God's Lavish Love!

King's Ranch is an awesome place! Not only is the home beautiful, but the beauty of God's creation surrounding it is breathtaking! Hard to believe that there is a place like this in Jonesboro, and that God has chosen to use it for His glory to bless hurting kids!

When people visit King's Ranch, we always hear compliments like, "Wow, this is so nice!" or "What an awesome place!"... and they are right! God has blessed King's Ranch to be a blessing to others!

The kids who will come here have had much hurt in their lives. They have not had the privileges that you and I enjoy and have come to expect. Many of them have no one who is concerned for them or will take care of them. King's Ranch is a place for them to receive all of this and more. I can't explain the feeling - you just know when you walk in the door that God's love is here!

In the little girls' room, there is a verse painted on the wall and it says this,

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God." 1John 3:1

God doesn't always give us lavish things, but He always gives us lavish love, lavish grace, lavish mercy, lavish forgiveness! King's Ranch, and the beauty that surrounds it, is meant to be a picture of the lavish nature of God for the kids who will come here. He loves them. He cares about them. He has a wonderful plan and purpose for their lives beyond anything they could imagine!

Father,
How great is the love you have lavished on us that we should be called your children! Thank you for that love! Thank you for the privilege of being your child! We pray that every hurting child who comes through the doors at King's Ranch will leave this place as a child of the King! Lavish your love on them, Lord! May you, Father, be glorified and lifted high in this place! You alone are worthy!

HeartSpaahhh!

The only thing I can say is WOW! I cannot begin to put into words what we experienced at King's Ranch this past weekend at HeartSpa! You had to have been there to understand the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that we experienced! We had 14 girls from the Huntington Mission and 8 leaders who led them into the presence of the Lord!

Our weekend was focused on the account of the woman at the well from John 4: 4-30, 39-42. Jesus came to the well around noontime. While he was there, he bumped into a Samaritan woman. This woman was an outcast, someone not welcome at the well in the morning or evening when other women came. She was in a vulnerable state when she met Jesus at the well. We talked about the fact that had she not been in this vulnerable state, she would have missed meeting Jesus. She would have been at the well early in the day with the other women and not been there when Jesus came by at noon! We talked about how we must be vulnerable with Jesus and with others. We must take off our "masks" and come to Jesus and each other as we really are! We spent time talking about Psalm 139, "O Lord, you have searched me and you know me." He knows everything about us and He loves us!

We also discussed that Jesus is the living water! He is the only one who can quench the dryness of our soul! Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:13-14.

We ended our retreat by considering the actions of the woman after she met Jesus. She did not sneak quietly back home! No! "...leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did"John 4:28-29. We talked about dropping a pebble into a pond and watching the rippled effect. This woman told her friends who told their friends and many people believed! We each thought of someone we could tell about Jesus and made a gift tag for a bottle of water to give that person as a gift. As we give that gift we are going to tell them about Jesus who is the living water...and the ripple effect will continue!

Between each session, the girls rotated to three different spa stations; healing hands, pampering pedicures, and refreshing facials. The theme of our retreat was woven throughout these experiences and helped reinforce Jesus as the living water! The girls loved getting pampered! Most of them had never had anyone make such a fuss over them!

HeartSpa was a phenomenal experience for all involved! We knew that apart from Him we could do nothing! We knew that if God did not show up at this event then it would fail! So we did what we knew to do. We prayed! We prayed that God would smooth out all the details. We prayed that He would fill every room and corner of that house with the Holy Spirit. We prayed that He would bring at least 12 girls to the retreat. We prayed that He would bring reconciliation, forgiveness, friendship and bonding between the girls. We prayed that He would move in hearts and draw us all closer to Him. We prayed that He would bring salvation. I want to proclaim to you that our God is awesome! He is mighty! He is faithful!! He answered every one of those prayers!! All glory goes to Him!

Home Sweet Home!

Move-in day was a great success! We were so blessed to have had plenty of volunteers to help load up the furniture at the storage unit and move it into the King's Ranch home! Thank you to all those who helped!

You may be wondering what else we need to make the King's Ranch home complete! We have a wish list at Target with the items still needed! You can visit http://www.target.com/lists/1ZC66F9SEVVEI if you'd like to purchase an item for the home, or you can visit your local Target store and view our list on the registry computers! Thanks so much for all your help!

Great Things in Store...

We have exciting news! The King's Ranch home is almost ready! With move in day just around the corner, we are taking inventory of what we will need to finish the home. We've posted a list of needed items to the right.

Our greatest need at this time is a set of house parents! Please pray that God will send the ones He has chosen! We are spreading the word in churches around town to see if God has been preparing someone there. Help us by spreading the word in your church! If you know of someone who is interested, please have them call us at 934-1303 or email us at information@kingsranchar.com .

Word is beginning to spread and we are getting some calls about children needing a home! Please pray that God will give us wisdom and discernment as we make decisions about the 3 children we will receive. There are so many children in need, but we can only take three! We need Him to make it clear to us those who need to come to King's Ranch!

These are exciting days! It is such a privilege to join God in his work! Thank you for all who have joined in with us to get this home ready! God has great things in store for 3 precious little children! We can't wait to see their faces!

A Big Thank You!

King's Ranch was so blessed to have the Blackburn Family from Austin, Texas visit the ranch and help with some much needed clean-up! With some old fashioned elbow grease, we were able to clean the King's Ranch home to a sparlking shine, inside and out!! Thank you Blackburn's for the sacrifice of your time and energy! We know God will bless you richly!

Re-mulching the flower beds was a tough, hot job, but everyone worked hard through the heat! Relief was in sight, however, because soon the power-washing of the house began and cooled off our weary laborers!

Windows were washed, cabinets were polished, drawers and cabinets were wiped out, bathrooms were cleaned, and light bulbs were changed all in preparation for move -in day!

Thank you again Blackburn Family!!!

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." Colossians 3:23-24

Pressing On!

Summer has brought a slower pace of life, some much needed rest, and the beauty of God's creation in full bloom at King's Ranch! Our new spring babies are growing and aren't so new anymore! MoJo has his horns, the beginnings of his billy goat beard and is almost as big as his momma. I'm sad to report that we lost our beloved Minnie after an unfortunate encounter with Sophie, our golden retriever! ShyAnne, our little buckskin philly, is bucking and running right along side the other horses! She's giving us a time with the taming process though! We were not able to handle her much early on due to a fiercely protective mother! All the baby ducks have grown up and moved on to other parts of the country. We are reminded of just how fast little ones grow up and venture into adulthood, and just how important love, care, protection, and nurturing are to their development! Which brings me to the point of this blog entry - the children!

There has been much going on around King's Ranch this summer to get ready for the children who need love, care, protection and nurturing! Much work has been done these past few weeks in preparation for the arrival of three little children that will call King's Ranch home by the end of 2008! Thank you to all the wonderful volunteers who have given of their time to get things done: Bill Ross for taking care of the yard, Don Jenkins and Paul Grimm for power washing the deck to prepare it for a new coat of water sealant, Don and Will for trimming the limbs, Betsy Smith for giving the inside a new coat of paint, Jonesboro Roofing for repairing some damaged shingles, Gina Gunter for weeding the flower beds in the heat!, Shannon Puryear for helping polish up the cabinets, Mary Margaret Scholtens for feeding us all as we worked! And the list goes on! We will be having a clean-up day and move-in day in late July! We will let everyone know those dates when they have been set!
Thank you all for your prayers and support! Keep praying as we keep pressing on!!

"Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:13-14

All for the King and the kids,
Eddie and Lee

Our Sincere Thanks

We would like to say thank you to all of you who have supported us through prayer, donations, writing letters, making phone calls, sending emails, coming to council meetings, and giving us encouragement through this time. We are still believing that God will complete the vision of King's Ranch. We don't understand all the details, but we know that He is sovereign over all. His timing is perfect. He is always faithful. We anticipate something greater than we could have hoped for or imagined. We know that many of you have taken time out of your lives to help us and for that we say Thank You and may God bless you and your family!

Still believing,
Eddie and Lee