Father´s Day

This was my third summer in a row being at Miracle Ranch for Father´s Day.
While I am sure Father´s Day brought up a lot of emotions for these kids who all have absent fathers in their lives (and I don´t want to trivialize that pain), it was beautiful to see how they all celebrated ¨Papa Cesar¨, the director of the ranch. Miracle Ranch is different from most children´s homes in that all of the kids call the the couple who runs it ¨mama¨ and ¨papa¨. They work really hard to run the home family style, which I can tell fosters a strong sense of belonging for the kids. They ADORE their Papa Cesar and had so much fun making the day special for him. We woke up early, got the kids all dressed up (we even put the baby in a little tux!), then sang a song as we delivered a cake we had baked the night before to his bedroom window.

Here´s a video of all the kids singing...it was an unforgettable day!

Green Eggs and Ham

The kids here have been LOVING the book Green Eggs and Ham this summer (or Juevos Verdes con Jamon). A few of them almost have it memorized! I keep thinking they are going to get bored of it since we literally read it almost everyday, but that hasn´t happened yet. We decided to make our own green eggs and ham this week and even though a few kids seemed thoroughly freaked out, they all bravely ate them. It was so fun!

Sorry!

I have lots of stuff to blog about, but unfortunately the computers aren´t cooperating with me! Hopefully I will be able to post this weekend...

Birthday in Mexico

I had the best birthday ever yesterday! I spent most of the day at my friends uncles house, eating, joking,and talking ALL afternoon. I even drank a glass of juice made from chile peppers :)

I was pretty homesick last weekend, but now I can't even describe how happy I am to be here! This place is incredible. I got so many huge birthday hugs yesterday and all the kids were so sweet. I couldn´t ask for more!



And since I already posted a video of the girls singing, here´s one of a few of the boys...

Esteban

I would like to introduce you to one of the sweetest kids I have ever met (and I´ve met a lot of sweet kids). His name is Esteban and he is frequently the highlight of my day.

I am so amazed by the strong, pure, and doubtless faith that this kid has. Esteban LOVES Jesus. When I asked him what his favorite song was, he told me that he likes all the songs about God. When he´s pretending to be a cholo¨(gangster), he always uses the disclaimer that he´s a ¨cholo bueno por Dios¨ (a good gangster for God). He´s quick to volunteer to pray at meal times, and any mention of going to church gets him really excited.

The other night it was dark out and so Esteban insisted on walking me back to the house I´m staying in. I was going to be sleeping there alone that night and he kept asking me if I was scared. When I (honestly) told him that maybe I was a little bit nervous, he suggested that I sleep with my Bible. Then he told me not to worry because God is always with me. Before he left he told me to sleep well and dream with the angels...

Of all the pastors and speakers I´ve heard in my life, who would have thought that my greatest lessons in faith would come from a little seven year old boy?

I'm here!

It has been an amazing first week at the ranch. These kids never cease to amaze me. I have been spending most of my time during the day with the littlest kids, Ashley(2), Jonathan(2), Ana(5ish), Darina(5ish), Justin(5), and Melina(7). In the evenings I get to hang out more with the older boys. Last night we watched "Big Momma's House" in Spanish--it was pretty hilarious.

I feel like so much has happened in the last week and I wish I could share it all, but we are about to go eat dinner. All in all there has been some hard moments--this kids have had a lot of pain in their lives and they definitely act it out at times. One little girl through a major temper tantrum in the van yesterday. She had been fighting with another kid, and completely lost it. She was kicking, screaming, spitting, and smacking everyone near her. I had to restrain her from jumping out of the van... While all this was happening her little sister just watched with tears rolling down her cheeks. Afterwards she just wanted to be held and fell asleep in my arms. The little girl who threw the fit eventually calmed down and was on her best best behavior the rest of the afternoon.

For all the hard moments there have been even more beautiful moments. Like I said these kids are incredible!

Here's a video of the little ones singing "I Love You" in Spanish :)

Coming Soon!

Bienvenidos!

My name is Kelsey and I am going to be spending 3 months at Miracle Ranch Children's Home in Valle de las Palmas, Mexico this summer. My hope for this blog is that it will be a place for old friends to stay connected to Miracle Ranch, and for those just learning about this incredible place to get a glimpse into the miracles happening everyday in the lives of the children they serve. Weekly entries will begin the last week of May, but in the meantime feel free to check out the Miracle Ranch Website (soon to be remodeled)
or My family blog