day to day .

 hello. hello.

 a walk up the driveway.

april 18 - counseling with ms. lora. we took the girls to lake atalanta and walked around the lake ... as we were walking, one of the girls spotted some turtles.. then we sat by some water while one of the girls water colored and the other one worked on her school work. on the way home, we stopped at sonic :)

april 19&20 - i had off. when i finally got my things together, i left and went to onyx coffee to write my essay. (each week the girls write and essay and we authorities take turns) i got to write one on transformation.  the quote that went with this essay was : transformation isn't sweet and bright. it's a dark and murky, painful pushing. an unraveling of the untruths you've carried in your body. a practice of facing your own created demons. a complete uprooting before becoming. -victoria erickson

we moved our authorities meeting to thursday.. so while ms. judy was here with the girls, we met out in the schoolhouse. in the evening, we celebrated ms. jenna's birthday. 🤍

april 21- a lady that has had training from karen purvis came to the ranch to check out our program and see what kind of training/help she can offer :) during the june homevisit, we will have some training.

april 22 - we planted our garden 🤩

april 23 - we went to church and then came home and had a hotdog roast for lunch !

april 24 - we mentors went to therapy in the morning. and i had off in the afternoon. i went to mr. todd's for supper...

april 25- i started working on my dress for nae's wedding... 

april 27 - 30 : ms. tiffany came to the ranch for an interview to be a mentor. i had a really good time getting to know her :)

april 29 - in the evening ms hannah made gumbo and brought it for supper.. ms sharla was on duty in the evening because mr. todd's were at a youth rally in united center. (mr. todd gave a talk on saturday afternoon)

april 30- we stayed home in the morning and listened to the youth rally in united center. then we went to cave springs parks for a picnic ! we had such a good time. took a walk around and with everything being green ... it was beautiful 🤩

may 1 - as the girls were going down for horsemanship, our neighbor man came to bring us eggs .. his wife passed away not too long ago. ms. jenna and i talked with him abit .. he is a very sweet old man. one thing that stands out to me from what he said was, "i'm old school." i just kina like that :)

may 2 - i went to lowes to see about getting some ferns for our porch and some flowers donated.. the manager said he needed to have his supervisor approve this.. so home i went . (this was the 2nd time i had gone)

may 3 - in the evening we mentors went swimming with ms. lora at JBU. 

may 4 - this day was a very exciting day for javanna ! (one of our ranchers ) earlier, she had been given two dates and asked which one she would like for her graduation. she chose may 4. so this was the day that she would be leaving raising hope ranch. emotions were high for all. we had her graduation out in our carport and used the porch as a stage. it started at 7pm.  we had prayer and then sang 3 songs. each of the parents and javanna had written about how the ranch has impacted their lives. each of us authorites and the girls said a few words to javanna... then all of us from the ranch and javanna's parents stood in a circle on the porch surrounding her. we each prayed for her. then a board member had prayer and we had cake and a few other snacks... afterward, ms. katie said i could leave and go play volleyball🤩

may 5 - ms. jenna went away back to the northern land. she needed to renew her visa. we hope to be seeing her back here next week ... then she will be here until august. 

may 6- it was a very muggy day! i did some sewing .. got some excercise... and in the afternoon, after mr. todd's left with the girls to take them hiking, ms. katie and i went to a bubble tea place.. in the evening, we went to youth, which was a fun change :)

may 8 - went to counseling and i worked on some really good stuff :)  mr. todd took the cover off the pool. yay. in the evening, i was on duty by myself... which was really fun ! ms. wuanita was supposed to arrive.. but she was stuck in houston ...

may 9 - happy birthday to ms. anna marie !✨it was counseling  day for the girls... ms. anna marie met me there to help out :) she took two of the girls to lake atalanta in the morning while i stayed with the other two and to sit in on their sessions.. then we switched after lunch ... one of the schools came to the park for a field trip, which made it quite lively.

may 10 - sewed abit .. then went into rogers and did alittle shopping ... in the evening we went to JBU to swim, but they had closed the pool due to the weather since it was in the forecast to thunder and lightening .. so instead we got supper and went to ms. lora's.

may 11 - i had off in the morning ... for lunch we had a birthday party for ms. anna marie. ms. judy came for life skills... now i'm listening to one of the ranchers cook supper while i finish this up :)

this is joy. 🤍

God is so good. 

He is near.

And He gives hope.

please continue to pray for the future of the ranch. and for us here day to day.🤍

xo,

ms. brooke