One of my favorite days here in Honduras...

One of my favorite days here in Honduras... There is a 13 year old girl named Reina at the Hogar who was severely malnourished and came to the Hogar with her 2 younger sisters about a year after it had opened so she and her sisters are the "new kids." She has burns all over her right arm and neck and was abused pretty badly by her father and brother sexually before arriving at the Hogar. She gets teased a lot by the other kids and it not treated as one of the oldest girls although she is the 2nd oldest that we have. She is very loving and maternal towards the younger kids and very affectionate towards the volunteers. She is also a very hard worker. Yesterday I was going to run to the town nearest to us, Jutiapa, which is about 3.5 miles away. I needed to get some Christmas gifts for the cooks. The volunteer that was going to run with me backed out at the last minute so I thought to ask Reina. She is the best runner out of all of the kids. She absolutely LOVES to go running and she has never had to stop and rest or take a break in all of the times I have taken her. She was ecstatic and got her stuff on in about 30 seconds.

We jogged to Jutiapa and she never had to stop and just had a grin on her face the entire time. I took her to the licuado stand (smoothie store) and let her pick out a flavor. She picked out strawberry and we split the smoothie. She was adorable and you could tell just loved it. We then went and picked out the gifts for the cooks and headed to the internet cafe. I was checking my email real quick while she sat with me patiently. Greg and sent me a link to some pictures the had taken to fill me in on the record breaking snowfall in Portland. I was able to show her my house, my cat, my dog, and all of the snow! She was amazed as were all of the other ladies in the internet cafe that ran over to see the pictures "ay, que bonito" is what all of the ladies were saying. We left the cafe and headed to the bus stop and I asked her if she wanted anything before we left. She said an apple so we went and got an apple which she was willing to give me a bite of. WE jumped on the bus and headed back to the Hogar. She was glowing the entire evening and told me to thank me she was going to paint my nails today for Christmas. It was one of those feel good days. We had a lovely time together just the two of us and I know it meant a lot to her and it meant a lot to me as well. These kids, as much as they act out and drive me crazy at times, just want attention. At the Hogar, their home, it is hard to give meaningful one on one attention. But to take them away from that environment and spend time with them one on one is amazing and that is when they open up and talk about their lives, families, hopes, wishes. She wants to go to finish school and take care of kids in need when she gets older. Reina is also the one child that asked for clothes for Christmas. I picked out her outfit last Saturday and I am SOOO excited for her to open it! When we were running I asked her if she could get one gift what would it be. And she told me a pair of sandals and that is all. We have 2 nice tops for her, a pair of matching capri´s, a pair of matching sandals, 3 pairs of underwear, 3 sets of socks, and a bra plus stockings stuffers (nail polish, candy, jewelry, etc. I so cannot wait for tomorrow morning to see her expression. Being here has really helped me learn that giving is so much more rewarding than receiving which is just about the best thing I could have learned this Christmas and while being here.