YOB: #15. Go To A Cave (Part 2)

By Lara

I have always wanted to explore a cave. This is probably due to my deep desire to blindly stumble into a secret country. In "Prince Caspian," Aslan explains that the Telmarines got into Narnia from our world through a cave. I know that my odds are SLIM, but I'll never know for sure if I never explore a cave, right? That's how caves got on the Year of the Birthday list in the first place.

We had originally hoped to go to Indian Echo cave in Pennsylvania. Beth has already been there. However, Hershey was vetoed as too expensive. So, I did some research about caves in Maryland. There is really only one public cave in Maryland. It's called Crystal Grottoes. I thought it would be a fun road trip.

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The Greatest Gift

By Pat

In this day and age, it's very hard to get something for nothing. There is always a price to pay for the things we want. For instance, in order to be recognized in our jobs, we are required to work hard in hopes that the boss will acknowledge our attempts and reward us with pay raises and promotions. As children, we earn an allowance by doing chores, and oftentimes parents reward their childrens' good grades by allowing a special privilege, or buying a particular item the child has been wanting.

Isn't it wonderful to realize that there is one thing in life that is totally and completely free to us, a gift so wonderful that no other gifts can compare? Something that is so precious it cannot be given a monetary value, cannot be earned through diligent hard work. It's the gift of salvation, and it's free! What could possibly be better than that?

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Works For Me Wednesday: Photo Cube

By Alan

As a fan of Make Magazine, especially the online articles, I came across one build that was a real winner. A project that looks complicated, but turns out to be kind of easy once you figure out the plans.

Lots of people have photo cubes. Six sided blocks of wood or plastic with family photos glued to each face. The article I found had a cube that could be taped together in a particular pattern that allows it to be opened up in interesting ways to show twice as many photos as a regular cube.

So, to build the thing, you buy eight identical wooden blocks, or cut your own. [Or you can steal 8 blocks from your children's toy chest. Don't worry, I'll give them back.]

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Samaritan's Purse: The Greatest Journey

By MAD21

I have had the wonderful opportunity to work on a few posts with with one of my favorite ministries, Samaritan's Purse. If you are new here, and are unfamiliar with this ministry, I urge you to go check out their website. They are doing some amazing work in this world of ours. (I've also writen about them HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.)

Back in August, I had the privilege of interviewing Stacey Wilson from Operation Christmas Child (OCC). Stacey and I have been chatting a lot since then. One of the things we discussed was doing a post about the part of their group that prepares the discipleship materials and trains the teachers who will be working directly with the kids.

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One Word At A Time: Self-Control

By MAD21

For the last three weeks, my youngest has been humming the same tune. It's not a terrible tune, it's just the the first few bars from the Wallace and Gromit show's theme song.

But as much as we love Wallace and Gromit, I am going to lose it if I hear it's theme song just one more time. A week ago, I told my daughter that she needed to find another song to hum. It worked for about an hour. I had to remind her a few times over the last week, but it got better with each day. I don't think I heard her hum it once over the weekend. Then... this morning. Back to Wallace and Gromit. <sigh>

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