Stepping Stones Ranch

07/05/2019

Join me in welcoming a new member to our future Ranch staff! Jess started volunteering with Stepping Stones Ranch when she was 14 years old. She is now married and just had their first child, Re*****on. Congratulations Jess!!

06/14/2019

Well, our final girl from the Ranch graduated. I am so very proud of her and the young lady she has become. She has lots of people praying for her and her future. Congratulations my dear!

02/22/2019

Things have been quiet here on FB about Stepping Stones Ranch, but there have been a lot of things going on behind the scenes. In the upcoming weeks, there will be some announcements and rolling out of the new programming here at the Ranch. Stay tuned!

08/19/2018

It has been a rough couple of months and I appreciate all the support, love and prayers. Finally the fencing is done in the horse’s first pasture! They are loving it! Please be in prayer for upcoming meetings with county agencies for Equine Assisted Learning!

07/11/2018

Thank you all for sharing my post about needing to rehome some of our horses. I am happy to say that they have all been rehomed. Cookie is now going to a farm where she will be a babysitter for foals. She will be fabulous at that! Her picture is below, she is the one with her butt to the camera. Woody is going to continue on with the equine therapy, just in another location. He has found a huge buddy to be with and is adjusting well. Georgia is going on to be with a great couple who will be finishing her training. I’ll post pictures when I get some. Thank you all, you were an integral part of them finding new ones with great people.

07/03/2018

Hi all, I will need to rehome two of our horses. I just don’t have the space to take them. Georgia is a 14 year old QH mix, she is great on the ground, no health issues, always barefoot. She would be able to be ridden if the person training her was really experienced and patient with her. She is very affectionate and was great in our equine sessions. She is the first horse in the picture with the big blaze. Cookie is the darker horse with a star. She is 22 and a registered QH. I rode her up until last year when she started getting arthritis in her knee. So she would be best as a pasture buddy and was also good in our equine sessions. They will be free to an approved home. Anyone taking either one of them must have horse experience. Please share and PM me for any questions. Thank you.

06/27/2018

So sorry everyone. The house is 1,474 sq ft. 28x56, 3 bedroom, 2 full baths.

06/27/2018

Hi all, thank you so much for the words of encouragement and support during this very sad time. With the closing of the residential side of Stepping Stones Ranch, we will need to sell the Doublewide that we purchased. We have to have this moved by August 1. It is a very nice home and lived in just a year. Asking $60,000 Please share and if you or someone you know is interested, please PM me. I do have more pictures. Thank you.

06/20/2018

It is with great heartbreak that I am letting all of our FB friends know that Stepping Stones Ranch residential program has closed. There were many reasons for this very hard decision. Stepping Stones Ranch will continue to offer equine assisted learning and equine assisted therapy when we find a new property to operate out of. I can't begin to tell you how much the support, encouragement and prayers from friends, family and the community have meant to Stepping Stones Ranch these last several years. Even though we have closed we know we made a difference in some of the girls' lives. I continue to have previous girls reach back to me and it has been great going to their graduations and different events in their lives. Please continue to pray for us for a new property. Because we are moving temporarily to a small facility, I have had to make the very, very hard decision to downsize our herd. If anyone is interested in a couple of pasture pals, please let me know. Thank you all and God Bless. I will continue to post updates of what we are doing.

05/25/2018

It is with great sorrow that we have found out that our very first girl to graduate our program and move onto college has passed away. For those of us who knew her, you know she didn't know a stranger and could light up a room. It is very heart breaking to lose her at such a young age. The comfort that we have is that she did accept Jesus as her Lord and Savior at Harvest Baptist Church. Please be in prayer for her family as they are trying to cope with this loss and for the girls and staff here that knew her and are suffering as well.

05/24/2018

One of our previous girls graduated from high school last night. She has had many struggles, but she made sure to get herself to school everyday so she could walk across the stage. So proud of her and the woman she is becoming. Very grateful to be included in the special events of their lives. Congratulations!!!!!

05/11/2018

One of our graduating girls paid for a pizza party for a special education class she has been working with. Heart of gold!

05/05/2018

One of our girls going to prom. She looks gorgeous!

04/27/2018

We have a young lady who is graduating from high school and our program as well. She will be going into a great independent living program in her own apartment. She is already working full-time and she will need a car once she leaves our care. If anyone knows of a decent cheap, cheap car or free, please let us know!

03/27/2018

Great day for a rainy day nap! I think I would have chose the dry run-in, but I guess they thought this was better.

03/13/2018

We are hiring! We have a few part-time positions open at the Ranch working directly with our residential girls. We are looking for ministry minded individuals who are interested in coming alongside our girls to provide guidance, mentoring, and work at a beautiful facility. If this sounds like you, please have contact [email protected] or 937-289-0100, must be 21 or older.

03/08/2018

My daily struggle with Chief. I know he is saying “I know you are in there!” What a goofy cat. He hangs on the tiny window ledge on the door hollering until I let him in.

03/02/2018

Thank you 4Paws for collecting items for the Ranch!! We truly appreciate you organizing this for us.

02/22/2018

The minis Malachi and Jonah checking out their new toy and Malachi running to his mom for safety!

02/13/2018

Our Equine Assisted Therapy program is growing not only for our residential girls, but anyone who might be struggling with their own obstacles. We are in need of some "toys" and obstacles for our horses during our sessions. If anyone has any of the big jolly balls, cavaletti jumps, blocks or anything similar, please let us know. Looking for obstacle course type props. Or if anyone has built their own and would like to share ideas, that would be great. We love the pool noodles, but the donkeys love to try and eat them!

02/12/2018

Looking forward to meeting with Judge Vaughn this morning and probation officers of Clark County. Praying that God is enlarging our territory to transform lives!

02/11/2018

This was shared by a FB friend and we thank everyone who prayed for our girls over the weekend retreat and sent words of encouragement. The theme scripture for the weekend was Romans 15:13. The girls learned that Jesus is our source of hope and that He wants to fill us with joy and peace as we TRUST in Him. During our breakout sessions after chapel services we talked a lot about how hard it is to trust when life has been difficult. But on our last night, we put a cross on the floor that was made of tape. Then we each wrote down the things that has kept us from trusting Jesus more in our lives. The result was an incredible life changing experience for each one of us!! Your prayers were felt and by the power of the Holy Spirit there were decisions for Christ made for salvation, forgiveness and deliverance from bo***ge of sin. The key is captured by this image because who He sets free is free indeed!! We ARE chosen to be free!!

02/10/2018

Having a great time at Winter Blast Skyview Ranch! Great worship, ministry and fun activities! Yet to come is nighttime paintball at 11:00 tonight!!!

02/10/2018

Ok here’s a way you can share God’s love with our girls... please share a favorite scripture, word of encouragement or a message of AGAPE! We will share comments with girls throughout the weekend to let them know that God loves them and even strangers are praying for them!!! Feel free to share a comment each day and we will share them!! Thank you for blessing the girls!!!

02/07/2018

This weekend we are going on a Winter Blast Retreat with the girls. I need your help to make this a LIFE CHANGING EVENT!!

Please pray for safe travels but even more... would you begin to pray for our girls. This is a Christian retreat at Skyview Ranch where we will be led in worship by Cedarville University and have awesome youth ministry speakers and activities. It will be a chance for some of these college students to pour into high school students. These are the role models our kids need!! Would you pray with us that God would begin to open the hearts of our girls even now so they can have a true encounter with Jesus that can be life changing! Some of the life issues they have faced can be so difficult to overcome but we are believing that Jesus can heal, deliver and fill them to overflowing with the LOVE that He has for them.

I’m going to ask for a specific prayer warrior focus on Friday so you can respond with prayers and words of encouragement each day to our girls so please watch for post on Friday morning to share your words of AGAPE! I will share your messages with the girls during our evening cabin devotions. I hope we can load up this page this weekend with prayers and words of wisdom to help them see that they are never alone and God can bring even strangers together to share his love!!!! Get ready to be blessed and become a blessing as you begin to pray for our girls to encounter the love of Jesus!!

01/20/2018

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.... Sometimes life is like the story of that little train who had to start believing that he could! This past fall, one of our girls struggled to believe in herself and we shared with her that we were standing in the gap believing in her until she could see it for herself. Around Christmas, she said she wasn’t the person she used to be and we starting working on new goals with her. One of those goals was more effort in school. She was struggling to even have a 1.0 GPA. Two weeks ago she shared that she was sorry for things she had done in the past. She experienced God’s grace, love and forgiveness as we prayed together. That day it was like God took the weight off her that was holding her back. This week she came home from school and wanted to show everyone her grades. She has brought all her grades up and has a 3.4 GPA. What a difference it makes, to know others believe in you, especially the God who created you!! Now she is taking steps in her life of doing new things and working hard because she believes too! More miracles in the making! Jeremiah 29:11

01/11/2018

We had an extra facilitator in our Equine Therapy session. This is Colonel and this is what he does in almost every session. I hope he isn’t looking for us to pay him as a facilitator!

01/07/2018