Jen's Journey: Thanksgiving!

I briefly wrote a post a while ago...but never got a chance to post it! So I've expanded and updated it, to give you a brief look at all the exciting and happy things that have been going on in our lives! There has been so much I have been thankful for these last few months. There have been many special occasions and memories made with family and friends, and I'd like to share a small bit with you!

This past Friday, December 13th, I finished my second full semester of college, and officially finished my freshman year of college! I've been blessed to have made many more wonderful friends this semester! Above are some of my friends and I at our end-of-semester Christmas Party!

Daddy and Duino

Iron-man made a surprise appearance at Rachel's 17th birthday! Here he is with David and Uncle John Kodoru

Posing with the Ladies...Viola, Anna, Ruth and Elizabeth

Rachel, Joseph and I, along with our friend Keith, were able to play as a string quartet for the Teddy Bear Ball. It is an annual event hosted by the Phi Delta Epsilon medical honors society; all proceeds from the formal dinner go to support Akron Children's Hospital. Many of my friends are a part of PhiDE, and it was wonderful to be able to help make their dinner a little more formal by volunteering to provide some pre-dinner music!

Another exciting event was our cousin Sunil's wedding. We have grown to love Sunil and Annette greatly over the past few years we have known them, and we were so excited to celebrate their marriage! The wedding was a unique combination of Indian and Hawaiian-Japanese cultural events, blended and adapted into a traditional Christian wedding. For instance, there was an Indian henna party the night before the wedding. Pictured above are Sunil and Annette at the Henna Party...

Joseph and John, Daniel and David were not only able to don some traditional Indian clothing for the henna party, but also able to serve the appetizers! Here is Daniel with his samosa cart. The boys went around the tables serving samosas to the guest, along with an accompaniment of either a spicy mint/coriander sauce, or a tangy tamarind sauce!

With Sheilka as we enjoy our dinner. Both of us have henna on one hand, making eating dinner a little bit tricky!

Rachel with our other cousin, Sunil's sister Malini. We don't get to see her often,
so it is always special to spend time with her!

With our friend Edith Hines. She is an accomplished violinist, and we were able to play a few piano/violin duets during the evening!

Ruth with her henna!

At the wedding!

Another highlight was when Uncle Suleiman visited us! Dad and Mom met him when they first came to Cleveland. He actually led Dad to put his trust in Jesus! We are very close friends with him, and were very excited that he was able to join us for lunch when he was in the area on business!

Daniel with Paws at the Akron Mini Maker Faire!

Happy Sisters!

Mom and I with our dear neighbor Vaishali, at her Diwali party!

Ruth with little friends at the Diwali party, watching fireworks in the cold!

John and I with his and David's presents

This Thanksgiving, we were blessed with an abundance of friends at our house. While the above families joined us for lunch, the party didn't stop there! We had other friends dropping by throughout the day, giving us so much more happy times and memories to be thankful for! Above are Vivek & Vaishali our neighbors, and Jun and Naoko Kojima, with their kids.

Dad with the littlest and tiredest Kojima!

All the boys enjoying Calvin and Hobbes comic books!

And everyone else played dress up! There were so many different characters running around the house!

This semester our family had the privilege to start teaching the Junior Church at our church. There are a number of inner-city kids that get bussed in and are in our class. Here is Joseph leading the singing!