a vestige of thought...

I just realized that I have been on Blogger for exactly two years as of today. Happy Anniversary to me.

Several months ago my aunt and uncle moved from Cincinnati to Hermann, Missouri, where they opened Time For Pie, a pie/coffee shop. My grandma is originally from Hermann, and her sister (my great aunt) and neice (my second cousin) also live there, so for my fall break, Sam and I met the rest of my immediate family in Hermann to relax and eat pie. It has been great. I've enjoyed three different kinds of pie, as well as some excellent tea and hot chocolate.

While we visited a few other shops (including The Chocolate Box, where I got an amazing chocolate-covered pretzel), the vast majority of our time was spent in the pie shop. It was amazingly entertaining to spend so much time in a little shop like that. I was amused at the people who came in early in the morning and ordered a slice of pumpkin pie, or who came in once only to return later in the day, in a very cheery mood, after having a few glasses of wine from one of Hermann's many wineries.

I've been to Hermann a couple of times over the course of my life, but I think this is the first time I have been aware of just how strong the German heritage is here. Apparently a guy from somewhere in PA moved to Missouri specifically for the purpose of starting a German town. For a long time the majority of classes in schools were taught in German so that all children would speak the language fluently. There is sauerkraut everywhere, most last names, it seems, end in -mann, and the name of every bed and breakfast (there are a lot of them here) ends in Haus. Hermann is home to a number of German festivals including Maifest and Octoberfest. Beer and wine all around. Hooray for Germany.

Tomorrow Sam and I are driving the long way back to Asbury so that we can pass through Indianapolis and see the exibit of Roman art from the Louvre at the Museum of Art. It should be good times. Road trips are wonderful.

Sometimes I wonder if I will be single forever. I look back at my 20 years of life and realize that I have been completely, undeniably single for those entire 20 years. For goodness sake, I went to five high school dances by myself. That seems depressing. Most of the time I'm okay with being single, but there are definitely times where I get just a little sick of it. Therefore, I write these reminders for myself:

1. I am only 20. That may seem to me like a long time to be single, but it's not really. I'm young, and I have time. I can wait.

2. God has given me an incredibly strong desire to adopt children. I highly doubt that God would give me this desire if he were not going to give me a husband to be a father to those children, as I would never adopt as a single parent. Again, I can wait.

3. Singleness is a gift. Then again, so are relationships. God can use both to shape people into His likeness and use them for his glory. Right now I can work on focusing on serving God completely with everything I have. I'm trying.

4. God works in his time. He is working in me, and I can see it. I want to be completely focused on Him so that He can make me into the kind of woman He wants me to be, "complete and not lacking in anything." I want to be so concentrated on Him that I don't worry at all whether or not I am single.

5. I read a quote not long ago where someone was asked whether she thought she was called to be single. She replied, "Today I am." Me too. Today I am called to be single, and I want to live that calling to its fullest, serving God with everything I've got.

"And God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency in all things, you may have an abundance for every good work." 2 Cor 9:8 (I think)