Good Friday

Dave sez, it's Saturday. It's raining. The forecast here is calling for rain through at least Wednesday, then Thursday it starts to clear up through the weekend. The good news is that while there is an 80% chance for rain today, a 50% chance tomorrow and a 70% chance on Monday, Tuesday is only a 10% chance and Wednesday a 60%. Then it's blue clear skies the rest of the week!

Yesterday was Good Friday. It was a good Good Friday visit with Masha. We are still waiting for our court date. The court date is usually scheduled within twenty days of the SDA appointment. The court date for Justin and Ethan was within that time frame. We were the only family adopting from the Cradle of Children's Hope orphanage when we brought Ethan home, and our court date was around eighteen days following our SDA appointment. We continue to pray. Cathy and I are enjoying the time that we can spend getting on each other's nerves, and the time we can spend with Masha as we wait.

For Good Friday I wrote out some special sentences for Masha.

One of the things I look back on with pride and amazement is that after his Gotcha Date, when I brought Ethan back to the apartment, he found our host's tablet and watched Mel Gibson's The Passion of The Christ on YouTube. Let me put this into context and perspective for you.

After Justin's Gotcha Day, and he came back to the apartment, we had a few extra days before we flew home. We were relaxing around the apartment, and Justin was channel-surfing, he found a Hindi movie, Mohabbatein. He watched the entire three-hour movie. He sang the songs fluently. The movie is a story of love, forgiveness and redemption. It is set in a seminary. Justin and Ethan both are big fans of Hindi films. They are fans of Shahrukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan, just to name a couple. What is interesting is that there are basic family values and morals to Hindi films. They may be slightly suggestive, but that is somewhat light-hearted humor. The films promote a faith and value. They are also musicals, every one of them. Whatever the story, whatever moral value or lesson, there is usually a few grand musical numbers in them. That's probably why they are three-hours long.

As we got to know the boys more and began to bond with them, we learned that they have a Hindi background. Their family made their way to Kiev from India.

I was shocked, but impressed that Ethan would search, find and watch The Passion. I looked over his shoulder as bloodied Jim Caviezel struggled to carry his cross to crucifixion. I asked Ethan if he understood what he was watching, what it was about. He nodded, "Jesus," he told me. I asked if he understood what was happening to Jesus. He nodded. I asked him if he had any questions. He shook his head. Years and years from now, I will look back on that moment the same way I look back on it now, with an incredibly large sense of pride. That is a very hard movie for adults to watch. Cathy can't sit through that movie. It is just too painful for her. I understand that. I'm more of a gaper. Yeah, I slow down and watch accidents on the road when I drive. I need to see that. I need to see every detail. Every lash. Every painful cry. Not in a grisly, gratuitous fashion.

We didn't bring The Passion on this trip. But we did bring Frozen, Tangled and The Princess and The Frog. We brought the Harry Potter films, because Masha is a Harry Potter fan and the story is basically the same - the triumph of good over evil. Masha showed us a Wizard of OZ book, so we'll have to see what kind of Wizard of OZ fan she is. I'm going to be very interested to see what kinds of movies, television shows, books, and games she is interested in. Girls are becoming more and more sci-fi and comic book geeks. I was reading a 'blog on Comic Book Resources the other day where more girls are becoming fans of the Teen Titans, because of the two anime-style cartoons on Cartoon Network.

Cool!

Ethan is a huge Green Lantern John Stewart and The Incredible Hulk fan. Maybe we will have a Geek Girl, too!

Maybe she'll be a Doctor Who fan...?