Oh, those precious goofy faces.

:D

Photo set :: Nieces and Bubbles

Enjoy.

This morning's reading was Genesis 3:1-10.

What struck me about this passage was that the serpent depicted God to Eve in terms of knowledge—his all-knowingness:

You won't die. God knows that the moment you eat from that tree, you'll see what's really going on. You'll be just like God, knowing everything, ranging all the way from good to evil. (Genesis 3:4-5, The Message)

Focusing on the attainment of such extraordinary knowledge, Eve, and later Adam, tragically cast aside their Garden-fellowship with the Creator and, indeed, do attain knowledge of themselves—but through their own eyes, instead of through the eyes of their loving Creator. Ashamed of their nakedness, they crudely cover themselves and hide.

When God later comes through the Garden, he doesn't make a knowledge-based statement, such as, "I know where you are; you can't hide from me." And isn't that often the question we, in our guilt and paranoia, imagine him to be saying to us? On the contrary, in fact, quite unexpectedly, he asks, "Where are you?"—a question of pursuit, of seeking. It's an invitation to come out of hiding, isn't it? And, indeed, Adam's response is to come out and respond, "I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked. And I hid."

This morning I reflect on God who seeks me and finds me, even—and especially—in my shame and my guilt, in my paranoia and in my doubt. He is God who finds me in my hiding place and calls out to me—not to boast knowledge of my deeds, good and evil—but to ask in his pursuit of me, "Where are you?" God invites me to walk with him. Am I hiding or following after him?

It's true! For, I tell you truthfully, when I came down to breakfast on Monday morning, I overheard Zoie singing a song about how much she missed her bebe cousin, Maddie Mae. (For, you see, they had bonded, previously.)

Which is fitting, you should know, because the former youngest, I believe, was primary inspiration, for the current youngest to be conceived. (Which, of course, I say as the sweetest form of praise.)

Two peas in a pod, with sunglasses donned, they will meet again where the sun DOES shine and the waves gently tumble onto pristine sandy beaches, in the presence of loving family: a joyful reunion and celebration of growing up, togetherness, and, of course, sunshine.

Until they meet again, the former youngest will sing of the current youngest, and the latter will teethe, and learn to crawl, and bend the dog to her will, and entertain her mommy and daddy, and joyfully enter the minds of all who are presently parted with her—but only geographically. For in our minds and in our songs and in our hearts does Maddie Mae enter in and smile gleefully.

Love to Maddie and Zoie, Adalie Grace, and Kylia: the darlingest of nieces.

Happy Tuesday.

I removed the hat-attaching stitches, managing to keep the hat in-tact and fairly unscathed and dove back into my motif book, looking for something that would fit atop the hat and therefore be immune to these pesky maths. I found a rose, which worked wonderfully and stitched up rather quickly as well. And, it's a little more "seasonally flexible" notwithstanding my brief foray into birth date symbolism. Finally done, A Hat For Tessa Eve, is one in which I hope will still fit her, even though it took so many weeks for this hopeless perfectionist to put the finishing touches on it! Happy (Belated) Zero-ith Birthday, Tessa!

My special thanks to my doll, Hippolata, for agreeing to model the hat. :)

Happy Sunday (and Monday, too)!

Maddie Mae is ready!

Adalie is definitely ready with her awesome sauce sunglasses.

Kylia is ready. (And, she's also ready for the snow!)

As for Zoie? She's ready. And then some.

You go girls.

(I'm gonna need some new sunglasses.)

She really does.

Love that girl.

If you want to learn more about Jessica Hische's artwork, visit her website at jessicahische.com. (Don't miss the tutorial on her blog on hand lettering if you're interested in drawing your own type—as I am.)

Happy Drop-Capping!

(P.S. Maybe this project will spark a loooooonnnngggg-overdue redesign of my blog! Crossing my fingers! Or I suppose I should uncross them and get coding!)

Initially, and even up to the last minute, I thought I would spend the day pondering. At the beach or somewhere equally natureful and pondery. But the more I envisioned the day, the more I found what I really wanted was to spend the day in Northwest Portland. Revisit the home town. Visit places I love or have always wanted to experience. So, it was decided. The day would be spent celebrating my return to Portland. The agenda: Japanese Gardens, Lunch in Northwest somewhere, the Art Museum, Powell's City of Books.

The day began earlier than expected with a birthday call from my dear sweet mother at 7am. Shortly thereafter, my upstairs neighbor decided to run the dishwasher. Twenty minutes later, I was drinking Vanilla Almond tea and reading Markus Zusak's I Am The Messenger (a book I have scarcely wanted to put down since I started it).

Skipping through a few delightful hours of leisure, it's five minutes to ten, my camera is packed, shoelaces are tied, and clothing layers are being gathered when the phone rings: It's Grandpa. Probably wanting to wish me happy birthday. That's so sweet. I answer the phone: "Hi Amber. It's Grandpa. Did you forget about me? Lab tests at 10?" I replied, "Yes, Grandpa. I did forget about you. I forgot to write it down and it's my birthday. I was just out the door. But I will come right now and pick you up and take you." So that's what I did.

An hour later, my camera is packed, shoelaces are tied, clothing layers are gathered, and I'm off to the Japanese Gardens. This was my first visit. (Hard to believe, right?)

I saw some volcanoes...

...a pretty waterfall...

Portland Japanese Gardens

...amazing trees...

Portland Japanese Gardens

...and serene stones...

Portland Japanese Gardens

...(among other things).

Definitely will be going back there soon.

I continued down Burnside to 23rd and decided I really didn't want to parallel park on 23rd (even though I'm an excellent parallel parker), so I continued down to The Pearl and decided to have lunch at the first place I recognized and had parking nearby: 50 Plates.

Love their logo. Brilliant.

Enjoyed my lunch experience immensely, but I think I'll stick to happy hour (a little more within my budget). :)

From there I cut over to the Art Museum...

...and viewed the Raphael portrait (stunning, especially in juxtaposition to the many other portraits displayed in the adjoining rooms of the same period) and the China Design Now exhibit (fascinating...I especially loved the wall devoted to typography, so much that I couldn't pass up getting a book of Chinese typography designs from the gift shop after).

Finally, just missing the Street Car, I walked down to Powell's City of Books. I escaped with a couple of gems that I've been meaning to procure.

After that I met up with my folks for dinner at Chen's then window shopping at Washington Square. (And, yes, we did manage to limit ourselves to the windows.)

All in all, a great day of celebration.

Now back to reality.

Happy Thursday.

Took a few pictures. It was a little tricky to get into "the zone" with all the people, plus keeping up with the group, but here they are...

Happy Zoo Lights!