@kburns2358 Welcome to our collective backyard! Several questions to begin; firstly, what kind of offroading are we talking about? Sand, mud and gravel, or we talking about rock crawling with lockers and gear ratio changes and 37" tires here? Secondly, what is the vehicle already equipped with? AWD, turbocharger, any specs and options concerning the engine and drivetrain will help determine where you'll need to start. Thirdly, what's the budget? That will determine the best course of action.
Personally, I'd beat that Search function dead on the upper right corner of the screen, searching for things that are relevant to the kind of modifications you're planning on doing. Also, take a good afternoon or evening using Google or other search engine of choice to find lift kits, tires and wheels, rock sliders, crash bars, tow hooks, and other relevant equipment that she's looking to add.
You're in the right subforum, so I'd also look around for threads on similar things to what you're looking to do, such as 2" lift, 4" lift, what's needed to fit, say, 33" tires, or some such. Check the pinned/stickied threads, they're bound to have useful information too!
As much as I hate to say it, the 5th-gen platform is really not a good vehicle for off-road use. It's based on the Taurus platform if I recall correctly, which is tough, but not well suited for flexy off-road situations. But if you can't talk her out of using a 5th-gen off-road, I'd search 4wheelparts.com, summitracing.com, autoanything.com, and carid.com (beware of ordering from them) for options on lift kits. Some are available for fairly cheap (3" and under), but do your research here and by reading product reviews (preferably by users who have used the kits for years before reviewing) to see what problems may be common to which particular kits.
www.caranddriver.com
