Saying good bye to TC

I got up early and started finishing up packing. Gabe got up early and went to spend the last of his time on the ranch. He said he'd be back in a half hour, of course that was over 3 hours ago .. LOL

We finally got on the road around 11.30 am. Saying Goodbye to TC was very hard for us. We've all gotten really attached and loved the time we were blessed being on the ranch. It's hard to believe that 2 1/2 months have went by so fast. Were sad, yet excited. Gabe followed behind in his truck.

On the way here, we thought we might run into some very heavy rain as the sky was very foggy looking. It wasn't rain, it was just a very heavy fog!

After getting all set up, Gabe and I went and checked out the beach.

It was amazing to see all the people on the beach! As you can see there were people everywhere! It was also very foggy!

The birds were also enjoying the beautiful warm day on the beach.

The women were even enjoying the beach and got in the water, no way for me, it's still cold!!



Here is Gabe strutting his stuff on the beach with the rest of the kids.

As you can see, it's spring break here still and it's shocking what they let these kids get away with. The beach and streets are just trashed with liter from them. The traffic is terrible because of all of them.

See all the people, at least there are still some families here and it's not all kids!

Well it's been a long day and i'm off to dream world .... night all .....

Packing up!

I am suppose to be packing things up and getting ready to roll in the morning. But here i am instead posting to my blog. Gabe is trying to get all the mowing done before we head out in the morning.

We are going to a campground a bit farther south in the morning. We will be near Mexico Beach! I'm excited as i can be at the beach anytime i want to. I will miss TC and it's hard to leave but i'm also excited about the beach. Gabe is even dreading leaving TC, he has fell in love with the place. It's been a wonderful blessing for us being here.

Well, i have to run and get the RV ready to roll. I will write as soon as i can, it may be a few days until we get settled in.

The Cowboy

I'm feeling better, i can actually hear again! It's been a slow process getting over this infection and i can still tell that it's there. It's not as painful and my hearing is much better. I still fill somewhat like there is water in my ears. I still have sinus drainage.


The electricity went out yesterday morning and so i decided to work on a puzzle that Harold loaned me. Paul, Ed & Barb and I all worked on it some one night and couldn't get it, and behold i started it and in no time it all came together. Here is the proof that i got it!!



Gabe has been helping on the ranch and really enjoying it. He has been a great help to the guys. Plus they've been a great influence on him! It's been so good having Gabe here and the amazing thing is since he arrived, i have started sleeping good at night!! I think my mother's intution was kicking in and i was worried about him. I'm so glad to have him safe and sound with me. He still has some issues to work out and we are discussing all of his options. So pray that he will make the right choice and let God lead him in the right direction.


He went horse back riding with Joe and the boys and had a great time. He said it felt good to be back on a horse again.






He is wonderful with animals and his love for them shows. I took some pictures. Yes, i know ... but no matter his age he will always be my baby. Yes, I'm a very proud mother!!

I took these pictures of Gabe showing the boys how to ride the horse around the Barrels. The boys loved watching Gabe and then trying to do it. It was wonderful to see how the boys wanted to do what Gabe was doing. I had to laugh as the boys would call out for Gabe to watch them. He definately has a calling working with kids.

Here is Joe on his horse Chief. Joe is manager over the ranch and does a wonderful job running the ranch. The guy standing by him and the in the picture below is John. John came to TC as a volunteer. He and his wife Betty fell in love with the place and went on staph and have been here 3 years.

I hope you all had a great day, the weather is wonderful here and i so am enjoying it. Until later .......

ear infection

I got up early and went to devotions, then we came back and feed the baby calf we are bottle feeding. His mother doesn't have enough milk so we are helping out.

I got a couple loads of laundry going and then i headed to the doctor office. After waiting forever, i finally got in and it's confirmed i have a bad ear infection. I had suspected it was also moving to my left ear and the doctor confirmed that as well. I got nose drops and anti-botics to take for 14 days.

I got back and finished working on the laundry and straightened up the camper. Gabe has bags and his stuff all over the front of the RV. I did 6 loads of laundry today! Ughhhh

Babe the ranch dog has a ruff life. She goes from RV to Rv and as you can see found a nice rug to take a nap on.

Gabe grilled out some steaks on the grill for supper and i cut up some potatoes and put then in aluminum foil with butter, salt & pepper. It was a very good supper!

After supper we went to the outlet mall and got Gabe a few new clothes. Yes, he is worse then girls when it comes to clothes! After shopping and spending too much money on him we went and watched the boys play basketball.

After the game we stopped at Hardee's and got a shake ... mmmm it was so goood, then i took my med's and went to bed.

Gabe arrived!

I didn't get much sleep last night. Gabe called me about every hour until around 3.30 am and then i woke up around 5.30 and got worried as i couldn't get him on the phone. He finally called me before 6 am and i then around 7.30 am his phone went dead, i got worried and got dressed and meet him about 20 miles from where we are. We arrived 9.30 am ... well actually on new time it was 10.30 am. He was exhausted and laid down so i changed clothes and went to church.

After church we had lunch and then showed Gabe around the ranch. We had an awesome day showing him stuff and then i sat outside a bit with Barbara and Gabe did some more exploring around the ranch.

Then we had dinner and I'm helping Gabe get his clothes all washed up and then it's to bed for me. Finally we got all 4 loads of his laundry finished!

I'm still sick with my ear problem and planning to go to the doctor in the morning. It's getting worse and not better. I think i'm starting to run a temp.

well night everyone ....

An outing with the boys

Got up early and got around. Taking a couple of the boys out today. It's parent weekend and several of the boys don't have parents that can or want to come visit them on parent weekend. So I'm a foster parent today. Arrived to pick up the 2 boys I had did the paper work on & to my surprise one of the boys that had dinner with last night also showed up. Was excited as I had wanted to include him in our outing but was told ususally 2 is all they allow. So i made sure it was okay before we left and had to get permission from Pastor as he has the final say so. He said yes, and so headed out with my boys.

It was close to lunch time so took the boys to Hardee's and feed them lunch, we had a nice visit after finishing our lunch and then we headed to the bowling alley. We had a blast at the bowling alley and the boys really enjoyed bowling.

Here are some pictures of the guys bowling.

Putman, who is also in the program showed up with his dad and grandfather.

Here are the boys playing some arcade games. Banda and Hagarud were also impressing the crowd by doing one arm pushups!

Here is a picture of all of the boys that were bowling today.

We left the alley and headed to Golden Corral, we all chowed down and the boys ate for almost 2 hours! After dinner I stopped to fill up the car and the boys were saying what they'd love to have. Beef Jerky and sun flower seeds. So I got them some. Had a wonderful serious conversation with them on the way home and the boys opened up and gave them some advise and a bit of guidence for their lives ahead of them.

We had a wonderful day and it was such a blessing. I spent about $150.00 but it was worth every penny of it. I think I received such a blessing today. It's amazing how God sends things into our lives.

Foster Parents tonight

It's 4.30 am and i'm up already! Yes, still no sleep!! It's raining and my back is aching. It's 65 degrees, so it's not a cold rain. Sure makes me miss our satelitte tv, at least when we had satelitte i could watch nick at night and have something to do. There is nothing on regular tv early morning! Hmmmmm

Well, i'm gonna lay on the couch and see if i can get a few hours of snooze. More later...... I woke up around 8.30 am. I'm not feeling well and have a ear ache. I'm not sure if it's sinus or an infection.

I made lunch and then Barbara and I visited a bit. Later I got a shower and got dressed for dinner tonight. Being foster parents for 2 boys tonight that is their parent weekend, yet no parents.

Attended the award ceremony. I snapped a few pictures of the ceremony, (above) but it was dark in the building. After the ceremony, got the boys and went to dinner. (Here is a picture of the 2 boys had for dinner Hagarud (L) and Banda (R).

We had a good dinner and since the boys are on clean up duty, had to wait for them to finish and then we went to the chapel for the presentation. It was really neat, they had a couple who's son was here a few years ago. Unforuntally the outcome wasn't as good as they had hoped and he is back on the street and back to his old ways. They have come to accept they have did all they can and he is in God's hands. Then they had a student who had been out of the program and doing great for the past 6 months. He told of things that happened to him and talked to the boys. It was good for the boys and parents to hear both sides. After chapel had to release our boys back to the DI for the night. Said good night and took a few pictures before leaving. L-R, Hagarud, Cross, Tracy & Banda.