Cross My Heart

The Ravelry CAL Afghans: I got two more of the Cross My Heart squares done last night--for afghan 2 and afghan 4. The reason there is not yet an afghan 3 on display is because I still need to get the colorway for that one figured out as well as buy the yarn for it. The starting of afghan 5 is delayed for the same reason. But I need to stick with these number labels because that is what helps me keep track of the recipient for each one. Well, basically I just need to look at the squares and yarn to know who it's for, but for the purposes of my blog and Ravelry notebook, I need a label for each one, and I'd like to retain a little mystery rather than labeling each one So-and-So's afghan. So far, my favorite colorway is afghan 4. Those colors are right up my alley. I'm liking the Cross My Heart block more than the Dreamcatcher block. Hoping to get both blocks done in each of seven colorways before the March block is posted for the group.

American Idol: My favorite singer so far is Michael Johns. That 16-year-old Archuleta boy also was very good. None of the girl singers have stood out to me yet. Maybe they haven't shown us the best girl singers yet.

Big Brother 9: Okay, that 46-year-old woman, Sheila, is disgusting. Apparently no one ever taught her any manners, and apparently she has no idea she's supposed to be playing a game, the goal of which is to win. Why does she think she's such a prize as to be so picky, and who cares anyway since the whole point of going on the show was to play the game and try to win--not to find your 'soulmate'. The 'soulmate' twist was not known to the participants until it was sprung on them after they were in the house, so what grounds does she have to be so offended by getting matched up with the guy she got? No matter who you get matched up with, you should just try to work with them to be able to strategize as a team with an eye toward winning. She must have done a great job teaching her son some great values, good manners and basic human empathy..... not!

Square After Square

The Ravelry CAL Afghans: I finished three more of the Dreamcatcher squares (the CAL selection for January) for these sampler afghans I have planned and then finally got my first Cross My Heart square done, which is the selection for February. See the pictures on the right.

I'm getting a kick out of the color names for these multicolor yarns. The shaded pinks one on the top is called 'Candy Print'. The next one down, which is mainly pink, beige and dark brown is called 'Cherry Chip'. The pink, beige, green and light brown one is called 'Pink Camo'. In contrast, the multicolor I'm using for the browns colorway afghan is simply called 'Shaded Browns', kind of a boring name compared to the others, don't you think?

I'm really enjoying how these are turning out. Especially now that I have the first two squares done in the browns colorway, I'm able to better see how the colors are working together and get a little peek at how the afghan might turn out. I'm hoping I'll get the same preview when I finish the Cross My Heart square for each of the other colorways as well.

Now that I have these five afghans started, it is a challenge keeping up with all the yarn and the finished squares. So far, each afghan has four colors assigned to it, and I'm keeping each of these in a different bag. There is some overlap of colors, though, with the browns because two of the pink colorways use a brown from the brown colorway, but I'm going to go ahead and have separate skeins for each colorway in order to keep each bag a project to itself and lessen my confusion.

I've been keeping all my afghan squares--all of these plus the Ravelry Book Club Afghan squares and the still solitary Great North American Afghan square all in one bag because it's still a small stack of squares, but as the pile grows, I'll need to split them up. Since these afghans will probably take a year or more to make, I'll need to come up with some kind of acceptable storage system until all the squares are completed and it's time to sew them together.

There is also a Tunisian Crochet CAL on Ravelry, and they are also doing a block a month. I'm thinking about doing those blocks to alternate with these regular crochet blocks in order to have enough blocks for each afghan sooner, but in order to do that, I need to get the specialized hook for that and hope I get the right size to create squares the same size as these. It's always an adventure!

I'm also toying with the idea of doing an illusion crochet square to put in the middle of each afghan, bringing the total squares for each afghan to 25 and thus 5 squares x 5 squares, which will make each afghan a 60 x 60-inch square.

I just recently discovered illusion crochet on Ravelry when someone did their design square for one of the Ravelry Book Club's selections in that method. It looks like stripes when you look at it straight on, but when you look at it from an angle, a hidden image appears. It is really cool! The same thing can also be accomplished in knitting, so I'm looking forward to trying both.

Here's a link to some pictures of illusion crochet (you have to scroll down): http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=101914;sa=showTopics

CALs and KALs

CALs and KALs: CAL stands for crochet-a-long, meaning a group of people are crocheting the same project in roughly the same time frame. KAL is the term for the same thing for knitting projects. CALs and KALs turn what is usually a solitary activity into a group activity, somewhat like the old quilting bees, and because of the internet we can share with each other online. In addition to the social aspect of talking about the project we're working on with others who are working on the same project, it's a perfect way to get help if you run into any problems like if you're not sure about the pattern instructions and whether you're following them correctly. My favorite part of CALs and KALs is being able to see everyone's project developing and all the different ways people end up doing the same project. It's very inspiring to see all the different color combinations, and in the case of motif-type afghans--the different placement of the squares, fillers used, different types of joinings and all kinds of borders. I'm currently participating in CALs/KALs for the following projects:


The Great North American Afghan
The Ravelry Book Club Afghan
Jeanie (shawl)
Pinwheel Sweater
The Ravelry CAL Afghan


All of these CAL/KAL groups are on Ravelry. I'll also be joining in KALs for The Great American Afghan and The Great American Aran Afghan as soon as I get started on those. In the meantime, I love looking at the pictures of everyone else's projects.


The Ravelry CAL Afghans: This group on Ravelry is a block-a-month group, where there is a featured block for each month that we all crochet during that month. This past week I decided to make multiples of these blocks in order to make more than one afghan. So far, I have gathered the yarn for five different colorways, thus the makings of five different afghans. (Thank you to my two youngest daughters and husband for helping me figure out the best color combinations!) I'm hoping to come up with at least two more colorways for a total of seven afghans to result from this CAL. Last night I finished a Dreamcatcher block (January's block) in Shaded Browns and will be working on completing the same block in the other colorways until I have all five Dreamcatcher blocks completed. Then I'll start on February's block (called Cross My Heart) in all five of the colorways I currently have. I thought this would be a less boring way to get more afghans finished. Making the same block in different colors is less boring than making the same block over and over in the same colors. Also, making a different block each month is fun to anticipate and a welcome change from the previous block.




The Ravelry Book Club Afghan: This is most likely going to be my afghan because it won't really have any meaning to anyone but me and my fellow Ravelry Book Club members. Each square is designed to represent one of the books we've read. So far, that has been three books since the inception of the group. We're currently reading our fourth book. There is an afghan square design contest for each book. So far, I won the contest for the first book by being the only one who submitted an entry! It looks like I'm the only one who submitted an entry for the second book as well, and the deadline for entries on that one was yesterday. Our third book, however, has three entries so far and could get more since the deadline isn't until March 29. I'm hoping that a lot more people will submit their designs because the more squares I can make, the faster my afghan will get done.


Knitting and Crocheting Organization: Because I generally have several WIPs (works in progress) at a time, I decided to come up with a system of keeping track of my progress with each one. I found some old neon-colored 3 x 5 index cards in my desk and put all the particulars for each WIP on its own card. Ravelry uses a percentage system to keep track of progress and I do the same here on my blog (see the progress bars in the left-hand column for each WIP), so I figured out all these percentages for each project and wrote them down on the index cards. Now that all the math is done, all I have to do is look at the card and see that if I get to row such-and-such or finish half of a sleeve or whatever the case may be, the project will be a certain percentage completed and I can advance my progress bars accordingly. I am using these cards as a way of making steady progress on all of my WIPs as well. As soon as I reach the next percentage place on the card, I rotate to another WIP, check its card and do the same. These short-term goals are helping me to make progress on the projects that tend to get boring for me. I know that I only have to work on it until the next percentage, and then I can move on to a different project. That way the projects that seem 'endless' are less overwhelming, and I can feel a sense of accomplishment with each percentage point I reach.

From Prayer Shawl to Baby Blanket

Diagonal Pattern Baby Blanket: This is an example of what happens when a project is started during one phase of your life and not finished during the same phase. It started out as a Prayer Shawl using a pattern from the Prayer Shawl Ministry: http://www.shawlministry.com/ . At the time, I liked the ideas of comforting expressed by the ministry, and the circumstances of my life back then were such that I couldn't think of anyone who needed such comfort more than I did. During that time, things were so dark and desperate and the spiritual warfare so intense that I was praying every day more than I had ever prayed in my life before. So, I bought some of the yarn recommended for the pattern in a colorway that was a combination of pink, blue and white--pink and blue having been my favorite colors for a long, long time.

Through the subsequent years, my life changed, especially my spiritual life. First, I discovered that the tallit (Hebrew prayer shawl) had been around for millennia and when I had my own, I discovered that it was a lot more practical for use as a prayer shawl than the heavy bulky one I had been knitting off and on for the previous three years or so since it is much lighter--a single layer of woven fabric. While the one I was knitting could end up being a tallit by adding a tzitzit to each of the four corners when it was finished, it seemed it would still be too hot and uncomfortable to be under for long periods of prayer time. Also, because of its size and bulk, it would not fit into a tallit bag and be easy to take along in my Scriptures case as with the traditional tallit.

As time went on, I didn't even need a traditional tallit because I came to wearing a headcovering full-time, so the shawl in progress had become obsolete for the originally intended purpose. I thought about just completing it and using it as a regular shawl for warmth purposes, but I've never been a shawl wearer. Besides that, pink and blue weren't even my favorite colors anymore! Somewhere along the way I've come to prefer soft purple colors like lavender and violet. When I thought about completing the shawl and giving it to one of my loved ones, the pastel pink and blue colors of the shawl didn't seem to fit any of them either--too babyish.

Finally, after a few more months of thinking about it, I decided to frog the Prayer Shawl. (The knitting term 'frog' comes from 'rip it, rip it'.) Then I actually did it and ended up with four skeins of Baby Clouds yarn absolutely perfect in every way for a soft cuddly baby blanket and immediately started knitting it up. That's the great thing about yarn--it can always be unraveled and you can start again. I kind of miss the Prayer Shawl and the way it reminded me of my spiritual journey of the past few years, but the baby blanket has the same effect as I'm knitting it.

Dance War: I have been wondering about the point of this show from the beginning--How can a 'team' win this 'war' unless one team never has anyone eliminated? Is that the point--to have one of the original teams stay intact while the other team dwindles down to zero week by week? But then what if, next week, the dwindling team wins the audience vote, and so that the so-far-intact team has to finally lose a member? In that case, you'd have no intact teams, only reduced teams, and does that mean the show is over? If not, and the point is to get down to only one person still standing, then how can that be a winning 'team'? Winning 'side' maybe, but not really a 'team'. What if there are 3 people left on one team when the last member of the other team gets eliminated? Is the show over then, or will they then fight amongst themselves to be the last one standing? I guess that's why I still pay some attention to this show--to see how it's supposed to play out--because the singing and dancing sure aren't good enough to keep my interest.

Today's Scripture Reading: Shemu'el Alef (1 Samuel) 6:1-9:14

Dinner Tonight: Final appearance of Dad's Super Bowl Chili.

Butterfly 3 Finished

The Butterfly Project: I finished the third butterfly last night. I'm kind of used to the many-colored thread now and ended up liking how it turned out.

Pinwheel Sweater: After finishing the third butterfly, I was more than ready for some relaxing 'mindless' knitting on the Pinwheel Sweater. I've completed 125 rounds now!

Lost: Still trying to catch up on the back episodes of 'Lost', and still only on Season 1. After investing the time I already have, I will be so upset if ABC takes these off the site before I can get finished viewing them all.

The Spelling Bee: My 13-year-old son competed in the county-wide Spelling Bee last week, having won the Spelling Bee at our local school and thus becoming our school's representative at the county event. Sadly, about 3/4 of the kids were out on the first round. From my observation, this was partially due to the kids still being very nervous and rushing through when it was their turn. Very few asked the questions they are allowed and encouraged to ask and seemed to just want to hurry up and get their time on the stage in the spotlight over with. But the other problem was the 'pronouncer'. She did not do a good job, and had I been the parent or teacher of the some of the children who fell victim to her poorest pronunciations (such as 'tek-ah-med-ur' for tachometer), I would have filed a protest. In the case of my son's bad luck of the draw, he was felled by the word 'begonia'. Since, as he put it afterward, "I've never heard that word in my life!", even the best pronunciation may not have helped him spell it correctly, so I didn't protest. I was very proud, though, that upon being presented with a word he didn't know, he took his time and asked appropriate questions--for the word to be repeated, for the definition and for it to be used in a sentence. He didn't rush through his turn, so at least he put all he could into it and gave it his best shot. BTW, the pronouncer pronounced it 'big-own-yuh' instead of 'beg-own-yuh'.

Today's Scripture Reading: Shemu'el Alef (1 Samuel) 2:18-5:12

Dinner Tonight: Dad's Super Bowl Chili again! Super Yum!!

Another Butterfly

The Butterfly Project: I started my third butterfly for The Butterfly Project last night. I got the body and one wing done so far. I'm not so sure I like how this particular multicolored thread looks. It's kind of overpowering, but this was not an easy thing to make, so I'm not going to rip it out. I can see now, though, that this thread works better as an accent color rather than a main color. Anyway, as I said, this project is not an easy one for me. The pattern itself isn't difficult--it is the small hook that makes it difficult for me. It uses a size 7 hook, so the stitches are very small and difficult for me to see. I was mostly crocheting by feel, which is not as easy to do as knitting by feel, so it was pretty tedious, and I'll be relieved when I'm finished with this butterfly and can switch over to one of my more relaxing WIPs. Still, it's quite a sense of accomplishment to finish a tougher project like this, and in this case even more so because of where it's going: http://www.hmh.org/minisite/butterfly/index.html

Lost: For some reason we missed the boat on 'Lost' and are just starting to watch it this season. At the same time we are trying to get caught up by watching the first three seasons on the ABC website. So far, I'm still barely into the first season's episodes. Husband has seen more episodes than I have, but I think he's still only on season 1, too. It's not such a great viewing experience to watch the episodes on the computer, but it's certainly better than not being able to see them at all. I hope we can finish watching all the back episodes before ABC takes them off the site because we sure can't afford to get the DVDs! With what we've seen so far, we now understand why 'Lost' has been so popular. For us, it's a good replacement for our loss of 'JourneyMan'.

Books: I've read some good books lately, and I'd like to do a little review on each of them here, so hopefully I'll get to that before I forget what I wanted to write about them! These books include:

Confessions of an Amateur Believer by Patty Kirk

Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The short of it is that all of these are good books, and I would recommend them all, but hopefully I'll be able to go into more detail about each one as time permits.

Today's Scripture Reading:

Shoftim (Judges) 21

Shemu'el Alef (1 Samuel) 1:1-2:17

Dinner Tonight: Dad's Super Bowl Chili (my husband's secret recipe) with sourdough bread. Can't wait!

Redemption and Obedience

Some in Christendom are disturbed that I strive to obey Torah in my daily life. I'm not exactly sure why it bothers them so much, but what has been spoken to me are concerns that I no longer believe in 'Jesus', have converted to Judaism and/or I am being legalistic and trying to earn my salvation by works.

I'm going to address each of these--Belief in 'Jesus', Judaism, salvation by works/legalism.

I used to look at 'Jesus' as merely the English rendition of the Master's true earthly name, Yeshua. After all, I knew Him as Jesus for most of my life before realizing that His earthly parents and none of His contemporaries in the First Century could have possibly called Him that. Not only is there no such name in Hebrew (there is no 'J' sound in the Hebrew alphabet), but there wasn't even a 'J' in the English language as late as the original 1611 King James translation of the Scriptures. I have a facsimile edition of the 1611 translation, and the name 'Jesus' cannot be found anywhere therein.

If we meet a French man named Pierre, do we insist on calling him Peter? What about a Hispanic man named Jorge? Should we constantly call him George? What is the polite thing to do? Our Master was born to Hebrew-speaking Jewish parents. His name is Yeshua. It honors Him to use His true name, which means 'salvation'.

What I eventually came to realize is that what the name 'Jesus' meant to me (English rendition of Yeshua) and what belief in 'Jesus' meant to me (that He is the Son of the Living Elohim by Whom we are saved) is apparently not what it means to others. For some, 'believing in Jesus' seems to include belief in a 'Jesus' who started a new religion that does away with most or all of what YHWH, The Father, established. That 'Jesus', according to YHWH, is false--

Deu 13:1 "When there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he shall give you a sign or a wonder,
Deu 13:2 and the sign or the wonder shall come true, of which he has spoken to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other mighty ones – which you have not known – and serve them,’
Deu 13:3 do not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for יהוה your Elohim is trying you to know whether you love יהוה your Elohim with all your heart and with all your being.
Deu 13:4 "Walk after יהוה your Elohim and fear Him, and guard His commands and obey His voice, and serve Him and cling to Him.
Deu 13:5 "And that prophet or that dreamer of dreams is put to death, because he has spoken apostasy against יהוה your Elohim – who brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim and redeemed you from the house of bondage – to make you stray from the way in which יהוה your Elohim commanded you to walk. Thus you shall purge the evil from your midst.

I do not believe in a false 'Jesus' who causes people to walk away from YHWH, to stop fearing YHWH, to not guard YHWH's commands, to not obey YHWH's voice, to not serve YHWH and to let go of YHWH.

Such a 'Jesus' is a false prophet and a false Messiah who leads the people astray, and that is why most Jews to this day do not accept Yeshua as their Messiah. To a people who have been studying the Scriptures (including the very clear passage noted above) for some 3500 years, this 'Jesus' that so many in Christendom follow into paganism and apostasy is obviously not the promised Messiah. Not to mention all the persecution and violence and death they have suffered in the name of this false 'Jesus' through the centuries.

This false 'Jesus' has been designed by man (aided and abetted by the adversary) and bears little resemblance to the Yeshua of Scripture and First Century history, who obeyed YHWH and maintained all the covenants and kept all the commandments.

Speaking of Names, The Father's Name is YHWH. Actually it is

יהוה

in Hebrew, but YHWH is the closest we can come to it using the English alphabet. His Name appears nearly 7000 times in the Hebrew Scriptures, but is usually covered up by the substitutionary 'LORD' in English translations in violation of the third of the 10 Commandments.

It is interesting to note that the Hebrew word that is translated to 'lord' in English is ba'al.

Hos 2:17 "And I shall remove the names of the Ba'als from her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.

The Father's name is not 'God'. When we say 'God' in English, we are actually pronouncing the name of one of the tribes of Israel--Gad.

He wants us to know Him by His Name--

Exo 20:2 "I am יהוה your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim, out of the house of slavery.

--so that we can be sure we are following Him and not a false god. This is the first of the 10 Commandments.

The following link goes to an online version of The Scriptures in which The Father's Name is preserved in Hebrew among the English--

http://www.eliyah.com/thescriptures/

Browsing through those pages of Scripture makes it easier to see how many times YHWH tells us His Name.

Because I strive to obey Torah does not mean that I have converted to Judaism. Those of us in the Messianic Torah movement have gotten pretty used to being seen as a 'Jew' by Christians and as a 'Christian' by Jews. You could say that we are neither or that we are both, depending upon how you look at it. I prefer to see it the way one of my dear friends puts it--we are in the middle trying to build a bridge between our brothers.

The story of the Scriptures is the story of the nation of Israel. When YHWH brought the Israelites out of Egypt, there were 12 tribes named for the 12 sons of Ya'acov (Jacob), who was also named Yisra'el (Israel) by YHWH. After the nation of Yisra'el was established in the Promised Land, there was a civil war, and the nation split in two--the Northern Kingdom of Yisra'el and the Southern Kingdom of Yehudah (Judah). Scripture also refers to these groups of people as the House of Yisra'el and the House of Yehudah. Yehudah consisted of the tribes of Yehudah and Benyamin (Benjamin) as well as some of Levi, the priestly tribe. Yisra'el consisted of the other 10 tribes, which included Ephrayim and Menashsheh, named for the sons of Yosef (Joseph), who inherited a double portion, as well as some of Levi.

Because of idolatry, YHWH allowed the Northern Kingdom to be conquered by the Assyrians, and the Israelites were dispersed to other locations, resulting in the 'Lost Tribes of Israel'. A few centuries later, the Southern Kingdom was conquered by the Babylonians, also because of idolatry, and the House of Yehudah (Judah), by that time known as 'Jews', were taken into exile in Babylon. Most of the House of Yehudah also dispersed to other locations, but a faithful remnant did return to the Land and rebuilt the temple in Yerushalayim (Jerusalem). This was the Jewish nation into which Yeshua the Messiah was born.

YHWH promised that He would gather all of Yisra'el and Yehudah who had been dispersed to the four corners of the earth--

Isa 11:12 And He shall raise a banner for the nations, and gather the outcasts of Yisra’ĕl, and assemble the dispersed of Yehudah from the four corners of the earth.

How else can it be explained that people from all over the world are coming to the same understanding of the Scriptures without being taught by anyone but YHWH as they study the Scriptures for themselves? As I sat in my prayer closet, praying day by day for knowledge and understanding and reading the Scriptures day by day, I had no idea that others all over the world were experiencing the same thing. I thought I was all alone in realizing that Yeshua did not do away with the Torah, but taught us to keep all of the commandments, that the Apostles and other First Century believers in Yeshua as Messiah faithfully obeyed the commandments and did not start a new religion.

I didn't know anyone who saw the things being revealed to me in the Scriptures. Eventually, though, I started looking on the internet to see if there was anyone else, and I was amazed to find that there were! And no matter where the person is from--whether Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia, South America, North America--I have heard stories just like mine, though none of us ever knew of each other before. The 'Lost Tribes of Israel' are no longer lost. He is calling us to Him, gathering us in from the four corners of the earth, just like He said He would. We are smashing the idols and returning to the pure worship of YHWH through His Son, Yeshua Messiah.

At the same time, there are many from the House of Yehudah, the 'Jews', who are recognizing their Messiah in Yeshua the Nazarene when they, too, realize that He didn't do away with Torah, but taught us to obey His commandments.

I am striving to follow in the footsteps of Yeshua Messiah as those in the First Century did. They were part of the Judaism of that time and were known as the sect of the Nazarenes because their Rabbi was Yeshua of Nazareth. The Judaism of today does not currently recognize us as Jews, but that is bound to change, according to YHWH.

Zec 12:10 "And I shall pour on the house of Dawid and on the inhabitants of Yerushalayim a spirit of favour and prayers. And they shall look on Me whom they pierced, and they shall mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son. And they shall be in bitterness over Him as a bitterness over the first-born.

Rom 11:11 I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Let it not be! But by their fall deliverance has come to the gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy.

What will help the Jews to see their Messiah and provoke them to jealousy? A people who believe in a false 'Jesus' and disobey Torah and engage in paganism and idolatry? Or a people who obey Torah because their Messiah Yeshua obeyed Torah and taught them to do the same?

I was recently encouraged to see that at least some among the Jews of today see the difference between the original followers of Yeshua the Nazarene and those that came along later. In this article--

http://www.thejc.com/home.aspx?ParentId=m12s114&SecId=114&AId=57522&ATypeId=1

--Shmuley Boteach says, "It was not the early Jerusalem Church’s insistence on the messiahship of Jesus that broke them off from normative Judaism, but rather Paul’s later abrogation of the law."

Shaul (Paul) did not abrogate the law, however. Shaul taught obedience to Torah, but his teachings are difficult to understand, so Kefa (Peter) warned us about that in 2 Peter 3:14-18.

So, in summary, I am not a Jew, though I would probably be targeted as one by Hitler, Ahmadinejad and others of such ilk because of how I live and worship. I consider myself to be an Israelite, belonging to the nation of Israel because I have joined in the covenants of the Scriptures and have been grafted in by Yeshua Messiah.

As far as legalism and salvation by works is concerned, consider that the nation of Israel--the mixed multitude that came out of Egypt--were already redeemed when YHWH spoke to them from Mt. Sinai. He had already saved them from slavery in Egypt, yet He reminds them of that in the First Commandment--

Exo 20:2 "I am יהוה your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim, out of the house of slavery.

--and then He goes on to speak nine more and later gives Moshe (Moses) even more commandments.

If the people were supposed to be saved by obeying the commandments, then why were they saved first and then given the commandments? Salvation has never come by obeying the commandments. It is because we are saved that we obey our Savior.

The Torah given at Mt. Sinai was like a ketubah, a marital covenant. Israel agreed to join themselves to YHWH and to obey Him as His bride. Yeshua is the earthly manifestation of YHWH, and He still wants us to be His bride and to obey Him. When we go astray into paganism and idolatry and refuse to obey Him, we are like an adulterous wife, and it breaks His heart.

When we are delivered from bondage and redeemed by YHWH, He is our new Master. YHWH redeemed Israel from bondage in Egypt so that they could serve Him instead of Pharaoh--

Exo 8:1 And יהוה spoke to Mosheh, "Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus said יהוה, "Let My people go, so that they serve Me.

Yeshua Messiah bought us with a price--

1Co 6:20 For you were bought with a price, therefore esteem Elohim in your body and in your spirit, which are of Elohim.

When He redeems us, He becomes our new Master. He expects us to stop serving Pharaoh, Satan or Self and instead, learn to esteem and honor Him by living by every word from His mouth.

Deu 8:1 "Guard to do every command which I command you today, that you might live, and shall increase, and go in, and shall possess the land of which יהוה swore to your fathers.
Deu 8:2 "And you shall remember that יהוה your Elohim led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, prove you, to know what is in your heart, whether you guard His commands or not.
Deu 8:3 "And He humbled you, and let you suffer hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, to make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of יהוה.

Mat 4:4 But He answering, said, "It has been written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of יהוה.’ "

His Torah (Word) teaches us how to live the new life He has given us in Him. As He says above, whether we guard His commands or not reveals what is in our hearts.

Deu 10:12 "And now, Yisra’ĕl, what is יהוה your Elohim asking of you, but to fear יהוה your Elohim, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, and to serve יהוה your Elohim with all your heart and with all your being,
Deu 10:13 to guard the commands of יהוה and His laws which I command you today for your good?

Lack Of Posting

It's been difficult to write anything lately because everything seems so trivial in the face of losing my dad.

I have been doing a lot of knitting and crocheting, though, so eventually I'll try to get some pictures taken and posted of what I've been up to.

There's a new group I joined on Ravelry that is a BOA (Blog Organization-A-Long). In this group, the goal is to organize, clean up and shape up our blogs, tackling one organizational goal each month. January's project was re-evaluating our categories or labels for our posts. In order for me to do this, I had to go through all 54 of my accumulated posts and re-do the categories/labels for each one in order to streamline my Label list (can be seen towards the bottom of the left-hand column of my blog layout). This project must have been much more difficult and time-consuming for those who've been blogging longer than I have! Anyway, after doing that, I feel like I've at least done something to improve my blog.

I also updated my TV-watching list (under the 'On The Small Screen' heading in the left-hand column) and updated my movie list with the most recent ones I've seen (also in the left-hand column). Still more updating to do on my projects and queue, though.

Don't forget to scroll all the way down to the bottom, where I have installed a video roll of some of my granddaughter's dance performances. She was chosen as the Best Junior Dancer on YouTube.

Stages of Mourning

My daddy died recently, and I have been learning about the stages of mourning.

The initial stage is called aninut in Hebrew and is the time between learning of the death and the time of burial. This is the most raw time of grief.

Upon burial, the time of shivah begins. Shivah comes from the Hebrew word for 'seven' and consists of seven days of intense mourning and lamentation. It is also known as 'sitting shivah'. During these seven days, the immediate family members live together in one house and focus on remembering their dead loved one. No work is done during this time.

After arising from shivah, the time of sheloshim follows. This consists of the 30 days following the burial of the loved one. The seven days of shivah is included in the 30 days of sheloshim. This time allows for a gradual return to the routines of daily life, like working and interacting with others.

When a parent dies, the period of mourning is extended from 30 days to 12 months. I believe this is because it is the primary relationship and the greatest contributor to what makes each of us who we are.

I am also learning the Mourner's Kaddish, which is to be prayed daily for 11 months after the death of a parent as well as at other times of remembrance during the years to follow.