When I was researching Saturday's post about The Frog Princess, I got a rude awakening to just how much things have changed in Russia since my first adoption: I checked up on the Hotel Vladivostok, only to discover that its top rooms now go for more than $300 a night!

In December 1999, my room at the Hotel Vladivostok was $33 a night. It was small, with space only for a bed, a portable crib and a small television whose sole English-language... more

It is Mother's Day here. Actually, as I tell my kids, every day is Mother's Day. I don't expect gifts every day. I don’t even expect them on the official Mother's Day, although they did each make me some lovely cards and pictures. But just as I say that we respect the earth every day, we make sure to respect mom 365 days of the year.

It isn't Mother's Day in Russia today. Russia celebrates something that, in a way, I like more: International Women's Day. Yes, before you jump all over me, I know that the Soviet holiday has... more

I was switching the clothes in my kids' closet to summer from winter this morning and I came across a set of Russian picture puzzle blocks. If memory serves, they were given to my older son in Vladivostok by one of the other families crowding the upper floors of the Hotel Vladivostok in early December of 1999.

Depending on which way you turned the blocks, they made six different pictures. I never knew what they were, but this morning, as I was struggling to break my writer's block on another assignment,... more

If you read the mainstream press, you'd come away with the idea that Russia has shut its doors to adoption. As I've said before, it hasn't, and if you want proof you need look no further than the posts and blogs about the referrals, trips and court dates that prospective parents are getting right now. Yes, right now.

Before you jump to the conclusion that something nefarious is going on, remember this: While the accreditations of adoption agencies... more

A bit of news on the adoption front, but not the big news on accreditation that we all want to see.

As expected, Robert and Brenda Matthey were sentenced to four years in a New Jersey state prison for causing the death of the child they adopted from Russia, Viktor Alexander Matthey, in December 1999. The couple had pleaded guilty to reckless manslaughter on April 12 and dropped all outstanding appeals. But, given the time they have already served... more

There's a recent thread on the Russian Adoption Forum that touches on the school and preschool topic I have started exploring: Do you tell the school that your child was adopted from Russia?

It seems that the mother who started the thread was afraid that the school... more

There are challenges to adopting an older child from Russia. And even though they will be offset by plenty of rewards (plenty, trust me), some of the challenges will definitely leave you scratching your head. Many of the early ones will occur in school, so I thought I'd take a few posts to look at some of the issues that parents--and the children they have adopted from Russia--have experienced at school, and how they have handled them.

First up, preschool.

Back in February, Rhonda, who blogs at "Worth... more

I wrote this morning about the surprise visit of a senior Russian adoption official, Alina Levitskaya. But I wanted to come back to some of the other points made by Ms. Levitskaya in her meeting with The National Council for Adoption because I think they can help us form a clearer picture of what is, and isn't happening in Russian adoptions right now.

According to NCFA staffer Lee Allen, Ms. Levitskaya said that adoptions of Russian children by Russian families are increasing.... more

I don’t know if your adoption agency has alerted you to this, but there was a very important Russian visitor in the United States two weeks ago: Alina Levitskaya.

Ms. Levitskaya's official title is Director of the Department of Youth Policy, Upbringing and Social Protection of Children of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science. Which means she is in the inner circle as the Ministry of Education rounds up Russian government input on the re-accreditation of foreign adoption agencies.

According to The National Council for Adoption, which... more

As a single, working mom of two, I have a long to-do list of things that don't get done.

But when I was working on a reorganization of the basement the other day, I came across the box of materials I had put aside for my younger son's life book. There was the journal I kept during my two trips to Sakhalin Island in 2005, and copies of all the e-mails I had sent or received while I was away. There were photos, but I am not the world's best with a camera and most of the time during my trips I was playing with my son, not taking his... more