The Sabbath

If I were ever to give up God and my religion, one of the things that I'll continue to observe would have to be the Sabbath.

Those who aren't Seventh-day Adventists often see us Adventists as rather legalistic when it comes to the Sabbath - no buying, no shopping, no swimming, no watching movies, no going out, no, well, basically, no having fun of any sorts, or something like that.

And maybe that's what it's like for some people. But the Sabbath is a completely different thing to me.

It's not about reading the Bible, praying or being at church all day. Not that it's bad, but I'm also realistic and human and possibly not as religious as I should be. But I digress.

I love the Sabbath for what it stands for - a day of rest.

And maybe my interpretation of it is wrong, but I do understand it rather literally.

It's usually a go-go-go existence for me for most of the week. Working Mondays to Fridays, with evening gym/Bible study/shopping/movie/lounging in front of the TV sessions. Sundays are usually rather hectic as well, consisting of either household chores, errands or general social activities which tend to wear me out.

Which leaves Saturday, the Sabbath day that I observe. And it's beautiful.

It's the day where I feel that I can legitimately slow down, not rush and basically relax. I go to church, I have lunch with friends from church, I go for a walk, I knit, I read, I surf the internet, I nap, I unwind. And I don't feel guilty about it. I don't feel I have to accomplish something. I simply relax.

You should try it someday.

Domestic violence

A recent event in Australia led me to write this script a few weeks ago regarding domestic violence.

It's an extremely important message that I really do want to share with everybody.


My Word 18th July 2008 from Infocus News on Vimeo.

Fetching

Thus named because apparently, the cables twist "fetchingly" towards the thumbs. I'm not too sure about that, particularly because I made some mistakes when it came to the thumb that made one look munted.

The cables caused knitting time to decrease significantly, but it may also be due to the magic loop technique that I was using to knit in the round (no seams, baby!)

But overall, it still looks pretty, were not too hard to knit and keeps the hands warm!

Pity it's a gift for a friend...

Must make one for self.

Habit forming

They say it takes 21 days to form a habit.

I've managed to wake up earlier than usual for the last six days (not consecutively, but very close) to spend some time reading the Bible.

I guess that's 15 more days to go.

Why is it so hard to read the Bible, but oh so easy to spend hours reading a novel or a magazine?

Why is it so hard to concentrate when reading the Bible, but oh so easy to stay riveted to a book and put it down only when your eyes cannot possibly stay open?

Santa Claus? God?

I think I'm guilty of treating God like Santa Claus at times. This particularly happens when I'm fervently praying for something.

"I'd better be good (or pray, or read the Bible, or [insert appropriate 'good' action here], or God is not going to answer my prayer," I catch myself saying sometimes.

But that's really not that way God works. Whatever happens to us is really not a direct result of whether we've been naughty or nice. There is no obvious action = consequence thing here.

All we have to do is have faith and trust that God will watch out for us. And that no matter what happens (including unfavourable answers to prayer), it will all work out in the end.

Of course, that does not mean we shouldn't spend time reading the Bible or talking to God. We simply shouldn't do it just because we want to get into God's "good books" so that he'll answer our prayer requests favourably.

Chants to self, "God is not Santa Claus. God is not Santa Claus."

Vero Quant

My first forays into entrelac knitting is complete!


After the initial confusion and feel that it was a rather tedious process, I actually started enjoying knitting entrelac by the time I was halfway through. I didn't even need to really look at the pattern by then!

I really love the way the yarn looks like it criss-crosses and the texture just looks absolutely fantastic. I'm just not sure if I'll try entrelac again soon because I'm such an impatient knitter and just want to get my project down as quickly as possible, and I can't seem to really do that with entrelac.


The only problem with this project though, is the fact that I ran out of yarn towards the end. Thought I'd be intelligent and use a different yarn I had in my stash, but somehow, I feel that I now look like a smurf on one side.


I've got a smurf for a left ear...

Ackland bootees

Aren't they just the most adorable things on earth? My first baby knit!

Ok, so the baby came early (no, not mine) and will probably be about a month old by the time he receives them, but considering I made them a little big, they should fit rather well by then!

It was a bit of a challenge knitting the straps on. I couldn't really understand the instructions and honestly, I'm still not sure if I did them right. But they still look cute, so we'll leave it at that.

I knitted bobbles to use instead of buttons, largely because I was too lazy to go buy buttons and the shops were all closed when I needed buttons anyway!

Can't wait to see little baby in them.

Spending time with God

If you are a Christian, do you spend much quiet time with God?

Time to study the Bible and time to talk to him?

I find that whenever I have quiet time, I get a clearer understanding of my own life and a better perspective on whatever I happen to be going through.

My quiet time consists of a small amount of reading of the Bible, some amount of having a conversation, but for the most part, it consists of writing down my thoughts.

I relax, I calm down and I often finish with a certain amount of peace.

Sometimes, nothing gets solved, but I feel that I can breathe easier.

The only problem?

I do not do it as often as I should.

Eggs

As someone who has committed to buying only free-range eggs, I feel extremely ripped off after reading this news article in The Australian.

It is revealed that:

• Consumers who pay more for free-range eggs have been warned that more than one-third are officially stale.
• Well over half the hens described as free-range are housed in huge sheds, may never go outside and their eggs may come off conveyor belts.

It is absolutely disgusting to know that consumers can be thus misinformed. OK, so this is not the first time it's happened, but it just never fails to sadden me that people can be so dishonest just to gain some profit. Why can't people be truthful with each other?

Anyway, the silver lining in this story for me is that I very luckily have an "egg factory" next door and the eggs are definitely free range.

I know for sure. I sometimes feed those chooks with my food scraps too.