We can’t say the word “winning” this year without at least a split-second image of a manic Charlie Sheen. But true winning is finding a path of forgiveness and love.  Winning is finding God’s way through pain instead of our own.  Winning is finding the passion that can drive us forward to make a difference, to love out our faith and impact lives. Alex Krutov is a winner. Alex has found hope in the midst of hopelessness, laughter in the midst of fear, perseverance in the midst of abuse.  Enduring horrors no one should ever endure.  Watching friends die.  Burying them […]

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Sunday was my one-month anniversary at RiverOfThoughts.com and Monday was my 100th post related to Adoption. To celebrate these milestones, and to wrap up National Adoption Month, I want to give away my favorite moment of peace:  a good book and a frilly coffee! This means I’m giving away a copy of Infinitely More by Alex Krutov, along with a Starbucks Gift Card!!!  Enter yourself in the drawing by following three simple steps between now and next Tuesday, 6 December: 1. Find your favorite post on my blog site.  How? Visit the Adoption Story or Portfolio pages for links to some key […]

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I carry you with me Tess O’Day 2010 Copper, Tree Moss, Cherry Wood. A tribute to Ari’s birth mother and all of the suffering mothers of Africa. In Africa and other places in the world, a starving woman is not likely to survive a pregnancy and birth, so many terminate the pregnancy without any help from a doctor. I honor, love, and respect those who take a leap of faith and TRY to hold on. That is true true love right there.   I admire artists who can evoke visceral reactions and tell stories through imagery. In this piece, Tess […]

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Do you remember lying in the dark, eyes glued to the clock, your 7-year-old arms and legs trembling with anticipation?  Waiting for the moment you were allowed to get up on Christmas morning? For me, the Year of the Atari stands out. But I also remember socks.  The Lipstick Years, my mom named that era.  The time when things were tight, when we chopped wood to heat the house, and she bought herself one lipstick in two years. As I grow older, I understand more and more the sacrifices that both sets of my parents made for me and my […]

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Imagine you are….. abandoned at three days old found in a trash can raised in a Soviet orphanage abused repeatedly by an adoptive father found freezing on the winter streets of St. Petersburg thrown in jail beaten and abused by peers forced to carry the body a young friend to the outskirts of town for burial institutionalized If I had experienced only one or two of these events, I’d break.  Fall apart.  IF I survived it, I’d need years of expensive therapy to recover even slightly. My friend Alex lived through all of this before he reached fifteen. Today, Alex […]

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