Any Better

So I’m sitting in the hammock at the boys’ house because, well, that’s pretty much the main thing we did over there. And what’s there to complain about? I like my eno, I like the breeze, I love talking to these kids.

But while I’m sitting there swinging away, Jesus came over with a horse. Now, you must understand something about Jesus. He is so sweet and he loves his horses. This fifteen year old boy is a teddy bear, especially when his animals are around. Every day we were there we would watch him bring over a horse, comb its hair, trim its tail, and pet it gently on the face. It was absolutely precious.

But this time? It was different than usual. He brought over this beautiful white horse and started trimming its mane with scissors. More thoughtfully than I had seen before. He was doing it with so much care. And, before he was finished, all his brothers had joined him and, together, they started saddling up the horse.

But they weren’t just throwing on whatever was closest or most convenient. They were putting so much thought and time into every piece of equipment they put onto that horse. So here’s Jesus, David, Manfred, and Jahel, talking up a storm,

No these reins are better.

No these are better.

Ah, these. Perfect.

And Jesus, the oldest one, was obviously the ringleader of it all.

So pretty soon I started to get curious as to what was going on, and where this boy was going.

So Candace and I asked them.

Where are you going, Jesus?

He pointed in the direction away from the house, Very far away.

For what?

Something, he said.

To get a girlfriend, his brothers readily chimed in.

I laughed, but they insisted they were serious.

And so I believed it. I mean I didn’t think he was literally going to get himself a girlfriend. But I figured there was some girl out there somewhere and he had something to do or say and wanted to look impressive when he did so.

Rather adorable, I must say.

So I sat back down and continued to watch as these four brothers dressed up this horse.  A few minutes later they were finished. The horse and Jesus were ready. I asked Jesus one more time, Where are you going?!

Very far away, Teacher.

And as he took off, he looked over his shoulder and asked, Will you come take a picture?

Now he wants one. These boys hate pictures, with the exception of Jahel.
But the horse looked beautiful, and he looked adorable, so I figured he wanted to remember what he looked like the night he went to “get a girl” or whatever he was going to do.

So I got up and started following these boys through the trees. They headed past the kitchen and outhouse and out into a huge open field I didn’t even know existed back there. They argued back and forth with each other about where the perfect place for the picture would be. When they finally agreed, Jesus hopped off his horse, threw out that weird hand sign all those boys do, and I snapped a few shots. They turned out pretty grand I must say.

Jonathan ran in to get in the picture with him. The boys handed him a cowboy hat and soon enough I had pictures of Jesus and the horse and Jonathan and Jesus and the horse, and, well, just Jonathan and the horse.

Goodness, when is this boy going to leave? I asked myself.

Teacher, come get in one with me! Jesus said.

Super excited, I ran over and hopped on the horse. Might I just add I was wearing a skirt so that was inconvenient. But hey, things happen.

Jesus hopped on the horse with me and one of the boys snapped a picture. Wait, wait! Manfred shouted, running over with the hat. I put it on and smiled ear to ear, which was incredibly easy to do as I was surrounded by these precious boys.

Then Jesus hopped off and they took a picture of just me on the horse.

And that’s when I realized. Jesus wasn’t going anywhere. All of the grooming and saddle deciding and picking out the perfect things for the perfect horse? They didn’t do it for Jesus to visit a pretty girl far down the road. They did all this for us.

They did it for their teachers.

They did it so we could get pictures with the boys and of the boys and so now? The four days that would be so hard to forget will be, well, even harder.

Impossible.

So we spent the next hour or two switching in and out of being in pictures and taking pictures. The sun was setting, it was cool outside, and the sound of laughter did not leave the air.

The brothers got pictures together. Candace and I each got a picture with all the brothers. David and Jesus jumped on together and I got the cutest picture of these two cowboys I ever did see.

And I honestly do not know how to put into words how I felt that night. Here I am, hours deep into the jungle, with four of the most precious children I have ever known in my life. Three of these boys grew up on this ranch, never having electricity or running water. David grew up working on a sawmill, and a few years ago his mom married the other boys’ dad and now he is one of them, using a flashlight to cook at night, eating at a table with a burning candle, and getting up early every morning to hall buckets of water from the creek.

And here I am, a girl who has always had every single thing I could ever want or need readily available to me. I’ve grown up with air conditioning when its hot and heat when its cold. I have cold or hot water 24/7, if it is dark I turn a light switch on, and any food or item I could possibly want is no more than a short car ride away.

But being there in that field with those boys? It made me realize how little any of that matters. Life is life, no matter where you live. And what matters is not what you have or own but the people you are surrounded by. The people you get to know and love.

And the fact I have been so incredibly fortunate to get to know and love these boys who live literally in the middle of nowhere and whose home is not even on a map? I can’t tell you how thankful I am. I cannot tell you.

And so I just stood out there, hopping on and off the horse, laughing away and taking so many pictures that I’ve already looked though again and again and looking around as the sun set on the field and I watched these four boys I get to live with and teach and visit at their home and thinking to myself

It doesn’t get any better than this.

It doesn’t get any better.

David, Jesus, me, Manfred, and Jahel.
Four boys who changed my life in four days.