Blessings
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This is the season to be thankful for our many blessings. Among those blessings are all the children who have come home from Russia in the last year and now have families to call their own. By the end of November, 29 children from Russia will be celebrating their first Thanksgiving with new parents. We are hopeful that an additional 8-9 children will come home before the end of the year. Eighteen additional families will have made first trips but will not come home before the end of the year.
About 25 families have completed dossiers or are in home study process for 2009. We could accept 25 to 30 additional families for referrals next year. There are many more boys than girls available and always a need for families for older children both singles and siblings groups.
As we approach the holiday season, this means cold weather in most of Russia. Culturally there are some differences in dress between Russian and Americans. Traditionally in Russia children are dressed much more warmly than they are in the United States. Children would never be taken outside, even on a sunny day, without a warm hat and coat buttoned to the top. Little girls would not wear a dress without warm tights. Adoptive parents are often openly reprimanded by Russian citizens in the hotel or on the street if their children don't appear to be dressed warmly enough. We would ask that while you are in Russia and have your children with you, that you comply with this custom and keep the hats and mittens on even when it would seem warm enough to be without. An additional consideration is that your child has not spent much time outside the orphanage in the cold and isn't used to this.
Another American custom to open windows in the winter time to bring fresh air into the room is considered unhealthy in Russia if children are in the room. If windows are opened in the orphanage, all the children would be taken out of the room and the windows closed before the children were brought back into the room.
Russian men keep warm in the bitter winter by wearing an ushanka which is a Russian fur cap with ear flaps that can be tied up to the crown of the cap, or tied at the chin to protect the ears from the cold. It is also referred to as a shapka, from the Russian language word for "hat". Ushanka literally translates as "ear-flaps hat". Ushankas are often made from cheap sheepskin, rabbit or muskrat fur, though artificial fur hats are also manufactured. Artificial fur has sometimes been referred to as "fish fur" since the material has no relation to any real fur. The most common "fish fur" is made of wool pile. Middle class men wear shapkas made of more expensive furs such as fox or mink. In the United States these hats are sometimes referred to a "Boris" hats or "Cossack Flaps".
Judy Dalrymple
Bookmark :
This is the season to be thankful for our many blessings. Among those blessings are all the children who have come home from Russia in the last year and now have families to call their own. By the end of November, 29 children from Russia will be celebrating their first Thanksgiving with new parents. We are hopeful that an additional 8-9 children will come home before the end of the year. Eighteen additional families will have made first trips but will not come home before the end of the year.
About 25 families have completed dossiers or are in home study process for 2009. We could accept 25 to 30 additional families for referrals next year. There are many more boys than girls available and always a need for families for older children both singles and siblings groups.
As we approach the holiday season, this means cold weather in most of Russia. Culturally there are some differences in dress between Russian and Americans. Traditionally in Russia children are dressed much more warmly than they are in the United States. Children would never be taken outside, even on a sunny day, without a warm hat and coat buttoned to the top. Little girls would not wear a dress without warm tights. Adoptive parents are often openly reprimanded by Russian citizens in the hotel or on the street if their children don't appear to be dressed warmly enough. We would ask that while you are in Russia and have your children with you, that you comply with this custom and keep the hats and mittens on even when it would seem warm enough to be without. An additional consideration is that your child has not spent much time outside the orphanage in the cold and isn't used to this.
Another American custom to open windows in the winter time to bring fresh air into the room is considered unhealthy in Russia if children are in the room. If windows are opened in the orphanage, all the children would be taken out of the room and the windows closed before the children were brought back into the room.
Russian men keep warm in the bitter winter by wearing an ushanka which is a Russian fur cap with ear flaps that can be tied up to the crown of the cap, or tied at the chin to protect the ears from the cold. It is also referred to as a shapka, from the Russian language word for "hat". Ushanka literally translates as "ear-flaps hat". Ushankas are often made from cheap sheepskin, rabbit or muskrat fur, though artificial fur hats are also manufactured. Artificial fur has sometimes been referred to as "fish fur" since the material has no relation to any real fur. The most common "fish fur" is made of wool pile. Middle class men wear shapkas made of more expensive furs such as fox or mink. In the United States these hats are sometimes referred to a "Boris" hats or "Cossack Flaps".
Judy Dalrymple
