Movie Nights at the Graham's

We watched "Lilo and Stitch" a couple weeks ago, and then "Spiderman 3" a couple nights ago. Many of the children in the picture are staying on their own right now at a house nearby. We've been doing our best to keep an eye on them and make sure they have everything they need. You may think that "movie night" is a highlight for them... but I have to say it's more of a highlight for me!


The word "ohana" comes up in "Lilo and Stitch" pretty frequently, which apparently means "family" in the language of the Hawaiin people. The story is about orphaned siblings - with just an older sister raising a younger sister - who find a delinquent alien creature they think is just a rude, ugly dog who decides he wants to be part of their family whether it's a normal family or not. I promise, the movie selection wasn't done intentionally. They picked it out to watch, and they'd never seen it before.

But, man, the parallels are striking. They are from families torn apart by disease and poverty, and the older ones are basically raising all of the little ones themselves, and it's not easy. And I KNOW they would all give anything to be in a permanent family. They never turn down an invitation to come to our house. Never. We're doing all we can to watch out for them, but I wish we could do more.

I'll tell you what, if I could just adopt them all we would - they're absolutely great kids! I hear that they might be moved to Windhoek to stay there at the end of the year. I know that's best for them, but I love these kids... and I'll miss them terribly when they go.

-Steve

P.S. And also, Karrie made cookies with them the other night. It was their first time ever...