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King's Ranch Crowning Ceremony

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Lovable...

"God doesn't love me! I'm a bad boy! I mean I'm REALLY bad! He doesn't love me! Nobody does!"... These were the passionate words spoken by one of the little boys at the Ranch the other day. He had gotten into trouble and was doing a chore when these words came tumbling out in a moment of disgust. "Oh, God does love you", I replied, "He says so in His word. He loves you so much, He sent His son to die for you... and I love you too!". "No you don't! God can't love me either!", he replied. Over and over this little boys insisted that God couldn't love him because he was bad, and over and over I spoke truth to him. "God's word says we are all bad. It says we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...that's why Jesus came".....
One of the goals we have at the ranch is getting the children to "talk" out their feelings instead of "acting" them out. We help them identify one of the five feelings they are having, glad, sad, mad, scared, ashamed, and then put it into a sentence; "My heart feels mad because...". This helps them learn express the way they feel so they can get it out with words, not negative actions. We have been working with this little guy a while trying to get him to identify and talk out his feelings that he had kept bottled inside for so long, and had been coming out in negative behavior.
....A little while later, as he was bent over doing his chore, I reached out and rubbed his back. He said, "Why are you doing that?" I answered, "I'm rubbing my love into your heart!". With that he smiled. There was a long time of quiet and all of sudden, he looked up at me and said, "Lovable...". I answered, "Lovable? What do you mean?" He said, "My heart feels lovable!" Praise the Lord! Pray that the Lord would continue working in his heart and all the hearts of the children at King's Ranch!

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Merry Christmas from the Ranch!

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Let Us Run With Perseverance...

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. - Hebrews 12:1-2

King's Ranch , A Home For Children In Need...A vision given to us by God in 2004. What a journey it has been. Had we known the struggles, the heartaches, the grueling paths we would walk, would we have obeyed the Lord's call? I hope so... because we would never have seen His glory the way we have or grown in our faith as we have without the struggles. It's funny how God works. He truly does refine us in the fire.

He has taught us so much through this journey. He has taught us to rely totally on Him, to be content with only His approval, to cling to Him when everything else fails. He taught us to trust His timing, to let Him be our defender, to believe Him even when circumstances don't make sense...

While we've been waiting, He's taught us about loving the unlovable, about helping them learn to trust us and Him, about heart healing...We are watching Him bind up the brokenhearted, and He is allowing us to be a part of it. What a miracle! What a privilege!

His ways are so far above our ways. The Bible says that, but we have truly experienced it these past 3 years. What we could not see all this time was a greater victory that God had in mind. He must have been saying all along the way..."Just wait and see what I am going to do. It is so much better than what you want right now." We can see now that 3 years ago, we were not ready for this mission. He knew what He was doing all along!

The Lord gave us Psalm 37 at the beginning of this journey. He confirmed the purchase of this land to us through verse 3, "Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." The middle of this Psalm talks about opposition rising up...we were hoping that didn't apply to us...but as most of you know, it did! The Lord kept promising victory throughout the Psalm... and in June of this year, victory finally came. His victory! We are now rejoicing in Psalm 37: 40, "The Lord helps them and delivers them; he delivers them...and saves them, because they take refuge in him."

We would like to thank the tireless efforts of attorney Noyl Houston from the Houston Law Firm, attorney Jim Gramling from Marshall and Owens Law Firm, and attorney Abby Southerland from The American Center for Law and Justice. They poured their heart and soul into helping King's Ranch fulfill its mission. We thank each of them for believing in the ministry of King's Ranch even amidst opposition. We know they took on our cause at great personal and professional risk. We are forever grateful and know they will be greatly blessed by the Lord! I know they join us in giving all the glory to God! We are all humbled by the awesome privilege of serving the King!

Crowning Ceremony

I will extol you, my God, O King, And I will bless your name forever and ever. - Psalm 145:1
















And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. - Revelation 19:16







Because Cheyenne confessed with her mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believed in her heart that God raised Him from the dead, she is saved (Romans 10:9). She was crowned "His princess" because she is a child of the King!

God says in Proverbs 22:6, "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it."

We crowned the little girls "princesses-in-training" and committed to train them up to know God through His word and through the example of our lives. We look forward to the day they will come to know Jesus as their Savior!

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, - John 1:12

The Lord Provides

I've always known and believed that the Lord provides. He's done it countless times during this journey of King's Ranch, yet each time I am amazed to see His hand at work! He blows me away!

Recently several events came together to produce the "perfect storm for King's Ranch". We had been planning for months for Matthew and Fawn Bradley, our attachment therapists, to visit the Ranch. Fawn would be having major surgery and recovering at our home for three weeks, while they also would be doing therapy with our kids and training for our staff. As the time was arriving for their visit, our then house parents let us know that they would be leaving King's Ranch. Our house mom felt led by the Lord to return to school to become an attachment therapist herself, so that would require them to resign their position. That would mean that all the ranch kids would be at our house until the time new house parents were found. The clouds were looming. I began to realized that we would have 7 kids and 2 therapists at our home at the same time with 1 recovering from major surgery for three weeks. What's more, I would be mom, wife, house parent, relief house parent, nurse, teacher, cook, secretary and administrator of King's Ranch all at the same time. The perfect storm...

I was overcome by anxiety. I did not know how I would make it through! One night I went to my room crying, I got on my knees and all I could do was cry out to God, "Help me Lord! Please help me!" in sheer desperation... I didn't use fancy words. I couldn't muster them up. The Lord knew my heart and heard my simple and desperate plea! I was amazed to see Him go to work and provide through many precious friends! People brought food and fed us for three weeks, they volunteered as teachers and babysitters, they helped us do some household repairs, and we even had a temporary house parent for some of the time. Every need we had the Lord provided! He never ceases to amaze me by His grace!

Yesterday, we put the Bradley's back on a plane to North Carolina. Fawn's surgery was a success and the therapy and training they provided the ranch was invaluable! These last three weeks were not only manageable, but a true blessing! And as the Lord would have it, the training we received wouldn't have been near as successful had the ranch kids not been at our house some of that time. The Lord did amazing work in the hearts of many people during the Bradley's visit! Thank you Jesus that you always know what is best and you always provide just what we need! You are faithful!

"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus, throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen" Ephesians 3:20

Our Precious New Additions!

Welcome to the newest member of the King's Ranch Family!

We are so excited that Cheyenne has come to King's Ranch! We know that God will do miraculous things in her little heart! Please be praying for her!

God Is On The Move!

King's Ranch is pleased to announce that John and Kimberly James have officially been hired as house parents for the ranch. They and their two daughters have relocated to Jonesboro from Monette, AR. this summer. John, a former police officer, left the police force in search of more family-friendly hours and is currently employed with the Arkansas Highway Department. Kimberly has been the director of Discovery Island for the past 8 years where she received extensive training in working with children from many diverse backgrounds. Kimberly has left her job to stay home full-time with the ranch kids.We believe they are the ones God has chosen for this job, and they also feel that God has placed a calling on this season of their lives to serve in this capacity at King's Ranch.

Also joining our team is Shelly Horton,LAC from Families, Inc. who has valuable experience counseling children, and social worker Jessica McClendon who has had experience working with children from City Youth, DCFS, and orphans in Bagiuo City, Philippines. We are so thankful that the Lord has led each of them to us. His timing is perfect!

We have been busy putting the finishing touches on the home in anticipation of the children who will soon arrive. We have several leads on children in desperate need and are checking into these situations currently.

Prayer:

Please pray for the James family as they transition to Jonesboro. Pray that God would empower them to minister to the children who will be in their care. Pray that God would lead us to the children He wants to bring to the ranch. He knows who they are and where they are. Pray for us as we implement training we received in Reactive Attachment Disorder in North Carolina recently. Please pray about becoming a monthly donor to the ranch as our expenses will increase significantly with these recent developments. If you would like to become a donor, please contact us at information@kingsranchar.com.


We are thankful for all that God is doing and how He is going to work in the lives of children in need! Only He can bind up broken hearts! We are privileged to get to be a part of it! Thank you for joining us!

Those that wait upon the Lord...

"Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary." Isaiah 40:28-31


The Lord has told us to wait... and so we will wait on Him. He is in control of King's Ranch and when He decides to move, we will move with Him. He's also told us to continue the ministry He has given us, so while we wait we will continue with what He has given us at this time, a house and a capability to give a home to three children.

After the defeat we experienced at court, we felt we needed to go back and determine if somewhere we had gotten off track. Maybe somehow we had heard Him wrong. But after going back through all the ways that God has led us and spoken to us through His word, we believe that we have obeyed God and followed His lead to this point. He has shown us over and over again since the trial that a victory was actually won on March 26th. A victory that initially we could not see. He told us to do something and we did it and to Him that is victory...obedience! He also gave us Philippians 1:12 "Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel." and also 1 Peter 2:19-20 "For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly. But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God."

We will be interviewing a very promising couple for the houseparent position in June. We are waiting on Him to bring the houseparents He has chosen. When they come we will know that it is then time to wait for Him to bring the 3 children He has chosen to come to the ranch. We will wait until the time God sees fit to give us the conditional use permit we'll need to have additional children. But until that time, we will watch God perform miracles in at least 3 priceless lives.

Praise God that even through this difficult time, He has provided for every financial need that the ranch has had. After losing in court, our fear was that our support would dwindle. Support has actually increased! He gave us almost exactly the amount needed to cover this months costs even after the court ruling. Just another confirmation that this is His thing and not ours! He keeps it going - not us! Believe me, if it was up to us, we would have quit a long time ago! He never ceases to amaze us at how He leads us, how He speaks to us! He really speaks to His children!! There is no doubt! Isn't it thrilling to experience hearing His voice?! He truly is the Everlasting God who gives strength to His weary children! Waiting on Him gives new strength. Strength to run and not get tired and to walk and not become weary!

A song by John Waller has been especially meaningful to us during this time. These words are our prayer...

I'm waiting, I'm waiting on you Lord,
and I am hopeful, I'm waiting on you Lord,
though it is painful. But patiently I will wait.

I'm waiting, I'm waiting on you Lord,
and I am peaceful, I'm waiting on you Lord,
though it's not easy. But faithfully I will wait.


I will move ahead, bold and confident
taking every step in obedience.
While I am waiting,
I will serve you.
While I am waiting,
I will worship.
While I am waiting,
I will not faint.
I'll be running the race, even while I wait...


Please pray that God will continue to increase our faith and give us wisdom and discernment to remain in His perfect will. Also, that He will teach us to be mighty warriors for Him!

For His glory,

Eddie and Lee

"Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin,"
Zechariah 4:10 (NLT)

Emily

The first time I saw her, she was laying in a hospital bed scared to death. She had been in a car accident and was about to undergo an operation to fix her injuries. I walked into her room to pray with her before she left for the holding room and it became very obvious that Someone had been there before me! The Holy Spirit had prepared her heart and she couldn't wait to accept Jesus as her Savior and Lord! All I had to do was tell her how! I'll call her Emily, and I had the great privilege of seeing Emily become a child of the King that day! Over the last several months I've been able to get to know Emily better. One of the very first things I noticed about her is that she never made eye contact, she was very shy, saying very few words and looking down at the floor when spoken to. I wondered why? On the long drives back and forth to her house, her story unfolded. Something about staring at the road ahead as we drove broke down her wall, and she opened up and began to talk. She began to tell me of her traumatic childhood. She told me of the abuse that she had endured as a young child beginning at 4 years of age. She told me about the bloody noses and the hours locked in the bathroom. She told me about her mother who could not protect her for she was abused as well. She told me about being told that she was ugly and worthless and that she was a mistake and should have never been born. She told me that after you hear that long enough, you believe it. That's why Emily never looks up. She doesn't feel worthy enough to.

Several weeks ago, I took Emily to a bible study with me. We sat down in the back and a few minutes later a friend of mine arrived. Emily sat on one side of me and my friend sat on the other. This friend was also born into an abusive home. She was removed from that abusive home, however, and placed in a loving home with Godly parents. She has grown up to be one of the kindest, sweetest, most loving people I know. She is confident. She has a husband and children. She has a successful career. She loves Jesus! As we were sitting there, I felt the Lord impress upon my heart the stark contrast between the two women sitting on either side of me. On one side was Emily, so broken, so lonely, so deeply wounded. No one stepped into Emily's life as a child and rescued her out of the abuse. She carries the scars. And then my friend on the other side, so complete in Christ, so filled with joy, so successful in her marriage, family, and career. Someone somewhere heard Jesus' voice and obeyed. Someone stepped into her life and rescued her out of the abuse and look at the difference it has made for generations!

It is for the little Emily's out there that we are fighting this battle for King's Ranch. God has asked this of us and we want to obey Him. He has asked us to step into the lives of abused and neglected kids and let Him heal them, for only He can!

As for Emily, she is growing in her relationship with Jesus! She is learning that she is a child of the King and she is of GREAT worth to Him. He loved her so very much that He chose to die for her. She is learning that she is complete in Christ. And little by little, He is binding up her broken heart and healing her deepest wounds. She laughs now and there are times I can see joy on her face! We are trusting Him to bring her complete restoration!

These next few weeks are important ones for King's Ranch. We will go before the circuit court on March 25th and 26th to ask again for the permit we need to proceed. Please pray that the permit would be granted, but most of all, pray that the name of Jesus would be lifted high and that He would be glorified!

" I have heard them crying out,...and I am concerned about their suffering,... so I have come down to rescue them." Exodus 3: 7-8

For the One who binds up the broken hearts,

Lee

Ice Storm!

As many of you, we are still busy cleaning up after the ice storm that hit Jonesboro earlier this month! It was an interesting and trying time for all us but also a time where we saw God working in amazing ways! King's Ranch was so blessed to have the opportunity to minister to a foster family who was displaced from their home. They had a 6 month old little girl, a 2 year old little boy, a 3 year old little girl, and a 16 year old girl, and had been staying in a shelter for five days. Needless to say they were extremely exhausted by the time they got to King's Ranch! They were able to stay in the home until their electricity was restored a week later. What a precious family and sweet kids! We were so glad to get to be a small part of blessing the lives of these children.

We were the recipients of blessing when a crew of volunteers showed up to help with the clean up at the home! There were several trees down and a large limb on top of the house. Fortunately there was no permanent damage and the limb was removed. Thank you to our wonderful volunteers! We cannot thank you enough for giving of your time!

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!