Some of my favs ...

This is Dania…probably one of the sweetest girls on the Ranch. I can always expect a big hug and awkward pronunciation of my name (Test-ra!) when I see her. She’s quite a joy to be around, rarely complaining and often laughing. She also has some mannerisms that remind me of myself as a child, so I think she’s been a favorite since the beginning.

This is Digna. She’s hilarious. We bonded the night she kept telling me I was ridiculous for wearing a dress with pants. It was also a bit too much for her that under my pants I was wearing knee socks (apparently only acceptable while playing soccer … in my case only acceptable because I was in dire need of doing laundry). This photo comes from an entire photo shoot she did with the stuffed animals. And as another random fact, we also share a birthday, so I think we’ll be egged (Honduran birthday tradition) at the same time.

Jami (short for Jamileth) and Deisy came to visit us the day we put up the hammock. Jami is always good for laugh. Whether it be shoving half of her wardrobe into her pajamas pants to make her legs appear 2 times the size of her twig-sized torso or regaling me with an interpretative baton twirling routine … using a machete, she’s great.

This is Maria Luisa. One day as they were making a video with my camera, I was trying to get out of the way when she asked me, “Why do you always do this?” I responded that I really didn’t want a video of myself, to which she explained “No,” bending over like me, “why do you bend at your hips and not at your knees?” … I just about lost it. For those of you who have ever made fun of me for that habit, you’d be in good company with this girl.

And these are just some other miscellaneous photos I have included of girls in the hogar. There’s 28 of them, so a thorough explanation of each child would be a bit extreme. But the benefit of having so many girls to hangout with is that every night presents something new as I continually get to know more of them.

Finishing off the honey after a dinner of pancakes.

Smiles from Jimena.