Welcome to my first blog! Every weekend sees us taking up a project on the Ranch property in preparation of the the Ranch fulfilling its objective to be a place of Refuge for children in need.

Presently, we have three main priorities: Building the first home, Getting the Runway approved, and being prepared for the October Open House fundraiser.

Building the first house will take raising some funds, so we need your help. We have discussed our homes with Big Oak Ranch and they have helped us in understanding the “why’s ” of the design, the problems they faced, and what they changed in their homes to address the problems. The homes are designed to take up to 12 children, but they keep their numbers to 6, giving each child their own room. Big Oak also has two separate ranches, one for girls and one for boys. We are not sure yet how we will handle the dynamic of one ranch for both but we truly believe that the Lord directs our ways. I am sure it will be part of our growing pains. Once the home is underway, we will be taking applications from families that want to live on the Ranch with the calling to provide a place of Refuge and safety for foster children in a loving Christian home.

The Runway approval is vital to our October Open House and Fly in. The Fly-In is the basis for the need for the approval to be able to invite the general aviation community. As we have partnered with Swan Aviation, they will be providing “Young Eagle” flights for the visiting Foster families that day, and we will be opening the “Fly-in” to the flying community to encourage their participation. Having the Fly-in will broaden the scope of our community of volunteers and supporters. The runway also opens the door for Swan to provide additional support to the ministry as they work on planes for the general aviation community, while giving the opportunity to the Triple R children and others in the community to learn about those planes. We were also given a large hangar from Emerald Coast Aviation and will be constructing that hangar on the south end of the runway next to the Hawkin’s house. (More about the Hawkin’s House in a future blog.)

The third priority is to fence the property, or at least the farming section. Having a working cow-calf operation on the property is important to our sustainability. First, as we are just beginning, keeping the property mowed/bushhogged will be a daily chore and cows just come by that naturally. In addition, the calves will bring income for the Ranch, and in the near future, beef for the Triple R families.

We appreciate you taking the time to read about Triple R Ministries and would welcome the opportunity to tell you more. Feel free to sign up for updates or arrange a time to come out and see what the Lord is doing here at Triple R Ministries!

– Mark Welton