On the way to Indiana we drove through St. Louis. It had been many years since I had been to downtown St. Louis.
When we were kids my parents took us to St. Louis a few times. One time we rode up into the top of the arch which was fun. There used to be a McDonalds that was right beside the arch that was a riverboat that we also ate at a few times. I just remember being excited about eating on the riverboat. Unfortunately the McDonalds is no longer there...
The drive up to Indiana was very rainy but other than that somewhat uneventful. On Thursday of our vacation I took Josh around and showed him all around town and different places that had certain memories for me. Thursday night we ate at one of my favorite restaurants called the Boat House. It is a great restaurant that sits right on Winona Lake. They have the best potato soup there...
On Friday Josh and I drove to Shipshewana which is an amish community that is very much geared towards tourists. It has a ton of various shops that you can visit and has the largest flea market in the Midwest (unfortunately the flea market was not open when we went). One reason I wanted to visit this place is because of the amazing food here of which we ate a lot... :-)
My birthday was in the middle of August and Josh still hadn't gotten me a present so I got to pick out my present. I found a lady at Shipshewana that painted beautiful pictures on slate. Here is what I got:
I just thought that this was a very pretty picture. I had her personalize it by putting Jeremiah 29:11 on it which is a verse that has always meant a lot to me. My plans for my life have not always been the same as Gods but even during the difficult times I can honestly say that his plans have been better. My God has definitely been faithful even in times when I have not. My original thought with this picture was that we could hang it outside once we get the landscaping done at the house. However, I kind of think its too pretty to put outside where I can't look at it all the time. So, I guess we'll see where it ends up. I absolutely love it though!!!
On Saturday we went to the Blueberry Festival in Plymouth, Indiana. It was nice to be back there because I used to work there and spent a lot of time near Plymouth. While we were at the festival I actually saw a few people that I knew. The festival was huge and usually has hundreds of thousands of people that go through there. It was the first festival that Josh and I had gone to together and it was great. The thing I look forward to the most though is blueberry donuts. They are absolutely amazing. My wonderful husband stood in line with me for 30 minutes (totally worth the wait) just so I could get some. I also enjoyed some yummy blueberry ice cream, a funnel cake and port-a-pit chicken. Josh had never had Port-a-pit so I got to show him how yummy those are too.
On Sunday we went to Grace Community Church in Goshen which is the church I used to go to when I lived in Indiana. I love this church and the sermon was great. It was one of those step on your toes kind of sermons that if you let it could change the way you live your life. This is one thing I loved about this church. I would go and every week there was a message that was challenging and convicting. It was awesome!
Towards the end of this trip I started to feel a little sad because my parents are moving to Arkansas (which is great) but that means that potentially this trip could have been my last trip to the home that I grew up in and the town that I spent the first 27 years of my life. It's difficult for me because at least in Indiana I'm known by so many different people and have acquaintances and friends that I've known for years. In Arkansas I still feel like I don't have many friends and it's just not the same.
Here is a picture of my backyard at my parent's house:
I'm a very sentimental person which makes this a little harder. I was standing with Josh looking at the back yard and pointed out that this backyard looks so much nicer and more inviting to me than the backyards I'm used to seeing lately. To me it seems that most yards in neighborhoods seem to have wooden, privacy fences and it just makes the yard seem less inviting to me. My parent's backyard is pretty private but just doesn't have the fences.
Another thing that Josh and I noticed about this trip was just the massive amounts of good food we ate. To me the best thing about a vacation is getting to enjoy food that you don't normally get. The weight I gained on this trip was totally worth it. I just gotta work on staying on a diet now... :-)
I loved my trip to Indiana and I'm glad that I got to share it with Josh.
