Big Brothers Big Sisters Award

We got a nice surprise last week. Big Brothers Big Sisters of Jackson County gave Lazy B's Ranch the 2010 Contributing Organization of the Year award. What a great honor! We hosted 4 different groups of BBBS youth last year. One group was the older kids who are "mentors in training", and in the fall we hosted 3 groups of "matches". They all had a great time. Some of the youth had never ridden a horse before, so that was fun to introduce something new to them. BBBS have been very supportive and we are happy to partner up with them.

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.