Why we've been missing lately . . .

Initially Boy Baby Announcements

Graduation invitations and announcements by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

We'll be back, we promise! We have been busy loving our little one. There are some projects in the works, so stay tuned.

Missing Russia

Clearly, my Russia clock is ticking. Over the past 5 years, I have gotten used to visiting our kiddos at Sovietsk every year in August or September. This year, we are not able to go as we are expecting a new addition to our family any minute. This is where I wish I had superpowers--I would teleport in a heartbeat to see our kiddos and introduce our new little guy when he is here. All in due time, but for now it will have to do to write letters. And today, we had beet salad and cabbage rolls for dinner . . .

We have a friend traveling August 23, so we are collecting letters, gifts, and financial donations ahead of their trip. If you are able to donate towards programming, you can do that any time! Money goes through Children's HopeChest and should be marked RU0506000, Sovietsk. If you want to send letters or gifts, we can get them hand delivered if we receive them by August 17. Contact us if you are interested, and we will help you make the connection. Maybe I'll share the beet salad recipe, if you're lucky.

It's time to send more letters!

It's time once again for our annual letter drive.  We won't be able to visit Sovietsk this year ourselves, but another group of sponsors is visiting Kirov region later this month and will be able to hand deliver letters for us.  If you would like to take this opportunity to start a pen pal relationship with a friend across the ocean, now is the time.  Or if you already have a pen pal or are a sponsor, don't miss this chance to send something to your friend at Sovietsk.  If you'd like to send a letter please let us know via e-mail and we can make sure the letters get there.  The deadline to have letters to us is August 17th. 

We also want to say thanks to everyone who contributed to the graduation gifts.  But if you haven't contributed yet, don't worry because it's not too late.  Just send us an e-mail and we'll let you know how.

A Visit to Moscow

Two weeks ago today, St. Basil's Cathedral turned 450 years old.  This beautiful monument to medieval Russia and Tsar Ivan the Terrible is a Russian Orthodox church built at Ivan's behest to celebrate a military victory.  It's really quite a breathtaking and unique structure and no matter how many times I've visited Red Square, I cannot stop myself from taking a bunch of pictures of it.

                                                               Here's a photo I took of St. Basil's on our trip last fall. 
                                                              It was the first time we've been to Red Square at night.

This summer, some of the kids and staff from the orphanage had a chance to travel to Moscow to visit St. Basil's and see other sites.  They got to see a ballet at the Bolshoi Theater, visit some animals at the zoo, tour the city by boat along the Moscow River, and eat at a fancy restaurant.  Not to mention the train ride from Kirov to Moscow, which is really a lot more fun than it sounds.  When I heard about the trip the kids took to Moscow I was so happy for them and felt very grateful for the great staff of caregivers at the orphanage. 

Here's a photo of the kids in Red Square this summer.

In the background is one of the walls of the Kremlin.

I would be remiss if I didn't make another plug for writing letters to the kids.  I can't emphasize enough just how important these letters are and how very, very easy it is to do.  Let us know if you'd like a transatlantic pen pal.  And we're still trying to raise money to buy gifts for the orphanage graduates.  See previous posts for details. 

Weekend Warriors--Grad gift update/extension!

Update . . . we have the weekend to continue collecting funds. I know we can do it!

We have $435 left to go. SO . . .
. . . if 10 more families can chip in $43.50 each, OR
. . . if 6 more families chip in about $70 each, OR
if lots of people give just a little,
or just a few people give a little bit more,
we will have it!

The best way to contribute:
Log on to http://www.hopechest.org/, click Give, and enter your amount into designated gifts. Please use refernce number RU0506000, and please list Sovietsk Graduate Gifts 2011 in the notes to ensure the money gets to our grads.

Please, please consider donating. Thanks to all of you who have given, and all of you who are spreading the word!

Graduation Gift update

Update . . . in an ideal world, we would have all of the funds for these gifts by THIS FRIDAY! July 22!

We have $575 left to go. SO . . . if 10 more families can chip in $57.50 each, we would have it!

The best way to contribute:
Log on to http://www.hopechest.org/, click Give, and enter your amount into designated gifts. Please use refernce number RU0506000, and please list Sovietsk Graduate Gifts 2011 in the notes to ensure the money gets to our grads.

Please, please consider donating. Thank you for your kind support!

Graduation Gifts

When people graduate in the US, it is usually a celebration. Accomplishment! Moving forward in the world, on to the next big thing. A day to celebrate with family and friends.

For young people graduating from school who are a part of the orphanage system in Russia, it can be a day of uncertainty, even fear. Of course, it is time to celebrate all the hard work that brought them to that point. But they will also leave everything they've known and venture into the world, on their own. Some tech schools provide opportunity, while others are all too familiar places of oppression and despair. The stigma of orphanhood can follow them, and they may or may not learn the skills they need to be successful in the world.

Part of our work in Russia is in hope of easing the anxiety of that graduation. We hope our youth stay connected with people who care about them, and we hope they plug in to other Fund Nadezhda programs, like the Ministry Center they are opening soon in Kirov to support these young graduates.

We also want to celebrate these young people and who they have become. We are sending the graduates a special note, and we hope to raise enough funds for each of them to have a high quality tea kettle. In Russia, tea is very important! They use electric kettles, and every proper adult in Russia knows to serve tea to important guests.

It will cost $695 to purchase quality tea kettles and sponsor a celebration for 8 wonderful grads at Sovietsk. Could you contribute? If 10 families gave $70, we would have it in no time! We are working quickly to raise the funds, as the children are leaving July 31. If you are interested in contributing, please comment below or send me an email. Or, log on to http://www.hopechest.org/, click give, and enter your amount into designated gifts. Please list Sovietsk Graduate Gifts in the notes to ensure the money gets to our grads.

And for your consideration, here are the young men and women we are celebrating this year, all leaving the 9th grade:

Ivan, age 16, Sergey, age 16, Tolya, age 16, and Maxim, age 17, will study to be electricians.

Lida, age 17, and Sasha, age 16, will study to become facing workers.
Nadya, age 18, will study to be a mail operator.

One young lady, 16-year-old Masha, will move on to 10th grade.

We wish these young people all the best. We know that Lida and Tolya had dreams of teaching PE or working in sports, and that Nadya dreamed of being a train attendant and traveling the country. Dreams change, and we know that reality often imposes itself on our hopes. We also know that no matter what profession these young people find, they are valuable and capable of the best humanity has to offer. Please join us in hoping and praying for the best for these young men and women.

Best. Letter. Ever.

Wow, it's been quite an absence from blogging. There are lots of reasons for that, most of them good! We have also had to step back a little bit from lots of 'extras' with Sovietsk. BUT, one thing we are committed to doing is writing those letters! We've heard from more children this year than ever before, and it is a beautiful thing!

Along those lines, we had to share a letter that came to one of our long time sponsors. This gentleman has been writing to and sponsoring this young man since we began in 2007. They have never met, but they have developed quite a friendship. He shared this letter with us, and I am quite sure it is among the best letters I've ever read. We had to share!

Hello, Uncle (American Friend),

How are you? I'm fine. My favorite subjects are Russian language and Maths. You are my best friend I think. I like the pictures you've sent me last time. I'm really glad to become close friends with you. I need you and your support. You care for me. there are few people who really care.

I hope you to see you one day. It will be the best day of my life.

Goodbye,
[child from Sovietsk]

It takes time, in this case 4 years, but this is the kind of relationship you can develop and the impact you can have just by writing letters! This sponsor is planning to travel in the future, but even if he couldn't, he has made all the difference in the world just by caring.

You can do this too! For those of you who write, stay encouraged. Your words mean so much! For those of you who don't, we would love to connect you. Please contact me and I would be glad to help you find a Russian friend!

Sovietsk Newsletter

Here's the latest newsletter from Sovietsk Orphanage:

Dear American friends,

We are glad to write to you again. Life is going well here. Soon the spring will come. The buds will appear on the brunches and there will be a spring smell in the air. We love spring.

Soon the third term will be over and we are very busy at school. We have a lot of tests in different subjects. By the way, Anya is helping us with our English homework now. We had some events recently. Do you know the meaning of the 23d of February? It is the Country Defender’s Day. It is a day when we congratulate all the boys, not only those who have already been soldiers. We usually give small gifts to our boys. Then we move on to the 8th of March, which is Women’s Day here in Russia. Do you have a similar holiday?

We hope to see you again very soon. We also hope that you all stay warm, healthy and happy.

Best regards

from your Russian children at Sovietsk orphanage

Dear friends,

Sovietsk is so beautiful now. Though there is still a lot of snow, it’s not as cold there. The children are happy and busy with the school and continue to be involved in each other’s lives.

We have added another activity during my visits. We not only talk, play games, watch films and presentations and do crafts, we also study English and German together. I help them to do their homework. I am really happy that they are interested in studying foreign languages.

Last time I visited we did a very interesting activity. We did bouquets with sweets from paper. The children loved it. Some boys decided to give them to the caregivers. It was very nice.

Children are asking about the next visit of Sarah, Ben, Katherine and Jen. They love you and miss you very much.

Thank you for you kindness!

From Ann Butorova

Dear friends,

This holiday season was an interesting time. We had several events that are worth speaking about. First of all, we took part in the regional ecological competition and took the second place. It was very interesting and the children worked really hard. Then we took part in the local skiing competition and also won the second prize. It was a team competition. Some of our children, Tolya N. and Lena M., were also baptized this month. The caregivers and the director are the godparents for them. We think this is a very important for our children because they won’t feel loneliness anymore. Also, during Epiphany we went to the church and bathed in the font. The children were very excited! Not very long ago we had a nice entertainment program for boys and girl devoted to St. Valentine’s Day, 23d of February and 8th of March. It was a lot of fun, especially dancing on the piece of newspaper and singing.

That is all for now. We all pray for you and think about you very often.

Sincerely,

From Angelika Nikolaevna

Dear Friends,

We are having a nice time here. Most of the children are healthy. Nikita N and Nastya G are feeling unwell, but we hope that soon they will recover. We are busy with the renovation of the first and second group. We hope to finish them soon. During the summer holidays we are planning to do the other 2 groups. Everything is OK. The graduates visited us this month and it is great to know that our children stay healthy and find their way and place in life.

We are preparing for spring now. We will be cleaning everything and soon we’ll celebrate Shrovetide with pancakes and games in the open air.

That is all for now. Stay healthy and don’t forget about us!

From Anisiya Pavlovna Vachreneva

Waving goodbye

I had the pleasure of taking a run on a beautiful spring evening today.  Shortly into my run I went by a little league soccer practice.  I immediately became nostalgic for the football pitch behind Sovietsk Orphanage.  I've had a lot of fun there playing pick up games, losing at banana, or watching others play.  I was reminded of one young man in particular we've mentioned before on this blog who has shown a lot of promise as a soccer player, but hasn't been particularly open with us.  When we visited last September he, along with the orphanage director and some other kids from the orphanage, were invited to an athletic competition.  They left the same day that we left for home, but we were able to see them off.  As they were driving away we waved goodbye to them.  Some of the kids waved enthusiastically back to us but he remained indifferent. But as they drove around to the other side of the building on their way out we took a shortcut to the other side so that we could wave goodbye to them again.  The second time he actually cracked a smile and waved back.  A small gesture I realize, but it was a good reminder for us that you just have to keep trying.  Sometimes you won't get a response for a while, or at all.  But it's worth it to keep trying.

Sending Smiles

Some of these kiddos at Sovietsk just don't smile enough. It's understandable. When you've lost your family and feel rejected by the ones you love most, why should you smile? These children are cautious when it comes to trusting people, and they are guarded from showing emotions. They've been vulnerable before, to disastrous results. So one thing we strive to do with these children is bring a few more smiles.

That's why I love this picture! We're visiting the Sovietks history museum which had a special wax figure display. So, you see Kolai, me, Zhenya, and Piotr the great in the background. You can see a glimmer of smile on Kolai's face, and Zhenya's eyes are smiling. He tried to hold it in, but the smile comes through.

We met Kolai last year, in 2009, for the first time. He's had a hard life, and he is a sweet young man. He and Ben spent a good amount of time together working and playing soccer, and he is very personable. We've known Zhenya since our very first visit to Sovietsk. This is the FIRST time he's spent an extended period of time with us, accepted hugs, and shown a glimmer of smile. It warmed my heart and brought me to tears when we left. After 4 visits and many, many letters, maybe he buys it. Maybe he knows we're not kidding, and we truly care about him. He's among the oldest at the orphanage now, and he was so proud of his position as a leader. We are so proud of him.

Writing letters and sending photos is a great chance to send smiles to these kids. When I write, I like to use the word 'smile' every so often, maybe sharing a memory about them that makes me smile. Reading the world smile often leads the reader to smile, and smiling increases oxytocin and other positive hormones while decreasing stress hormones. This is SO healthy for our over-stressed, under-smiling children. If you want to do your part in sending a smile, let me know and we'll connect you with a child to whom you can write and send your love.

Thanks for caring about these special children!

I want to introduce you to a friend of Sovietsk Orphanage. His name is Father Nikolai and he is the priest at the Orthodox Church just down the street from the orphanage. A number of the children at Sovietsk Orphanage have been baptized by Father Nikolai and he has taken it upon himself to look after their spiritual needs. We fully support Father Nikolai and believe that spiritual health is part of being a well rounded person. We spent a few hours with him and he was very warm, welcoming, and kindhearted. And he has an amazing beard. He took us on a tour of his church, which was founded before the United States existed. He shared with us the history of the church and the persecution it experienced through the years, especially at the hand of the Soviet government. We'll have more on Father Nikolai and the time we spent with him later.

Bikes and Skis

I'll be the first to say that it has been TOUGH keeping up with Sovietsk the last half of 2010. Thanks for sticking with us. A new year brings a new opportunity to work even harder for these kiddos!
While we saw a decline in sponsorship (which we are working hard to reverse) and giving, we have also engaged some new, enthusiastic donors (for whom we are so grateful!).

One gentlemen, who has been like family for years upon years, has taken it to heart to provide bikes for all of the kids of Sovietsk. He heard how the bikes help kids get to school, get out in the community, and even get to work in some cases. This was important to him, but even more important was the idea that kids just need to be kids. He believes that kids deserve to play, to experience the freedom of zipping around on a bicycle. So he is working hard at funding bikes for all the kids!

To go a step further, in Russia, bikes work about half the year. The orphanage staff has asked him to consider skis as another option, since cross-country skis are not only useful transportation, but will allow the children to compete with other children throughout the winter.


The donor's response? Skis, bikes, wagons, whatever makes the children feel loved.

Can you help us out? We've purchased bikes and skis before, but not enough for the entire orphanage. And when we're talking 34 kids, ages 7-18, there is a lot of need to make sure every child gets a chance.

We're waiting to hear just how much we need to raise to cover all these kids. If you are interested, visit http://www.hopechest.org/ and click Give. Please enter "Sovietsk fund" or "Sovietsk Bikes and Skis" in the notes section.

Thank you for continuing to love our kids!

And Happy New Year!

Will you sponsor Armik?

While Russians conducted gift-giving and feasting on New Years, they reserve Christmas for religious observance. Orthodox Christmas was last week, January 7th. Would you consider honoring Russian Christmas, as well as our tradition of giving Christmas gifts, by contributing financially or sending letters to the children in Sovietsk Orphanage? Would you consider making 2011 the year you become a sponsor of a child in need?

Armik is 11 years old and came to the orphanage this year with his 16 year old brother Sasha, his 7 year old brother Lonya, and his 6 year old sister Toma. Armik is very quiet and reserved, and he is having a hard time adjusting to orphanage life. Armik has been essentially raised by his brother Sasha for a few years now, and he is learning what it means to be part of a larger community. Armik has some barriers to overcome to catch up with his peers. Sponsorship can help him gain medical and educational assistance and show him he is loved and cherished by a special someone half a world away.

Will you be Armik’s sponsor? Through sponsorship, American friends connect one-on-one with children at the orphanage through letters, prayer, and financial support. For $34 a month (that’s $408 a year), the children receive financial assistance for educational and medical needs, regular visits from mentor Anya, and birthday and Christmas parties. While ideally sponsors stay connected to the children through their entire time at the orphanage, a minimum one-year sponsorship is encouraged.

Sponsorship payments may be made monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or yearly by check, credit card, or EFT. Sponsors are encouraged to write one letter, one page long, once a month. It’s a simple task with a HUGE impact! Or, if sponsorship is too great a commitment, you can always donate at http://www.hopechest.org/ or with checks payable to Children’s HopeChest. Please mark the memo line Sovietsk Fund. If you are interested in sponsoring Armik or any of the other children at Sovietsk Orphanage in Kirov, Russia, please send me an email.

And Happy New Year!

С Рождеством Христовым! С наступающим Новым Годом! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of our friends and loved ones at home and in our Russian home. Christmas is celebrated on the 7th of January according to the Julian calendar. On this holiday we pray that our friends at Sovietsk Orphange may experience the peace and joy of Christmas. And we offer our best wishes to them for 2011. As always, if you'd like to become involved in the life of a lonely child, drop me a line.