Creation Museum, Petersburg, KY, Prepare to Believe

Oh wow, I am pretty much speechless, so I'm writing a blog post, lol!!!

We just left The Creation Museum I feel saturated with truth, and hope, and boldness!

My kids are asking questions about sin and salvation, origins and the future.  

If you have to choose between this and Disneyworld for a vacation, choose The Creation Museum.  It's not as big or as expensive, but the quality of the exhibits and the TRUTH your family will take away from this are invaluable.  

First of all I want to thank the two families who gave us passes so we could enjoy the museum FREE OF CHARGE! You read that right.  What would have cost us around $200.00, was provided for us for free.  All tickets are two day passes so we will be going back tomorrow to see more!  It definitely takes two days to take it all in. 

From the first display replicating the "Lucy" bones found in Africa to the last exhibit we experienced, the planetarium, God's word was the cornerstone of all the information presented. 

Questions were raised about all the information which is so often presented as fact.  How many times have you read or heard, "Millions and millions of years ago...". We just did recently when we visited Mammoth Cave, the Ranger who led our tour authoritatively informed us that the caves were ten million years old.  In contrast, when he talked about what happened in the caves a few hundred years ago, he was more vague and willing to admit he didn't know how work was done by native peoples or how certain artifacts that were found in the caves were used.  There was no question however, when he explained that the caves were formed over millions of years by underground rivers.  

At The Creation Museum, there was so much to see and absorb and we were encouraged to ask questions and seek answers in God's Word.

Emily's favorite was The replica Garden of Eden which was absolutely beautiful.  Considering the pre-fall condition of the world was a new experience.  Imagine a world without pain or death.  Stop. Really imagine that. It was perfect, and it's where we are headed in the future in the new heaven and the new earth.  Lions lay down with lambs, it happened once, it will happen again, and you will want to be there!

Or maybe the espresso stand was Emily's favorite!

Doug's favorite was Walking through the life size Noah's ark where we considered that Noah was given a huge project by God to do.  He was faithfully obedient to Gods instruction resulting in the salvation of himself and his family.  God judged the entire planet, but provided a way of escape for the righteous who obeyed Him.

Ben's favorite was the planetarium where we flew through the skies and felt like we were really In a spaceship seeing the planets and stars.  It prompted the kids to ask, "If there are so many galaxies, what makes Earth so special?" While we don't have a perfect answer, we can consider that because God sent His one and only Son here to die for mankind, He thinks the inhabitants He created for Earth are pretty special.

At the dragon exhibit we observed the connection of the phenomenon of dragon lore across the centuries and the continents, presented creatively with concepts of young earth and dinosaurs cohabiting with humans. This was both educational and entertaining.  

We got to hear Buddy Davis talk about the T-Rex and how interpretations of it have changed over the years.  Archeologists and paleo-artists are really part detective, part artist and much of what they create is interpretive. We made our own t-Rex sculptures from green clay, straws, and toothpicks. 

Finally at the end of the day, we met Ken Ham the founder and creator of The Creation Museum.  We were able to thank him for his work, tell him about the big billboard in North Houston we were excited to see go up, and take a few pictures with him.  Being in the presence of believers was a breath of fresh air, a sigh of relief, and a sense of renewal.  

Visit www.creationmuseum.org and start planning your trip today!

Where Does Learning Happen? A Contrast of Two Tours

This morning Doug asked me, "Should we have enjoyed the Makers Mark tour as much as we did?"  I responded immediately with the contrast between two tours we did on consecutive days.

Mammoth Cave National Park, Historic Passage Tour vs Makers Mark Distillery Tour

On the cave tour the first instructions were DO NOT.

Do not touch the cave.

Do not bring a stroller.

Do not wear an infant carrier.

Do not bring food or drinks into the cave.

Do not use flash photography.

And on... And on... And on...

The distillery tour warmly welcomed us.

We went in with all the kids (expecting a list of rules, after all we were taking a bunch of kids to a distillery!) As we waited for our tour, we explored the museum-house where nothing was untouchable.

When we gathered on the  porch the only "Do Not" was Do not bring open containers.   

We took a stroller. (Yes there were stairs, we managed them fine.)

We tasted mash with our fingers!

We were near glass bottles and hot wax and no one freaked out on us.

Where do you think the kids were more comfortable, asking more questions, and interacting more? 

Yes. The distillery, which was totally new to them, a foreign place, but open and even welcoming to them.

Learning happens in an environment where one is comfortable, welcome, and invited to engage, not with a list of Do Nots.

How can we apply this to all learning, school, church, life?

The world is our classroom how do we engage it? 

Bourbon, Yes, I'm writing about Bourbon!

Yes, I'm writing a blog post about Bourbon.  Actually, our experience touring The Makers Mark Distillery was delightful!

When we entered the first building we were greeted by a young lady who was blown away by our family size.  She thought Doug was joking when he said we were bringing nine children. Ha! Happens all the time. The building, which was essentially a museum, was very hands on and entertaining.  Laid out like a house with a baby book of the patriarch on the table along with fruit and fresh flowers, we felt cozy and welcome.

Going into the den, we saw pictures of the family on the wall, imagine our surprise when they started TALKING to us!  Everyone gathered around to hear the history!  Natalie enjoyed flipping through some books on the shelf

and Abigail answered the old-fashioned phone when it rang then she heard a story about the family.

Emily and I looked through the sketch book the Samuels used to create the name and logo.  (We are pretty sure Zane would be geeking out over it!)





Apparently, Mrs. Samuels had quite the hand in discovering the recipe for the bourbon because of her mad bread baking skills.  In the kitchen, I got some pictures of her hand written bread recipes and flipped through her cookbook! 

Her notes were extensive both about chemistry of ingredients, textures, and taste.  Emily loved the black and white checkerboard tile and the look of the 1950s kitchen where cold lemonade was available for the guests.




This clock is very similar to one my grandma had in her kitchen all my growing up years.



We all gathered on the back porch for our tour and the kids were very well behaved and interested in the process.  The unique quality of Makers Mark Bourbon is that it's made from wheat not rye making it sweeter and smoother than other bourbons.

We saw where they make the mash, where they filter and distill it finally putting it in barrels which are aged like wine.  The barrels they use are from white oak from Arkansas which adds to their unique flavor.

Lily Anne and Sarah spotted a kitty laying in the shade outside the bottling room so we hung out there and let them play with her.  She was a sweet and patient kitty letting them pet her.



The bottling room was really loud, but very active and colorful, it held everyone's attention.

Finally we got to the Tasting room which had some great artwork on the walls, even a neat mosaic.  Doug and I tasted four different kinds of bourbon, honestly, they all tasted the same to me, but I have a cold and my nose is very stuffy, not ideal conditions for any kind of tasting!

After the tasting,we all got a delicious chocolate Bon Bon before going into the gift shop.  In the gift shop one can dip a bottle in their trademark red wax, Doug even dipped a baseball cap bill for a unique look.

We met a nice couple here from Hawaii for a wedding.  Their daughter and my little girls, Sarah and Lily Anne hit it off.  Fast friends, they played, twirled and ran around like little girls do.  The mom and I talked baby carriers and traveling with kids.  

It was a sweet encounter in an unlikely place... Two moms of littles hitting it off at a whiskey distillery!

I don't normally drink bourbon (aka whiskey) but seeing the process by which it's made was quite interesting and a fun (if not educational) experience.

Kentucky!

**Warning** Although I had a good night's sleep, I am a bit under the weather fighting a head, sinus, ear ache and cough.  So if I sound wonky, blame it on that.

Arriving at our campsite night before last (after leaving Tennessee and arriving in Kentucky) we discovered, much to our chagrin, that it did not have good internet or cell service.  It was too late to find somewhere new so Doug had to get up in the morning and COMMUTE to a McDonald's to work!  He found one with wifi AN HOUR AND A HALF away from camp.  We pretty much decided the minute that happened that it wasn't going to work, so our two week reservation was canceled and we packed it up to move on into THE GREAT UNKNOWN!

This morning we were at Nolin Lake, KY and we made our way down to Mammoth Cave.  Now, when they say "Mammoth" they aren't a'kiddin! It's over 400 miles of natural cave, mapped, surveyed, and preserved.  We explored about a mile of it on our easy cave tour "for those with small children."  I kind of wish we had a week to stay here, but sadly there isn't really anywhere to explore that isn't on a tour.

We did see quite a bit of wildlife at Mammoth Cave, or at least on the way there.  We saw two deer, a bunch of wild turkeys, a chipmunk, a bat, and a few squirrels.

Driving on, we went through Abraham Lincoln's birthplace and saw his cabin enshrined (literally) in a memorial built on a hilltop in 1911. It was kind of creepy.  I know he was a respected President whose life was tragically taken, but still, the memorial seems over the top for a President.

We ended up at My Kentucky Home State Park, named after Stephen Foster's Song.  It's a nice little campground with WIFI (yeah!) a fun play area for the kids, fireflies, and nice people so far.  Speaking of nice people we've met ALOT of them on our trip.  The nice ones far outweigh the nasty ones so far :)

Leave us a comment to say HI!  We'd love to hear from you!

Blessings!
Stacy