Living Grace in Action: A Home for Berkeley

Living Grace in Action: A Home for Berkeley

Three short months ago I made my first visit to Living Grace Canine Ranch in Bertram, Texas, following which I wrote my first blog. I felt so compelled to share what I’d seen and learned there, I created a blog page on my author site just so I could tell a bit of their story.

The precursor for my first visit to Living Grace was an invitation from founder and visionary Rhonda Minardi. We had met at a Georgetown Chamber of Commerce event. As fate would have it, we sat at the same table, directly across from one another. She briefly shared the purpose, mission, and daily operations of Living Grace, and I shared the backstory of our adoption of a feral cattle dog, my beautiful Bellissima, which serves as the centerpiece for the book My Beautiful Bellissima: Stories of Love and Heeling.

Just a few days before Rhonda and I met, she had trapped a feral cattle dog in a local cemetery, saving its life as an extended freeze was on its way and indeed did hit us here in Central Texas. Because of Rhonda’s compassion and care, while we were hunkered down in our homes during a three-day deep freeze with temperatures sitting in the mid-teens for several hours at a time, Berkeley, a one-year-old cattle dog, also had warmth and meals and love, instead of experiencing deadly cold and starvation living alone in the cemetery.

In the January blog, I shared just a bit of Berkeley's story. At that time there wasn’t much story to share. The dog had been reported living feral in the cemetery. Rhonda was unable to coerce it to come with her, thus she trapped it just in time to save it from almost certain death. And neither she nor any of the dog-loving staff at the Ranch knew what to do next. So, they draped a towel over the barred opening of the door to Berkeley’s pen to keep Berkeley from causing harm to anyone; snuck into her pen tag-team style to give her food and water; and kept a close eye on her. 

Well, Berkeley has had quite a story since then!

Berkeley was renamed Faith, a suitable name for a creature with whom staff needed to take one step at a time, one day at a time, not knowing where their path would lead.

And turns out, she is a he. Speaking with Bethany Terrell who has been on staff at Living Grace for three years, in Faith's first weeks at the ranch, she and the other staff could not get close enough to realize that he was a boy, and also he had his tail tucked between his legs which served to hide the fact as well.

But Bethany wasn’t the only staff member who had her eye on Faith.

Jaycee, a high school student who works at the Ranch part time, felt compelled to sit in the pen with Faith to try to settle him down. She sat a distance away, tossed him a ball, and soon after he climbed into her lap. As we all know, they choose us more than we choose them!

Jaycee felt an immediate connection with him. So much so that she and her family decided to adopt him and bring him home, showing their determination and dedication by quickly building additional fences to keep Faith (a high energy jumper) from escaping the yard. It was about this time that Rhonda crossed my path again in a local shop and shared with me that 1) she (Berkeley) was a he; 2) he was given the new name Faith; and 3) most importantly, the biggest news of all, he was doing very well, so well that he was about to be adopted!

I couldn’t wait to make another trip to Living Grace to meet Jaycee and see Faith’s progress myself!

Another windy Saturday morning, just three months after my first visit to Living Grace, I came out to meet with Jaycee and Bethany and hear more of their journey with Faith.

Jaycee met me in the entry of the Large Dog House with an ear-to-ear smile, eager to share her experience with Faith. The last time I had seen this beautiful dog, one could easily see the sadness and suspicion in his eyes. I shared with Rhonda that I saw the same look in Faith's (then Berkeley's) eyes that I saw in Bella when first working with her. Other indicators as well, (such as no apparent hair up on his back) signaled that he was just scared, not aggressive.

Today? Just three short months later, he came immediately to the previously toweled-over window of his pen to receive pets from his person Jaycee; and when she entered, he greeted her with jumps and kisses as if they had known each other all of their lives! So beautiful!

Playtime!

Bethany joined us on our way out to the big play lot that sits in the corner of this expansive property dedicated to serving animals and the people who love them. Jaycee and Faith walked ahead of us across the bridge to the large fenced-in play area, Jaycee holding a leash in one hand, and a Chuck-It ball thrower in the other, Faith strolling easily alongside her.

Full of happiness and excitement, Faith knows how to sit, and does so dutifully for the throw of a ball and the opportunity to run free with all of his might to catch it and return it to his new person, the beginning of his new family, something he may have never experienced before.

It’s hard to express how it feels to see this animal who was so afraid now blossoming and smiling and happily at play, as he should be, as his life was intended. 

Faith’s naturally fun and mischievous personality, characteristic of Australian Cattle Dogs, aka Blue (or Red) Heelers, is coming out. He loves the little stuffed unicorn toy Jaycee gifted him early on, and he will frequently carry it with him when he goes out. A more comical trait, he likes to steal phones and walkie talkies and use them to lure people into a game of keep away. A favorite tale at the Ranch, he once stole Bethany's walkie talkie, and she had other staff members calling her to ask if she was okay since they heard heavy staggered breathing being communicated on the team line coming from her device. That deserves an LOL :) Bethany and Jaycee warned me to not set my phone down on the play bench, just before Faith was about to nab it!

At one point while I was chatting on the side with Bethany, Faith took me by surprise, running up to me from behind and jumping into my back, asking me to come and play with them again. So reminiscent of when we first had our Bella, our Bellissima, once she started to recognize that she had a family of people she loved and who loved her in return, she would run up to me every morning to gift me a full force jump into my belly. Bella however was only forty pounds at the time. Faith on the other hand is rounding up to sixty, sixty pounds of happy, playful, kiss-giving, ball-chasing, canine.

In addition to learning about Faith’s growth, I also got to hear how Jaycee and Bethany became employees at Living Grace. More perfect examples of God’s perfect timing, which Rhonda seems to be perfectly aligned with.

Jaycee was rescuing a cat on a back road when Rhonda pulled over and asked if she needed help. And then offered her a job. A great opportunity for a sixteen-year-old high school student who aspires to one day be an equine veterinarian.

Bethany began volunteering with Living Grace shortly after they opened in 2021. Unhappy in a job where her work was as unfulfilling as it was unhealthy, Living Grace became her happy place. One day Bethany asked Rhonda to provide a reference for new career opportunities and Rhonda replied, “why don’t you work here?” That was almost three years ago. Now, Bethany has a rewarding job where she can grow. She is training to be a veterinary technician, and at the Ranch she has received training in cold therapy and other methods of care, all while doing work that she loves and finds purpose in. She even lives in the Small House on the ranch where senior dogs are cared for until their passing.

Not every tale ends so happily, we need to remember and hold onto stories like Faith’s, where God’s creatures (people and animals alike) get to experience a touch of heaven here on earth through compassion, care, provision, love, and acceptance. At the time of this writing, Faith had just had her first overnight stay at Jaycee’s home, his new forever home. And not just any home... Faith chose his person well! Turns out that Jaycee lives on a nearby property where the former owner gifted her parents several cattle. Faith is going to have lots of space to run and play ball with Jaycee, and to herd to his heart’s delight, a life of love and purpose.  

I’m so grateful to have had the calling to share Bella's and my story through the book My Beautiful Bellissima: Stories of Love and Heeling. And even more grateful for how the book has brought us to know others, learn about their trials and journeys, and given me the opportunity to tell their stories as well.

Thank you Rhonda for creating Living Grace; thank you Bethany for all you do each day to love these animals well; and thank you Jaycee for bringing Faith home. And thanks to each of you for letting me tell a little bit of your story.