Puzzles and Palaces

Our next puzzle Madison has been working on is a picture of St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow.  This one is going fairly quickly, thanks to the assist from Mommy and Daddy.  Over the summer, we've done about six or seven puzzles now - it's sort of a group effort that starts with one, and then suddenly the three of us are there at different angles, sort of figuring out their own sections.  As it gets closer to the end, Madison sort of takes over, and that's where we're at with St. Basil's.

This image has so many conflicting thoughts.  I mean, first of all, the thing looks like a ginormous ice cream palace.  I get this idea from the Yum Yum Palace at Great Adventure in Six Flags.

I don't think the Yum Yum Palace exists anymore, which is a shame.  But clearly, it was modeled after St. Basil's Cathedral, which has probably the best ice cream in the world inside.

But St. Basil's Cathedral also is pretty menacing.  As a kid, if you were in person looking at St. Basil's Cathedral, that means you might as well have been inside the Death Star.  This was the center of the Soviet Empire, a place crawling with KBG people that were probably ready to grab you and drag you off to some completely grey and gloomy place where people smoked and had terrible Russian accents.  These are, of course, my thoughts growing up as a child.  How could the people of this great evil empire have built an ice cream palace, and have that in their capital?  It's like an evil Disney Castle!

The other strange thought that immediately comes to mind is the Corn Palace.  Have you been there yet?  It's in Mitchell, South Dakota.

Each year, they completely cover this building with decorative corn.  That's corn on the outside, stuck to the walls like they stick things to Rose Bowl Parade floats.  And each year, there's a different theme to it.  Last time Daddy was there was in the 90's, as it is along a highway that everyone travels going out west.  When traveling from Georgia, you can go a few routes.  One passes by the Corn Palace, and another smaller way goes by Alliance, which is home to Carhenge.

Anyway, St. Basil's looks a lot like the Corn Palace.  Or rather, the other way around.  I think St. Basil's was built first.  Yeah, I'm pretty sure about that one.  But one thing is certain:  St. Basil's is not completely covered in corn.

There's a Dairy Queen across the street (or there was), which sort of completes our ice cream and onion dome theme.  The tradition is to stop for ice cream as you gaze upon the splendor that is the Corn Palace.  We love this kind of stuff.

So anyway, we finished another puzzle.  Madison loves the building for what it is, and has no idea what it is at the moment.  Other than the fact that it is in Russia, it's a pretty swirling building.

Today, Daddy had a lot of work to do, as he is the guest speaker tomorrow at KidPak once again.  It'll be a message related to "The Quest," one about packing the right gear for your adventure.  More on that in a bit.

Chiggers.  Have you ever been bitten by them?  We have.  Remember those cool pictures from the cave a few days ago?  Daddy and the other guys started itching the next day, and we figured out that we were attacked by chiggers somewhere along the way.  Were they cave chiggers?  Other than the fact that this would be an excellent rock band name, we don't know where they came from.  All we know is that they relentlessly itch.  At least Daddy is not alone in this battle against chiggers.  Annoying little buggers!

Madison is enjoying the last few weeks of summer, which have been amazingly hot, by the way.  She's enjoying them, as we all are, indoors.  You go out at night time though.  And sometimes there are pop-up showers that thunder through and cool things off with wonderful summer breezes and darkened skies.  Sitting out on the front porch is such a wonderful, relaxing moment, enjoying the cool breeze and distant thunder as the clouds roll in.  Even when the rain comes down, you see the thirsty hot ground rejoice, and empathize with that feeling of gladness.  Especially because you now know you don't have to water the plants!

Speaking of which, our garden is doing well!  We picked a pretty decent sized cucumber this afternoon, and Mommy used it in a salad.  We also have been harvesting some smaller cherry tomatoes, which Madison enjoys popping in her mouth.  Just like Fritz.

It's been a good day - and a long one for Daddy, who went back to work on the message for tomorrow morning at KidPak.  As promised, here it is, the message that Madison will hear as well:

Pack Your Bags

CUE SLIDE:  THE QUEST

CUE TRACK:  RAIDERS MARCH – shift to something more relaxed gradually.

HOST:  “Hello, KidPak – adventure is out there!  You’ll discover that for yourself pretty soon, if you haven’t already.  There are dangers, toils and snares lurking – but there is also fortune and glory!”

HOST: “Of course, before you go on any adventure, you need to pack your bags and bring the right stuff, right?”

HOST grabs a backpack. 

HOST:  “Inside this is everything I need for my next adventure – you want to see what I have?”

Let audience answer.

HOST pulls out a “THE QUEST” devotional.

HOST: “Got to have one of these.  But what about this?”

HOST pulls out a television remote control.

HOST:  “Do I need this remote control?”

Let audience answer

HOST: “I don’t think so either.”

HOST tosses that aside, and pulls out a compass.

HOST: “It’s a compass.  How about one of these?”

Let audience answer.

HOST:  “I think we’ll need that.”

HOST pulls out a copy of “The Smelly Little Princess.”

HOST: “How about a copy of ‘The Smelly Little Princess?’”

Let audience answer.

HOST:  “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

HOST tosses that aside, and pulls out a pair of binoculars.

HOST:  “How about these binoculars?  You think we need these for adventure?”

HOST pulls out a flashlight.

HOST: “ Yep, me too!  What about this flashlight here?”

Let audience answer. 

HOST: “Yeah, I think that’ll come in handy too.”

HOST pulls out a stuffed Barney.

HOST:  “How about this?”

Let audience answer.

HOST:  (laughing) “Yeah, you’re definitely right.”

HOST tosses Barney aside.

HOST:  “As you can see, if you’re going on an adventure, there are some things you just have to have – and there are things you don’t really need to have so much.”

HOST gestures to items as he speaks.

HOST:  “And that’s how it works in life too.  There are things we absolutely need to have.  We carry other things around with us too, but not everything is really that necessary.  It’s not that some of those things are wrong to carry around...”

HOST looks at Barney.

HOST:  “…except maybe Barney.”

HOST continues.

HOST:  “Anyway, none of that stuff is necessarily evil.  It’s just that you can’t let it take the place of stuff that you absolutely need to carry.  Let me give you an example of what I’m talking about.  Let me get a volunteer from the audience here.”

HOST gets a volunteer, and puts an Indiana Jones hat on the volunteer.

HOST: “ This is our adventurer!  He’s a guy, ready to take on the world, and ready to take on just about anything.  And here’s his week.”

HOST puts a basketball in his hands.

HOST:  “He loves sports.  Got to spend some time there.”

HOST puts a video game controller in his hands.

HOST:  “And he loves video games.”

HOST puts a remote control in his hands.

HOST: “And there’s those television shows you can’t miss, right?”

HOST puts a computer keyboard in his hands.

HOST:  “And there’s all kinds of social networks, and online stuff.”

HOST puts a CD in his hands.

HOST:  “Don’t forget the music.  He loves listening to great music.”

HOST puts a pair of sneakers in his hands.

HOST:  “And you have to dress well, right?”

HOST puts a roll of toilet paper in his hands.

HOST:  “Okay, you have to have this.”

HOST puts a stuffed animal in his hands.

HOST: “Don’t forget that pet you always wanted.”

HOST takes a step back and looks at the overly burdened volunteer.

HOST:  “Now it’s time to add those other things, right?”

HOST attempts to add the compass, the binoculars and the flashlight.

HOST: “Wait a minute.  I don’t think there’s room to add these.”

HOST looks at volunteer.

HOST:  “And there’s our problem!  We get so concerned about all those things that we think really matter – and we completely zone out and forget the most important stuff!”

HOST helps volunteer take the stuff out of their hands.

HOST:  “Here, let’s get rid of all this burden.”

HOST thanks volunteer, and hands them some Pak Shak tokens.

HOST: “Let’s give you one of these instead.  Give our volunteer a hand for helping out as they go back to their seat.”

Volunteer exits stage.

HOST:  “We get so busy with our lives, we completely forget about what’s important.  That’s these items right here.  Let me show you something.  Each one of these represents something we should have in our lives.”

HOST holds up the compass.

HOST:  “This first one is a compass.  What does a compass do?”

Let audience answer.

HOST: “It gives you direction.  And there’s point one.”

CUE SLIDE:  “BRING ALONG A COMPASS”

HOST: “What is one way to get direction in our lives?  Prayer.  Let me show you something – a scripture from God’s word.”

CUE SLIDE:  “PSALM 37:23”

HOST:  “The Lord directs the steps of the godly.  He delights in every detail of their lives.”

CUE SLIDE:  “THE QUEST”

HOST: “Simply put, without talking to God – you’re lost.”

HOST uses compass, walking across stage, following direction on it.

HOST:  “You know how one of these works, right?  There’s an invisible force at work here – you can’t see it, but it is directing you in the right direction.  That’s prayer.”

HOST puts compass into backpack.

HOST:  “And it isn’t this last-minute sort of thing, or that thing you do at the supper table for grace.  Prayer is a lifestyle, an ongoing conversation between you and Our Creator.  If you find yourself lost, maybe it’s because you haven’t started talking with Him lately.  Keep talking with Him – or you’re completely lost.”

HOST spies binoculars and goes to picks them up.

HOST:  “Check these out.  This leads us to point two.”

CUE SLIDE:  “BRING ALONG SOME BINOCULARS”

HOST:  “Bring along some binoculars.  What do binoculars do?  They magnify.  They make bigger.  And that’s what we do when we worship God – we make Him bigger in our lives.  Check out this scripture.”

CUE SLIDE:  “PSALM 34:3”

HOST:  “Magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.”

CUE SLIDE:  “THE QUEST”

HOST:  “When we magnify God we make Him bigger in our lives.  Now to be clear, you can’t make God any bigger than He is already.  He’s the biggest that there is.  What you have to do is make Him a bigger part of your life.”

HOST:  “Let me give you an example of what I’m talking about from one of my favorite cartoons growing up.  Anyone seen ‘The Lion King’?”

CUE SLIDE: “ THE LION KING”

HOST: “Remember that scene in the elephant graveyard?  Little Simba, Nala, and Zazu are cornered by something much bigger than they are, and much more dangerous.”

CUE SLIDE:  HYENAS

HOST:  “And that’s us, basically. Staring down all our problems that are threatening to gobble us all up.  So what does Simba do here?  He roars.”

HOST roars a funny little roar.

HOST: “And it sounds pathetic, right?  Let me hear you roar.”

Let audience roar.

HOST: “ Exactly!  It’s pathetic, just like that!  Just kidding.  Seriously, just like those hyenas did, the world laughs in our face when we praise.  Because to the world, praising God can sometimes sound funny.  Think about it:  if you’re in the worst situation in the world, why on earth would you be making any noise at all?  You should be crying.”

HOST:  “But we’re Christians.  And you know something.  We know something those hyenas don’t!  What’s the next thing that happens in the movie?”

CUE SLIDE:  MUFASA

HOST: “ Mufasa!  Say it with me… Mufasa!”

Let audience respond.

HOST shivers.

HOST:  “Do it again!”

Let audience shivers.

HOST:  “Now, it isn’t Mufasa that comes to save you.  But when we praise – even in times of trouble – we have a Heavenly Father that loves us. 

HOST:  (in Mufasa’s voice) “And no one messes with your dad.”

CUE SLIDE:  “THE QUEST”

HOST goes over to put binoculars into the backpack, and picks up flashlight.

HOST:  “Now here’s the flashlight.  The ‘torch’ as they call it in England.  It’s a light, and that’s pretty handy.  That brings us to point three.”

CUE SLIDE:  “BRING ALONG A TORCH”

HOST: “Bring along a torch.  There’s an old Amy Grant song that I just love, and the words are something taken straight out of a scripture.  Here it is.”

CUE SLIDE:  “PSALM 119:105”

HOST: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”

CUE SLIDE: “THE QUEST”

HOST:  “Without the Bible, we’re in the dark.  We’re lost, and in the dark without His word.  Let me show you something from one of my favorite adventure movies.  Has anyone seen ‘Atlantis?’”

CUE SLIDE:  “ATLANTIS”

HOST:  “There you see Milo Thatch.  He and his team of explorers travel around the world in search of stuff, and run into adventure all the time.  To begin with though, the others weren’t so sure of Milo.  But something happened when they found themselves trapped deep within the earth.  Want to see what happens?”

Let audience answer.

HOST:  “Me too!  Let’s watch just a small clip.”

CUE VIDEO:  EDITED PORTION OF “ATLANTIS”

After clip:

CUE SLIDE:  “MILO AND THAT LITTLE BOOK”

HOST:  “You and that little book.  What struck me about this scene were a couple of things.  First of all, they were all walking along in the dark – they had no idea where they were going.  The only one who did, was Milo.  See him here, studying while they’re all hanging out?  When it comes to their finding a way out, who are they going to need?”

Let audience answer.

HOST:  “Right.  Milo. Because he knows the way.  Because he’s reading that little book.”

HOST holds up a Bible.

HOST:  “We too have a little book.  It’s called the Bible.  And those who don’t read it are like those others, just walking along – but completely lost!  Fortunately, though it’s all dark around us, we have this light to keep us from stumbling around into the wrong sorts of areas.”

CUE SLIDE:  “THE QUEST”

HOST walks over to backpack , puts flashlight and Bible into it, and then picks it up…

HOST:  “So we’ve got three important things packed here.  We’ve got worship, prayer and reading the Bible.  But there’s one thing that’s the most important on this trip.  Our guide.  That’s point four.”

CUE SLIDE:  “Bring along a Guide.”

HOST: “ Bring along a guide.  There’s only one that knows the way – because he is the Way.  Listen to this scripture.”

CUE SLIDE:  “John 14:6”

HOST:  “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”

CUE SLIDE:  “THE QUEST”

HOST:  “He actually is the Way.   And there is no other way, either.  That means you need him.  Sometimes when you need someone’s help, you hate to bug them.  But the good news here is that He wants you to bug him.  He wants you to talk to him in prayer.  He wants you to read about him in the Bible.  And he wants you to spend time in worship.”

HOST: “ The good news is that He wants to help guide you on this adventure – and He doesn’t want you to get lost.”

HOST:  “So make sure you invite that Guide into your life.  He’ll never leave you or forsake you.  And He’ll make sure you’ll live a life of adventures without getting lost… on your quest.”

HOST:  “Let us pray.”