I wanted to let you all know about a(nother) great Russian adoption blog over at blogspot: Adopting from Russia. The writer, Jen, is the mother of three little boys and she and her husband are in the process of adopting a little girl from Russia.

Jen has been kind enough to mention my need for region information and has often commented on my blog - I wanted to return the favor. I think hers is and will be a particularly useful blog for everyone either thinking about adoption or who are early in the process. It sounds like Jen and her family are getting closer and closer to their referral. Their dossier has been in since December and they're just waiting...hopefully they are dealing with an agency that's already gotten their reaccreditation.

One thing that's very cool is her list of adoption blogs. That's not a feature that we have here at adoptionblogs.com. I can review individual blogs but it's not set up so I can have a list of "friends," so to speak. I will have to check out all these blogs and see what's going on with those people.

Another cool thing is her resource list of adoption charities and fundraising ideas for adoption. I can only think of one good thing about the current slowdown: it gives you that much more time to get the money together.

In Jen's blog she's reminded me of the Russian government's database of children who are available for adoption. It's at www.usynovite.ru/db/ and is searchable by gender, eye and hair color, age, and whether or not the child is up for adoption. I know there's a way to get a translated version of this...I will have to investigate. But in the meantime, if you go to Jen's blog and scroll down you will see a complete translation of all the terms in the post.

I just looked up little girl babies! I can't stand it...I need one, too!