,... more

Last night was the much-anticipated pre-k graduation! I wrote a post about the dress rehearsal for this last week, in which Little J and his classmates performed at the school's volunteer tea and he acted very silly. He looked around, talked to me, picked at his shoe, beasically, he did everything but sing. I said I wouldn't bother to bring a video camera to the real performance and some readers urged me to rethink that decision. He might do something priceless, they said.

He did do something... more

I have written about paying for an adoption from Russia before, namely here and here, but I think this topic bears bringing up again since it is so, so expensive to adopt from Russia. This is something I've been thinking about more and more as I hope to start the process again in a couple more years, once I talk my husband into it. ;)

For us, the key will probably be extreme frugality as well as some positive real estate transactions.... more

So, if you have followed this blog at all you will know we've been through the wringer with Little J, trying to figure out how we can help him with his behavioral issues. Maybe "been through the wringer" is an exaggeration, because in reality Little J's issue are not as serious as many other children's behaviors, but still - we have been searching and searching for answers to his behavior problems, enlisting all the professionals we can enlist, with limited results.

We've seen Early Intervention twice, a clinic for Sensory Processing Disorder, had the schools do an evaluation, and... more

So yesterday my children's school put on a tea for all the volunteers who'd helped out over the school year. I was invited, as I volunteer in Big J's classroom as well as the library, but I went because Little J's preschool class was doing a performance for our pleasure.

Now, Big J went to this preschool and I am very familiar with the performances they give. Usually it's 2 or 3 songs accompanied by hand movements to act out the words. Typically about half the kids sing and do the hand movements really well, about 1/4 do it sorta well, and about 1/4 either don't do it at all or... more

This is the 3rd part of the repost of a wonderful e-mail by Carol Echternach, an adoptive mother and Director of CALFAS (California Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Organization). Part 1 is here. Part 2 is here.

Here's the end of what she has to say:

We did knowingly adopt one child from a "C" orphanage (we were not even allowed to go out to her orphanage because of the conditions), she was the bio sister of our other 2. She had been diagnosed with mental retardation, behavioral issues,... more