makaila's story

for peter and cindy:

"Today is a day that I never thought I would see."

"I have finally found myself and I know who I am and what I want to do with my life. I know that I have what it takes to be successful in life and I have the courage to face anything I am confronted with. I am humbled and amazed… if I trust my instincts and do what I know is right, I can do absolutely anything in life. I have learned so much about myself in my time here. I know that I have what it takes to go home and be successful. I am happy with the person I know I am and I don’t feel the need to question what I believe. I know what I want for myself in life and I don’t want to change a thing about me!"

"I have learned to look to the future. I now see a clear and positive future. I see college, family, positive friends, a successful career, happy life and sobriety. The possibilities my life holds for me are endless and doors I thought were closed to me are wide open and I have a choice of what I want to do in my life, I have Diamond Ranch Academy to thank for that. It has allowed me to see another healthier, more safe and better way of life."

"I am ready for graduate. I am ready to help other and finish learning all that I can in my time here!"



visit time!!

i was able to catch one of our directors, sydney, and her dad before taking off on her visit... have fun skiing!!

graduates

makaila and taylor will be graduating soon, so we had a graduate photo shoot yesterday for their graduation programs.

enjoy! 

 we found a huge rock by the dorms, makaila wanted to sit in it...

 

and then she had a rough time getting out of it!

pensive taylor 

goofy taylor 

we found a winner!

and then we found the sheep... 

and taylor sent them on their way 



twt

 tuesday with tayleigh discussion:
REACTING vs. RESPONDING

"when bad things happen to extraoridinary teens, they know that they get to choose how they will respond"

-john bytheway

afterwards, we played our new favorite game...
CATCH PHRASE!!!

 it's the most fun you'll ever have stressing out!

we have a competetive group of girls... it got intense!!

 after dinner, as usual, we watch a movie with our magificent popcorn!



crochet

CROCHET GOODNESS!

our crochet club is coming up with some great ideas! check 'em out! 

a day at the ranch...

i went on a walkabout with my camera... here's a normal day in class!

kayley, trying not to smile... 

jodie, our science teacher flashes a winning smile as kennedy and shyloh take a test 

janaye LOVES the camera 

 sydney: busy at work!



taylor's story

a few thoughts from taylor's graduate speech:

“Before I came to Diamond Ranch Academy I was a mess. I lived my life only in anger, and my family and I were very broken. Diamond Ranch Academy changed my life, and saved it. At first I didn’t let it help me, then I started to try, and I began to change. My changes were gradual, and I still have on-going struggles, but for each struggle, I now have the tools to conquer a lot of things about me, but I am very happy with the end product and everything about me makes me feel that all my mistakes lows, and all the difficult times were really worth it. So much of me has changed, but I don’t feel alienated to myself. I feel like this is who I’ve always meant to be."

“Today I feel happy. I like me, and what’s better is other people like me too… It doesn’t feel like the world is on my shoulders anymore because I can laugh easily now and smiles and jokes aren’t hard to come by. I feel like I’ve lost a million pounds in my heart. Where anger used to control me I fought back, and now I control anger."

“Perhaps my greatest success has been the change between my family and me. When I was at home we couldn’t talk. .. Today we are a new family. We love each other dearly, and I can’t imagine hurting them again like I did before DRA. We create win-win situations to our problems where before it was my way only. We are a family again.”  



whoops!

a funny thing happened on the way to class...
here's how the story goes: i was in my office and heard a lot of laughter downstairs. someone said, "tayleigh!! bring your camera!!!" i went to see what was going on, and here's what happened!

somehow, kylie fell into the laundry bucket!
"i was just backing up and all of a sudden i was in there!"

we made her wait for a minute while we took advantage of the photo op

thanks for the laughs!