From the road....part 1

We're still in Missouri, but I thought I'd try to upload some pictures of our adventures....Crossing my fingers I've figured this out....


Ok, this is a tunnel through a mountain! Yes, through the mountain...I was a bit jittery going through here. I think it had something to do with the HUGE 18 wheeler truck behind me, the equally big truck next to me and the idiot in the little car that changed lanes in front of me and SLOWED DOWN!!!! All I can see in the rear view mirror is grill and bumper of the HUGE truck and this pipsqueak in front of me slows down...I nearly wet myself!!!!! Fortunately, we survived this adventure....and down the road we went.


This is at the Holy Land Adventure in Eureka Springs Arkansas. (For those of you from Loma Linda, that's still in the US) It's a wonderful place and you go from spot to spot, listen to the park employees tell their part of the Bible story and then go to the next spot. It covers about 1 mile or so and you walk it all. It was wonderful! I thought I'd gotten a picture of some of the other spots, but would have to search through my whole 450 pictures to find them.....this is Little Critter at the Moshe (Moses) spot. He's helping hold up the 10 commandments. I just knew I had a great picture of Kefa (Peter).....he's my favorite desciple. I just know he was a red head....how else to explain his mouth so often outrunning his good intentions?!?!! grin.

Well, on to our hotel and our spot in Branson, Missouri....and yes, that's still in the US. We've know gone through Texas, Oklahoma (nothing exciting to share from there), Arkansas and are now in Missouri. Roughly 750 miles from home. Whew!!!


The following morning (Wednesday) we had breakfast with Mark Twain and Norman Rockwall. Now I realize both these men are dead....but the impersonator of Mark Twain was wonderful! He even looks a LOT like Mark Twain!!!! This is a picture of Little Critter and Mr. Twain after the show. He was impressed Little Critter had read both Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer and had also read The Jumping Frog from Calico County. Little Critter loved the jokes (that he caught, several went over his head) and seeing the pictures Mr. Rockwall had painted for the second edition of Tom Sawyer. (I personally love Norman Rockwall's paintings!) I also didn't realize he'd done the pictures for the second edition or that the two men knew each other!! THey did! And enjoyed each other's company quite well...according to Mr. Twain that is. Little Critter enjoyed this show so much he wanted to spend the money Grandma had given him to buy a copy of the show on DVD for PawPaw to watch. He just knew Pawpaw would love it. (He's right, but Momma paid for the DVD....that money is for Little Critter to buy himself something.)


After that show, we stayed downtown on the landing and snooped around. Not much to see unless you wanted to eat or shop. But did see the Paddle Boat go by as the water works started spouting water. Then suddenly the Star Spangled Banner is booming from the speakers down at the pond, and wham! Fire is bursting from these tubes in the background. Boy, howdy, it was fabulous!!! Talk about getting your patriatism stirred up!!!!! I grabbed this quick picture to share. WOW! I was almost in tears when it finished, it was so beautiful and made me so proud of this country!!!! Thank you Branson, for reminding us what a great place this is! Ok, let's move on now....


Our second show for the day was at the Sight and Sound theatre. We saw the musical Noah. This is Little Critter outside the theatre in front of the Lion and the Lamb sculpture that doubles as a small water fall. Once inside, no cameras allowed. Pooey. If you ever get the change to see this....DO IT!!! It's a bit pricey, but worth every single dime in our book. Our only quibble was they used the name Jehovah quite often mixed in with Hebrew names and Greek words. There's no J in Hebrew or Greek....so Jehovah is not a correct translation of His name. Oh well, it was only slightly bothersome. The rest of the show was incredible. Especially when we're inside the Ark...yep, they build the set all around you in the audience and you're in the Ark with them. And they bring the animals into the Ark right through the audience. It was great!!!!! This was Dodi's favorite for Wednesday. I was torn....I liked both the shows we saw. Little Critter, well, he just liked being surprised all day.

Well, I'll try to post some more pictures from our day on Thursday later this week. It was a full day with LOTS of fun stuff! As we went to each show and explored the town of Branson, we were grateful to be born in this country, to see SO much of Papa's love for us in the friendliness of wait people, ticket takers, showmen and even just other tourists, and to be able to enjoy all this great adventure. I pray you take the time to see His love for you in the people around you. He really does love you like crazy! And He sends you people and events to show it to you. Be sure not to miss them. It makes life so much more beautiful! Well, gotta get to bed, we have another big adventure on the books for the morning. Shalom, from the road......Spitfire