The best thing was, all the kids said they loved it except for Danial because he was not home. He is having the final PMR camp at his school which will last for 3 days (Friday 2 until Sunday 4 October 09). He left yesterday and will be home tomorrow.
It feels like yesterday when we started our fast. Without realizing it we are entering the 24th day already. Only 5 or 6 more days are left. I am proud to say that our family has never been to or bought food from any bazaar Ramadhan yet. We are trying to keep the spirit of Ramadhan alive and keep our food simple (such as the ones pictured above). We do not serve many varieties either. Usually we have dates, rice, and one (or two max.) side dish. Once in while we made spaghetti or pizza. Alhamdulillah, our kids are not fussy. They are happy with french toasts, cereal, or "jemput-jemput kosong". Our regular beverage is the good old plain cold water. Sometimes the kids asked for canned soft drinks which we obliged. We thought we had more time to shop for raya clothes but suddenly it hit us that we only had yesterday as the best time to do it. Feeling semi panicked, we packed all the kids in the car and off we went shopping. So now everyone has 1 set of "baju melayu" or "baju kurung", except for Yasmin because she prefers "jubah". The kids have one extra set of non-traditional clothes as well. Najla got so excited, she took hers to her kindergarten today. We didn't buy shoes for anyone because our kids love to wear sandals or slippers. Everywhere they go (including our trips to the US) they would put on their rubber sandals. Alhamdulillah, our kids are very low maintenance children.
Hello everyone. I am back! The last time I updated my blog was on 3 August. For some mysterious reason I lost my passion for writing while on a week “forced holiday” when our College was closed due to a few positive swine flu cases. I blame it on the pigs because their flu made me lazy! Two important family events have taken place during my absence from blogging: Yasmin’s 13th birthday and my 17th wedding anniversary. Anyway I would like to take this opportunity to wish Salam Ramadhan to all practicing Muslims around the Globe. Notice that I used the word practicing Muslims? Well, we all know that there are so many types of Muslims around. So far, I have identified 5 categories: born Muslims, cafeteria Muslim, confused Muslims, forced Muslim, and of course the practicing ones. For those inquiring minds out there, I will briefly describe each category. I think everyone knows what a born Muslim is. S/he is a person who happens to be conceived in a Muslim womb. S/he doesn’t really care about the nitty-gritty of the religion. The cafeteria Muslims are the ones who pick and choose which part of the Islamic teaching that suits their purpose. They refuse to take Islam in totality. For example they say “hey, wearing hijab is not compulsory. It doesn’t go well with the current situation. But Islamic banking is ok because it doesn’t seem to be affected much by the world economic turmoil. That’s good for our pocket”. The confused Muslims are the kind that would be easily persuaded by cult leaders to do things for the benefits of the leaders. The forced Muslims are usually involving those who converted to Islam for the sake of marriage. The last category is the practicing Muslims who constantly try hard to be good to themselves and others. I hope I am in the last category.
Anyway, I am glad that my writing mood is back. It all started 2 days ago when I read a few of my friends’ blogs. So, Norida, Zara, and Yani Yunus, this entry is dedicated to all of you.
