The Joy Ranch family was able to enjoy a trip to Myrtle Beach in September, thankfully before Hurricane Ian passed through. Our gracious hosts at Garden City Chapel and Retreat incurred significant damage in the storm, so please keep them in your prayers as they clean...
We've been blessed to host several couples for four months now from Roving Volunteers in Christ's Service (rvics.org), and they're not finished yet! Instead of trying to recap all they've done and experienced, we have permission to share their newsletter with you....
One of the more challenging tasks (of many) that houseparents navigate is welcoming a new resident. Leaving home is hard, for any reason. Coming to a new place where you don’t know anyone is hard, even for a few hours - never mind having to live there. New rules and...
Recently, Mrs. Lynn shared with me some pictures of Ava who had planted some peas earlier this spring. Each child had an opportunity to choose and plant some garden vegetables, and Ava must love peas! I believe Lynn said she had planted 40 plants and one day last week...
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Several years ago, before I worked at Joy Ranch, I felt compelled to volunteer some time each week participating in exercise with the kids at Joy Ranch. My mom had worked at the Ranch when I was a teen, and I always felt a tie to the ministry after that, plus I was a...
Recently, we were blessed with some pictures and stories from Bob & Carol Givens. Bob said, "My mother often told me when Richard and Mary McHenry came to Mt. Calvary Church in Elizabethtown and shared their vision for developing the children’s home mother felt...
How did we finish up the twelve days so fast? This photo looks like the same one, but if you look closely, there's a different kid in each. They decided to not show their faces for this one. In the song, the twelve drummers are symbolic of the Apostles Creed of the...
Oh what creative fun was this one! Our very own Liz Fernandez ran around getting pictures of our pipers... Let us explain a few of them! Charlene Austin, our ERC Coordinator, fluty piperElaina Pratt, "piping" some icing on the cakeAlex & Nana, sword pipingSuzanne...
For this one, we took a stroll down memory lane through photos of the year. Admittedly, these are not all "lords", but some ladies as well... and if you count, there are more than 10! But, that's OK, because this is the Joy Ranch version! We love to see these kids...