Young Travelers Girls 6-28-10 Forgiveness

It was a beautiful night and we took the girls out to the arena and Sharon worked with them on their riding skills. Each girl is at a different level and improving each time we work with them. Tonight's subject was forgiveness. Horses are a great example of this and we like to use them to describe how forgiving they can be. I love the use of horses to discuss the 7 decisions outlined in the book. The girls should be riding on their own by the end of the class. Yeah! They really like it. They continued to work on their belts and are close to attaching the buckles. They are coming along very nicely.
Chris made breakfast for dinner and we talked about forgiving each other and ourselves. We spoke about how not forgiving someone is just hurting us and not the other person. Take a look at the pictures by clicking the link to the right called Young Travelers 6-28-10.

Save Our Youth March

We are partnering with the Mentoring Collaborative of Jackson County on Saturday July 10th for the "Save Our Youth March". It will start at 10:00 a.m. at Jackson Arts and Tech School and finish our walk at Ella Sharpe Park and join the Human Relations Comission Picnic. We are very excited about doing this. There will be 5 youth sharing their life struggles and how they have overcome them. The purpose of this march is to open the doors of opportunity for the community of Jackson to get involved with the youth of the city and see what they might be able to do to make a difference in their lives. Two of the youth are part of our Young Travelers program. Please, if you could take a few minutes out of your day to come and hear what the youth of Jackson has to say, I know you will be glad you did.
Thanks for your support and prayers.

Salvation Army 6-25-10

The Salvation Army came back again this past Friday. We gave five kids a trail ride out on the field and spoke about the 7 decisions for success with them. All of The Lazy B's Ranch programming is built on 7 principals we found in a book called "The Young Travelers Gift, by Andy Andrews. Even the young ones can learn about, Responsibility, Wisdom, having a Decided Heart, being a person of Action, having a Forgiving Spirit, being Happy, and being Persistent. This time no one decided to try and take a kitten home with them!! The kittens will be taken to their new home next weekend. Take a look at some pictures by clicking the link to the right called Salvation Army 6-25-10.

Wraparound Boys - 6-19-10

No power didnot interfere with the activities and fun at the Lazy B's Ranch last Saturday. We woke up Saturday morning wondering how we were going to keep the boys cooled off with no water! It was suppose to be hot that day. Thanks to Jill Clark from Highfields loaning us her generator and Charlie and Josh's handyman experience hooking it up to our well, we had running water! Thanks to you guys for making that happen. We had so much fun, they all rode, learn to shoot a bow with an arrow, made a leather bracelet, and enjoyed fun with water and the Lazy B's Olympics. Chris came up with the good water games, and bunkhouse one needed a fifth player, and I was it. It felt very good to get very wet! They had no problem with an old lady being on their team. I think we won most of the games!
Take a look at the pictures by clicking the link "Wraparound Boys 6-19-10

Young Travelers-Girls Week 5

This week we spent some more time working on our belts. The girls have used their creative gifts to design them. Larry and Charlie were a big help in punching holes, but Alyssa shined and was able to do them herself. We played a word game and discussed different career opportunities. I was a naturalist and Ashley actually knew what it was! You go girl! Our discussion this week was being a person with a decided heart. We talked about our dreams and what we need to do to accomplish those dreams. Chris was a big hit in the kitchen and made tacos and nacho cheese dip. Thanks to Chris for taking care of the food. We love you! Kathy and Bill Latocki came and joined us for dinner. Kathy was given permission by Andy Andrews publisher to record the book on CD so people could listen to the book if they don't have time to read the book. She did a great job. Thank you Kathy! The kittens are always a big hit, so Ashley wanted to take some pictures for you to see. They will be going to there new home next week. Our tractor guy, Jerry, plans to take all five kittens. Next week we will be discussing having a joyful heart.
Take a look at some pictures by clicking the link to the right, Young Travelers Girls 6/14/10

Night Out At The Rodeo

Last night we went to the 3 Bar B Rodeo in Adrian Michigan. Our very own wrangler, Josh, participated in the bull riding event. We took some of our ranch kids, Johnathan, Jalen, and Keith. Josh took us back behind the shoots to check out the activities behind the scenes. The kids got to touch the bulls. Without a bull strap on, they seemed pretty tame, but wow, when they got in the arena, look out cowboys!!! Josh came very close to qualifying in the event finishing at 7.53 seconds. To qualify, you must stay on the bull for 8 seconds. Good thing for Josh, no one else qualified, so he is still in the running for the prize buckle he is working towards. I wasn't able to get a good photo of Josh riding, but he looked good. We had a lot of fun, and the boys would like to go back again.
There was also barrel racing, pole bending, and calf roping. There were a lot of good riders and if they work hard, they could soon enter the pro rodeo. There was a young girl, about 7, participated in the pole pending, and another participated in the race to the barrel, (grandma running with her). The discipline of horsemenship can start at a very young age with the right horse and the drive to press on in the sport. Take a look at some pics by clicking Night Out at The Rodeo.

Salvation Army

School is out and kids need something to do! Yesterday, Jackson Salvation Army came to the ranch for a few hours to ride and play games. Chuck, Bill, Johnathan, and Annie all walked horses in the arena and gave 23 kids a ride! Wow, I missed a lot.
Johnathan shined as he moves into his role as "wrangler in training".
They got the kittens out to show the kids and they were a big hit. One child was going to take a kitten home, but Chuck caught him just as they were getting ready to leave!! Too Funny!!!

Young Travelers - Girls

This Monday we talked about being a person of action. Do not put things off. Have a plan and stick to it. The girls rode in the arena with help and instruction by Sharon. She used to be an instructor. The lesson was to move your horse in the direction you want him/her to go. This was challenging to those who haven't done it before, but a learning lesson on having a task to do and taking the necessary steps to do it. They all enjoyed learning the basics of riding. The girls also started to tool their belts. We had sloppy joes and cheesy potatoes for dinner. Our discussions with the girls are going well. It will be hard to vote at the end on who participated the most. Take a look at the pictures by clicking the link at the right Young Travelers-Girls 6/7/10 and Making Belts

1st Overnight Campout - Young Travelers Boys

What a fun weekend we had. There were 4 boys from our Young Travelers group. They were really looking forward to this camp out. We started off the day with grilled hot dogs and chili cheese nachos. Then they took a ride on horseback and shot archery for points. They did pretty well and I even shot the bow and hit the target. We took off down the road to play softball and had a great time. We all hit pretty good, however, we all could brush up on our fielding skills. The rain came and it came hard. We continued to play in the rain, but the game was called after the 3rd inning (I think, who's counting anyway). I think that was the most fun we have had in a long time. The boys really enjoyed it. We went back to the ranch to cook cowboy dinners, but it was raining too hard to cook or eat outside. We stayed in the ranch house for dinner and played board games. We waited for the tornado watch to be lifted, and then went to bed. We played pretty hard that day . Dan made an awesome breakfast of pancakes, sausage, and fried potatoes. Brian led us in a few worship songs, Megal and I read my favorite psalm, and Jan spoke about God's forgiveness and mercy. It was an awesome time. These Young Travelers boys are part of our family. We continue to mentor these boys on a weekly basis. Take a look at the pictures by clicking the link to the right Young Travelers June 5-6.

Volunteer Kick Off 2010

Last Saturday we had a volunteer kick off wrangler training and party. We had a beautiful day and the food was great. Thanks to Kathy and Chris for taking care of the food! They all know not to leave me in charge of food!! We have some new wranglers this year, WELCOME to Josh, Sharon, Larry, Linda, and Angel. New volunteers include Naomi, Nate, Tammy. Thanks to all of our volunteers. We could not do anything without your passion and dedication. Many kids will be blessed because of you!

Week Three-Wisdom

Our third week with the Young Travelers girls was great. We worked with the horses and explained all the responsibility involved with caring for them. Even though they may never own a horse, the girls can learn the concept of caring for someone other than themselves. Horses make great examples of many of the concepts that are outlined in the book. I love that book! We started to design our leather belts and will begin tooling the leather next week. The girls are very excited about making the belts. We had dinner and discussed the 2nd principal, wisdom. We discussed the difference between knowledge and wisdom and who we go to for advice to gain wisdom.
Again, the girls were very open during discussion and talked a lot about making right decisions. We talked about the fact that we need to make decisions now that might not make sense today, but could effect their future.
I didn't do too well with the pictures, but take a look by copying and pasting this in your address field: http://picasaweb.google.com/LazyBeesRanch/YoungTravelersWeek352410#