My Best Pictures Ever!

Ok, so this will be a long post, but worth it, I hope. I was going to put my top ten favorite pictures on here, but I couldn't narrow it down that much, so here's my favorite 13. They're in chronological order.

1. The Ghetto You Never Knew
This was taken in 1984 by my mom, in the park across the street from our old house. It's me and Apryl. That blue house with the red van in front was my house, the house where we found a stabbed Native American on our porch, the house that was robbed to get my dad's Rugers, the house where the police caught a fugitive in my backyard when I was home alone one evening when I was 13...

2. The Three of Us

Andria, Danny, and I at my 4th birthday party, 1985. This was taken by my mom. You can't see our lovely orange carpet, but the brown thing kind of behind Andria is our stove... hehe!

3. Clyde the GlideMe and Andria with our idol Clyde Drexler! This was taken by my mom in the Lancaster Mall, maybe like 1991.

4. Cheeeeesy!Becky, Joel, Mike, Emily, and Me. I took this on the way home from camp the summer of 1998. We had apparently made our annual stop at the Tillamook Cheese Factory, as Mike seems to be enjoying some cheese curds...

5. S.A. Stonehenge I'm guessing this was taken by either Brook or Kelly as neither of them are in the picture, at Stonehenge in England, November of 1998. Me, James, Annie, Jenn, Andria, Beth, Bridget, Caleb, and Joey make up the Salem Academy rendition of the famous rocks.

6. Did the Bus Turn Off?!Too many people to name here, but this is our mission team to El Salvador when our bus "broke down," or I should say ran out of gas in San Salvador in 2000. I believe Elsy took this picture! Good times...

7. Four Guys in the... Tub??Micah, Michael, Sean, and Andrew in the "shower" in El Salvador, 2000. I took this picture when I heard lots of laughter coming from the shower. Don't worry, they all have shorts on! This particular shower was a small cement room with two 5-gallon buckets and a "paila" or "juacal" (depending on which country you're from!!) - a small bowl used in cement sinks in Central America - you use the paila to scoop water out of a bucket and wash yourself with. I LOVE Central America...

8. Jungle ChicksJoann, Rachel, Me, and Ruth canoeing on the Amazon just west of Manaus Brasil in 2002. Mr. Palm took this picture. Looks like in a movie, no?

9. It Just Doesn't Get Any Better Than This!Me, Austin, Evan, and Ben hauling leaves on a homemade tractor at PuraQueQuara Brasil, 2002. Joann took this picture of our daily life there at PQQ. A leisurely ride on a homemade tractor in a neatly kempt yard between the Amazon and the rainforest, not wearing shoes for days at a time, hopping into the river in the late afternoon to cool off, playing volleyball and salão until the electricity turns off at 9:30... yeah, life is good...

10. Pijama Party!Zenia, Paty, Alej, Alma, Me, Vivi, Luisa, Karlita, and Jeni one night at camp outside of Tegucigalpa Honduras, 2003. Michelle took this picture. Most of these girls are from my neighborhood in Tegus - Germania. Mis queridas...

11. Hermanitos VerdaderosBesides the fact that this is one of the few pictures I have that has all three of my brothers in it together, what I REALLY like about this is the facial expressions! You can totally tell their personalities from their expressions in this picture - Franklin is a happy, crazy, teasing guy; Ronald comes off as being shy, but really he is hilarious; and Ivan is cynical, but still has a sweet side. Teagen took this at Fran's 19th birhtday party in 2003.

12. The Cost of Good FriendsBeing dogpiled at 6:30am on your birthday! Dr. Huster took this on Joana's 21st birthday. Marlia, Katy, Me, P., and Ruth smothering the just-woken-up Joana.

13. Queen and Queenie (don't ask...) Apryl and I after her wedding in 2004! How many people can show 24 years of pictures and have the same friend in the first picture as in the last?! Yep, I'm blessed...

So, those are my favorites! I hope ya'll enjoyed them too!!