Where is it? Vologda Oblast is a region in northwestern Russia. It borders on the regions of Arkhangelsk, Kirov, Kostroma, Yaroslavl, Tver, Novgorod and Leningrad, as well as the Republic of Karelia. It is in the same time zone as Moscow. You can find the current local time here.

What's the biggest city? Cherepovets, which is located about... more

Every month at my kids' elementary school they have a Red, White & Blue Day assembly. They were started in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which claimed two lives in town, but civics has always been a strong focus of the school's curriculum.

Each Red, White & Blue Day assembly has a theme--the military's role for Veteran's Day, civil rights for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, the history of America's flag and the writing of the national anthem for Flag Day this past week. The lessons are simplified, as I suppose they must... more

There is some very insightful writing on the Russian adoption blogs this month and I wanted to pass it on.

Jenni writes about the two children she adopted from Murmansk in December 2005 at "Four Feet More". In a post early this month entitled "Vika And The Bear" she relates what happened when her daughter's kindergarten class read Nikolai, the Only Bear. If you haven't read this book, it is a good one to have on hand... more

I don’t know why it is that the key conversations in our family seem to occur in traffic. It's not like we spend a lot of time on the road; I probably have fewer miles on my three-year-old car right now than most families have after 12 months.

But you might remember that my older son, who was adopted from Vladivostok, started asking questions about his birth mother... more

It's Monday night, which means it is finally time for me to read the Sunday paper. And what do I find in the Sunday magazine that accompanies The New York Times but an article on the very issue I addressed Saturday night: Holding a child back before kindergarten.

I had, ironically, opened up the magazine to read a piece called "Boys Gone Mild", about grownups now having to teach children how... more

I've asked my kids' elementary school to give my little guy another year of kindergarten.

It was not an easy choice. He has come amazingly far--physically, socially and developmentally--since coming home from Sakhalin Island less than two years ago. Just being in an educational setting for several hours a day was a big leap for him. Remember that children in Russia--in orphanages or out--don't start school until they are seven. And I learned in April that there are no major problems that would qualify him for an individualized... more

Whether you are a prospective adoptive parent needing motivation because Moscow is taking so long to sign off on the re-accreditations or a parent already home needing some inspiration, you'll be in luck this weekend: Dateline NBC is going to re-run a remarkable story on Russian adoption.

Correspondent Keith Morrison's story originally aired last June. It is the story of Lisa and Hythem Salem, "two regular people in an average suburb in America", as Morrison called them. Not... more

The moms in my neighborhood think I'm nuts for giving my kids all the choices I do for breakfast, lunch and snacks. They offer one or two choices for breakfast, they pack their kids' lunches and snacks without consultation.

At my house, the pantry and fridge are wide open for those meals. If my older son, who was adopted from Vladivostok at 18 months more than seven years ago, wants baked beans for breakfast, he can eat baked beans. If my little guy, who has been here less than two years from Sakhalin Island, wants yogurt and a banana, that's what... more

Stop me if you have heard this one before.

You tell somebody that you are adopting from Russia, or you are the parent of a child adopted from Russia, and they smile at you and say, "You are a saint."

No, no, no. I am not, I am not, I am not. Can you see me shaking my head? Can you hear me stomping my feet. I am not a saint. I am not remotely qualified for beatification on any score.

Why am I so opposed to sainthood? Because it takes adopting from Russia out of what it should be--one of the many possible, normal choices in life.... more

What are the odds of this: Two positive stories about Russian adoption appearing in the mainstream press on the same day, which just happens to be Mother's Day? I just about fell off my chair this morning when I opened my Google Alerts. I had been reading a very dreamlike sequence in Anna Karenina last night and, looking at the news alerts at 6 in the morning, I had to make sure I wasn't still dreaming.

But it gets even better:... more