Family
MIR and Stoneworks, the two organizations I serve, are helping a Russian named Alina as she becomes a foster parent. Alina participated in MIR’s New Family program a few years ago. Alina is partially supported by donors in the US, a family that hosted these children as part of MIR’s hosting program. This is one [...]
Many of you have by now heard our big news: we are guardians of a three year old orphan named Valerie. She came to live with us last Tuesday evening. She’s doing great as she gets settled in to her new life with us. We have just entered a brand new phase of our lives, [...]
Continue reading about An Update from Russia — About Valerie
We returned on Sunday to a beautiful St. Petersburg, Russia. The weather has been perfect, and it has been great to start reconnecting with family and friends after such a long stay in the US. Olga took the picture above, in the park across the street from our flat. We are thankful for the many [...]
Here is the latest news on our embryo adoption – As many of you know, Olga and I have been in this process for the past year. We transferred two embryos this morning! It took very little time, and the doctor and embryologist were very helpful. We prayed for wisdom about whether to transfer one [...]
Victor Minakhin, Olga’s third cousin once removed, has created a family tree of people who will attend our family reunion in Narva, Estonia this August. I’ve cropped the entire tree to show the part that directly relates to Olga’s line. You can read about Olga’s grandfather, Orest Maximilianovich Grootten, here; and here is more info [...]
In November of 2000, I (Mike) moved to Russia to help establish a Russian Charity named MIR. A little over a year later I married Olga. Over the years, God has led us and blessed us in many ways. We now live in Russia and spend time in the US, Finland, and Estonia. I’m the [...]
Our visit to Montenegro was very good, and we already miss our family and friends there. We’re now in Budapest for a couple of days, visiting friends and a ministry here. Tomorrow morning we head north to Estonia for the Stoneworks retreat in Tallinn. On the way, we’ll stop and see Auschwitz in southern Poland. [...]
As you can see, this is Olga writing here. Well, I had to be patient and wait five days for the pictures! But today they have finally arrived! I called my sister and heard a great news, that she is already at home with her baby! She did say that she thinks him to be [...]
Continue reading about ‘He is the most beautiful baby!!!’ — My sister’s words
Good news! Olga’s sister Alla gave birth to a boy — Andrej. The baby has some jaundice, but everyone is doing well. We’re very happy to be Aunt and Uncle. We’ll post pictures soon. Alla is married to Zhelyan, a Montenegrin, and they live in Podgorica. And we will soon be in Montenegro. (Click here [...]
We have mentioned this before, and it’s high time to introduce you to Zhenya, Anya, and Natasha. Just about a year ago, we were in the US when three young ladies from our church, on short notice, needed a place to stay for a few weeks. Well, that ‘few weeks’ has turned into a year [...]
