Miracle Moments
Brought to you by: Community Partner Molly Maid of Birmingham, mollymaid.com/birmingham
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28
I lived with my dad until he left when I was five years old. After losing my dad, my grandmother took care of me for a few years. When I turned 7, she could no longer take care of me, so I ended up moving to Big Oak Ranch.
I still remember the day I met my houseparents, the Jenkins. I was seven years old, and it felt strange that these people I had never met were going to take care of me. It took some time to get used to. The first night I remember sitting at the dinner table together like a family. Everybody was talking, passing food around the table, and asking about my day — it was different from anything I had experienced before. Since I never really had a mom and dad growing up, it was new for me to feel compassion and love from my houseparents. I started trusting the people who were taking care of me and opening up more about what I was feeling. Big Oak Ranch began to feel like home. I spent the long summer days fishing and playing hide-and-seek, basketball, and baseball. I was outside most of the time, just enjoying being a kid. That was new to me because there wasn’t much space to do those kinds of things before coming to the Ranch. Before coming to the Ranch, I had never celebrated Christmas, and it became one of my favorite memories. I remember watching movies, shopping for presents for my house brothers, and spending time together as a family. On Christmas Day, we got to open presents together. Seeing everyone happy and simply being together was really fun and something I’ll never forget.
When I was a sophomore, I lived with new houseparents, BJ and Zach. At first, we didn’t connect very well because I was hard-headed and still learning to trust people. But over time, I saw that they were there for me and weren’t going to give up on me. Today, they are the people I’m closest to. Looking back, I can see how much I grew up and matured during my time at the Ranch. I am very thankful for everyone there. I really don’t know where I would be in life without them.
-Jesi
