A Joy Ranch Blog
Have you ever wondered what life as a Houseparent is like? House parenting is a unique role like no other, filled with joys, sorrows, and everything in between. One question that every houseparent is asked frequently tends to be: “So, what do you do as a houseparent?” While this is not a simple answer, the Joy Ranch House-parenting team wants to share their stories so that you can see a glimpse into the life of a Houseparent, understand their work here at Joy Ranch and why it matters, and perhaps even search through the idea of becoming a Houseparent yourself! Run by our incredible girls’ house mom, Bethany Collins and our amazing boys’ house mom, Michelle Rash, “Tales of a Houseparent” will bring you into the dynamic world of living life as houseparents – laughs, tears, and all.
Recent Blog Posts
Presenting Lily!
What is your favorite food? Alfredo! (Fettuccine) What is your least favorite food? Mushrooms! How do you know if a mushroom is poisonous or not? What is your favorite game? Apples to Apples What is your favorite animal?...
Introducing Edith!
We're continuing our interviews with our kiddos at the Ranch, and today we want to introduce you to Edith, our fun-loving teen who lights up a room when she smiles. What is your favorite food? “Steak! I love both steak and ribs, but if I have to pick steak is my...
Meet Julia
We have some awesome kiddos at Joy Ranch. It is our privilege to walk alongside and help them heal, grow, and mature into the amazing people God created them to be. You know them through the photos we share, but we’d like to introduce them to you individually over the...
How Does Your Garden Grow?
We survived! School is officially over. I think it’s safe to say the last three months of school was a learning experience for everyone. We’ve all been stretched and grown, both as a group and individually. But now that school is over, what do we do? Our beach trip?...
Picture This…
We have been keeping ourselves, and our kiddo's busy! Now that school is officially out things are both a little more relaxed, and a little more hectic than usual. Here is a look at some of the things we have been up to over the past couple months: Picking and eating...
Unspeakable Joy
Joy. This is a word we’re all too familiar with at Joy Ranch. Although we’ve understood the power of joy, it has come to have a much deeper meaning during this time of isolation and restrictions. Happiness is different from joy. It is based upon circumstances, but joy...
Filling Time, Fostering Growth
Homeschooling, ready or not, here we come, here we are, here we go, etc. The following is an idea to help motivate those who don’t love to read and reward any who do. One thing we try to teach our kids is that what you focus on, grows. An area our kids needed to...
Something to Celebrate
“The goat came back!” As odd as this may sound, this was a common phrase heard around campus all last week, and it was said with much excitement and more than a hint of shock and awe. We have a new Pygmy billy goat on campus. Everyone calls him something different,...
Quarantine Projects
With all this free time due to the quarantine, it has become a trend that people are doing projects and then posting about them online. Whether home-improvements, building bird houses or doing landscaping everyone finally has time to get to those "to-do" lists....
A Time to Grow
Like people all across the world, Joy Ranch has been thrown into a time of uncertainty and social distancing. When this pandemic first started, we weren’t sure what to expect. Since learning schools were closing for the remainder of the current school year, staff at...
No Fluff Needed
By: Dan Austin, Director As we approach the Easter celebration, it is going to be different this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. There will not be the traditional Easter worship services or cantatas. While I’m grateful for the virtual worship services, they...
Anchors and Eagles
There has been some confusion during the COVID-19 pandemic about whether Joy Ranch has remained open or not. In short, we are open. We have no choice. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not that we don’t want to be here, it’s just that we literally have no choice. We have kids...
About The Authors
Bethany Collins
Bethany Collins has been a houseparent at Joy Ranch since 2013. She is the perfect balance of tough but loving and kind. In addition to spending her time raising a house full of girls, she enjoys reading, watching Superhero movies, and laughing at her own jokes. There is a legend that says she is a ninja- the girls in her house attest that this is true.
Erin Austin
Erin is our Program Assistant at Joy Ranch and she has a wonderful, furry, service friend named Lucy. Our kids love spending time with Erin and Lucy on campus and out in our community.
Michelle Rash
Michelle Rash has been a boys’ house mom with Joy Ranch since 2014! Ask any one of her boys what they would describe her as and they would likely say that she is a “mama bear” through and through. On top of raising a house full of boys, Michelle and her husband also have 2 beautiful daughters. Michelle has a relational heart and loves deep conversations, midnight runs to Wal-Mart, and is secretly married to Batman.
Interested in Houseparenting?
Download our Houseparent Brochure and visit our Employment page for more information!