Sleeping with the cows!

Last night we got home from Clinton after speaking at the Victory Center at about 10:15 just in time to milk the cows. Jim and Zeck went down to milk, to find that one of the cows just had one of her calves. Jim called me to have some of the other boys go down to help him get her inside the barn, so they could milk her, and he put the calf in another pin in the barn. The boys came back up, then Jim and Zeck started milking. Jim got in at about midnight and ask me for the camera because, Zeck did not want the calf to be all by himself his first night here so he was going to sleep in the barn by the calf. Just thought you might like to see Zeck's picture of him sleeping with the baby calf. Looks like Zeck is learning a little about love. When Jim first got the idea of milking cows in this ministry he never imagined that God would use the cows the way he has. Zeck is a living testimony of what the dairy barn has done to change his life. He ask Jim to pray with him to ask Jesus into his life while they were in the barn one night milking the cows. We always tell people we have holy cows because K-love is on at all times in the dairy barn. Thanks for checking in on the ministry God has placed Jim and I in to share about the love of Jesus through something as simple as dairy cows.

Life on the Ranch!

About 3 weeks ago I wrote about schedules, and talked about how I was already exhausted, well I don't know what I am now after yesterday. I started off with devotions with the boys at 7:30 before Jim took them into school, then I walked my mile and did a few excercises. Read my own devotions while eating breakfast, answered some of my emails, made a few phone calls regarding the Miracles Can Happen Challenge Bike Ride that is coming up on the 29th of September. Did a couple loads of laundry, then went down to the barn to milk the cows at 10:15. Came into the house at 11:30 to the phone ringing, wrote down some notes to be involved in a mission conference October 13 at Grandview Baptist Church in Davenport. Jim and I quick heated up some left overs shoved the food down our mouth, don't know if it tasted good or not, we ate so quick. We took off with the tractor and truck to go bailing for the day, I drove the bailer while Jim bailed 860 bales of hay. Oh I forgot to mention, we covered for in between our daughter and son-in-laws shifts too with our grandson. So he got to help Nana Moo drive the tractor. We called our son-in-law(Scott) at 6:30 and ask him to go into the school to pick up the boys from football practice, and then feed them and by then we should be done bailing. We got into the house at 7:30, I took care of Dylan, (our grandson) and cleaned up from supper, while Jim, the boys, and Scott unloaded most of the hay in the barn. The boys got in a little before 11:00, and Jim got in from milking at 11:30. Oh I forgot to mention that I got supper in the crockpot in the morning also, but that only consisted of browning a couple pounds of hamburger, and taking out some seasoned potatoes and carrots I had in the the freezer, and adding a couple cans of beef broth. Jim and I finally crawled in bed at about 12:30, and started this morning with devotions at 6:30, because the boys rode the bus. Our day continued on, but I'm sure you don't want to hear play by play again, but just thought you might want to read about our life here on the ranch. There is never a dull moment. Jim is just about ready to come in from the night milking it is 11:30 so I suppose I should end this rambling about life at the ranch. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Creative!

Well what do you think of the new look? I think Crystal from A Pink Lacy Design did a great job of giving the boys ranch blog a new look. Thank you Crystal for using your creativeness that God gave you.

We have a couple boys that have had to stay home from school the last couple days because they got kicked out of school for fighting each other. One, stabbed the other with a pencil and in return the other made a racial comment to him. I'm sure they have learned these last couple days that Jim is pretty creative in getting the point across that the next time they better think about their actions in school. They have had some fun loading manure with a pitch fork for the distasteful action they had in school, and they have dug fence post holes for the hole they put themselves in for not getting along with each other. I think they are getting a little tired and hopefully they will learn from their mistakes. Please remember we can always use the prayer for extra strength as we deal with these boys that have felt abandoned and rejected in their life. Join up with us in prayer to help them realize that they are a new creation in Christ. Pray that we can be creative in this ministry that God placed us in to demonstrate the Love of Jesus to some very hurt young men.

Goals!

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

We try to teach the boys we work with that God wants to give them hope and a future, so they need to have goals to try to reach. One of our boys just brought one of his first papers home from school for us to look at. He got a 10/10 and had an excellent comment from the teacher. She ask them to write a paper in English about their goals for school and their future. Also what they want to get out of her class. I would like to share a portion of his perfect paper, he was so very proud of.

* My goals for school would be to graduate high school. Pass all of my required classes so that I can finish High School. Then when I turn 18 and have my High School diploma, I'm going to enlist in the Army or some type of branch. For the simple fact that it will guarantee me a job when I get out of the Army or any other branch. Then I feel that God is calling me to ministry with youth....... I just want to learn what you teach me and I will try to my best ability to learn how to do it. I hope we do a lot of reading cause I really like to read. I may not be good at it but I like to do it. *

This was just a portion but the main thing I wanted to point out, is that this is a young man that about 2 years ago just wanted to give up on life, and was a very angry boy wanting to make everyone else around him miserable. God has done some remarkable changes in this boy's life and we are blessed to be able to witness these changes because of some of you who make this ministry possible.

His teacher replied with a little note that says: James, You seem to have the insight and maturity of people much older than you. You clearly bring a wealth of wisdom to this class and I'm happy to have you here. Let me know what I can do to help you reach your goals!

This is exactly the encouragement he needed to start this year out, because at the end of the year last year, we saw a little sign of him giving up on his school work.

Please pray for James schooling, anger issues, rejection issues and an unspoken issue that he needs to work on.

We see this look on his face a lot more than we see the look in the top picture. We like the new look. What about you?