Are you prepared for Ramadan???

Assalamu Aalikum Everyone, A special Dua for all Allahuma Balighna Ramadan {O Allah Allow us to Reach Ramadan}

Are You Prepared????

Let's do it together inshaAllah. Alhumdullillah, the blessed month of mercy, Ramadan is approaching us very soon once again this year, inshaAllah. Just like when we have special guest coming over we makes lists of things to make, to clean and to do with them, the same way, we have to prepare ourselves (bodies and souls), our families and our homes for this month of mercy. InshaAllah in the next few posts I'll be sharing some ideas on how to Ramadan ready

Last year I had the opportunity to organize a Ramadan workshop for children 7 and up with a dear friend Aasiya's Homeschool in Toronto, Canada. This year since we have moved to a new place, we are planning things according to where we are inshaAllah.

This was the layout of workshop from last year, for those who may be interested.

• Virtues of the month of Ramadan
• Caring about our food, body and environment
• Mindfulness in Ramadan
• Spirituality and Connecting with the Quran, (since this is the month of The Quran)
• A small take home project, goal sheet, and acts of kindness sheet

This year the group of children I am working with are all under 9, but an extraordinary bunch mashaAllah. We also have a very unique situation, so we are trying to get our minds around how we can make the most out what we have and where we are inshsaAllah. 

So with a peak inside what we did last year (which I wasn't able to blog about) and touch of what we plan to do this year Be'eznillahi Tala... I will end.

Stay tuned...

A short update of our life...

Assalamualikum wa rahmatullahe wa barakatuhu

It's been a loooong time since I last blogged. Things have been very busy and adventurous in our family. InshaAllah (with the permission of God) we will soon be having a new addition to our growing family tree. This has slowed us down a bit and in our unschooling, yes, that's what we have been doing for the past few months. The journey of past few months has been very unique in many ways...its has helped us bond in a unique way as a family.

Alhumdulillah both our children are very excited about the new addition. We have encouraged bonding between the baby and the kids from the very beginning so they feel connected to the baby ones it comes into the world inshaAllah. We have daily ritual of saying 'Salam' (His and Byes) in the morning and at night. They like to share random things and incidents with the baby. AR like reciting to the baby... and SubhanaAllah its amazing how the baby calms down while he recites. We pray to Allah SWT to increase them in love for each other and make their bonds stronger and based on trust. I pray that they hold firmly to each other on the straight path. Ameen.

Me and the kids are temporarily living in Canada. Since we were here we enrolled the kids in some Homeschooling  programs in our community. MashaAllah the kids are enjoying the change of weather and the snow. For H it was her first snow and we were very excited to see her reaction to it. She's loving the snow. We went to play in snow and tobogganing a few times. Despite all the fun we miss Baba a lot, he came for a one week visit recently and it was the best week we had since we've been here.

Our life in last few months has been about real life-skills and making memories. We as a family have gone through some big decision making processes and some tests that we with Allah SWT's help passed and the rest we ask Him the Exalted to help us through as well. It has made us all stronger and closer to each other and Allah SWT. It made us value how temporary this life is. We learned and experienced things that NO school can teach one.

InshaAllah I am hoping to update the blog a bit before the baby arrives. So stay tuned to see what are some things that have kept us busy.

Till then...stay warm <3

Hajj Activities # 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6

Since we normally travel during the hajj break, I have to do Hajj based activities and learning before we leave. So we started last week and break starts in two days. I thought I would share some things we have been doing before we head out inshaAllah.

Its really important for us to make children feel a change in the home environment as we approach these important occasion, marked in our religion/life, i.e, Ramadan, Hajj, both Eid, the fast of Ashura and so on. It should be a special festival like feeling in the home.

I thought it would be best to start of from the foundation, which are the pillars of Islam and some other activities.

2.  Make a pillars of Islam model: We used cardboard rolls same as toilet paper rolls but a bit hard and sturdy, to make this. Our focus was Hajj, and inshaAllah I plan on covering others one topic at a time giving it its time to be absorbed into the kids.

3. Read a book about the pillars of Islam: We read over our "The Pillars of Islam" book. I recommend to every Muslim family. Its beautifully illustrated and written in very simple words. It comes with a partner book "The Pillars of Iman".

4. Learning Roots Pyramid Pillars: We made the Pyramid Pillars and talked about them a bit, again the main focus was Hajj.

5. Watch this video.  

Part 1

Part 2

6. Listening and singing these Nasheeds everyday. 

this

this 

And this our favorite <3! 

InshaAllah stay tuned for the last few.

We're back!

Bismillah,

Assalamualikum wa rahmatullahe wa barakatuhu

It's been a looooong time! The last few months have been very busy and full of Summer fun. We were on summer vacation in Toronto, Canada, and now back home and settled and in a rhythm Alhumdulillah. As most of our time was spent outdoors, running errands and meeting friends and families, I had no time to blog. As much as I missed it at times but everything kept me so busy. I am happy to be back and blogging.

Alhudmulilalh, after all the unpacking, we a back in our daily rhythm. The beauty of having a rhythm in life is, it can travel with you where ever you go (at least some parts). This was one thing that really helped me in on our vacation too. Although it was not always easy, but if we did some of our main activities, like the morning circle, our bedtime ritual even if they were a  condensed version. the kids were much more collected, calm and content on those days. The days we would miss them it would be totally apparent in there behavior.

Lakeshore! Miss it!

A small herb garden in Royal Botanical Gardens

Another wonder of Allah SWT's nature, Webster falls. no matter how many times you go there, it still  refreshing

Our road trip to Orlando in Pictures.

The Swan family we met while canoeing in a river in Ann Arbor,  Michigan

Peach Honey sticks we bought at a farmers market in Atlanta Georgia for a healthy sweet treat!

Ruby Falls in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The falls were a sign of Allah SWT Qudrah. SubhanaAllah  they are a beautiful. You have to walk in a cave for a mile and then the Fall comes. It was beautiful!

Gem and stone search at the Falls.

Children's Museum in Tampa, Florida

Animal Kingdom, this was the kids favorite place.

Animal Kingdom, we didn't want to take the kids to Disney, so we found other places.   Although Animal Kingdom is part of Disney, its still has a touch of nature.

This tree is 2000 years old 

Sea World

Fascinated by Dolphins as usual!

On the way back we drove through Washington and we stopped to see the Native Indian museum which had a really nice children's area where they had there own personal passports, they really enjoyed stamping there passports. We also went to the Natural History Museum and the Space Museum.

Natural History Museum

So this was a little picture summary of our summer trip. Of course there a lot of other things we did and places we went and people we met, it hard to remember and go through every thing. These were some main highlight of this Summer.

Ramadan prep, decor and family Eid gift exchange night is a huge part of our annual rhythm.

Until next post please remember us in your duas

A day at the Farm

Farms are a great place to visit for the whole family. Every one can find something of their interest. They are full of signs from Allah SWT. I feel whenever we step outdoors and explore the nature; the sandy and rocky beaches, the gardens, the farms, the mountains which were hidden under the deep oceans centruies ago, the desserts filled with sand dunes or even just staring at the blue sky that fills with twinkling stars at night... you can't avoid feeling The Power and Might of the One who created this all. SubhanaAllah!! These are indeed signs for those who have reflect, as Allah SWT reminds us again and again in the Quran.

We recently visited another farm with my parents and my brother's family, who were over for a stay. We thought it would be nice to try to go together and take all the kids (mashaAllah 6 of them) for old times sake. The kids have visited farms 4 to 5 times together, all over the world. It was a wonderful day... except I came home with red bulging eyes, sneezing and runny nose, it was an awful allergy attack. Alhumdulillah much better now.

Here's a sneak peak of our Farm adventure.

Figs are in season!! If you have ever eaten fresh figs you will know how addictive they are!

Yum! almost ripe.

Fuzzy peaches.

They were so sweet and ripe, we practically had dinner with them!

Pomegranate flower and buds which turn into Pomegranate. Did you know Pomegranate flowers make really delicious tea?

Under the shade of grape vines... Reminded me of how in Jannah Allah SWT says the fruit will be hanging  from above us and we will just reach out to eat it. 

Plums

Baby Dates 

Wheat fields

In love with the goats and sheep! She kept Maa-ing and Baa-ing with them.

Kids feeding the goats. They also got to pet a baby lamb.

Memorable time at Fresh

One of the things we did this summer was, we had some one on one husband and wife time. One of the things we did was I took my husband to this restaurant in downtown for iftar. Alhumdulillah my mother-in-law was free that evening, so I asked her if she could watch both the kids for a few hours, it was my first time leaving H for this long. It was great for everyone. The kids got some one on one time with their Dadi without the parents. I think grandparents need to have some 'unsupervised' time with their grand-kids, so they have the freedom to do what they want with the kids without the parents always monitoring the grandparents. After all, all parents wait to be grandparents and truly love their grand-kids, ,I also believe that grandparents should respect the limits parents have set for the kids.

On the other hand, hubs and I had a wonderful dinner and walk by the lakeshore :) Although the food was vegan (not my hubs favorite thing) but he admitted that he felt full but light. He was sort of ready to try it since I had tested some of their recipes from their eBook I had in the last few years. Alhumdulillah, I coincidentally found a fairly new looking copy of 'Refresh' at the garage sale in summer for  50 cents!!

It's a great cookbook to have with some great recipes straight from the Fresh's kitchen, in downtown Toronto. They have great recipes for shakes, elixirs, sauces, marinades, soups, wraps, veggie burgers and more. These are recipes for the same food you will find on their menu. Click here to checkout their website.

If you are interested in having a copy of this wonderful nutritious vegan cookbook 'Refresh' by Ruth Tal, please email me at rawdahs@gmail.com