The Ranch began in our home.
BuiltReady Ranch started long before we had land. It started with a Bible verse and a decision to open our door.
It started with a verse.
Heath and I had been married for six months. One morning, we were each reading the Bible on our own. When we sat down together, we realized God had brought both of us to the same verse. Neither of us had mentioned it first.
"Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation." Psalm 68:5.
We stayed at the kitchen table until the coffee was cold. That morning, we decided to open our home to children who needed one. We also knew we wanted to build something that could reach more boys than our home could ever hold.
We moved to Texas and opened our door.
At the time, we lived in Southern California. We moved to Texas because we believed this is where we could build the Ranch. But land and buildings would take years, and children needed homes now.
So we started the adoption process. We did not have a ranch yet. We had our address, our table, and a door we could open. That was enough to begin.
Our home changed the plan.
Two teenagers first came to us from a motel where children without placement were being housed. Later, four siblings walked through our door. We eventually adopted all four. Our family grew quickly, and none of us knew exactly what we were doing.
We sat through court hearings, hard nights, and long silences. We got things wrong. We apologized and tried again. Our children did not need perfect parents. They needed us to keep our word, keep the table steady, and stay.
That changed how we thought about the Ranch. We did not want to build a place that knew boys only by their names on a roster. We wanted adults to notice when something was wrong and be there again the next day.
Our children noticed everything.
They noticed who came home. They noticed when a rule changed without warning. They noticed whether there was still a place at the table after a hard day. We learned to stop giving speeches and keep showing up.
Keep your word.
Trust takes time.
Make room.
There is another seat.
Listen first.
You do not know the whole story.
Stay.
Hard days count too.
Now we are working on the Ranch.
BuiltReady Ranch comes from what God has taught us in our own family. We know we cannot bring every boy into our home. We can build a place where more of them are known, prayed for, and welcomed back the next day.
We are raising money for twenty-nine acres in Parker County. If we can buy it, we will start with a practical training space where boys can come after school, train, eat, work, ask honest questions, and be known.
Help us build the Ranch.
Gifts support the land purchase and the first training space in Parker County.
