HFO – Summer News

Greetings to you our brothers and sisters, dear friends in Jesus Christ. It is last month of summer and this summer is full of all sorts of answers to prayers. In our letters we were sharing some prayer requests. And we know that many of you are praying for our...

Adoption Again

Feeling iffy about posting this, but I guess I’ll go for it! I had wondered what my views on adoption would be like after becoming a mother. What do I think of it now, having stepped back a bit, and yet, having gained insight into the parent-child relationship?...

A Brief History

My ministry started with a series of failures of pastors in Murmansk Region. None of them had real friends or mentors. They didn’t have any men who they could share their lives with. Their successes, fears, temptations, sins, failures, struggles. The were...

Walking Culture

How do I put this into words? One of the more common traditions I’ve encountered here and NOT in the U.S. is that of taking the baby outside on walks. Here’s what I was used to: I grew up in a neighborhood where we could play out in the backyard, or even...

Reiterating

Back story One thing that was helpful when visiting the orphanage was how the counselors would take me aside and tell me about the kids. In the beginning, the counselor of the group I visited most often would always offer me a cup of tea. I was new to Russia,...