I recently had the honor of taking one of our kids to Dairy Queen to celebrate a particularly good day. I was happy for the chance to spend time with this very talkative child, who I'll call Franklin.
Franklin thought it was funny to say that he was “on a Joy ride with Joy.”
He had so many stories to tell. He’s only 13 years old and has lived in multiple states. He’s also lived in 8 or 9 different homes—Mom’s, Dad’s, Grandma’s, Mom’s sister, and several foster families. Franklin's parents lost custody for lots of reasons, and then Grandma gave up custody. He lost one close friend to suicide, one to a tragic accident, and one to murder. Remember, he is 13.
Franklin didn’t want to come to the Ranch, saying, “That means I’m the ‘bad’ one.”
I assured him that wasn’t true, and he said he knows that now.
He said, “I know it’s more about what happened to me than what’s wrong with me.”
I agreed.
“But I still ran away on my second day here," Franklin said. "I thought that would work.”
“What do you mean it 'would work'?” I asked.
“Wherever I’ve been, whenever I ran away, then they were done with me. They wouldn’t take me back. I was sure if I ran from the Ranch they’d have to find somewhere else to take me," he said. "But instead, when they brought me back, the Ranch took care of me. The people here wanted to help me. I don’t know if I want chicken strips or a Cotton Candy Blizzard. You know they only have those in the summer.”
He decided on the Blizzard.
Please keep our kids and staff in your prayers.
In His love,
Joy Ryan, President/CEO
Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch
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