Today's high in Novosibirsk was 47° Fahrenheit, with an overnight low of 36°. Pretty balmy by Siberian standards, especially when you consider that, in January, Novosibirsk's average high is 9° and its low is -1°.

Why the weather report? Well as it happens, some prospective adoptive parents are just back from a long-awaited trip one to Novosibirsk, and one of them has done something really cool about Russian winter weather.

Steve and his wife Stefanie, like many of you, live year-round in a city that doesn't get harsh winters. But they are adopting from a region that definitely does. And since they are doing trip one now, they are likely to be on trip two when the temperatures are really chilly. They need a snowsuit, but, with luck, they'll only need it for about two weeks. And so was born the Yahoo! group Snowsuit Swap.

The idea is pretty simple: If you have a snowsuit you don't need, you post it to the group, listing the size, color, condition and, of course your e-mail address. The family needing the snowsuit pays for it to be shipped to them, which is going to be a lot less than buying one, even at a superstore.

"Although I'd love to take credit for the core idea," Steve wrote me, "that credit goes to someone on the FRUA forums who goes by the username 'Dannyssong'." Steve contacted "Dannyssong" and volunteered to set up the site, and he says 30 people have joined the group so far. Steve says people can also swap other one-use items from international adoption trips, but they may not sell them.

Rest assured, your child's orphanage caregivers are likely to be very vigilant that the winter gear you bring is up to snuff. When I traveled to Vladivostok (average January high 16°) in 1999 for my older son, I brought along toddler-size long underwear, Polartec tops and leggings, a snowsuit and Polartec-lined hats, boots and mittens. They were all thoroughly inspected and my translator carefully rendered my explanation of how Polartec compares to wool.

So let's give Steve and "Dannyssong" a well-mittened thumbs up for a cool idea. And again, click here to join the group.

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