My poster add for next years MCH Challenge Bike Ride!

Today was our 4th Annual MCH Challenge Bike Ride thanks to Dick Grimm and his wife Karen. Bikers come from all over to ride either 25, 50, 72 or 100 miles. This young man, Cliff Warner, age 70 has not completed a 100 mile ride for 15 years.....until TODAY! Wow can you imagine being 70 and riding 100 miles...I can't even imagine riding 100 miles at my age. But, there are several dedicated men and women out there that ride all over. We had a great turn out....74 bikers. This is just a start of pictures from our bike ride today....I will be posting more on the original website on the Special Event page. Keep checking back if you rode you might see your picture. Thanks so much all you supporters for riding in the MCH Challenge and all you who donated through this fundraiser. We brought in $3369.65. We serve an awesome God that continues to keep our doors open through people like this who participate in our fundraisers. If the doors don't stay open we can't help boys feel good about themselves because of success.

So again....thanks so much and don't forget to check back in the near future on the Special Event page for more pictures from the Bike Ride.

So Thankful,

Where does the time go?

Well the M & M Fest was a great success we raised $3,796.00 with donations, horse plop and silent auction. We had some great groups out sharing the God given talent with all of us here on the Ranch Property; it was a beautiful day!

The Nester family moved on to a different job, after finding out houseparenting wasn't for them. We thank them for helping out while we were going through our unthinkable circumstance. We are looking forward to a family from Texas to join us as soon as they sell their house. Please join us in prayer for the Clawson family and the selling of their house. They will be moving into the cabin Jim and I have lived in for the last 13 years and after being here for a short time we will fill their home up with 4 boys on the waiting list; along with their own 4 boys.

Jim and I will be moving into the smaller cabin on the ranch property, with the two boys that are living with us right now; Andy and Hector. They are doing great right now, just getting started back in school. Here is an awesome picture of them as we went horse riding one night.

We have been speaking at churches a lot lately but could always use more churches or groups to share what great things God continues to do at the Boys Ranch.

Continuing to Trust HIM,

M & M Fest

Hey all we are getting ready for the Miracle & Music Fest on the Ranch property this Sunday; August 9th. We would love to have you. We will start off at 10:30 with Keith Nester Preaching the word of God, then right into.....good ole' Gospel Music. Food will be served on the grounds the whole day for nothing but a free will love offering all proceeds go to Miracles Can Happen Boys Ranch. The actual music will start at 12:30 with Oscar Perales starting off. Also sharing their gifts of music that day will be The Graves, Country Friends, Allegory, Jimmy J and the Son Rays and All Things New. We will probably be going until 6:30 or 7:00 in the evening.

Bring a lawn chair, sit back and enjoy the fresh country air, (cow pooh and all). Listen to music, take a tour of the ranch, and listen to stories of boys' lives that have been changed. We will have a silent auction with several items to auction off. The biggest thing to bid on will be a getaway to Branson, MO. (3 days and 2 nights motel room, 4 tickets to Dixie Stampede, 4 tickets to Shepherd of the Hills........ that is just some of it) Come on out to find out what else is included in the package.

We are excited to share with you what God has done out here at the boys ranch in the last 17 years, come see for yourself what he has done.

1614 300th Street; Wilton, IA call if you need directions 319-930-2806 (Cathy's Cell phone).

Take care and hope to see you.

Serving Him,

Golf Outing 2009

Our Golf Outing was a huge success again this year. We had at least 41 sponsors that helped tremendously. We had 21 teams playing, only 2 dropped out because of the rain, the other 19 were great sports and played after they got wet.

We had a lot of volunteers helping out and we appreciate everyone of you. Thanks so much.

Hope you enjoy watching some of the fun we had that day on this youtube video.

Thanks so much all of you that helped the ranch raise $7,500.00.

God is good!!!!

You all have helped put another piece together of broken pieces out in our world.

Trusting HIM,

Please Forgive Me!

I'm so thankful that Jesus died on the cross for ME so that I might have forgiveness. I told you last August, eight months ago, that I will try to get back in the swing of things of keeping you updated. Wow I really failed at that! So please forgive me!

We are still here working with boys. We are so thankful that Keith and Estelle Nester joined up with us last August working full-time for the ranch. We have been blessed to have them help us through this last year. This last year (plus) has been a difficult year with a very unthinkable circumstance happening in our personal life. That unthinkable was February 8th, 2008 our 21 year old son was arrested for 2nd degree murder. His trial just ended in March 2009 and his verdict was read April 3rd, he was convicted of voluntary manslaughter. If you want you can read the judge's verdict of his case so you can understand why this was such an unthinkable just click on over. We are so thankful for the prayer support that we have had through this journey. We could not have pressed on without the support. Thanks so much to all who were praying!

God is still on the throne and now we await for Curtis' sentencing which will take place May 7th. We know God is in the middle of this, he has already used Curtis' story and will continue to use Curtis' story to reach more young lives. Curtis has helped several young men while sitting in the county jail for the last 15 months and will continue wherever God sends him after May 7th.

Today, I had the privilege to sit in our church and look to the left to the front row, and look at the back of 4 young men. Two of these young men are past boys that lived here at the ranch, the other two were friends of these past boys. The one young man that was here about 4 years ago, said to me today, "After this whole thing with Curtis, and my last stay in county jail, I can't do it any longer without HIM! I need to get right with God." One of their friends said to me, "He brought me here last week on Easter and I have been looking forward to this day all week to come back again today."

We will continue to claim the verse that we claimed at the very beginning of this unthinkable, Romans 8:28 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

Please continue to pray for this ministry that God would continue to give us strength to continue being the tools he uses to reach young men.

Trusting HIM,

Busy week!

Well, we are going to have a very busy week. We will be registering the boys for school, they will all three be starting football camp tomorrow. We are getting ready for the Miracle and Music Fest that will be this Saturday and Sunday. We hope you can all come check out our great music and especially the cow plop.

The boys are getting excited about the big event, and being a huge help getting the grounds ready, the house and the barns. We try to keep up on everything all the time, but we want it to look especially nice for our guests when they arrive.

I will try to post something after the big event with some pictures. Keep coming back, I will try to get back in the swing of things of keeping you updated.

Trusting HIM as we run the race,

Back to blogging

Romans 8:28 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

I will try to get back to blogging about how God is continuing to work here at Miracles Can Happen Boys Ranch. We have endured some hardship, but continue to press on in this ministry. God continue's to show us his Grace, Mercy and Blessings as we run this race marked out for us.

We had a great time at our golf outing's in June. We were blessed with a number of sponsors and golfers. Thanks so much all of you who were a part of that.

We also had an awesome GOT GUTS Camp the end of June. I will try to put up a video later on the Camp.

We are getting ready for the MIRACLES & MUSIC FEST that will be on the ranch property on August 9 & 10 from 12:00 - 5:00. You will not want to miss it because we are going to have a great time.

Thank you all for your support through the last several months as we have gone through a very unthinkable circumstance in our personal life.

Continuing to SERVE HIM,