I remember my first Mother’s Day very clearly. We had traveled back to Chicago from our home in Michigan because it was so shortly after our first visit to Russia. We were so excited to share video of AJ with our family and show them all of the pictures (an entire photo album) that we took of our trip to both St. Petersburg and Arkhangelsk.
We all met at my parent’s home for brunch and my parents recognized that this was, my first Mother’s Day, as I was finally becoming a Mother. They gave me a wooden mother and baby sculpture …read more

Lisa, the president of ArkAngels for Russian Orphans, is hosting an online fundraising auction and is currently looking for donations of products and services. ArkAngels is a 501(c)(3) non- profit raising money to improve the living conditions and educational opportunities in orphanages in Russia; you can visit her web page. You can check out their auction site here.
And for some ideas of the kinds of donations we are looking for, you can check out the March 18 entry on her blog.
I donated this beautiful necklace because you all know exactly where AJ is from, right? Ark!