Mark your calendars for February 11. That date is the kick-off for a key tradition in the Russian Orthodox Church's celebration of Lent: Butter Week.

Now in our cholesterol-obsessed country, it may smack of treason to have a whole week dedicated to butter. But if you ever needed a reason to love Russian cooking, Maslenitsa, or Butter Week, is it.

Some sources do call Maslenitsa Pancake Week, because pancakes--blini--are the centerpiece of its meals. But in Russian Orthodox Church traditions, it is the... more

So with the birthday of one son behind me, I though I'd take a minute to talk about birthdays in Russia. They are a big deal in Russian society at large, although obviously constrained in the orphanages.

First, some ground rules. Russian tradition holds that a birthday is celebrated on or after the honoree's big day, not before. And family presents should be left by the birthday child's bed, so they may wake up to them on birthday day. I started doing that with my older son as soon as he was old enough to understand birthdays, and he always gets a big kick from... more

No sooner had I posted my calendar of Russian art, music and theater around the United States in February than I discovered one more good one to bring to your attention. My thanks to Steve at "A Dad's Journey Through International Adoption" for highlighting this event.

The Russian Center of San Francisco is hosting its 19th annual Russian Festival 2007 from Feb. 9-11 and it is promising food, tea, singing, dancing and Russian arts and crafts. The festival will be open Friday evening from 5:30-9:30... more

Like many parents of children adopted from Russia, I do what I can to keep my kids connected with Russian culture. We read Russian folk tales and go to performances of groups like the Russian-American Kids’ Circus, which will be on Long Island this weekend and in Kutztown, Pa. on Feb. 11. It is good, old-fashioned circus fun.

So I thought it would be a good idea on this blog to scan the culture... more

If you have a Google Alert set up for the words "Russian adoption", chances are you've been getting a lot of items about a movie called The Italian. I'm not going to be seeing it, and I thought I'd take a minute to explain why.

It's not distance, though the closest theater now showing it is 14 miles and a stiff toll from my house. The Italian , or Italianetz as it was known when first released in 2005, is an art house movie and I do not live in an art cinema... more

The temperature finally dipped to the single digits in the last few days, and I was overcome by a powerful urge to make soup.

I have 51 cookbooks on my shelves at last count, but since I was taking on the job of Russian adoption blogger, I begged one of my sisters for one of hers, Please To The Table. This book is a wonderful compendium of recipes from Russia and the other nations of the former... more

My colleagues over at the Crisis Pregnancy Blog recently took a look at the top U.S. baby names for 2006, thanks to Baby Center's annual list.

Though I favor traditional names over trendy ones, I think lists like this can have value when you are weighing what to name a newborn. But if you are adopting internationally, you're adopting someone who already has a name. And if you're adopting from Russia, that name is likely to be long, hard to pronounce, and accompanied by what seems to be an endless string of nicknames. And if you adopt an older child from... more

Below are some exciting events going on in the Russian adoption bloggy world this week.

Sveta will be coming home with to Texas with her forever family.

Lauren & Marco are returning from their referral trip. It sounds like they had a wonderful time with their little girl.

We’re all crossing our fingers for Jennefer this week, hoping that her elusive court date will be scheduled.... more

I'm popping in from my vacation to SHAMELESSLY self-promote my new newsletter for kids adopted from Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and all other Eastern European or formerly Soviet countries: Kultura.

Oh, I'm shameless. But I'm also trying to get this new project off the ground and I created it specifically for the kids adopted from those countries - the parents of which I HOPE are my readers, so there you go.

Here are what some kind and lovely first readers said about the newsletter:

"A fantastic tool to help us teach our children about not only their heritage but also of other countries as well. So many of their... more

This write-up is from the FRUA board and is sponsored by the FRUA-DC chapter:

Winterfest is our biggest event of the year, and we finally have the plans all ready. The purpose of Winterfest is to get adoptive families together to celebrate our children, and offering some cultural exposure for the kids. For Parents-In-Progress this is a wonderful encouragement to see the children home with their families, and we would love to have you join us!

So here is the lowdown:

Saturday, February... more