You Cannot Plan Moments Like These

I have just returned home from a two week trip to Nicaragua. One week was in the familiar area of San Ramon, and the other was in the unfamiliar area of La Paz Centro. There were many notable moments from these two weeks, which I will hopefully take the time to share. 

Right now, there's one moment that sticks out the most to me. The group I was with was working on a housing project outside La Paz Centro, which is the network that I am the least familiar with. This community, La Palma, has not had many guests from the US and the workers were completely skeptical and cautious around us. While I may be reserved and quiet in the States, that is nowhere near who I am in Nicaragua; I am much more free. I began making jokes with the workers, making sure they and the group members knew about each other. After all, that is why we were there. 

One of the workers was Alberto, who I quickly grew to love. He has a calm spirit with a deep desire to enjoy life and the people he is around. Alberto's wife came with three little girls to bring him lunch the first day. I introduced myself to his wife and the girls, who ended up being their nieces. Like everyone else, the girls were really shy and had no desire to answer my unending questions about their name, age, and anything else I knew how to ask in Spanish. 

I have learned, when all else fails, pull out your camera. I began taking pictures and videos of the girls and showing them what I was doing. I can still hear the giggles the girls let out as they watched themselves scroll across my phone screen. 

As you can see, Alberto and his wife were just as happy to join in on the fun. They sat timidly behind the girls, not wanting me to know they wanted in the pictures too. If that's not sweet enough, the dog decided to join in. ;)

The one on the left is five-years-old, and the twins are three-years-old. The twins were unable to figure out how to hold up three fingers, so they signed all kinds of numbers when I asked them how old they were.

As with most kids in Nicaragua, I eventually attempt to take a selfie with them. When I squatted next to the girls to position myself for a photo, the girls would not sit still. They kept throwing their arms around, clapping, pointing at the screen, attempting to show me how old they were, and doing anything else they could imagine. It took me a minute, but it finally dawned on me that they had never seen themselves move first-hand. They have no mirrors and no pictures of themselves.

I could not resist capturing this moment, so I continued holding my phone up, acting like I was taking photos when I was really taking a video.

They are too precious.

The day after this, the group went to a neighboring school in La Sabaneta to do a project with the kids. The group had a portable printer, and they took each kids picture, glued it to a piece of paper, and then let the kids decorate the "frame". When we showed up to the school, it did not take long to have three little girls running up wanting a hug. Yep. The girls from the day before. 

I wish I could have paused time during the school event. As I was standing there, close to my new friends, I was watching the kids react to seeing their photo. It took some convincing to get some of the kids to realize that it was actually them in the photo. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of the twins grab her paper and give herself a kiss on her photo. 

You cannot plan moments like these.