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,

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!!!!!

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Keeping it simple

...Stinks to high heaven!

These....bugs are going the wrong way, they are trying to constantly get inside my home and I don't want them. They are like sin knocking at my door because of my sinful nature and that sin stinks to high heaven just like these bugs.

I look at all these bugs and how I don't like them. Then I think of how they stink....and I'm so thankful that God takes it easier on me than I do on these bugs. You see I tend to hesitate in the faith, and at times tend to take the wrong way in my everyday actions.

Help me to live out my life to be more like Jesus every day. Help me to go easy on those who hesitate in the faith. Most importantly help me to always remember that sin stinks and I need to turn the other way when it knocks at my door.

I love you Lord and I want to be all that you want me to be as I continue to serve you here.

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Your humbled Servant,

Spider web or Jesus' web?

I don't know about you but I'm so thankful that I know, that I know I can continually be cauGht by Jesus' hand. Those who don't know Jesus as their personal Savior.....

"They hang their life from one thin thread, they hitch their fate to a spider web. One jiggle and the thread breaks, one jab and the web collapses." Job 8:14 & 15 The MESSAGE

Help us to totally give up our own will and do your will in this ministry helping the tangled up lives that you have placed here at the ranch. When you look at a web it looks like a tangled up mess...but the spider looks at it as a masterpiece. Help us to show these boys that God can take a tangled up mess and turn it into a masterpiece. They just have to totally hand their life over to Jesus and be caught by HIM!

Help us not to doubt that God can continue to work on the boys that have already lived here in the past. He still looks at them as a masterpiece and is just waiting for some of them to reach out their hand to HIM and say, "I can't continue to live this tangled life anymore, I knew a different way, help me because I'm stuck in the web of life."

Thank you Jesus for this opportunity to serve you even though sometimes it can get sticky and tangled in this christian walk just like the spider web.

I love you Jesus....and thank you for making me a masterpiece.

Ephesians 2:10 " "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

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Serving HIM,

Ok, I guess we aren't doing our job!

Isaiah 59:21 "As for me," God says, "this is my covenant with them: My Spirit that I've placed upon you and the words that I've given you to speak, they're not going to leave your mouths nor the mouths of your children nor the mouths of your grandchildren. You will keep repeating these words and won't ever stop." God's orders." The MESSAGE

A few days before these two grandsons were coming to visit Nana and Papa, (for a week) we received a phone call from their daddy. They were having a little fight over who was going to get the pooper scooper and if there was going to be enough poop to scoop at Nana and Papa's house. I guess we are remembered more for the poop at our house rather than God's word...so in saying that we have some work to do because I guess we aren't doing our job!

Sure is funny, these little guys think it's so fun to help Papa scoop poop. However the big guys we work with, would rather throw the poop at Jim (which that has happened before) when he tells them they have to scoop poop for their nasty actions they just had.

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Trying to follow God's Orders,

Struggling?

This is a daily thing at the ranch.....both the picture and this verse! When you are on the front line of the battle field it is a struggle. There is a spirital battle going on for these boys lives daily! But we know who the WINNER is and are so thankful that HE is much stronger than this dark world!

So thankful to be in this battle and being lead by a MIGHTY leader. Trusting that HE will continue to guide us in this ministry!

Grab a cup of coffee and stop on over at Internet Cafe and see some more Word Filled Wednesday!

Two or Three!

Such an awesome site to see! This was a powerful night at the Got Guts Camp! He was definately there with us that whole week! It was awesome!

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Thankful for prayer time,

Aroma of Christ

Sometime's ministry can be oh so hard...but Thanks be to God for leading us in triumph and helping us spread the fragrance of the knowledge of him. He helps us be the aroma of Christ to those who are perishing.

He continues to help us persevere even though we are going through a very unthinkable personal circumstance right now. God continues to help us touch lives in the midst of the storm.

I just found this verse the other day while looking for something to help with the call I just received from Curtis. He got wrote up for a wrong doing for the first time after sitting in county jail for 15 months and now prison for another 15 months. Why, what did you do Curtis? He said, "I had a dryer sheet in the front of my vent to make the cell smell good." "Did you know you weren't suppose to do that?" I asked. "No, but I do now." He answered. I guess it was a fire hazard.

The same day I received a phone call from an inmate that had gotten out and spent time with him in prison and he said, "I just called to tell you your son is a "proverbial ray of sunshine in that place." So even though Curtis' cell can't give off fragrance or aroma his character can!

Thank you God for using my son to give off aroma of Christ in a very dark place to those who are being saved and those who are perishing.

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Trying my hardest to give off aroma,

Brimming with Blessings!

Today I got a phone call from Curtis! Some of you may not know but Curtis is our son and he is in Prison for a one night choice that changed his life and ours forever! He shared with me that tonight he was going to be able to attend a banquet. This banquet was for the inmates that have gone a year with no major report! He also shared with me that he was going to receive a huge meal and he was going to get to use real silverware for the first time in 2 1/2 years. Wow I sure do take things for granted. This has been a very difficult time but our cup brims with blessing! Our son, Curtis said to me the day he was sentenced, "Mom don't look at this as me going to prison, look at this as me going to the mission field." God continues to revive our drooping head with God stories from inside those walls and our cup brims with blessings!

WFW is not about books, authors, artists.. it’s about God and HIS WORD ONLY. WFW is about celebrating the gift of creativity through God’s Word.

Brimming with Blessings,

He is with me!

Isaiah 43:2-3a

Here are more pictures from our Got Guts Camp this year.... there are some days as I'm passing through the waters and through the flames in life that I feel like they will sweep over me or I will be burned up. However, I know my God is a Big God and HE is my Savior, He will get me through this because He is with ME! Through these flames His Glory will cause people to be AMAZED and these FLAMES will not set me ABLAZE! I claim the victory over JESUS my SAVIOR!

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Serving my SAVIOR,

HIS Hands!

This is probably one of my favorite pictures that I took of one of the boys from the ranch. When I look at this picture I think of two things.

1. God holds us in his hands and won't drop us or won't let us down....even though we don't always understand why he has allowed some things in our life to happen HE is still there holding us in the palm of his hands.

2. These chicks taught this boy about God's unconditional Love....no matter what he did God still allowed us to love him through God and teach him about God's LOVE!

I love looking back through pictures of boys that God has brought into our life. God has definately held us in his hands while we have tried to be his hands in helping take destructive hands and turn them into loving hands.

Thank you God for holding me in your hands at all times.

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Resting in HIS hands,

The ROCK!

This is a portion of a huge rock that sits at the end of our drive coming into the ranch! Jesus is our ROCK and oh so hard to get through to some boys that HE is solid! Just the other day, a boy stopped in to get something he left here. When I went to give him a hug he turned away and said I don't want a hug from you! I said, "Why did it have to change." His response, "I have freedom, this sucks!" I just have to trust that my Jesus is the Rock and what we taught him about Jesus while he was in our home for 3 years will point him in the right direction and when he is old he will come running back! Oh so hard....but my ROCK is hard, solid and will not be moved so I TRUST in my ROCK! I love you JESUS and I lay this boy, and the other 38 boys that have slept under our roof sometime in the last 18 years, at your feet! I also lay my own three children at your feet as they are all out on their own.
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Trusting in my ROCK,

Call on Him in the day of Trouble!

I gaze out the front door and this is what I see. Cows....God's Cows on a small hill, beside a pond and they are His. These cows were adopted by God's people to place on this ranch to teach boys about unconditional love. Sometimes it is so hard to get through to a young man that he is loved...but we have to keep trusting and teaching him to call upon God in the day of trouble. He will deliver us if we only rest in HIS arms and Trust! In this ministry for the last 18 years there have been plenty of days when I have called out to my DADDY up in heaven in the day of trouble. I'm so thankful He is up there with his arms wide open and He is saying "REST in my Arms my child!"







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Resting in His arms,

Word Filled Wednesday!

My husband and I work with Boys headed down the wrong direction and we try to help them Forget what is behind and move Forward......Jesus forgives us and we need to try to forgive ourselves so we can move on!

This is my first time to participate in Word Filled Wednesday but I hope I can find time to continue...... if you want to enjoy some more of the Word Filled Wednesday just click on over using the link to the left!

Trusting Him,