Psalm 37: 1-5

"Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoesrs! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb.
Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend the faithfulness.
Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust him, and he will act."

Psalms 63: 3-4

"Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands."

Early Autumn

 Most mornings, now,  I look out my window and take a deep breath of the cool, crisp fall air and think, "Summer has gone by too fast." Things tend to do that more often the older you get. Autumn is already here. Summer has already past. Which makes us think, "well, then, maybe I should make the most of this day, because I will never get this day back again." Make the most of every passing moment, because....it's passing. 

With toys littering the living room, the highchair still not cleaned off from breakfast, the wash needs to be transferred, and I still haven't made my bed, I looked out my window and saw the beauty of the beginning of this new day. I had to capture it's GOD given beauty. I grabbed my camera, and with Nickolas at my heels, I raced out the door (bare foot of course) and began to take pictures of anything that caught my eye. I took a good 20 minutes outside, then retreated to the house to finish household chores, and start schoolwork with my siblings.

 If you double click the above photo, you'll see the grass in the dew drop, as well as the trees, and some of the sky. This was a photo that I've been wanting to get for some time now, and thank the LORD I have it!

 

where I find joy-

Oh, peoples, I cannot begin to tell you how much I enjoy driving our tractor. It's feels so good to drive it up in our field, with the sun shinning on my face, and a piece of straw in my mouth. Oh the joy! I am so blessed to be a farmers daughter!

 I also find joy in baking a blackberry pie with my little sis. Spending time with my younger (and older) siblings, is a very important part of family life, and I'm so happy that it is so enjoyable!

We put a little "A" on Alainna's pie for her 7th birthday.

Seeing my pa working on his land with joy, brings happiness into my eyes.

Reaping a bountiful harvest of potatoes is always a happy thing as well!

Well, that's what I've been joyful about lately. Happily living the life that GOD has so blessed me with. :-)
What have you been joyful about lately?

The month of September-

Hello, to all you out there. Goodness, I have a bucket load and a half to catch up on, now don't I? It feels like I haven't posted for months, when, in reality, it's only been a matter of weeks. Now...let's see. Where to start is always the hardest!

September 5th was my 16th birthday. In the morning my dad, Marcus and I played Frisbee golf with some of the Macks, Woltersdorfs, Vandenburg, and Vonderlufts. That was a whole lot of fun, even though they didn't let me win. *smile* After that my parents had a Dr. Appt. so I stayed home and primped for most of the afternoon. (what a way to spend your 16th birthday, right? Primping is my one weakness...) When they came home we all got in the van and headed to the Seifert's house. It was wonderful to talk to Jess again! That ended the day.
You can check out Jessica's blog and see how she's doing as she starts her new life in Oxford, England! The Randomness of a Logically Creative Mind

Then, on September 6th, my Parents took me shoe shopping, and we ended up buying the most amazing winter coat I have ever owned! And, it's red. (All the better.)

And, of course, when you have a birthday, you need to send out a whole stack of thank-you cards. So...here's what my desk looked like for the past week-

I created a new signature for on the back of my cards while we were at the Seiferts, too.

The Seiferts, and Purvis' got me this wonderful bouquet of flowers for my birthday. I love it!!! (thank you guys)

The day after that, (September 7th)Grandma Koch, Mama and I, got pedicures. That was actually the very first time I've had that done. I only had one requirement...that a guy wouldn't touch my feet one single bit! Sorry, but I think it's just so wrong. He shouldn't be there in the first place. *shiver* Okay, we can stop talking about that now.

Side note here-
About a month ago our Mustang was side swiped, and so we've been without a cool car, until it was finished being fixed. *sniff* I know. Sad. Just sad. My Grandma got a rental until it was finished, and though it was 'new' I still thought that it was trash compared to our other car. There is just nothing, nothing I say, that beats an all American made Mustang.

September 13th & 14th-
 We had been blessed with a huge extra job from one of our accounts. (Cascade Inn) This took us two 'not-so-full' days to complete. We had my cousin, Anthony, and someone from Church help us with this job. The first day we spent mainly pruning things up, and tearing plants out. The second day we spent planting trees, bushes, grasses, and bark dusting. I would say that it looks purely amazing right now. All they need is new lawns and they will have a magnificent landscape! It is so good, work is. The aches and pains from a long, hard day's work feels so good to me. (well..not exactly 'feel good'..it kind of is like an "accomplished-good" feeling. -you know what I mean?)

September 16th- 
Today was regular maintenance day. Anthony and Karl worked with us. We mowed. We edged. We blew. We picked weeds. I also got a little present from a nice customer, and wonderful friend! We used to call him the "turtle Guy" but I have now gotten out of that habit and call him, Mr. Daller. He has made me two home-made trivets out of wine corks so far, and just made me a custom made one. I got to pick out the corks, the size, and color of wood. (jealous? *wink*)
That night we also watched our "Family movie" of the month, called "Larkrise to Candleford."

September-
Throughout September my family and I have been harvesting our bountiful crop. The only thing that I am aware of that didn't turn out...is the corn. I know! The one vegetable that says,"farmer" the most, didn't produce! We will have to do something about that. Life cannot go on without corn. Corn, in all it's buttery-ness, that drips of the cob, onto your face, hands, and lap. *sigh* Who wouldn't love that?! 


Canning-
We have been making the most amazing plum butter, ever! ....well, I haven't exactly tasted this batch yet, but last years was more than just amazing. Heavenly. We normally eat it on Thanksgiving, or Christmas.
Then there's the pears. We have this huge, ginormous pear tree in the upper field that is just chucked full of pears. Only one problem....I said that it was ginormous, right? Well, as it turns out, most of the pears are on the very tip top and we aren't just going to let them sit and rot. So Papa brought the flatbed up there for us to stick huge ladders on, and get the pears with nets. Yet, another problem. I cannot stand ladders! There. It's out. Ladders and spiders are my worst fears. So, my kind Papa, got me a little stepping stool so I could get the ones on the bottom. (don't laugh. It's not funny.) Then there's the blackberries. We were going to make blackberry jam, but didn't get around to doing that yet. I made a couple blackberry pies, though. Blackberry pie with ice cream is my one weakness.

Crafting-
I've had a terrible itch to make something this past week. I've thought, thought, and thought of what to make with my fabric scraps, and came up with a different kind of fabric flower than I normally do. You singe the edges of a round piece of fabric, and then stack them on top of each other and add a couple beads in the middle. I was thinking of putting them on a cute headband or something. Tell me what you think-

Well...I think that's it for now. Alainna's 7th birthday is tomorrow, and we are all going out to lunch with our cousins, and Grandma Koch. I might just bring my camera along, and, if I'm not busy talking, I'll snap a couple photos to share with y'all.

Thanks for reading!
Have a wonderful day,
-JessicaCynthia-

Cape Kiwanda 2011

 My Aunt Cindy, Grandma Koch, Cousins, and us had the joy of spending a couple days in

 I got all these photos mixed up, so bear with me here. :) The first photo you all might recognize as Cape lookout. Yeah, the beach was no more.

Levi....and if you're wondering if this was his idea...It wasn't. (though, I'm sure he would have thought of doing it to Jacob)

  

My Aunt took this photo of me walking through the woods. She's got an amazing camera!

Oh my goodness! Look at that adorable face!

On the last day we all crammed into the van and visited different beaches around. That was really fun, but on the way there was an interesting experience.

Yes, we stopped by good 'ol Tillamook Cheese factory to have ice cream. :p

Marcus had peppermint candy-

Levi had Grandma's batter-

Trinh had orange sherbet-

Anthony had Peppermint candy too-

Huong had Mint chocolate chip-

...and so did Felicity-

.....and Jacob-

Caitlin had Mountain berry-

....so did Alainna-

I think Momma had some sort of chocolate- :-)

Aunt Rebbecca had ? -

We had truly amazing sun sets every night.

Grandma and Huong having a snack in the kitchen.

My amazing photographer Aunt.

*smile* JQ.

Siblings. <3

My Papa is the handsomest man, ever!

Trinh.

Well, I'll have more photos to follow. I took a lot on my Aunt's camera too. :)

Jumping silhouette shots-

Huong-

Anthony and Huong-
(I like how the sand comes up, and looks like a tall mushroom)

 

Huong and Felicity-

I love this photo! It looks like Huong is riding the sun!

Happy to be Cousins~

Family Photo

This is one of my favorite family photos I have ever taken.