Today Kirstin leaves for a quick trip to Honduras, checking in with the church down there that her own parish helps. She has been instrumental in getting both a milk-distribution program going (IIRC) and a school uniform program as well (by law children must wear uniforms to school, but many families are too poor to afford them), and wants to see how they are faring. She should be home on Sunday, I believe. Please pray for travel mercies for her!
Yesterday Charles emailed that they were underway once again, that Cyprus was a "fun port", and that the next port isn't too far away so he should be able to call again before too long. I don't recall if this will be the final stop before they head back across the Atlantic to Groton, or if there's another one after this.
This is likely to have what the newspeople like to call a "chilling effect" on international adoptions from Russia; according to a Russian-born attorney now living in Florida:
was passed in Russia last week. It is officially published
yesterday, December 31, 2006, and came in force today, January 1,
2007.
This law stipulates that a family having a second, third, etc. child
(birth or adopted) will receive large financial support from the
Government. The amount is 250,000 rubles (About $10,000) as a one
time payment. It is a very big sum of money for Russian families
(for some low-income families it is equal to 19 years income). This
amount will be indexed proportionally to inflation and in 5 years it
will be about 350,000 rubles.
This law has already made an impact on Russian society. Hundreds of
people have already announced their desire to adopt children.
According to the Russian media, last week alone most orphanages had
visitors (Russian citizens wishing to adopt), which was more than for
an entire year.
Many people that had previously abandoned their children already
informed the orphanages that they want to take them back into their
custody.
Although this law is not about international adoption, it can impact
international adoption. More children, especially children that are
relatively healthy, will likely be adopted by Russian families.
Some women that were due to deliver babies in December are delaying
their labor by taking medications (that is of course very risky for
children). Some women took a risk to deliver their babies
unsupervised at home, to conceal the fact of childbirth and then will
claim that the child was born after January 1, 2007.
It is quite probable that some people will adopt children only for
their own personal enrichment, but this is now a law and it will work
for the advantage of Russian citizens.
Yes, I would agree it's quite probable some people will adopt children for their own personal enrichment. 
Lemme tell you, that is a huge sum of money for Russia....simply enormous. And a woman gets it for each child she has after the first? Well, the good news is it should lower the abortion rate significantly (currently there are more abortions than births in Russia).
Were I looking to adopt an young'un, though, and especially a relatively healthy one, I'd forget about Russia now. Wonder if we're going to see adoption agencies dropping Russia from their lists?
Mercy Maud, but it's been quiet around here the past few days. Makes for a serene life but a dull blog, I fear. BTW, for those who like pralines, I've posted my favorite praline recipe (including photographs!) over in the Cookbook links.
Until I can think of something to say....
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