AS promised, I return with another post about our trip to Ichthus in Wilmore KY. For those of you who are interested in completely irrelevant trivia, it might interest you to know that I was born about 20 minutes from Wilmore, in Nicholasville, and that my sister graduated from Asbury college which is IN Wilmore. There now... don't you feel smarter, or more fulfilled or something?

Right.

Anyway, our caravan departed Appleton at 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday last. Now, I would like to make a note about how I feel about this. If I ever see 2:30 a.m. *which I do quite often*, I see it because I haven't gone to BED yet. Not because I think I'd like to leave on a cross country trip while its still dark out. But I didn't make the itinerary, so I just got in the RV and went.

Another interesting tidbit. There were four of us in the RV: Myself, Joyel, Cole from Alaska, and Jeramie from Montana. Would you like to know who drove? Joyel took the first 5 hours, into Indiana, and I took the second 5 hours, into KY. The boys were copilots part of the time, except for when Cole was supposed to be helping me drive and he fell asleep. Really appreciated that one. But he did have a good excuse. Jetlag from Alaska.

At any rate, we arrived and got all settled in-ish. there were some organizational issues on the part of the festival, but we all ended up with the correct name badges and clearance levels, and we had a sign for the window of our vehicle saying we could park backstage. Yes. Backstage.

Now, allow me to expound for a moment on how these amazing little passes work. You wear them around your neck, like a fancy ID necklace. And the letter on your card determines where you are allowed to go. A's go anywhere, B's go almost anywhere, Cs, etc. We got A'S! Which meant that we could quite literally go backstage to any concert we wanted to, eat in the tent with the artists (which we did), and use their fancy potties.

Which I also love. You may find it odd that I would talk about potties on a blog. But these weren't just ordinary potties. They were PORCELAIN potties. In a little trailer that looked like something a horse would travel in... you go inside, and there are dark wood floors, walls that look like marble, and fancy paintings. Like, imagine going out to one of those fancy restaurants where there are attendants waiting to hand you a plush towel to dry your hands on, and erase the attendant, put wheels on it, and BAM! Porcelain potties. I took pictures *WHEN NO ONE WAS IN THERE*, which I will load when I get my act together.

Anyway, back we go. SO yeah, these passes let you do just about anything. Its like being a police officer without the gun. Just flash your badge and doors open for you. Magic.

Probably the most exciting personal news of the entire trip was the fact that I got to meet and have my picture taken with my favorite band, Skillet. It was totally amazing, and I nearly lost my ability to speak. But I regrouped, I swear. I'll put those pictures up too. Honestly though, I was seeing all of these stars all over the place. The band Fireflight got their tour bus stuck in the mud about 100 feet from my window, *pictures*, met the guitarist from Kutless, Hawk Nelson, Justin Lookadoo, and man. It was just incredible.

Anyway, back to what we were supposed to do there. We had merchandise that we were supposed to set up in a booth in the merch tent. However, we arrived to the news that the tent had blown down in a storm, and wouldn't be ready until the next morning. So we pretty much hung out and got to know each other in the RV for the rest of the day on Wednesday. Not all bad.

We were supposed to set up early on Thursday, but guess what? Another freak storm, and the tent that they had just erected blew down too. SO we didn't get our stuff set up until Thursday night, a full 24 hours after we were supposed to. Which, I might add, means that we didn't really have to leave t 2:30 in the morning...

The entire grounds were a muddy mess, and so were we. Wet and muddy - but then it got super hot and humid, and so then everything in the RV smelled funny. At least, they boys said it was the humidity making things smell... I'm not so sure.....;)

I have never consumed so much water in my life. 90s and humid all the time, working in a tent without ventilation... yeah. Hot and nasty. And SOMEONE neglected to fill our RV with water before we departed, meaning we couldn't take any showers. I took the shortest and coldest shower of my life on this trip in the public showers. Ugh. We can skip that one next time.

BOB didn't speak until Friday night at 6:00. It was his first time down at this festival, so most people didn't know him. But he had an excellent place on the program, right after Stellar Kart, and before Kutless and Skillet. All very popular groups. So a huge turnout. And he was amazing, as always. And over 200 people raised their hands at the altar call. And more than 300 Compassion children were sponsored after he finished his talk. It is always amazing to see and hear him. But to be backstage, staring out at the crowd as their hearts are moved and their lives change - it was just incredible.

I spent the rest of that evening as the official runner for the group. Bob was in a small tent near the main stage, signing books, and talking and praying with people. We were selling books and shirts there, as well as in the main tent at that point. So Joy and I were there, while the boys were in the main tent. Up the hill. Seemed to get longer and steeper every time, because I went up and down that sucker probably about 12 times.... running. Things like, "we're out of 5 dollar bills for change, go change this with other vendors," or "we need more Large shirts, go grab 10" up and down, running, because the line was long and people were waiting. I think I'm going to lose weight this summer.

Anyway, when I met Skillet, they invited me backstage for their show. But I couldn't go in the end, because of the pyrotechnics... they were making people sign something saying if you were killed or maimed, you weren't going to hold Ichthus or SKillet responsible. I've grown rather fond of most of my limbs, so I opted for the front row instead. It was A-mazing. AND I have like, 4 other chances to see them this summer. TOtally psyched. They put on a show that you never get tired of seeing again.

We ended up leaving the grounds Sunday morning at about 2:00, and we drove straight through. THis time the division of driving was a bit more equal, because we were all so tired. Though I will say that the girls were awake more than the guys.

I got home to the Romenesko house at 11ish, took a WONDERFUL shower, and went to bed. Which is where I'm headed to now.

A few people have asked for my address here, so it is:

920 Buchanan Street

Little Chute, WI 54140

care of Dave and Kim Romenesko

And that would be all for tonight. Thanks for the prayers, as always. :)