Four more boxes arrived.

This week fpur more boxes made it to Krasnodar. Two boxes were from the Couturier family, one box from the Millers and another one from William Bell - thank you! In May-June most boarding school will be equipping their graduates to leave the orphanages - most of what you have sent will go towards those purposes, the rest I will distribute as I see fit - especially clothes for young babies. May the Lord's blessing be with you and your loved ones.

Easter In Russian orthodox Church

Irene and Jeanette were in Russia during easter week - in Russia we call it "Svetlaya sedmitsa" - Bright seven days. We were thrilled to have them worship the risen Lord with us!

Very special guests

I did have two very special guests vist me back in April. Irene and Jeanette were adopted from Russia 7 and 5 years ago. This year they were back to get a closure for their stories. It was especially important now since this is their last year in school - they are on the way to college this comming fall.

First and foremost they wanted to visit the orphanage they were adopted from and it was a very sad trip. On the one hand orphanage was a much better place for them then their homes (both families were abusing alkohol). Orphanage meant security, food, care, clean bead and schooling. On the other hand, they missed individual love and attention any child needs.

It was sad to see their places taken - other kids abandoned and foresaken by their parents, in fear of future, of the need at some point to leave the security of the orphanage provision and the necessity to face the real world.

The trip to the birth places of the girls was sad and emotional too. Almost everyone in their familes already died.

Both Jeanette and Irene are responcible, loving , beautiful young ladies and I am no end grateful to their adoptive parents for making this trip possible for the girls and for giving them such a good family where they very obviously thrive.

Visit to Tenginskaya orphanage

Yesterday I took some clothing and school supplies to Tenginskaya Orphanage. The day was windy and the trip took 4 hours round trip. Once again I was warned by the vice director that I can not take any pictures of the children... So I secretly snapped two shots of kids playing football and walking outside.

It is early spring here and the grass has not arrived yet. The wind rose a lot of dust from the fields into the air and sometimes driving was difficult.

Gratitude to everyone who gave towards my ministry at the orpahanges!

Mailing adress

Dear friends,
my mailing adress is still the same:

Olga Spachil
P.O.Box 4003
Krasnodar 350 000
Russia

Pam, thank you for the comment. It would be great to hear from you!

International Aoptions from Kranodar region

A very symbolic bill board has appeared in the center of Krasnodar. It shows two kids clinging to each other with the inscription "I am waiting for you, mama". There is all the information - the telephone numbers, etc. for those who want to adopt or take kids under their patronage.

Krasnodar Department of Education has made it a priority to put kids from orphanages under patronage of local families. Families are paid an ammount of approximately 7000 roubles per child . Today's exchange rate is 25.85 roubles per 1 US$. Some families have taken as many as 4 kids already. Most of these families come from rural areas.

The prosess goes pretty well - Krasnodar region occupies third place in Russia as far as the number of kids put into patronage families is concerned. This process is pretty new and not all mechanisms are worked out.

Orphanafe directors are not happy with the process, they think there is too much rush and theat the families are not ready, they do not really know the pecularities of institutionalised children, they expect a lot of kids to be brought back to orphanages pretty soon, we shall live and see.

There are still orphans with all sorts of handicap, international adopton was their only chance for a family. Very few of these kids end up in Russian families. International adoption is almost stopped in Krasnodar region at this point. We will see what the future has in store for all of us. But at this point I am not involved in any adoptions for the US families.

Three boxes arrived!

Two boxes from Dana T.(mailed on Dec.12) and one box from Valery B.(mailed the first week of January) made it safely to Krasnodar. Thank you!

Anastasia With Her Parents - Praise the Lord!

Anastasia was adopted!!!

Dear friends,
I was so cought up with everything that happened at the end of last year that I forgot to tell you that sjortly before Christmas Anastasia was adopted. There were so many obstacles to that adoption that it looked like mission impossible. To crown it all the last week before Christmas a strong fog fell over Krasnodar and no planes were landing. So, the adopting couple landed in Anapa - a town on the Black sea coast - three hours away from Krasnodar by car. Once the couple was there the Lord blessed us with a very smooth completion of paperwork and three days later the couple was on the way to Moscow. It is truly a miracle but Anastasia immediately took to her new parents and was very well at home with them, though otherwise she is very shy around strangers and even afraid of them - two and a half years at the hospital with no men but only hospital personel (women) certainly took its tall.

At this point Anastasia is getting used to her family and is like another child, even trying to boss others around! Praise the Lord, I am very thankful for this adoption - my gratitude to everyone who prayed for Anastasia!

It took more then 8 (eight!!!) for 3 boxes to get to Krasnodar from the States

Three boxes from Pam Miller with toys and clothes for children were sent from the State of Indiana, USA on December 15, 1998 and were picked up from the post office in Krasnodar Russia in January of 2007!

The boxes were intact - everything clean and dry as if packed yesterday. There was a letter from a director of Russian Postal Service in Moscow which "explained" everything without really explaining - a perfect example of how officials can talk without saying anything. Here is an except: " We inform you that Russian postal service received mail which was sent from the States in 1999. Since more then 7 years passed since the day evrything was mailed Russian Postal Service administration can not be held responsible for the contenet of the shipment... Accept our most sincere regrets that your mail was not delivered to you on time".

It was good to receive apologies but it is still intersting who and why and where kept the mail... People all over Russia are receiving mail from overseas sent long, long time ago.

Thank you, Pam! Praise the Lord, that toys and clothes will be used to cheer up deprived kids.

Christening of Taisia Andreevna Taraschuk, January 12, 2007

Christmas with Anya and her family

We have two grandchildren in New Orleans - Nicole who is turning 7 in a month and Emma who is two.

Nicole wrote an essay about us which really says it all. Here is what she wrote: "My grandparents make me happy when I see them. My grandparents love to go to Disney Land. The best part about my grandparents is they love me".