OK, I have to admit it: I have never been comfortable with the first sentence of Anna Karenina.

"Happy families are all alike," reads my translation, "every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." (Other translations render the first sentence as "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.")

Wiktionary, the dictionary affiliate of Wikipedia, defines "happy"... more

OK, let me state for the record that I have no idea whether Pamela Anderson is planning to adopt from Russia. Her blog entry on her trip to a Moscow-area orphanage after she hosted the MTV Russia Film Awards could be read in many different ways. Her manager hasn't yet returned my call seeking a clarification. But if Ms. Anderson is thinking along adoption lines, she will be glad that she is a citizen of both the United States and Canada. That's because Canadian adoption practices... more

Thank you, Dave Thomas.

Yes, I know the founder of Wendy's International has been dead for five years now, but the foundation that bears his name--and carries on his commitment to adoption--has just released a list that all of us can cheer: the "100 Best Adoption-Friendly Workplaces".

Working with Employee Benefit News, The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption collected information from 762 companies in the United... more

Now, I'm going to deal with one of the more burning questions among families waiting for Russia to begin rolling out the accreditations again: Why did my adoption fingerprints expire? Think about it, folks. Fingerprints are a unique mark of your identity. In adulthood, which is when you are being fingerprinted, they don't change. Before DNA testing became widespread, fingerprints were law enforcement's chief tool for linking criminals to a crime, even... more

You will be fingerprinted many times as you work toward your adoption in Russia, many times. You'll be fingerprinted at the local level, the state level and by U.S. federal authorities, too. And if your adoption drags on for more than a year, you'll discover what I did: You--and every member of your household over the age of 18--will have to be fingerprinted again.

In the 18 months it took to complete my second adoption in Russia, my recurring trips to get fingerprinted became something of a running joke among my co-workers. "You... more

I'm going to ask you today to take a moment to think about aiding the children in Russia's orphanages.

Why? Well, I got a note yesterday from the agency that helped me in both of my adoptions from Russia, and it made the reasons quite clear.

Because fewer children are being adopted from Russia now, there are more of them in the orphanages. Those of you who have been to Russia's orphanages in the past know how their resources were often stretched thin. Imagine how much farther they have to go now.

But it's not just that... more

I finally carved out a few days to get started on reading Anna Karenina (and I see from the forum posts that a few of you have too). And I ran smack into the problem that made it so hard to read the book the last time around: the names.

As I wrote earlier this year, meeting one Russian means having to learn a whole lot of names. There's a first name,... more

Before the summer of 2004, Karen June Grant was just one of those gifted crafters we all get to meet from time to time. "Just"? No, that's not the right way to put it: The woman has panache.

But that summer Karen began to evaluate her main source of employment, graphic and Web design. Like many of us, she took what I've come to call a "momventory" because she and her husband were going to adopt from Russia. "As we started to get closer... more

Here's the good news about driving in Russia: You won't be doing it yourself.

Here's the bad news about driving in Russia: You won't be doing it yourself.

When I say this, I mean absolutely no disrespect to the wonderful drivers who helped me on my two adoption journeys. But there is something unsettling about being a backseat passenger on unfamiliar roads, especially when the roads are covered with potholes and you are traveling them at high speed. And even if that sounds like a cab ride in New York City, you probably haven't done... more

No matter what your strategy for flying safely to and within Russia, at some point you will be faced with another safety dilemma: driving in Russia. I thought I'd take two posts to talk about some of the current issues in Russian road safety and five things you can do to stay safe while traveling by car.

As Russia's economy has ballooned, so has the car and... more