the greatest of these is love: Kentucky! Just in time for Derby!

Kentucky!
In the beginning of the trip, Marc and I would always look at each other and say, "Wyoming. What the heck are we doing in Wyoming?!" Or, of course, whatever state we're in, and it would be funny because we were places where we never thought we'd be. Because really, what business do I have in places like Wyoming, Kansas, and Nebraska. We haven't really said that in a long time because the novelty of being in so many new places all of the time has kind of worn of. We definitely said it when we got to Kentucky. What the heck are we doing in Kentucky!
So, I suppose you'd like to know. The very first thing we did was go to church! We got there on a Wednesday evening right around 7:15. We had a sandwich & then pulled into the church parking lot just in time for service. It was a smaller service, probably 8-10 people, including us. It was a nice time, we were able to discuss a few verses in 1 John and get to know a couple people there. Turns out (I would say by chance but we all know that that isn't true) that we were there for the Kentucky Derby that following Saturday! The people at church gave us the heads up on things going on around town and we headed out for the evening.
Thursday morning we headed downtown! We couldn't find any free parking (expected) but we did find a lot that wasn't terribly far away for only $5 all day. We parked, packed some food, and headed out towards the river. We first came across 2 ladies sitting on a bench looking at a map. We got to talking with them and got to share about our trip which inevitably led to the gospel, but we also had a great conversation with them before that about a large variety of topics from school to health to friends/family. It was sort of refreshing.
As we walked on, we met a lady who, after asking, said she was born again. Then we continued on to 2 guys sitting on a set of steps. Marc got to ask them a little bit, but their lunch break was soon over so they had to leave.
Moving on, we walked through a nice little park and found a Marc target, a guy sitting alone on a bench. They got to talking-the guy, Randy, was in a rehab program and in the process of getting his life together. He seemed to be a believer, he got all of the questions right but was a little bit unsure of them. Marc encouraged him a little bit and we were off.
There was a fair going on as part of "Derby Week", which is actually the two weeks leading up to the Kentucky Derby. We were going to walk around inside, but it was $5 to get in and it looked mostly like concessions, so we passed and kept walking. There were a couple other conversations that we had that day, but they were short and not really of note. As we walked along, we eventually got to the main street and remembered, "oh yeah! There's a parade today!" We stopped and watched that and were there for a couple of hours. There were stands everywhere along the sidewalks, but all of them had signs that it was reserved except for one! So we sat and waited for the parade to begin. We got to talking to the guys next to us, but paused while they got up to go get a burger. By this time, the stands were pretty full. There was a family behind us that had 4 or 5 kids and they were all sitting there, eating lunch & waiting for the parade to start. An older lady came over (maybe around 50 or so) and kind of announced to the people in the bleachers, "Hi y'all, I just wanted to let you know that this area is reserved for people with tickets so if you have them, you're welcome to stay but if not, you should probably find somewhere else because they'll be checking soon." Maybe not word for word, but something of that nature. All of a sudden, the dad of the family behind me started cursing at her! Then the mom joined in! Right in front of their children who were all younger than 8 probably. The woman was shocked, and tried to defend herself, but the cursing just got louder and worse. It was appalling! I almost thought that the wife was going to swing on the woman, but she didn't. They walked away and Marc reminded me of the Proverb that says something like, "It's better not to answer a fool in his folly." Not that the woman was wrong, but if she would have just not responded the first time, the situation never would have escalated. Perhaps the couple missed that session of parenting class-don't cuss people out in front of your children, especially ones who are polite.
So we found another spot to watch the parade (without all of the shenanigans of course). It was LOOOONNNNG! It wasn't the best parade I've been to, but it definitely wasn't the worst either! It had the typical marching bands, dance teams, shriners lol, a few giant balloons. It was funny to us that they make such a big deal about Derby that they even have a giant parade for it. Especially because all around the country, most people take no note of it. It goes by and that's it. Some people watch it but most don't even realize it's Derby Day, let alone "week", yet their whole year is in anticipation of it.
That evening we walked around a neighborhood that a few different people had told us about called the Highlands. It was getting late by the time that we got there so we didn't stay too long. We walked a few blocks when I was pooped out from the long day, so that wrapped up Thursday.
Friday was a long day! A loooooooooong day! In the evening, two of our awesome friends back home were getting married and we were going to end up at Starbucks, mooching off of their wifi, not to mention the blogging, research, and other things I had to do on the computer. So we wanted to make sure that we at least had sometime to walk around and not seclude ourselves. We went back to Highlands, which seemed to be a good area for people. Once we got there we kind of realized that it was more of a "nightlife" spot, but there were scattered shops so we walked around anyways, seeing what we'd come across. And man oh man, did we walk! For hours. I was exhausted by the time we were done! I think we walked at least three miles, which maybe is an embarrassing amount of time to be exhausted after, but oh well. We were. Then it was off to Starbucks for some R&R and business. I should call it my office from now on. Not a terrible idea.
So I blogged West Virginia, did some research of my hippie ways and then we were blessed to be able to watch Mike & Sherrie's wedding. It was awesome! Afterwards, our good friend Ralph went around rounding up all of our friends who were there so they could wave to us in the webcam. What a nice guy! It was sweet to be able to see everyone, too.
Saturday was Derby Day! We got up in the morning and headed out to Derby. We weren't planning on going in-as much as we would have liked to, it was $50 for General Admission, which got you into the infield and a view of the screens. No thanks. Not to mention the fact that it was raining. So we busted out the umbrella and walked over there anyways. We had been (mis)informed that at the gates they had TV's where you could watch from. The first gate didn't, so we kept walking around. We walked the entire perimeter and never found the supposed TVs. The circumstances weren't the best for talking to people either. It was, like I said, raining and everyone was on their way in so we had almost no opportunity. One thing that was kind of good and yet not really, was the amount of street preachers that were out. A couple of them were preaching God's love and His message without being crazy or nasty about it, but there was, like always, the crazy people who stood on the corner telling people as they walked by that they were going to hell. Whether or not that is true is not up for him or anyone else to say, especially because they don't know the person. Not to mention, that isn't the message that God has called us to bring to people anyways. If people aren't presented with God's love and redemption, then the messenger is doing something wrong. God is not a God of hate-He isn't excited about telling people that they're going to hell. It breaks His heart and it should break ours, but these people don't weep over their message, which is the wrong one anyways.
Later we met up with some friends and were telling them about these guys and he put it very well-they aren't concerned with showing the love of God or making disciples, rather, they seek to get brownie points for speaking God's word. A very accurate description if you ask me.
Moving onto more exciting news! Those friends that we met up with were our great and awesome friends from Ohio! They were just in Nashville and to get back home, they had to drive through Louisville. So even though we had just seen them, they still went a little out of their way and stopped to have lunch with us! I love these people! There are just a handful of people that we've met on this trip who we'll probably keep in touch with for eternity, and they're definitely one of them. I hope when we get our mansions in heaven, that ours will be on the same street as theirs, or however that works. I would do another shameless plug about helping to support their international adoption, but I just did one in the last blog so if you are interested in checking it out, you can either read my last post (http://bonnieortega.blogspot.com/2013/05/west-virginia-38-aka-10-left.html) or check out their blog (http://talesoftherogi.blogspot.com/).
Needless to say, we had a great time at lunch but, like all good things, our time came to an end. They had to get home, something about having kids, and we got on our way as well. It was still drizzly and, of course, Derby Day, so we didn't expect much opportunity anywhere. Downtown was a ghost town, so we retreated inside to the mall and out of the rain. Aaaaaand the mall was lame. It was a decent size and busier than we expected, but we didn't have much opportunity. Although, we circled the food court and got 4 samples. Score! We looked for a Hallmark (I guess some holiday for moms is coming up and we thought, "what the heck, why not") but strangely enough, there wasn't one in the mall. When we gps'd it, we found that there was another mall about a block and a half away, so we went to that one. I should've taken pictures inside of it, because the 2nd floor was under construction and the whole place was a little bit eerie because of it. Long story not so short, we found Hallmark, got cards, and went somewhere to write them. Not a very exciting finish to our day, but thus is the life sometimes.
Sunday morning, of course, was church so we headed back to Calvary Chapel Louisville. After a great message, we hung out for some surprisingly delicious tacos. I only say surprisingly because I'm not a huge fan of beef, but they were good! We got to talk to a few people, one of them being a couple that we had met on Wednesday night. After a little while, they invited us to stay at their house for the duration of our stay in Louisville, so we did! We headed to their house right after lunch and hung out with them. It was awesome getting to know them-they're from Kosovo so we asked them a bunch of culturally relevant questions. It's always intriguing to learn about a new place. And their 10 month old baby, Alba, was so cute! You know me, I love babies! That evening for dinner, they took us to a Mediterranean restaurant. I don't think I've ever had Mediterranean food before, but it was SO good! And the portions were gigantic!
Besides the great company and delicious food, the best part about staying with them, was that they lived in an apartment, which means that they had a gym! I went everyday that we were there for a total of 3. I only mention that to say how awesome God is. Lately, we've been trying to eat healthier to not be so sluggish, and I pray all the time (well, sometimes) that God would make a way if it's possible for me to get a gym pass. I'm not too insistent upon it because I know He already provides for us like crazy and I don't want to be selfish and ask for something that is more a greed than a need, but He says to ask, so I do! Worst He can say is no, right? ;) So I was happy to be able to work out again, although a little unhappy about how out of shape I've become. I guess almost a year and a half out of the gym will do that to you.
On Sunday, we planned to leave on Monday, but at the time we were both feeling like we hadn't really been pursuing the Lord like we should have been and it would have been nice to have some time set aside. That and Marc didn't see it fitting to move onto the next place, hoping the Lord would go before us, when he wasn't really as close as he should have been. All that to say, we pushed back leaving another day so that we had more time (and a place) to sit and relax with the Lord and really seek Him. And it was a great day!
That night we received a text message from our oh so awesome friends in Ohio (yes the ones I already talked about) asking us if we wanted to come back for a couple of weeks so Marc could pick up some work with a mutual friend who needed help. It seemed like a win-win and I was strangely ok with putting the trip on hold while we backtracked just a tad. We told them we would let them know in the morning and then we prayed about it. Our hosts, (Lule & Niti) prayed for us as well. The more time went on, the more it seemed like we were going. And we did! With more prayer and reading on Tuesday morning, we never heard God say no, so we packed up and headed back to Columbus.
Which still leaves us in the same boat as the beginning of this post-39 states down, 9 to go, which, hopefully, will put us home in July still. However, like I tell most people that I talk to, our original plan had us coming home in January 2013 and obviously that hasn't happened, so we'll see what God wants us to do between now and then.