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A Message from Meg
Dear Friends of Respite Ranch,
As Michael and I headed down the beautiful, difficult road of foster care and adoption, we realized what a lonely road it could sometimes be. Not that people didn’t want to walk with us, but they’d never experienced those challenges themselves. How we yearned for support from those who understood the difficulty of stepping into this journey — and places to rest along the way.
Where We Found Rest
I had the privilege of attending several retreats in a nearby state the last few years. Each served a purpose, including my own renewal and the Thanksgiving retreat where our reshaped family made new and helpful memories.
Every time I pulled up to the gate of the location, my body released with an overwhelming sense of peace knowing I was in a safe place for love and support.
Every time I left that place, I felt God pressing on my heart to start something like this in Texas, a beautiful place to allow adoptive and foster parent to feel unconditional love and support — a place to relax, refresh, and recharge before returning to the beautiful, difficult road of foster care and adoption.
The cherry on the top to my retreats? These opportunities were at no cost except for the gas to get there.
The Respite Ranch Vision
A beautiful place to stay, thoughtful gourmet meals, and incredible hospitality were such a blessing to our family. So many of us who have a heart for adoption and foster care either don’t have lots of extra funds — for vacations, time away, care for ourselves — or we don’t feel emotionally safe to take our family, with all the things that come with it, on a vacation.
My heart is to take the burden of thinking and finances away, for just a weekend, for parents who desperately need care or connection with each other or as a family unit. Whether a ladies’ retreat, a men’s retreat, a couples’ retreat, or a family retreat, we want to let people leave their worries at our gate and care for them just where they are emotionally, physically, and spiritually.
How You Can Help
What is it going to take to get us there? Funding, of course. If you have a heart to financially support adoptive and foster families, Respite Ranch would appreciate your gift, no matter the size.
The start-up costs will be our greatest hurdle with the need to buy land and build the home. We will be seeking large grants and generous donors for this area of need.
Our need will then shift to annual costs for operation. We desire to present our organization to churches both as a place for their adoptive and foster families and to partner with us as a ministry to other such families.
From this moment forward, we also desire individuals to give as they feel led, whether during our annual fundraisers or as regular donations to help cover organizational setup costs, everyday expenses for reaching possible donor groups, etc.
Thank you for stopping by. I hope God has used something on our website to encourage you to remember and serve adoptive and foster parents who often get overlooked. We look forward to partnering with you for the good of these families and for the glory of God!
Meg Sanks
Founder, Respite Ranch