Special Day

There is one special date which occurs every year since 2001 and today is one of them, 111111. I heard many couples plan to tie the knot today and some pregnant ladies have even made appointments to have Caesarian section! What a crazy world we live in. As a practicing Muslim I do not believe in any day or date to be special because each moment is special for as long as God allows me to breathe the air and live a healthy life. This morning was special because we had to get up at 4.30 to send Harris to his school. He needed to be there by 5.00 am in order to join a leadership camp trip to Kelantan. I guess by now he has already arrived at wherever that camp is supposed to be held. The schedule for the camp is quite packed and I really hope that he will learn something that will benefit him for a long time to come.Yesterday was special because I took Najla, Hannah, Yasmin, and Balqis to IIUM swimming pool. Yasmin learned how to swim when she was 4 years old and she could still float and perform some breast strokes. She told me that she has forgotten other styles. Hannah was excited because she managed to float after being taught by a few ladies who were there in the pool. Najla had a hard time learning but if we go often enough she might be able to do it soon. She has been bugging me to send her to a swimming class. I talked to the life guard and was told that her class will only start in March next year. I think Najla swallowed a lot of water from the pool because she had stomach upset at 2am. She woke up crying and said she needed to vomit. After several attempts, nothing happened. Luckily she felt better half an hour later. There are 2 things that she really would like to learn: swimming and riding a bicycle. Well she shouldn't feel so bad because I learned how to ride a bike at the age of 24 and only knew how to swim in my 40s :)

Danial came home for Eid Adha celebration last Friday (Nov. 4) and stayed until Wednesday. As usual we celebrated our Eid in my mom's village. It was a nice family-get-together time. All the other kids were at school on Wednesday and Steve was at work. Since I was on leave, I managed to bake 2 batches of my wonderful chocolate chip cookies. I was so engrossed baking that Danial almost missed his bus! Alhamdulillah we got to the bus station just in time.

Eid Mubarak

Salam and hello to all my fellow readers. I know I have been neglecting this blog for over a month! How and when am I going to be consistent with my writing? Well, only time will tell. Since tomorrow is going to be another big spiritual celebration for Muslims (Eid al-Adha - please forgive me if I spell it wrong), I would like to take this opportunity to wish Eid Mubarak to all Muslims around the world. Every year around this time, it brings back memory when I was in Mecca performing hajj in 2006. I really miss the place and would really love to go there again. Unfortunately I have other commitments which requires lots of $$, such as kid's school, family visits, etc, etc, I have to put that wish on hold indefinitely:( Anyway, for those who are driving long distance to visit family members please be patient and drive defensively. Selamat Hari Raya Aidi Adha, maaf zahir bathin.

Salam Raya

Assalamualaikum and hello to all. Today is the first day of work after a week of spending time with family, relatives, and friends. Not to mention spending time to eat! I always have mixed feeling during Raya (Eid) celebration because I love and hate it at the same time. I love having off days, being with family, visiting friends and relatives. However, I hate being around so much food and feeling obligated to sample at least a cookie (yeah right!) every time I am at someone's house. Nobody can eat just one cookie! Who am I kidding? I love the way my waist line felt in Ramadhan when we were fasting. All the hard work in a month can be destroyed in a few days, what a shame. Anyway, that week is over and now my family and I are back to fasting for another week. My body is thanking me for it. I can almost hear it, thank you, thank you :)

Raya 2009

I was really looking forward to having a week off so that my family and I could go visit our relatives and friends whom we haven’t seen since last Raya (or before that). Unfortunately the first 2 days of Raya we couldn’t visit anybody who lives more than 20 kilometers away because my mom was not feeling well. She had neck and chest pains. She was especially worse in the mornings.

Since my mom was feeling much better on the third Raya day, we went to Melaka to visit my long lost roommate when I was at a university. It was so wonderful seeing her again because the last time we saw each other was before I got married and now I have been married for 17 years! I used to contact her when she was at UPM but after her retirement we lost contact. She has a beautiful English cottage which she “designed” herself (with the help of an architect of course!). She has a beautiful garden and she even has two date trees in her yard. We arrived at her house around 2.30 pm and stayed until 5pm! Time flew by so fast when we had fun reminiscing the good old days.

On the way home we stopped in Tampin to visit my aunty. A while later, my cousin’s son dropped by. Actually I have never met this guy. After we introduced each other he called his father (my cousin) and told him that I was at my aunt’s house. I felt obligated to visit my cousin whom I haven’t seen since the day I got married! We ended up getting back at my mom’s house very late at night.

My former roommate and I

On the 4^th day of Raya we went to KL to renew Harris’ and Najla’s passports. We were so lucky to have a guest from Morroco to celebrate Raya this year. On the way to KL we dropped him off at Seremban Bus terminal to catch a 10.30am bus to Kuantan. He had to go home early to find a new apartment because his apartment contract would expire at the end of September. After we were done with our business at the passport office, it was time for lunch. All of them wanted to eat at one of the fast food joints, so we visited Colonel Sanders and gained fat!

Our Moroccan guest & our kidsHannah & Najla at Col. Sanders' constructing their Sponge Bob

While the kids were eating I sent messages to 2 of my friends, Kak Ju and Marzi. We went to Kak Ju’s house in Ampang first because Marzi was out shopping at the Mid Valley mall. Marzi said we could come and visit at 4pm. It was good seeing Kak Ju again. I am not sure if we saw her last Raya or not. She is in food business making different sauces with a factory in Klang. Before we left her house, she gave us a bottle each of BBQ, chilli, mayonnaise, and pasta sauce. I would like to help promote her products (with no commission, ok) under the brand Jasma. Her products can be bought at Giant and other supermarkets / hyper markets in Malaysia. They are 100% halal products. Then we went to PJ to visit Marzi and her family.

Jasma Halal Products

Our final stop for the day was MPH at Mid Valley. The kids went wild searching for their favorite books and we spent around RM450 for all of them. By the time we got back to my mom’s house, it was close to midnight.

The next day my mom asked Steve and I to accompany her to the bank in KP and to buy groceries. On the way back from KP, we stopped by my uncle’s and my aunty’s house in Terachi. Only Najla came with us so she got extra “duit raya” compared to her other siblings. On Friday (the 6^th day), we didn’t go anywhere, just loafed around and relaxed. I bought a book titled “Travelog Haji” by Prof. Kamil when we went to MPH on Wednesday. I started reading it on Thursday night and finished it by Friday morning. It was such a refreshing read. I definitely recommend the book to any practicing Muslim.

Saturday afternoon we went to KLIA to send Yasmin’s friend off to Egypt. She’s the same age as Yasmin (should be in form 1) but her parents sent her to Egypt to study Quran. She seemed so matured for her age. Steve and I would definitely not send our kids overseas at such young age. We want to keep them under our roof for as long as we can because once they leave, they will be gone. That’s why we didn’t send Danial and Yasmin to any boarding schools although both of them got 5As for their UPSR.

Yasmin's friend & her mom

Since KLIA is close enough to Bangi, we decided to visit our friend AA and his family in BB Bangi. We arrived around 9pm and left nearly 2 hours later. We didn’t plan to stay that long but since we haven’t seen each other for quite sometime, we got a little carried away. For the third time, we got back to my mom’s house at around midnight. Alhamdulillah she was doing fine.

We wanted to go back to Kuantan on Saturday but my niece convinced us to stay until Sunday because her sister (my other niece) had an engagement at noon on that day. Her fiancé is from Perak so the guy’s family brought along pomelos, star fruits, and guavas. Finally, at 4pm we left the kampong. All in all, it was a good Raya despite the below expectation beginning.

Our Raya photo

Salam Aidil Fitri (Eid Mubarak)

Salam to all my Muslim friends, fellow bloggers and readers around the Globe. I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you the best and safest Eid. Please forgive me if any of my entries in both of my blogs have offended you in any way. I would like to share the following message which I received from a friend through my email. If you already know it, take it as a reminder and if it is new, I hope it will benefit you:

Suratul Faatiha:                  protects one from the anger of Allah

Surah Yaseen:                     protects one from the thirst of the Day of Judgment

Suratul Waaqi’ah:               protects one from poverty and starvation

Surah Mulk:                         protects one from the punishment of the grave

Suratul Kauthar:                 protects one from the enmity of the enemy

Suratul Kaafiroon:              protects one from “kufr” at the time of death

Suratul Ikhlaas:                   protects one from hypocrisy

Suratul Falaq:                      protects one from calamities

Suratun Naas:                     protects one from evil thoughts

Our Ramadhan

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.