Thanksgiving 2011

This Thanksgiving has been so amazing. 

This morning we went to Church and listened to a devotional given by one of our elders, Mr. Berkompas. After that lots of people stood up and publicly announced what they were thankful for. I was really thinking about getting up myself....but when you think about it too long, you start to get nervous, and I would stand up shaking, crying, and I probably wouldn't make any sense.  So...I figured I would take the 'sissy' way out, and say it on my blog. ;p But, I will seriously try to make a better effort next year. Promise. 

What I am thankful for-

There are sooo very many things I am thankful for!

I am extremely thankful, first, to my Savior, Christ Jesus, who has died on the cross for such a wretched sinner as me. Who's mercies are new every morning. Who has given me such a wonderful family, for whom I am not worthy. Who gives me peace. Who gives me love. Who gives me life, and so much more. All thanks, glory, honor, praise, and worship be unto the Lord!
I am also thankful to God for my Daddy. Who has been a great example to me, my whole life. Who loves me constantly. Who shelters me, and protects me. Who teaches me the glories of our Lord. Who corrects me when need be, and does so in love. Who stands strong in what he believes.  My Papa has captured my heart, and will hold it forever.
I am thankful to God for my Mother. My Mother, who I look up to always. Who is always there beside me, teaching me to be a wife and mother. Who is so kind, and generous, and spoils me constantly. :) Thank the Lord for Mothers!
My siblings, I am also extremely thankful to God for. Life would not be as action packed, colorful, lively, funny, and absolutely beautiful without them!
I am thankful to God for trials. Trials that teach us so many things, and help us to love our Lord better.
I am thankful for the US. That we have the freedom that most other Countries don't have. That we can worship and serve our Lord in peace.
I am thankful to God for Grandparents. Who love me, teach me, and spoils me absolutely rotten!
I am thankful to God for Cousins, Uncles, and Aunts. Being surrounded with family who all love one-another, is such a wonderful blessing that I am extremely thankful for!
And....I'm thankful for the all-American Fords. Mustangs and Trucks. 
The list goes on, and on, and on. Trust me. I could go soooo much longer in this post, writing what I am thankful for. Our Lord is a great God, worthy of all praise and thankfulness! Thanks be to God!!!

Our Thanksgiving-

 Awww, look at that little guy! He was upset that I moved the bar stools away from the bar. And since he knew where they were supposed to go, he tried to move them...and I stopped him.
-I know. What a mean ol' sis I am!

 -Love his lips!!!

 The boys went hunting this afternoon. They shot this REALLY cool looking bird. (I'll post a photo of it soon...)

 Wow- Chocolates from around the world?!?!? *eeek!* I am in heaven!

 My beautiful Mother. :)

 Good grief! Look at that humongous turkey! It was probably the biggest one I've seen in my life!! 

 Uncle Tony and little Nick.

 *laugh out loud* The mixed expressions on my Cousin's faces is hilarious. Huong is saddened. Trinh is either happy or shocked. And, Anthony is only thinking about how it tastes. ;)

 My Papa is the BEST chef in the whole wide world!!!!

 Best friends. Best Cousins.  Forever and always.

 Anthony and Mother tasted the food, *just* to make sure that it wasn't poisoned or anything. Right?

 Yumm!

 Huong had Papa's 'bear claws' used for tearing meat. Scary....

 *grin* We are some of the silliest Cousins I know of! And totally Koch!

 Thanksgiving feast!

 Thanks be to God for food!!!

 This is Cassandra's Apple cinder. I loved the bubbles. :)

 Papa said what he was thankful for.

 Grandpa did too. And so did Uncle Tony.

 My Family!! I love you all soooo very much!
(this would have been a great family photo, if only I was in it! ...I am not saying that I would make it better, I'm saying that we would ALL be there if I was. -Just to clarify.  :p)

 Anthony made the mashed potatoes. Yummers!

 He is SO adorable!

 *chuckle* HE told me to put this on here, okay?

 I love you Grandma and Grandpa!!!

 I like this photo. I put mine and Trinh's name tags on salt and pepper shakers.

 My littlest brother, and I.

 Yeah. We're crazy cousins all right!

 We had a lot of fun taking photos on the stair case! (as you could probably tell!)

And, lastly, Trinh and I.

Wow. What an amazing day! I hope you all had as much fun as I did, and enjoyed your families to the utmost. Thanks be to God!!

Happy thanksgiving.
...JessicaCynthia...

To all my friends-

Happy Thanksgiving!

Cakes. Crafts. and Creativity

 I made this Coffee cake tonight, and had a blast decorating it. (decorating it is the best part....other than licking the spoon at the end. ;p) I admit, it doesn't look that cool, or creative. I would love to do a huge Celtic design on the top with chocolate sometime. I think that is what I'm better at. :)

 Making the chocolate leaves and chocolate covered espresso beans was extremely fun and easy. I normally do this with white chocolate, because the lines on the leaves show up better, but I thought dark brown would look best on this cake. Don't you think?

 The swirly things on the sides are lame. I wish I could have have done something better than this, but it's good for now. :) (can't beat myself down too hard you know! ;p)

 Yarn, needles, and colors have been my best friend for these past few nights. I don't really get time in the day to just sit down an crochet so I do this sort of thing at night. On the bookshelf there is my latest creation. It is a lacy slouch hat I came up with. Now, for some reason, I simply CANNOT follow a single pattern for anything. So all my crocheting life, I have made up every single one on my own. It is so much fun! The only problem is- since I cannot read a pattern, I cannot write one either. Bummer, I know. So one of these days I'll just have to figure out how to do it, hu?

 COLORS!!! I have absolutely fallen in love with bright, different colors. I don't like the red in the middle, but since the Christmas Bazaar is coming up, my mother said that people will be liking that color....so, reluctantly, I bought it. (My mother actually bought most of my yarn. She is so incredibly generous and kind to me!!)
But don't you love the blue, and purple?

 *sigh* This is the long list of items I need to make for the Christmas bazaar. Slowly and surely I am making my way to the bottom of the list.

 This is a blue lacy hat I made last week. It took me around an hour and a half to make. Super easy, fast, and cute. -the way I like it. :-)

 These are some of my hand-warmers. I tried to make the green ones look knitted. Do you think it worked? I don't really look at a ton of knitted stuff closely, so I really don't know! The blue ones are children size, and lacy...to match the hat.

 *ug* One looks bigger than the other one! It's not, really. It's just that I didn't stretch out the one I JUST finished, like I did with it's mate. But, anyways- Do you like them? Does the green strap look dumb? This is the first pattern I've made up with the strap, so I'm still working out all the kinks. I also made the buttons that are on it. (explained farther down.)

 Crafts!

  I also made these flower hair pins. Cute?

 More flower hair pins, and a thank you card.

PENNY BUTTONS-

Okay, so I completely stumbled across this weird idea on accident! I made the green strap hand-warmers and I needed a cute button to go on top. Problem. First-buttons are way to expensive for comfort. Two- I didn't have any.
What I DID have was fabric that matched the hand-warmers. So I tried to brainstorm for some ideas, when...My eyes drifted to my change coconut. (located on my desk) I grabbed a penny, which I had in the plenty, and I hot glued the fabric onto it, and then I hot glued a small square of fabric onto the back. (for sewing.) Wa-la! A fabric covered penny, replacing buttons I never have! I also think that these would be cute on bobby pins, or head bands. Maybe use quarters if you want bigger ones or something.

 Keepin' it real. Being a craft-gal means that there will always be messes. Most gals don't want to show their messes, but the one over here....knows it's life, and keeps it real. ;-)

 Cards.
I just made this card tonight. It's kind of like a flower...but just weird. I love the clash of color, and the rustic look.

And...my favorite card of all. It's simple, and cute. The circles and the big "U" are all hand painted in metallic paint.
Well, that's all for now. Sorry for the shortage in posts lately. As you could probably tell from this post...I've been busy!
God bless you all,
JessicaCynthia

Marcus' 11th birthday

 My little brother just turned 11 today. My how time flies by...Pretty soon he'll be a whole lot taller, and stronger than me, and he'll make sure I know it too. ;p 
We went to OMSI for his birthday. (My .a.m.a.z.i.n.g. Grandmother bought us all a membership there! -yay!)
We all had an absolute blast trying things out, and looking at interesting things.

 Marcus also got a touch remote controlled F350 Ford truck. Ohhh, ya. It is pretty expensive, but SUPER cool! (yes...I tried it. *smile*)

 -Love Nick's face when he saw the truck in action!

 At OMSI-
Jacob tried out their space rocket and how you would feel if you went in a real one. Upside down.

 Seeing Levi in there reminds me of the movie, "Astronaut Farmer." -Great movie! If you haven't seen it I would strongly recommend it!

 <3 cute kiddos <3

 Levi was the best at almost anything there.

 Yes. This photo is extremely blurry. Why? Because I wasn't behind it. :)

 ....She was.

 We all had fun building an arch out of blocks. It was actually pretty cool.
(photo credit-mother)

 Nothing can beat a handsome John Deere farm boy! *melting heart*

 Papa and his littlest boy  played around in the tree cave.  It was so cute!

Well, that ends our full and eventful day!
And, to Marcus-

Happy birthday!

FREE

My family doesn't have any place to put this painted canvas we made when we had the Cascade Arts Business. It still has the tag on it, and we were just going to throw it away. So, if any of you want it, I'll bring it to you on Sunday or something. If not, I'll put it in the garbage. Thanks.

Fall Leaf

I loved the twisted look of this leaf, and just thought I'd share! Having a fun Autumn?

Farm l.i.f.e.

 What's new around the Koch farm? Well, first off, and one of my favorites, we got three little piggies! -yay! They are the cutest little things you ever did see. Stinky, but cute. <3

We also had a Rabbit who gave birth to five little bunnies. She ate two of them because she didn't want to take care of that many. (I know! Can you even imagine such a horrendous thing as that? *gasp*)  But, the ones who were left alive, are as cute as anything else. Soft, too.

My siblings, Papa, and I did electric fencing today. You should have seen my hands! They were/are stained completely black, and are covered in callous. -the signs of a working gal. :) I love the farm life though. You have such a feeling of "belonging" when you are working on the farm. Can any of you relate?

My Papa is doing better now. The Lord be praised! Of course it is still painful, and he is not completely better, but he's getting there. Thank you all for your prayers.

Well, that's been life for us as of late. It is a blessed life.