Grandfather Frost!

While we've been focusing on stepping up sponsorship for our kids, we understand that $408 is a big commitment for many people. But because sponsorship funds are low, New Years funds are low for our kids this year. In Russia, New Years brings a party, gifts, and Grandfather Frost with Sneguruchka, his granddaughter snow princess. (Christmas is reserved for religious festivities.)

Would you please consider contributing towards New Years celebrations this year? You can donate either through the tab on the right, or at www.hopechest.org. (Click Give, then enter RU0506 Grandfather Frost in the notes.) Or, you can give Ben or I a check payable to Children's HopeChest. Remember, letters are always welcome!

Please remember the sting of winter is even colder for children who have been abandoned by their families. We want them to feel our warmth and love. We want to remind them that they are not alone, but they have friends around the world who think of them and care for them. Will you consider helping? Blessings to all of you!

Home for the Holidays

It feels good to be back! I have been in a different world for the last few months, swimming in all kinds of wonderful things. I've been working on a trafficking prevention program for Doma International, which is pretty exciting, and working on growing my skills and expertise as a youth & child social worker. It's been wonderful, but I am thankful it is winding down and I am able to spend some more time at HOME, where I am able to just be me.

This weekend, I spent time with my big, wonderful family and made some great memories. Our choir shared a special moment Sunday singing Богородице Дево (turn up your sound to hear it!) and thanking our Precentor, who is moving on to new opportunities. And we received a surprise package from Sovietsk! We received letters, letters, letters and a copy of the full-length documentary shown on Kirov News. Tonight, I will be sorting Christmas and New Years cards sent from Sovietsk Supporters to the children at the orphanage. I have spent the last few days with people and activities which are central to me being ME, not a professional or a student, but just plain Sarah.

I've been thinking a lot lately about a special evening we spent in Sovietsk, largely thanks to you, Sovietsk Supporters. While Ben, his dad, and Mischa were boxing with the older boys, we ladies stayed back to paint faces and make bracelets. Jen and Katherine were face painting pros, and Barb was our jewelry queen. While they did their thing, I had the privelege of sharing a special moment with each of the children who were there. We called the children to a private room one at a time, and Sveta helped me present them with their special gift packets. Each child received plenty of gum, chapstick, lip gloss for the girls, hackey sacks for the guys, stationary, a special pen, and a mirror, all bundled up just for them. I wish I could share with you the look of delight each face had when they received their gifts, and the pride they had when they heard the gift was special, just for them. It wasn't so much the gifts, although they were welcome and much appreciated, but it was the thought that someone cared enough about just them to send a gift. They weren't one of 30 when I gave them your gifts. They were just themselves. It was a special night, and I saw more life in those young eyes than I had ever seen before!

Last week, we put together birthday Smile Packets for each of the children at Sovietsk. We are sending them early so each child will receive one on his or her birthday. We are sending a special picture, a memory of them which makes us smile, and wishes for the happiest birthday yet, specially made for each child. We hope this small gesture will have a big impact, and the kiddos will know they are remembered and loved on their birthdays, just for who they are.

These are tiny ways we can remind these young people of how special and important they are, just themselves. Some of them will have special moments over the holidays which help them grow in who they are, as I am so thankful to have had already this season. Some of them will go home fo the holidays. Some of them will not, and that will hurt.

If any of you would like to send a special holiday card or email to one of our children, just reminding them that they are important, remembered, and not alone, please email me. We sent many letters, but we have a few children who could use some extra love.

Thank you for all you do for these children! I wish each of you a Christmas week full of special memories and love, just because of who you are.

Russian Christmas

The Russian Orthodox Church, and to a degree, Russian culture itself, gets it right when it comes to the difference between Christmas and New Year. The New Year holiday comes first with a big party, complete with gifts and jumping in the snow. Christmas comes January 7 and is more solemn, and certainly less commercial, than what we're used to. For them, the holiday is about faith and family and the seriousness of the moment that the holiday represents.

Even when moving away from commercialism, it's easy to get carried away. We are the sort who want to do EVERYTHING at Christmas. We shop for the Sharing Place, where people who are struggling financially can come and 'shop' for presents for their family. We donate special food to a local pantry so people can celebrate with a meal. You can send gifts to military men and women, pack shoeboxes for children around the world, visit nursing homes and hospitals with smiles and songs. There is really no end to the need for love and joy for those who are especially lonely this time of year.

(For more ideas, visit Sojourner's Peace and Justice Christmas at
http://go.sojo.net/campaign/peace_justice_christmas. There is so much more to Christmas than bargains and cookies!)

While I would do everything if I could, I am trying to prioritize wisely because despite my denial, I can't do everything. I'm trying to prioritize what only I can do. While I can (and will) share some gifts and food and Christmas smiles with others this holiday, others can do that as well (and I hope they do!). But I'm the only wife to my husband and the only daughter to my parents, the only aunt Sarah and sister Sarah and daughter-in-law Sarah and granddaughter Sarah, the only one who can continue the relationships I've started at Sovietsk, with Katya, Sergey, Galina, and the rest.

I am going to continue to do as much as I can, but I've learned to start with what only I can do first.

We encourage you to use the whole time up to Orthodox Christmas (January 7th) to focus on sharing love and light, peace and justice with the world around you--in the spirit of the baby we celebrate. And we encourage you to do what only you can do--enjoy and invest in the relationships you have been given. And please remember to let that special child know you are STILL thinking of him, or start that letter just from you especially to her.

(photo credit: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7174794.stm)

Wistful for the Future

It's Advent. It's the beginning of my favorite time of year.

It's just like whenever I hear the Overture from Messiah--I get so excited about what's coming next. The moment I hear the opening chords, I'm drawn in, simultaneously relishing each musical moment and anticipating the music to come.

(Messiah essentially fits the whole liturgical year into one setting, with beautifully expressive music and brilliantly chosen texts. I am pretty sure they sing Messiah in heaven.)

So, while my favorite time of year is Lent culminating in Easter Sunday, I love Advent. It signifies so much more to come. As Pastor Felde put it, during advent, we are "wistful for the future." We await the baby who comes to bring light, who lives a lifetime of human joy and pain, who brings ultimate triumph when darkness is defeated and Love wins.

Pastor mentioned that wistful is an odd word in discussing the future, as it often focuses on the past. But, during Advent and the holiday season, I feel it. I feel wistful for the coming joys of the holidays--seeing family and making memories.

I feel wistful for my kids at Sovietsk--for their futures, knowing this hopeful story is theirs and praying they can own it. Their pasts are burdensome, it's true. But there are so many beautiful possibilities in their futures, if they are able to find the right path. That's why we go.

Many times, their eyes for the future are clouded by debilitating pain, paralyzing self-doubt, and no true knowledge of how to find the way. They have trudged through valleys on confusing, winding, rough paths, young and alone. Their experiences tell them that darkness is inevitable, that they don't deserve joy, that they mean nothing. Those lies are so difficult to drown out--impossible if there is nothing else to hear.

But the story of hope brings the music of hope. Advent reminds us that out of darkness comes light. As in Isaiah, "Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill made low, the crooked straight, and the rough places plain." We're called to prepare the way for hope, to build a highway in the desert. The more caring people who bring comfort, encouragement, and guidance, the better chance these little ones have.

We often get asked "Why Russia?" So there's another answer.

Ben and I are wistful to see our children again. The good news is, it is almost time to plan our next trip! Stay posted, more information to come soon.