Craft Update

Say hello to Harvey, my first amigurumi bear! Made especially for hubby, to keep him company on his desk while studying. The boots are from my mom-in-law, they were the perfect fit.

So you'd think that since I haven't been blogging much these days, I must be busy with something! Christmas was a busy time as far as crafting goes, but I've taken on a few other projects since then, like learning how to crochet baby blankets, working on more cards for my empty store :), reorganizing/rearranging the apartment (we've got the crib set up and rented a storage unit--a must when you have 0 walk-in closets and a baby on the way!)...

Finally sold something on Etsy! It's been almost a year, sheesh. I guess it's time to add something new to the store; here's the latest addition. Plump Birdie and Nest button cards (all the birdies look like this around here when it's freezing, so do the squirrels).

Check out our neighbors right below, the squirrel babies. That's a shot captured on Christmas Day, on our morning walk. They are so cute!

I didn't realize crocheting could be so addicting. I have to admit, though, making baby blankets is much easier than making these amigurumi dolls. I'm not very good at keeping count of each round, so usually I deviate from the patterns quite a bit :) (a lot like cooking--can't stick to the recipe!).

The dragon says "JD", it was a gift for my bro. The bear in the middle was for my 'rents :).

Baby blanket for Mirabelle...

It's been freezing lately, literally, so going outside can be kind of painful. We also don't have a car, so that makes going out a little more difficult, when we don't want to wait outside for the bus or walk to the T... so that means no crochet lessons. BUT, thanks to the internet (and YouTube), learning how to crochet at home is a cinch. In fact, I love it more than taking a class. I'm kind of a slow learner with these things, I like seeing things done over and over... just rewind and watch again, no problem with YouTube. This talented lady has a ton of helpful videos and tutorials. I watched this one to learn how to make the blanket/shell pattern above.

Righteous anger: Not an oxymoron after all...

Below is an excerpt taken from a book called "Love Walked Among Us: Learning to Love Like Jesus" by Paul E. Miller. It's such a good good book! I think everyone should read it. Whether you're convinced that Christianity is an unloving religion that a bunch of hypocritical judgmental people follow (and you want to know the truth behind the faith--that it's not unloving), or you're wanting to understand Jesus' love more (and how we can love like him), you'll find a lot of wisdom in here.

Anyway, I've had a really hard time understanding how a loving, peaceful God (lamb) could get so angry at church (the temple). I always wondered how it was that overturning tables wasn't considered "sinning in anger". This side of Jesus seemed kind of scary to me before. But this book does a good job of explaining the situation; Christ's anger was righteous because it was linked to his desire to have ALL people come to know him and not perish.

I had no idea that the outer courts of the temple were reserved for Gentiles. (The outer courts is where people turned the church into a 'swap meet'.) And back then, Gentiles were not respected because they were viewed as "sinners". So the fact that Jesus gets mad at these shop keepers for selling items where the Gentiles worship makes sense--it foreshadows what the purpose of the resurrection is/was: That EVERYONE should be able to come to Jesus and be saved. These shop keepers represented the sin that kept people from coming to God, and Jesus was acting out his anger toward that sin when he overturned the tables.

Also, there was TONS of legalism in the church at this time and the high priests believed that only their lambs were pure enough to be sacrificed; these lambs were sold in the outer courts. But Jesus was the ultimate perfect sacrifice, and the high priests missed the point because they were money hungry and legalistic, another legitimate reason why Jesus got angry.

Anyhow, here's the excerpt from the book, it describes the situation a little better... I think it's quite eye-opening...

Good Rage:
Now let's look at Jesus when he is at his angriest. This incident took place just before Passover, a few days before Jesus death:

On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves... He said, Is it not written: 'My house will be called a house of prayer of all nations'? But you have made it a den of robbers. Mark 11:15,17

One man, by the sheer force of his anger, kicks over tables, thundering in rage, "My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations, but you are making it a den of robbers." The commercialization of religion angers Jesus. The worship of God has been turned into the worship of money. The din of clanking change has replaced the sounds of heartfelt prayer. The kingdom of noise had replaced the kingdom of God.

Jews came from all over the Roman world and beyond to worship in the Jerusalem temple. When they changed their money in order to buy lambs for the sacrifice, the priests received kickbacks. This angered Jesus.

The Law of Moses prescribed that a lamb sacrificed in payment for sins had to be perfect, but the priests said that only their lambs were perfect--so the Jews had to purchase their lambs, giving the religious professionals a tidy profit, as monopolies usually do. This hurt the poor most of all, and it made Jesus angry.

All of this commerce took place in the outer court of the temple, which was reserved for prayer by other ethnic groups. (Only Jews went into inner courts). The ancient prophecies said that one day the Jews would bring salvation to 'all' people. Israel would be the door through which people from all nations would come to know God. But because the priests were using the outer court for commerce, the Gentiles couldn't use it to pray.

love this video more now

Before I started watching House, yes I was happy this was the show's theme song :), I heard this awesome song by Massive Attack. I've liked it since college and, though I wish I'd heard it sooner, it's still a hit on my playlist. I like it even more after seeing the video, though. A little strange, but so cool!

It's a...

It's a... Mirabelle ;). Well, that's HER name. We found out the good news on Friday, along with an update on how she's growing. All her organs are functioning as they should be and she's right on target. This is a shy little girl. Mirabelle had her legs crossed almost the entire time... I think she wanted to keep us guessing because seconds before she uncrossed her legs, and literally minutes before the doctor finished up the ultrasound, it looked like she opened her mouth a little and smiled. Take a look...

She liked keeping us guessing :), but now we know pretty much for sure and we couldn't be happier. Saturday we bought a couple of cute outfits. Baby clothes have gotten cuter over the years! I found some Hello Kitty baby socks along with some very fun looking shoes. Of course, the shoes won't fit her for awhile but they were definitely affordable and so so so cute! Can't wait to see the little feet that will fill these shoes.

Not only is this exciting for us because it's our first baby, but we're really trying to savor every moment of the pregnancy/ultrasounds/etc. because we aren't quite sure how many more kiddos we'll be able to have. Of course, we're already talking about baby #2 :), we'd love to have around 4 of our own, but I'm not sure what God has in store for us. Being pregnant has been such a fun experience so far. Thankfully, it's been a fairly smooth ride. But I'm starting to get to the point where I feel like I'm going to pop midway into my meals because my stomach is being scrunched up :D.

So how did we come up with the name Mirabelle? Well, we didn't come up with it :). Jose and I are both pretty picky about names. I'd had a handful that I liked, and he never really gave baby names much thought before. He wasn't a fan of most of the names I picked out when I was, hmm... how long have I been thinking of baby names ;)? Anyway, I noticed that we both really liked French names. We liked Isabelle, but that name is pretty popular right now and I wanted our baby to have a slightly uncommon name. Mirabelle means "of incredible beauty". The meaning isn't as important to me as the other things the name suggests/reminds me of. My mom pointed out that Mira sounds short for Miracle, which she definitely is. Also, according to a baby calendar my mom kept for me while I was growing up, my first word was "mira," which actually means "look" in Spanish. Her middle name is Sofia, Jose chose the name, I chose the spelling. It took me awhile to get used to the idea, but I thought it flowed well (the other option was Olivia).

More of a post later, but I just wanted to share the good news :).