Give Thanks!

I remember back in 2002 a boy by the name of Dustin came to us crying out for help and in return we cried out to God our Savior to help us let him know he was loved!

Now several years later we are so thankful!

I want to take this time to give thanks to God our father for bringing Dustin into our life through this ministry at age 13. He lived with Jim and I for 4 years and after 2 years adopted us as his mom and dad. He still to this day calls us mom and dad and his precious triplet girls Emma, Lilly & Madison call us Nana and Papa. They just came to visit us from Missouri for our Thanksgiving Dinner this last Sunday and they are very well behaved little 2 yr. old girls. When I watch Dustin be a daddy to these girls I am amazed, knowing where he came from back in 2002. I'm thankful for these 3 precious girls that we have the privilege to be a part of their live's! I'm blessed through this ministry!

Giving Thanks,

Jesus is the answer!

This cow is much bigger than this dog. He is triumphing over him. Sometimes life events, can be pretty BIG but our God is a BIG GOD and if we just ask him to help us with our thoughts we wrestle with and the sorrow that is in our hearts HE will TRIUMPH!

We have said for a long time that animals teach unconditional love and Jim says, "The cow barn is my sanctuary with these boys." The other night one of the boys was wrestling with his thoughts while helping milk the cows and my husband kept trying to get things out of him. After quite sometime he told him that the only way he would win is if he turned his life over to Christ. When he was done milking he took him to the house to his houseparents and talked with the houseparents and then let them take over from there. The seed has been planted by both of the spiritual leaders in this young man's life now we just have to trust that he will get tired of the enemy triumphing over him and give it over to our BIG God!!!!

Please join with us in prayer....God knows his name....he even knows his thoughts day after day and the sorrow that is in his heart!

Thanks all for your prayers as we continue to wrestle with the enemy as he doesn't like it when he is about to lose another one of his. We couldn't do it without the prayer coverage from so many.

Make sure you check out some of the other inspiring posts with Scriptures connected to Pictures at Internet Cafe and Scripture & a Snapshot!

Knowing who Triumphs,

How do you spell work?

This is the picture I captured the other day. When these boys come to the ranch most of them have no work experience, especially farm work. Most of the boys we work with will probably not attend college, because it is a struggle just to get them through high school. So we feel other than teaching them about Jesus the next important thing is to teach them how to work. It is so rewarding to see how good they feel about themselves when they see what they accomplish. I heard one of the boys tell somebody today at church I did three new things yesterday....Bail hay, drive a skid loader and carry a 3 hour old baby calf. Jim's favorite saying is "How do you spell work? F - U - N!" It sounds like this boy had fun while he was working because he shared with somebody else. When these boys bail hay and milk cows they get paid, other work around the farm is just helping out and used as a teaching tool. When Jim pays them he grades them for how hard they work and they get a grade. Sometimes the boys may have to pay the ranch $1.00 an hour if it was a really bad job. (I guess that would be the bad check) We can't fire them and this teaches them how to work. As you will see in the next picture our dog DEUCE try's to make all the work fun. He is anxiously waiting for them to throw a dirt clod so he can catch it and bring it back to them. When I took this picture of the boys they were just doing a work job to help with a building project that we are in the middle of. However, it made me think of one of the consequences we sometimes use. If they can't get along with someone in school or at home, we have them dig a hole for the hole they put themselves in. So I am also sharing a scripture with this picture too.

Working for the Lord,

Planting Seeds....Reaping a Harvest?

1 Corinthians 9:11 "If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you?"

When farmers plant seeds they are having faith that God will water those seeds. Then they hope for a great harvest. When we as christians plant seeds in peoples lives we hope that someone will come along and water it and then we will get to see the fruit in their lives.

Do you think this boy got frustrated while messing with these individual seeds...sorting them out of the mess they were in? I don't know, I never asked him....but I do know he was having some fun at one point...because I captured this picture....

Do we get frustrated when we work with the mess in the lives of some of the boys...I would be lying if I said no. Do we enjoy what we are doing? Yes, or we wouldn't still be doing it for 18 years. Is it easy....NO! The hardest part is trying to reap the harvest....to keep the doors open.

Operating strictly as a faith ministry we have to have extreme faith that God will keep sending the supporters to keep the doors open. Does it get messy sometimes? You bet! But we TRUST that if God wants these doors open HE will do just that...because he is a God of Miracles!

Tree of Life!

Thankful for this man of God whom listened to God's calling and is being tested and tried but is still standing. Even though Dave, our house parent, has a broken leg....he was willing to go with Jim while he took the boys out to pick up wood. The fruit of this GOOD man is a tree full of lives and he is living out his life in front of these young men hoping to win souls!

PURE and SIMPLE!

These boys are 2 of my precious grandson's helping their Papa that they really look up to. They live 500 miles away so we don't get to teach them pure and simple teachings daily. However, God has given us the opportunity to teach the boys here at the ranch pure and simple teachings. Even if it's just working along side of them on a work job. This in turn will show them how to be a man of integrity as they watch us work. Help us to teach them how to be self controlled by our actions. Help us to keep it simple so they can mature in their salvation.

Lord, I also ask you to continue to give me a craving for the pure and simple teaching so I can mature in my salvation. Because I can't teach unless I'm willing to be taught. So help me Lord to want that milk because I haven't grown up, yet! You aren't finished with me. I love you Lord! Amen

Sit down with a cup of Pumpkin Spice Latte or something and take the time to read some more Word - Filled Wednesdays! Enjoy!!!!!

Also...I just learned about Scripture & a Snapshot! So click on over there too!

Keeping it simple