Schedule for Overnight Campouts

Here is this summer's schedule for our overnight campouts:

June 11-12
June 25-26
July 9-10
July 23-24
August 13-14
August 27-28 (rodeo trip?)
September 10-11
September 24-25


Just wanted to let you all know ahead of time since we have a limited schedule.

Mark Your Calendars

Our 3rd annual Silent Auction/Dinner is going to be on Saturday, February 26th at 5:00 p.m. at New Jerusalem Christian Fellowship. It should be a great night.
Chip will be playing with "What-a-band,What-a-band", Larry and Taylor Rothman will be singing a couple of favorites, and our very own Darnell is working a song dedicated to the ranch. We have a couple of great auction items for sale, so you don't want to miss this night. See ya!

The Group

Last night we welcomed Bruce to the group. Bruce is a student at Jackson Community College and is a part the a group called Men of Merit. These guys are awesome. Their main objective is to help the community, especially, the youth to get an education and "be all they can be". We showed him around the ranch and took him to the barn while we fed the horses. Gilbert seemed eager to show Bruce "the ropes". He watched the kids work in the shop with Bill, and then play a game with us in the house. What a fun night. We had Chili Dogs and Chris's famous beans. The kids went outside to play hide and seek. Another fun night!

Week Two Young Travelers - Responsibility

Monday we talked about responsibility. Bill, Kevin, Kyle, Dorrein, and I went to the barn to feed the animals. They picked their horse that they will care for while they are here. They learned which animal gets which feed and took all the hay out for them. They also helped Bill move some hay around the barn. That took some muscle! The boys started to work on their belts and actually some started to tool them. Dinner, was breakfast, pancakes and sausage. We read part of chapter four where Michael (character in the book) spoke to President Truman. Some of the discussion also was a history lesson too. This book is great. Everyone should read it. Next week we meet King Solomon and his wisdom.

Friday was REALLY COLD, so we had to just have fun in the house. Chris had to work, so I cooked dinner again. Everyone survived, (I think?). We played games, some kids worked in the shop and some played the piano, and then some took some pretty silly pictures with my camera. It was a fun night. We had 12 youth here and Bill and I survived the night!!

New Young Travelers Group 2010

Last Monday we started a new group of Young Travelers. We are hosting 4 young men.
It was a great night and looking forward to tomorrow with them. They were assigned the first 4 chapters of the book, "The Young Travelers Gift", by Andy Andrews.
Tomorrow we will be talking about responsibility. The boys will be assigned a horse that they will have to care for the eight weeks they will be here. The weather does not permit us to do much riding during this time. However, the boys can learn about horses just by taking "ownership" for eight weeks. We have a new mentor who has joined us for Young Travelers. His name is Greg, and he has a lot of wisdom to offer the boys. He works at University of Michigan as a tradesman. He loved working in the shop with the boys. They will be making a belt from a "hunk of hide", and possibly a wood birdhouse if there is time. Young Travelers has become a favorite program around here. It gives us a chance to get to know the kids and form trusting relationships with them.

Martin Luther King Celebration

Last Saturday Bill and I took 4 of our Young Travelers boys to the Marin Luther King Celebration at Jackson Community College. What a great night we had. There was a large crowd in the dining room and we sat at a table sponsored by Men of Merit.
Men of Merit is a group of young men at JCC who are encouraging young people to stay in school and get an education. The food was good and there was great music as well. The keynote speaker was a guy named Ken Brown. He has written two books about how he went from living on welfare to being a millionaire! What a great story!!
Megal wanted to meet him, so Bruce (men of merit member) grabbed the boys and took him to meet Ken. He gave them all a big hug, and gave them money to buy his book "Leap of Faith". They were pretty excited about that. We bought the books, and then took them to Ken to sign them. We had so much fun that night. The boys were great and I think they actually paid attention to the speaker. I was really proud of them, like they are my own kids!

Ashley's Snow Horse Sculpture

Last Friday, there was still a lot of snow on the ground. The kids still wanted to go out and play hide and seek, all except Ashley. She wanted to make Bill and I a snow horse sculpture. She did a great job!
Fridays continue to be a fun part of my week. I can let all the "business" of my life go and just sit down and play a game with my new ranch family. It's the best part of my week!

Chess/Checker Tournament

Last Saturday Bill and I took Megal and Dorrein to a chess/checker tournament hosted by our Mentoring Network at the King Center. It was to honor January as Mentoring Awareness month. It was a great day and had a lot of fun. It was more than just chess and checkers. We had lots of board games to play. A few of the kids I know from Kids Explosion came and that was fun. I hadn't seen them for a while. We played a game of Monopoly with them. Dorrein, Megal, Kathleen, and myself played a game of Chinese Checkers. The kids enjoyed that as well. It was just a great day just hanging around the King Center Playing games. Megal won the trophy and he was really excited. This Friday at the ranch, Charlie is going to bring his chess board and play chess with Megal. After the games, Hakim Crampton hosted an open poetry mic. That was really good. He is encouraging people to take the mic, and share their hearts. I took a few pictures, so take a look by clicking the link to the right called Chess/Checker Tournament.

Happy New Year

Friday we got a lot of snow, but that didn't stop the kids from coming. Our Friday night group is working on a few projects to put in our silent auction. Ashley 2's mom brought warm soup for dinner. It was great. Thanks Anne!!
After dinner, Chris, Dorrein, Amy, and I played spoons and I won!! The rest of the gang went out into the snowy night and played hide and seek. They keep finding new places to hide. The kids really enjoy that part of the night.
A new year has begun at the ranch. Gilbert, Ashley 1, and myself went to the barn to take care of the animals and captured "dinner time in the field". Take a look at a few pics by clicking the link to the right called, "Friday Y.T. 1-7-11".