Posted by Deb Shrier

Families are all now in Russia! Despite the extreme heat, the families have all come on our homeland tour through TIES with great interest and enthusiasm to learn this amazing country. The chidren have made friendships quickly and have already shared so much about their adoption stories with one another. Parents are also connecting very well.

Today we toured Moscow, visited Victory Park where an incredible Holocaust memorial statue exists. Extremely critical in this country's history. Later we were able to have a traditional Russian meal hosted by an esteemed professor from the local university. (Yes, we ate borscht!) The young people all asked interesting questions -- a true opportunity to learn about Russian daily living. Tomorrow we head to the city of Suzdal where we will continue our journey.

You can read more about this amazing trip in my previous blog post.

Deb Shrier is the DIrector of Post-Adoption Services at JF&CS.