Gen 42-50

Gen 42 - Jacob sends his sons to Egypt for food. Joseph hides his identity from them, imprisons one and sends the rest back with food, to see if Jacob will favor Benjamin over Simeon. Jacob still plays favorites, though Reuben intercedes.

43 - When the famine worsens, Judah intercedes and Jacob relents. The brothers go to Egypt, and eat with Joseph, who receives them favorably, and sends them away with food.

44 - But then he contrives to get Benjamin in legal trouble, and hauls them back. Judah intercedes, showing Joseph they have changed and are now willing to sacrifice themselves for each other and for their father.

45 - Joseph reveals himself to his brothers, and sends to bring Jacob to Egypt, too.

46 - Jacob goes to Egypt and his descendants are listed. Jacob sends Judah in the lead to show the way.

47 - Joseph settles his family in Goshen, and saves the Egyptians from the famine.

48 - Jacob asks Joseph to bury him in Canaan, he passes God's covenant promises on to Joseph, and blesses his sons, preferring the second to the first born as God did with him over Esau.

49 - Jacob prophesies of all 12 of his sons, summarizing their character, giving the rule to Judah forever.

50 - Jacob dies and his sons bury him in Canaan, and come back to Egypt. The brothers continue the family tradition of scheming to fix things, but Joseph breaks the cycle with the right mix of God's sovereignty and grace. Joseph dies and is embalmed in Egypt.

20 Socks/10 Pairs in 2010

Pair number 1 is finished! Pattern: "Kai-Mei" from the book "Sock Innovation", designed by Cookie A.

Began: Jan 16, 2010; Finished: Jan 31, 2010

These socks are unique because they introduce a lace "heart" pattern on the gusset (side of heel). The gusset is usually a sock "no man's land" that is purely functional and never considered as design space. This sock designer, however, breaks the rules and starts the lace pattern here, then moves it across the top of the foot. This is accomplished by decreasing on one side of the lace panel and increasing on the opposite side. It's an elegant solution resulting in a lovely sock! And yes, there is a "right" and "left" sock since the design is assymmetrical.

A rare southern sight

Remember when you made me climb up onto your house roof in the snow to show me the giant heart you shoveled? Here we are 15 yrs later still shivering out in the cold!

my kids don't think of building snowmen, instead they opt for snow soccer!

Snowball fight that dad lost; the little guy distracts him while the bigger boys launch a sneak attack from the rear. Dad stands no chance!

Gen 37-41

Gen 37 - Jacob favors 17 yr old Joseph, who has dreams of ruling over his brothers and parents. The brothers sell him as a slave for money, and deceive Jacob into thinking he was killed by an animal.

38 - Judah marries a Canaanite, and has two sons. They both die without producing an heir. He wrongly doesn't provide his daughter-in-law with a husband. So she disguises and prostitutes herself to him, and bears two sons. He hypocritically condemns her, and is thus rebuked by his own condemnation.

39 - Joseph is sold to Potiphar, and his service benefits Potiphar greatly; Joseph is promoted. Potiphar's wife pursues and falsely accuses him. Potiphar puts him in his prison, but lets the warden promote him there.

40 - Joseph interprets the butler and baker's dreams rightly, but the butler forgets to mention Joseph to Pharoah.

41 - Pharaoh has a dream, which Joseph interprets; he is promoted to rule at 30 years old, and oversees Egpyt's economy for good, knowing what is coming.

Popscicle Toes

Besides being a great song, "popscicle toes" accurately describes my feet! COLD! With a big snowstorm in the forecast for this weekend, I thought I'd share how I keep my piggies warm using a felted sweater and my sewing machine.

I've looked all over for fair isle sweater type slipper boots, and the ones I love are close to $40. Ouch. When I saw a 100% wool sweater at Goodwill for $5, the choice was easy. Here's how to make your own wool slipper boots.

1. Buy a 100% wool sweater. Look for XL men's sweaters as they will give you more fabric. Toss it in the washer on HOT with some soap and towels or jeans. You want it to get rubbed around and agitated a lot to make it felt/shrink. Throw it in the dryer, go ahead and abuse it. Repeat if necessary until you're happy with how felted it has become.

2. Cut the soles. I laid the sweater out flat and used one sleeve for each sole. Put your foot directly on the sleeve so there are two thicknesses of fabric under your foot. This double-thick sole will last longer and keep your feet extra warm and cushioned. Cut .5-.75" around your foot so you have a big foot-shaped piece. Repeat for the other foot on the second sleeve. Baste the double thickness together for each sole near the edges. (my sweater had dark grey sleeves and light grey body with the white pattern, thus the color difference)

3. Cut the foot/leg piece. I used the front of the sweater for one foot and the back for another, so cutting the sweater up the side seams to separate them is a good idea. I did each foot separately, but if I had been thinking I would've cut them both at the same time to get the fair isle pattern to match on each foot (see top photo). There's probably a "right" way to do this, but this is how I did it which worked and require no pattern. It's only a $5 sweater remember, and if you mess up, you can still use the pieces to make mittens, potholder, etc. Relax.

The bottom ribbing of the sweater will be the top cuff of the leg. I put my foot UNDER the fabric to place the patterned portion where I wanted it on my foot. Pulling the fabric over and down the sides of my foot like it would be on the slipper, I cut around my foot starting at the side of my heel, going around the toes, then down to the other side of the heel, leaving a generous .75" seam allowance. (I did not cut around to the back of the heel.) Here's where the "wing it" part comes in: There will only be one seam up the back of the leg from the heel to the ribbed cuff. Wrap/pull the fabric around your leg and pin where you want the seam to be, then cut the extra fabric off (leave a seam allowance!). Stitch up the seam with right sides facing.

4. Putting it all together. You now have a funny shaped foot/leg tube and the sole. Put the right sides together and pin the sole to the foot/leg tube. Take your time, ease in the curved toe/heel areas, making sure the leg seam is at the back center of the heel. Baste them together and try on the slipper. Note any areas where you'd like to tweak the fit and sew accordingly.

Ta-da! Your slipper is done! There's only one more to sew.... and you'll never have to worry about popscicle toes again.

Freezer paper stencils

I've been drawn to scherenschnitte lately... the old European art of papercutting. All those little tiny cuts making a crazy intricate picture - all out of paper! It finally dawned on me today why I love this so much, but I'll share that another time. If you like eye candy, there's some great paper cutting here.

While wielding my X-Acto knife I had the idea to take this fragile art to a different medium. Why not get these lovely images on a tshirt via a stencil?

Out came the freezer paper, with it's papery top side and waxy bottom side. You can IRON this stuff onto fabric and peel it off again, making it a great stencil substrate! I cut the positive shape out of the freezer paper, ironed it on, then painted Tulip soft fabric paint on the shirt. Wait about 5 min, then carefully peel off the freezer paper.

I was really pleased with how intricate and detailed I could get and still not get paint bleeding under the paper. It'd be fun to let the kids design their own stencils (using scissors, not blades) and paint tshirts, jeans, tote bags... watch out thrift store, here we come!

Here's the finished product, along with another freezer paper stenciled shirt that is destined for a little boy who is not a stinker to hug.

Gen 29-36

Gen 29 - Jacob meets Rachel, works 14 years for Laban for Leah and Rachel

30 - Jacob has 11 sons and his flocks increase, partly by his an dhis wives' scheming, under God's sovereignty.

31 - Jacob flees from Laban with all he has. Laban catches up. They argue about who owns the family and flocks. Laban finally agrees to separate.

32 - Esau comes to meet Jacob, who thinks Esau will attack. He tries to prevent harm to his family and flocks. Jacob wrestles the angel, and now limps.

33 - Esau is benign. Jacob gives him a gift, but does not go with him. He buys some land outside Shechem.

34 - Jacob's daughter Dinah is raped and held by the prince of the city. It looks like a peace can be arranged, but each is scheming against the other. Simeon and Levi kill all the men when they are vulnerable.

35 - God sends Jacob back to Bethel, where He renews His covenant with Jacob. Rachel dies, delivering the 12th son, Benjamin. Isaac dies.

36 - Esau moves away from Jacob to Seir. His descendants listed.

Things I never noticed...

From Genesis 29

Jacob rolled away a huge stone, met his bride, and poured out water for a flock.

God rolled away the stone, and poured out the Spirit for His flock, the pledge of the coming marriage of Jesus with His bride.

Can you say "resurrection and pentecost"?

Gen 23-28

Gen 23 - Sarah dies. Abraham buys his first piece of land: a cave to bury her in, near Hebron.

24 - Abraham seeks a wife for Isaac from his brother's family back in Haran. God leads the servant to Rebekah, by her generous service.

25 -Abraham's children by other wives: Midian by Keturah; Abraham dies; Ishmael's 12 sons by Hagar; Isaac and Rebekah have Esau and Jacob. Esau sells Jacob his birthright for some food when he is hungry.

26 - Isaac prospers before the Canaanites.

They oppress him; he bears it patiently.

The Lord continues to prosper Isaac, so that the Canaanites come to him seeking him as an ally. But Esau takes Hittite wives.

27 - Rebekah and Jacob thwart Isaac's attempt to give Esau the birthright blessing. Esau intends to kill Jacob after Isaac dies; Rebekah gets Jacob sent to Laban to find a wife.

28 - Isaac sends Jacob to Laban, with Abraham's blessing.

Esau takes another wife from Ishmael's children to try to please his father.

God appears to Jacob (the ladder) and promises to bless him.

Kill it, already

Doug Wilson, on playing well with others

"When we are not getting along with others, the pressing temptation is always to believe that you are just as you have always been, and that they have somehow changed. This is often not true at all, but even if it were true, that does not put you in the right. Perhaps they have changed in that they have decided to stop putting up with your rudeness.

"But "getting along" is not the oil of insincerity to make the social machinery run more smoothly. The Scriptures describe fellowship as a work of the Holy Spirit. This is a God-given thing, and a work wrought in us by His grace....

"John Owen once said that a man should not think he makes any progress in godliness if he is not daily walking over the "bellies of his lusts." The thing that thwarts all fleshly ambition, spiritual pride, and grasping competition is the cross of Jesus--His death on the cross is what puts to death every form of egoistic striving--and egoistic striving is what prevents us from loving one another. The Holy Spirit does not just come along and fill you with benevolent thoughts. He is a Person, not a shot of joy juice. And the Holy Spirit is the one who applies the death of Jesus to the areas of your life that need mortifying.

"It turns out that in order for you get along with others, something has to die."

Follow politics carefully

Here are the cliff notes quotes of a really good Doug Wilson blog post, way before the Massachusetts election yesterday...

"Right now, Obama is in the White House, and he really is proposing demented things. But America is far more foundationally conservative than people usually believe, and I believe that a conservative backlash of very large proportions is building. And here is my point: for Christians, this is not to be treated as an automatic good....

"apart from a radical conversion to Jesus Christ, whatever regime is set up will deteriorate over time -- like the house of Charn. So much is not newsworthy. It always happens. So our concern should be to have a Church in that day that is not compromised, such that any open idolatry will be opposed by us, and not just the open idolatry of the leftists. The true antithesis is between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, and not between the main political parties. But neither is it between the main political parties and splinter true believer parties.

"The real antithesis is between living as Jesus commanded and refusing to live that way. This is the real antithesis for those individuals who are living the way of the cross, and it is the real antithesis for nations that would do so as well. Do what the Lord Jesus says to do -- not Karl Rove, not Leo Tolstoy, not Al Gore, not Jonah Goldberg, not Noam Chomsky, not Stanley Hauerwas, not Freidrich Hayek, not Naomi Klein, and not Sean Hannity.

"Take two political ceiling fans -- one entirely broken down because incoherent leftist economics have busted the motor and half the blades are hanging down. The other is in fine, free market running order. You can't hang either one of them if you are sitting in the cold drizzle of secularism because you don't have a ceiling."

Read carefully

"Determine the difference between what is actually said and what is left unsaid though implied.... a possible inference from the text but not a necessary inference.... Too much can be read into implications."

RC Sproul, Knowing Scripture, pg 75-6.

"There are scores of words in the Bible that have multiple meanings. Only the context can determine the particular meaning of a word." - pg 82.

He goes on to illustrate with how the Bible talks about God's will, say, in 2 Peter 3:9; and how Paul and James use "justify" differently in Rom 3:28 and James 2:24.

I doubt it...

HT: Toby Sumpter for this one.

"Some of the neo-Puritans have apparently determined that the purpose and essence of Christian preaching is to persuade people that they do not in fact, believe. The subtitle of each of their sermons could accurately be: 'I Know You Think You Are a Christian, but You Are Not.' This brand of preaching constantly suggests that if a person does not always love attending church, always look forward to reading the Bible, or family worship, or prayer, then the person is probably not a believer." - T. David Gordon, Why Johnny Can't Preach, 83.

Job 38-42

God: who are you to talk to me this way? Is it by your wisdom and power that heaven, earth and hell, and their creatures live and move and have their being?

Job: I have no answer. I shouldn't have said anything. I "repent in dust and ashes."

God to Eliphaz: you spoke wrongly; Job spoke rightly. Have him pray for you.

God restores and doubles Job's wealth and family. He dies "old and full of days."

Believe God

"The issue of faith is not so much whether we believe in God, but whether we believe the God we believe in."

RC Sproul, Knowing Scripture, pg 30.