The Shepherd of the Hills invited us to the grounds to do a review for them. Before going, our awesome coordinator for the day, Traci, heard the story of our son, Milton, and planned an extra special day for us. So some of the events we did were added to make it extra special for our family but we had a wonderful time even with the normal attractions that everyone can attend. This will be done in two parts. Due to the weather we were unable to attend the drama, but we hope to return to do a review on that at a later date.

On July 20, 2013, our family headed out at 7:00 am for Branson, MO. The weather was threatening rain, but that didn’t dampen our family’s outlook for the day. We were excited to get to see everything at Shepherd of the Hills and enjoy the day as a family. We were greeted by Traci and made to feel special. Even Suzy was made part of our family. We met up with Traci several times throughout the day and fell in love with her.

Our day began with meeting our awesome “guide” for the day, Jack. He loved doing “special” things for the kids. He made our day VERY special. We started off our day with the Homestead Tour. One thing that was made clear at the start, Jack loves his job. He has worked in some capacity at the Shepherd of the Hills for years and he makes an awesome guide. He made the story of the place come alive, which not everyone can do. The main stop was at the old cabin where John & Anna Ross (later known as Old Matt & Aunt Molly) lived and the story was based on. When the book was published in 1907, people began to flock to the place and their private life was no longer private, so on Christmas Eve 1910, they sold the homestead to M. R. Driver and he turned it into a wayside inn where tourists could dine. The Ross’s attended the opening and before the end of the year between 600-700 people had dined at the homestead. The Ross’s lived in Garber, MO running a store and post office until they both died in 1923. Their son, Charles moved to California and died at the age of 58 in 1934. Pearl Spurlock began the first homestead tours in her Shepherd of the Hills Taxi. The Drivers sold the homestead to a banker in Springfield in October 1926 which was given to his daughter a few months later. She originally lived in the homestead but in 1934 she had her house in Springfield taken down and brought to the homestead and rebuilt. She was the first to start the reenacting of “The Shepherd of the Hills”.

Dr. Bruce and Mary Trimble bought the place in 1946 and after his death his son Mark Trimble took the place over. The tours had continued over the years but August 6, 1960, Mark Trimble started “The Shepherd of the Hills Outdoor Drama”. In 1985, the place sold again to Gary and Pat Snadon and they expanded the events to include daytime visits and nightly plays. In 1989, he decided that an Inspiration Tower should be built on the site where Harold Bell Wright had spent his time looking out over Mutton Hollow.

From the house we went to the place that Harold Bell Wright spent his summers pitching his tent. The view was beautiful and I would love to be able to wake to that site. Mr. Wright was a minister in Kansas and in 1896, he was told by his physician that he had to find a better climate for his health, due to him being diagnosed with tuberculosis (know as consumption back then). He loved fishing and came to the Ozarks. But he had to look for shelter due to the White River flooding and sought temporary shelter with the Ross family. The Ross family gave him permission to put his tent on what would years later become know as Inspiration Point.

Next stop was at an old country store where they sold cold old fashion drinks, snacks, and tourist type of items.

The next stop was at a little run down cabin with moonshine being illustrated from the old days. A cute play was put on and a volunteer from our group was used to take part in it. What was the drama? You will just have to go on the Homestead Tour to find out! It was out in the open fields in this area where the Boldknobbers met. The sad part was that it wasn’t just “plain” people that took part in the Boldknobbers but also ministers.

After the Homestead Tour, Jack took us to the Inspiration Tower. It is 230” tall and was built in 1989. Its opening celebrated the 100th anniversary of Harold Bell Wright’s first visit to the area. It weighs 3 million pounds and cost around $1.5 million to build. It contains over 92,000 pounds of structural steel and can withstand constant wind of 172 mph or gusts of up to 224 mph. The elevators are made of glass and are neat to go in, unless you are a dog. Suzy wasn’t impressed with this part. During Christmas it is made into the largest Christmas tree. The tower is open year around. The look out area (glassed in) makes it where you can literally see for miles. The view is awesome. Throughout the outlook you will find pictures taken through the years of the drama, little sayings from the drama and a look out spy glass.

Another thing that is housed in the Inspiration Tower is the Ziprider. It is 170 feet high, ½ mile long and goes 50 mph. Did we ride this, no. We did watch them go flying down the hill but no one in the family was interested in this part of the activities. This part is open Valentine’s Day through New Year’s Eve. If there are storms that move in this part does have to shut down due to high risk.

Our next stop was at the Horseback Trail Ride. Again, we didn’t go on the trail ride, even thought Abigail would have loved to. But we did get to meet one of the guides, Desiree. We loved getting to know her and her beloved horse and dog. She is getting to do a job that she loves and she gets to be with her beloved animals every day to do her job. Another thing we noticed is how good she is with children, especially with handicapped children. She allowed the kids to feed her horse, Ramey, his favorite treat, Oreos. She also brought her dog, Bandit, out. He and Suzy were introduced and seemed to get along.

From the trail area we walked back up the hill where we drove over to the Inspiration Tower and went out to the little picnic area they have set up. We enjoyed sitting in the shade and eating our lunch and watching the birds and the different people go down the Ziprider. After we finished eating the kids went out to the monument area and wanted their pictures taken with the different main characters in the story.

After lunch Jack surprised us with a special trip to see the awesome miniature horses that are on the place. This isn’t part of the tour but one of the extra surprises they gave our family. The kids loved getting to pet them and give them treats. We also got to see the sheep that they use in the drama and a couple of the donkeys that the owner has.

After spending around 45 minutes with the miniature horses and the sky was threatening to rain, we went back to the Inspiration Tower, took a few more pictures, and then parked our car at the Sons of the Pioneers where we were to eat supper. We spent a little bit in the car cooling off and giving everyone a break. Then we decided to walk the grounds of the homestead to get some more pictures. It is a nice walk and lots of beauty to enjoy.

We made our way to the Morgan County Church that sits on Inspiration Point. It was built in 1901 and rebuilt at the Shepherd of the Hills in 1990. They hold weddings in the chapel. It is a beautiful building with a piano and two old pump organs. One of the pump organs is off limits to anyone playing it but the other one is still workable and I loved getting to sit down and playing on it for a little bit.

Next was a highlight of the day! We were privileged to get to go to the Sons of the Pioneers Chuckwagon Dinner Show. Wow, make sure to go to this HUNGRY! As you go into dinner you get your picture taken. Then during the dinner they bring by for you to look at and offer it to you for a small price. We were surprised to be given our picture as a gift from the group. This will be cherished along side the picture that we took in 2004 from there. The waiters and waitresses are wonderful and make sure that you have your drink refilled at all times. I can guarantee that you will be full by the time you are finished! The corn is the best corn I’ve ever eaten and yes, it is served with the husks on it.

During the meal you will enjoy some great music. The pre-show is a young lady that sings like Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn and does a great job. Then the Sons of the Pioneers take the stage. You will hear a variety from some of the original songs that they sang back with Roy Rogers to hymns. Another surprise was in store for Milton! Ricky Boen, fiddler, had Milton come to the stage and help him play one of his songs. Milton loved this and did a super job. Yep, Ricky Boen will always be thought of in a special way from this visit. The two kids loved listening to the music and even sang along with them on songs they knew. During the break they signed pictures. Milton was given a Shepherd of the Hills hat and shirt and all of the Sons of the Pioneers signed his shirt. Yes, this was a wonderful day for all us. We were able to enjoy everything and it was also fun to get to watch the kids have a mini “wish trip” too.

The next stop was the Shepherd of the Hills drama show. We took the tram to the stage area and went to our seat. The clouds kept rolling in and the storm got closer. Desiree and a couple of her friends came up to visit with us, when the owner of the place got up and announced that due to the terrible storm moving our way we needed to leave the grounds immediately. So, we didn’t get to see the drama that night. We do hope to be able to go down and see the drama before the season ends and do a review on that portion, too. We took the last tram out and saw Traci once again before we left. What a day! Yes, we had a super day and you will too if you will take a day to go and enjoy the history packed into the Shepherd of the Hills Homestead. Everything there is educational and there is so much to take in while having loads of fun! The staff, ALL of them, are wonderful and you will find a smile on their faces and willing to answer questions.

We want to say a BIG THANK YOU to everyone at Shepherd of the Hills for an awesome day and we look forward to seeing everyone again!

On July 13, 2013 our family was privileged to go to the Creation Experience Museum in Strafford, MO. Strafford is a very small town and I was very impressed that they had a really nice place in the middle of town for people to come and learn about God’s wonderful Creation. From the time we walked through the door, we felt very welcomed. We were offered to either join the tour that was going through the museum or to take our time and do a self tour. We decided to do our own tour.
One thing you do need to keep in mind this is only a small building, but they have packed a lot into it. There is items that are to big for this building and they are waiting to put those items into the big museum they are building in Branson, MO that they hope to open around December.
They have an aquarium with Giant Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches. Yep they are just as ugly as any other cockroaches.
They have a replica of the Tower of Babel and information all about the building of it and where the location of it was. To think that the area in the world that has so much turmoil today was once where the beginning really began. Yes, when you start really getting into science you also get into a lot of history and Bible.
They have a media room where students and adults can sit down and watch a movie. They have several different creation movies to pick from. The staff are really nice and offered their visitors to sit and watch a movie while they had something to drink and a cookie. It was a hot day and it was nice to be able to sit down and enjoy a nice cool area where the kids were learning about Creation and enjoying themselves.
As in every museum it was interesting to see artifacts and replicas of things I had heard about. Milton enjoyed seeing all the dinosaurs. One of the neat places in the museum was the cave area that they had. So many people believe that caves take million and billion of years when in actuality it is only a few thousand of years old.
We also enjoyed getting to see all the books for adults, teens and children. They had a neat little area for kids to sit and play with Creation toys while their parents shopped. Now if you are wanting to compare this to one of the big Creation Museum’s, DON’T! It is a very small “store building” and they have done a super job with it. In the media room they have a diagram of what the new museum in Branson will look like and it looks awesome. Yes, we highly recommend visiting this wonderful place.
For more information and directions to get to the museum go to http://cmoto.org/.

On July 13, 2013 we were invited to the Fantastic Caverns to do a review. On the way we stopped at a beautiful park just beyond the cavern and ate a picnic lunch. The crew was very helpful and courteous. Having a Great Pyrenees service dog with our family has been known to cause some places to question us, but they are awesome and made sure that our every need was met.

While we waited to go on our tour we looked around the gift shop. Of course Milton had to show off his capability as a miner. Our tour guide had us load first in the car with him so that Suzy wasn’t in the way of others. The whole thing that I found interesting is how well the young man that was our guide handled Milton. Milton has problems talking all the time and popping up and down in his seat but that didn’t bother the guide and he even “played” back and forth with him.

Fantastic Caverns is the only cave that they know of that has a stalagpipe. Several years ago they drilled a well that went through the cave by mistake, and left it there.

We saw a couple of bats but they were really small. The cave has some really pretty places in it. It was interesting to hear the history of it and how it was basically women that explored it in its beginnings. Of course there were a few head knockers that the tall people had to duck or have a terrible headache.

Some famous people made history here in this cave. It was known where the Presley Family got their start, it was a gambling casino, a dance hall, a meeting place for the KKK and Baldknobbers and a place where they made moonshine. This cave is known to have withstood earthquakes.

The tour guides showed us what it was like when the cave was first explored, pitch black, then as the years went by they had gas lights and then today the electric lights. Everyone agreed that they like the lighting today best.

One of the things that makes Fantastic Caverns so unique is that it is the only drive-thru cave in the US. This makes it where everyone can enjoy the trip!

This is an awesome place to visit. Make sure to take your camera. The one thing that I do want to remind you is that in every cave I’ve visited they believe that the cave is millions years old. But you can use this as a learning process with your kids and explain what you believe versus evolution belief.

To find out more information go to http://www.fantasticcaverns.com/.

Our family was invited to spend the day at The Great Passion Play on Saturday June 15, 2013. The sun was shinning and we were very excited!! The drive from Springfield is very winding but beautiful during this time of the year. You will find the closer you get to The Great Passion Play area signs up guiding you in. Once you turn onto Passion Play Road you are almost there.

This is the entrance to the campus! The fountain is beautiful and represents the birth of Christ and His earthly ministry. The garden is beautiful and restful. Yes, our day was just beginning and we were already impressed.

Our first stop was to the Bible Museum. Wow! You walk into a great gift shop and then on into the Bible Museum. What a history our Bible has! All of the sweat, blood, tears and even some gave their own life so that we may have God’s

Word. Our host was wonderful and you could tell he enjoyed talking about how we now have THE BEST SOLD book in the world. One thing that stood out to me was that our son was able to enjoy the tour even, and that is unusual. One of the things that our son enjoyed was look at the pictures that Elder Rhee from North Korea (fled to South Korea when the communist took over) created from Bible passages from the New Testament, some are done in 1,234 different languages and dialects. They have magnifying glasses

so you can look closely at the pictures and see the words. Elder Rhee was separated from his family while trying to leave North Korea and he was the only one of his family that got out alive. He began his work on his pictures at the age of 40.

After our tour we watched a video that was taken in Europe showing the different places of highlights that had happened to make our Bible what it is today. It was very interesting and worth watching. As we were leaving our host told us if we got hot during the day, we were always welcome to come back in to the air conditioned building. All of the buildings across the campus do have air, and it was nice to be able to cool off throughout the day.

Next stop was the Sacred Arts Museum. We were welcomed in by two sweet ladies. The first room is mostly paintings down by Jack E. Dawson from Webb City, MO. He has been doing art for over 30 years. He is famous for the 32-foot tall sculpture “The Praying Hands Statue” on Highway 71 in Webb City, MO. Our favorite pictures were his “Seek and Find” series. His daughter looks over the pictures as he has painted them and finds the hidden pictures that he doesn’t always know he has put in the picture. When we were there one of the ladies that worked there had just found a picture that hadn’t been found by his daughter and could only be seen from a certain angle as the light hit the picture. I have never seen anything like this and both of our kids were spell bound looking for the hidden pictures and remembering the stories behind them. This is highly recommended for homeschoolers!!! One of Mr. Dawson’s favorite items in the homeschool world is his Passion Tree painting. He has made it into a 25-day Advent Calendar. Each day is about one of the balls on the Christmas Tree and what it represents. This would be a great addition to your homeschool and to your Christmas tradition.

The next section of the Sacred Arts Museum was different artists take on the life of Christ. Most art museum’s discourage pictures being taken, but here they encouraged us to take ALL the pictures we wanted to. One of my favorite pictures in the gallery was the Last Supper that was done completely out of moth and butterfly wings. Each piece of art was done with love and hard work. Their was paintings, clay work and even some done out of wood carvings.

Both of the museum’s are open throughout the day so you can take your time going through them. Unlike some places that we have gone they love homeschoolers. They are open to talk to you and answer any questions you might have. Such an awesome experience.

Due to a down pour as we finished with the Sacred Arts Museum, we decided to go for lunch and have some down time. By the time we ate and returned to the campus the sky was still threatening rain but we decided to continue our day.

Next was our trip to the Christ of the Ozarks. You can drive your vehicle to a parking lot for this area but we decided to walk it. It was a beautiful walk and an awesome site to watch the Christ come into view. Going up the walk to the Christ was a neat cross cut out in an old stump. Gerald L. K. Smith built the Christ with the foundation that he began in his wife’s honor, Elna M. Smith.

The Christ of the Ozarks was built in 1966. Every inch of the Christ was built by hand. It is 67 feet tall, the hands from wrist to fingertip is approximately 7 feet, the statue’s arm spread from fingertip to fingertip spans 65 feet. The statue weighs over two million lbs and is made of 24 layers of white mortar on a steel frame, requiring 340 tons of concrete. Pictures can’t describe the awesome of this statue that over looks the Ozarks. The first thing I thought of when I saw the statue was the saying “He spred His arms and said I love you this much and died.”

On the walk back we stopped at the Church in the Grove. There in the yard was a replica of the Liberty Bell and an actual 10×10 section of the Berlin Wall. This is awesome when you read the background of this part of the wall. On the wall is written “Though I walk through the dark valley, I will not fear” Psalm 23. The artist was an East Berliner and when the wall came down The Great Passion Play bought it as a tribute to the spirit of all people who risk their lives serving Christ.

By the time we walked back to the campus we were hot and tired and need some time to cool down. So our next stop was at the Smith Memorial Chapel to hear The Ponders in a 45 minute concert. They did an awesome job singing some of the older songs and even sang one for the kids, “Jesus Love Me”. The chapel is a beautiful Jewish looking building and made the music sound awesome. David Ponder used to sing with Ponder, Sykes and Wright and moved to Branson 2007 and joined the Branson Brothers which his brother Jimmy was apart of.

The next part of our journey was one of the best part of the day, even though it was hot and dry. We were privileged to take the Holy Land Tour. Friends this is an awesome journey and your children will enjoy it! We were greeted at the Eastern Gate by a “Roman soldier” welcoming us to this awesome journey. The tour takes 2 1/2 hrs, be prepared to walk A LOT! The workers are dressed in costumes from the days of Jesus. The journey through the Old Testament is all on foot and takes approximately 1 hr. We met one of the disciples that had walked on the Emmaus Road with Jesus; the woman at the well (Jacob’s Well), one of the women with the Passover House, Moses with the Ten Commandment Tablets, ending our Old Testament Journey at Moses’ Tabernacle. Due to a large group at the temple we by passed that part and continued on our journey through the New Testament and then ended it at the temple, which was an interesting effect!

The New Testament takes approximately 1 ½ hrs and this part of the journey is traveled by bus. The first stop is Bethlehem. You will visit with Ellie one of the women at the community well, Ellie the wife of the Inn Keeper and (the same woman played all three parts) Mary the mother of Jesus. Here you will see the well that the community would use with steps leading down into the water; a carpenter and weaver’s shop as used back in those days and probably was like Joseph taught Jesus in. Each of the homes you visit you get to go into and see how they actually looked. The inn is very interesting and something I would never have thought of. This year at Christmas the story of the Birth of Christ will be looked at a totally different way due to this visit!

The second stop will be at the Sea of Galilee with Peter. On the way you will pass different areas that are significant in the Holy Land. You will see the sheepfold; watch tower; vineyard; wine press; Dead Sea area; white washed tombs; rock life and the rock quarry. One fun thing we had was our driver was a Roman soldier in the Passion Play that told his guards to arrest the Lord. After Peter talked with us, he invited us to go to his home. The original Sea of Galilee was 14 miles long by 7 miles wide. Most of the time it was very peaceful. Much of Jesus ministry took place in the region of Galilee. Peter’s home was in Capernaum which was located on the shores of Galilee and became Jesus’ headquarters. As we walked about the area depicted as the Sea of Galilee we noticed that Peter’s boat was in the water showing how he was a fishermen.

On our way to our last stop we past by the Mount of Olives. Our last stop was at the Upper Room and the Garden Tomb. We met John at the Upper Room and he told us about why back then people sat on their left side and ate with their right hand, do you know why? He explained the sitting arrangement of the disciples and Christ that night. He did an awesome job showing us how different ones were wondering what was going to happen and how confused they all felt.

Then we went to the Garden Tomb and were met by Mary Magdalene. She told us about that terrible night, the confusion in the street, then about the cross and the terrible death. She told us about needing to wait the Sabbath out to prepare the body and how it felt to get to the tomb to find it empty and then be met by her Lord. She reminded us that as Jesus went away that we were commanded to go into the world and bring others to Him.

Since we had to skip the temple we back tracked to the temple at this point. Don’t miss this part it is amazing!! This is one of the only life sized replicas. At one point they used to have a fire burning under the outer alter but due to fire hazards they have quit this part of the showing. It put all of my learning of the tabernacle from my high school days in perspective. Our guide was one of the priest and he explained how each part of the temple was delicately made to perfection the way that God told Moses to do it. The dimensions of this temple was exactly as it was written in the Bible. It was interesting to see that only a certain items were allowed into each part of the temple. As we left the temple we passed by the Rock of Witness.

You say wow what a day. Yes, it was a busy day but it wasn’t over yet! We were hot, tired and exhausted from walking so we made our way back to the front. My husband and daughter went to the snack area and got supper for us. For less than a hamburger meal for each of us from McDonald’s, we had fresh made pizza (3 of us) and my husband had a barbecue roast beef sandwich (large), a bag of chips each and a drink each. It was very good!

Next stop was David the Shepherd. This was an excellent talk and after he finished talking he took the crowd out to demonstrate the slings like what David used in the Bible. He makes the slings to sale both for rocks and for marshmallows.

After David was the Parables of the Potter. The Potter created a pot while he was talking about how we were the clay and Christ was the Potter. He explained that just as the pot needs to go through the fire, so we have to go through the fiery trials to make us what Christ wants of our lives. Then he made the pot have a design of its own and so does Christ make us one of our own kind to be used for Him.

Once the Potter was finished everyone headed towards the stadium for the play. A group of young people from Minnesota were visiting and performed a couple of numbers while people were settling down for the play. As the time drew near for the play to begin, the storm that had been holding off moved in. The pledges were done at 8:30 and then the drama began. At 8:30 it started raining and people started putting rain coats and umbrella’s over themselves. The drama starts off with Jesus teaching in the temple, to raising Lazarus, to Palm Sunday, to the Passover, to the trial, the crucifixion, the resurrection, then the ascension. The interesting part was it was while Jesus was ascending into Heaven that the rain completely quit.

This whole day was an awesome day and our whole family highly recommends it. Our daughter’s word for the day was “it was cool!” Highly recommended is to wear comfortable shoes, take bug spray to use before going on the Holy Land Tour and plenty to drink. There is water at the end of the tour but you need to take change if you plan to buy it because it is on a donation bases of a $1/bottle. Everyone was friendly and helpful. Even with Milton’s problems the crew there weren’t bothered with his talking or agitation.

Make plans to attend now. We are working with the crew there to get a special day with the homeschoolers there. This is a super place to teach history, Bible and have a great outing as a family. Go to http://www.greatpassionplay.org/purchase-play-tickets.html to buy your tickets. You can get just the play tickets or add a few more dollars on and get the Total Experience Pass which in all that we did and talked about above. The only thing we did not do was the behind the scene, the Great hall Dinner and Concert and the In-Depth Tabernacle Teaching. A Family Total Experience Pass is $119.85 (this covers 2 adults and 4 kids – kids 6 and under are FREE). If you are a MATCH member make sure that we have your updated address for a special coupon to The Great Passion Play.