Shameless Plugs and Updates

We went on a homeschool field trip in Orlando on Friday to a place called WordSpring, from Wycliffe Bible Translators. This is an excellent place to take the whole family! I had never even heard of it before we moved here, and since it was such a wonderful experience, I wanted to give it a shameless plug on my blog.

We signed up for a program they offer called A to Z Adventures. It is a full day (9:30 - 2:30) of fascinating information about a certain people group (which varies, depending on when you go).

Our adventure was all about the people of Thailand, which they informed us literally means "Free Land". We started out with a tour of the beautiful facility, where people are always hard at work translating the Bible into all the different languages in the world.

Then, they took the children on a "tour" of Thailand, allowing them to dress up in Thai clothes and hats. They told them stories of how people in Thailand celebrate New Year's (they run around all day squirting each other with water guns). Then they showed them how to make things out of rice paper, the way Thai children do. They were able to make beautiful paper fans to take home with them.

Then they gave the children fake Thai money, and allowed them to go to a "market place" that was set up with all sorts of actual items from Thailand. They encouranged the children to barter with them to haggle the prices of the items down to a reasonable rate, like they would actually see in Thailand. Once that was over, though, the children had to return the items "bought" and, in exchange, they were given pieces of authentic Thai candy (it actually tasted really good).

Then they went to an area that was set up with all sorts of musical intruments that a missionary brought over from Thailand. They looked and sounded a lot different than the ones we have in America, and the children were able to play them all! Afterwards, the kids told me that was their favorite part.

They also learned how to speak a few Thai words and phrases. They learned how to say "hello" (which is different for boys and girls), and how you hold your hands and bow respectfully for the culture, depending on who you are saying hello to. Then, using the musical instruments, they learned how to sing "God is so Good" in the Thai language. The kids actually did a really good job! I was impressed by how quickly they learned the language!

As if all of that were not enough, we took a break for lunch, and then were able to speak to an actual missionary and afterwards, visit their Discovery Center, which is full of completely state of the art, hands-on displays, where you can learn the process of Bible translation. Here, the kids learned how to translate their names into several different languages.

I would take me forever to tell you everything that we saw at WordSpring, so I will have to stop there. But the whole wonderful experience costs only $5 per person. Plus, it is absolutely FREE for pastors with their wife and children. So, if any of you are considering a vacation to the Orlando area, I strongly encourage you to schedule this into your itinerary. It is well worth the trip, and I know this will not be the last time our family travels to see it!
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Another shameless plug I will add very quickly, is the Creation Museum in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area. This museum is the first of it kind and is absolutely phenomenal! The whole purpose of this museum is to combat the Theory of Evolution with the facts from the Bible.

It is VERY well done, with completely state of the art animatronic dinosaurs, animals and people, actual fossils that you would NEVER see in any public school science book (because they could not be explained by evolutionists), a 1/2 scale walk-in model of Noah's Ark, an excellent planetarium show, explaining the universe from a creationist perspective that was so good, we ordered a dvd of it so we could watch it at home (the kids actually ask to watch it over and over), etc.

There is just not enough time to describe all of the wonderful things you can find at this museum. But if you want to teach your children (and yourself) from a biblical worldview that the world is NOT millions of years old and that evolution is completely false, it is absolutely the best trip you will make as a family!

If we lived closer to it, we would buy season passes, because there is no way to soak in all of the information in one visit. I encourage everyone to go there at least once!
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Lastly, I wanted to update you all on what is going on over here:

The offer on our house in MD fell through. While we were very sad about it, we still know that God knows better than we do. He knows what He is doing and we fully trust Him.

And, after a few more interviews, J still has no job. There are a few churches interested in him, but as most of you know, that is a very lengthy process, and we are only in the initial stages with them.

Needless to say, we could still use your prayers. And while we are putting our hope and trust in the Lord to see us through this (and recognize all that He has done for us so far), it is also very nice and very much appreciated when we get a few words of encouragement from our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ from time to time.

We love you all and we thank you for your love and prayerful support.

Leaning on the Everlasting Arms,
The RichFam <><