Gratitude: Bebe

Today I am grateful for His mercies, protection and help.

Bebe's fine after spending half a day at the workshop to have its alternator belt replaced. The snap produced a loud klonk that had me worried, in now fixed. The bill is small compared to having to take out a new car loan. We are so glad Bebe is good to go again. Alhamdulillah.

The incident happened just outside of one of the safest place, a police training academy. Alhamdulillah.

(psst: the OCD in me wants to correct the sticker on the tow truck with spelling error!)

I managed to steer Bebe out of the heavy traffic to the guard post thus avoided causing blockage to an already congested artery. I would have been nervous if Bebe had been an island of stagnant steel with daggers all over from stares of irritated drivers complete with the one finger salute. He speared me from all harm and negativity. Alhamdulillah.

I waited with a shut down version of Bebe with its hood open at the guard post while being chaperoned by policemen. It felt safe. It could not possibly been safer. Alhamdulillah.

No rogue tow trucks buzzed around me that cool and cloudy morning. It would have been tough to fast, wait out in the humidity or rain while being pestered by strangers. He spared me from all that. Alhamdulillah.

My usual service team backed me up with a reliable tow truck in good time. The wait time was short, the service was impeccable, despite my forgetting of the privileges and benefits of The White Card. Alhamdulillah.

The Other Half managed to drop Bean off at The Playschool and came to my side within record time despite heavy traffic. Alhamdulillah.

He then let me nap all the way to my dentist appointment, without missing my turn at the dentist to have my chipped filling fixed. Alhamdulillah.

Verily, His Blessings come in great and significant ways, even when it seems petty. SubhanAllah.

What are you thankful for today, my lovelies? Please do share!



Bebe

What is wrong, Bebe?

You have served me so reliably since 2006. It saddens me that the day has come when you just klonked to a stop without any warning, this morning.

Were you jealous because I stole a glance at the new Active Tourer?

Were you feeling insecure because The Other Half, The Little Girl and Bean are outgrowing you?

*pat pat sayang sayang*

Get well soon, Bebe. InshaAllah, to many more safe rides!

Snippets: Surah Al-Qadr

Assalamualaikum my lovelies,

Are you ready for the final 10 days of Ramadhan? I bet you are all anticipating this blessed period with increased acts of ibadah and perfecting yourself in your faith.

This may be the best time of the year for me to introduce The Little Girl to Surah 97 as we try to do our best for the last 10 days of Ramadhan, inshaAllah.

I know she is going to be in full wonderment of this grand night when angels and Jibrael descends, a night that is better than a thousand months' worth of worship. Night time story telling is going to be exciting!

Yesterday, she was thrilled to count 5 Surah into her nightly prayer. Alhamdulillah, she added Al-Falaq and Al-Khawthar to her routine.

On a separate note, her final exams results are trickling in. We are very pleased and proud of her effort thus far. Alhamdulillah, and inshaAllah she keeps up this great work. We "celebrated" by paying her school fees for the new academic year that is commencing this autumn *teehee* Reward work with more work concept, sort of. Like a promotion.

Ending this post with a sweet hope that you find your laylatul qadr this year and that you be blessed eternally with Jannah for your good deeds, good heart and perfect ibadah.

 

Amin.

Snippets: Surah Al-Falaq

The Little Girl has overcome her trouble memorising Surah An-Nas recently and last night, she eagerly asked to recite it as soon as she completed Surah Al-Fatihah and Surah Al-Ikhlas. SubhanAllah!

We went on to Surah Al-Falaq and after levelling with her on its tafseer, she happily recited this beautiful Surah on Protection, with cue and some help.

We then went on to Surah Al-Khawthar and talked about the beautiful river in Paradise. I will reserve the more serious portion of how Allah swt defeated His Unbelievers and how our beloved Prophet Muhammad saw is indeed His Last Messenger with an important task of spreading this beautiful way of life. InshaAllah, we will get down to it soon.

She went to bed with a smile on her face, and right there, I shed a tear inside as I wished her goodnight, gave her an extra tight cuddle and kissed her forehead; just in awe of His Greatness and Omnipresence. SubhanAllah! 

Her baby steps, and mine, are now fused on this journey. May Allah swt grant us Light and Love. Amin.

Ramadhan Challenge

Assalamualaikum my lovelies,

Do you set for yourselves any Ramadhan challenge(s)?

Some of us strive to complete proper fast, perform all 5 calls to solat, move towards hijab, khatam al-Quran for example. One at a time, a few per year or all at once - the choice is entirely personal.

The Other Half and I were chatting about how when a person is busy living positively/doing good deeds, the same person may have less time for dwelling in negativity/doing bad deeds. Simple virtue, SubhanAllah! Thank You for this revelation.

My personal challenge this year is to memorise some short Surah(s), which means reading al-Quran transliteration, translation comparison, summarising my understanding and listening to some concise tafseer via Nouman Ali Khan podcasts. So far, alhamdulillah. Baby steps and I am toddling along with The Little Girl in tow. She really motivates me to be a better mother, alhamdulillah. 

It would be a real bonus for me to completely master my "solo solat" meaning praying on my own without The Other Half as my imam. Those who follow my reversion journey as a young Muslimah will know by now that I am constantly pursuing kushyuk in my solat. It is a discipline of mind, body and soul, to me. This pursuit of my inner peace and  happiness also involves more or less the same learning process as mentioned. Please feel free to drop me tips on how to master solo solat, I would be eternally grateful!

Here is wishing you and I all the best in each of our Hijrah pursuits. Allah swt is so Merciful, He Grants Ease to those who put in effort in wanting to be closer to Him. May obstacles melt away and The Straight Path be clear to us.

 

Amin. 

ASTRO

Can you believe it, we have not subscribed to ASTRO for about 18 months now. 

Every now and then, The Little Girl and Bean will watch Channel 613 at The Flat Upstairs or The House with The Grandparents. During our holidays, they would sometimes catch a Disney movie on the hotel TV. What we do not like is how they can be glued to the TV and have no interest in playing, eating or communicating!

What we do have, are some DVDs from Disney productions and other independent producers. At least with these DVDs, we can set the limit as to how much they watch in a day, and still have time with interest for reading or playing.

Of late, I asked The Other Half if we should reconnect our ASTRO service. Whenever this request was presented, he would ask me to sleep over it. Bless him.

I would then pray for Signs of we should or otherwise. Miraculously, He always sends me the same answer.

NO.

Via lectures or khutbah, via opinions and studies. Detriments of screen time to our soul, the garbage that is being produced of late to perpetuate ideologies, and sadly we become subscribers to dogma that is incongruent with Islamic values.

"Be mindful of what we feed our soul."

Since the answer is consistently against screen time, I will gladly accept living without ASTRO at home. What we have is Wifi and with that, we are more selective in filtering what we feed our souls, inshaAllah.

Now, I just have to refresh those activities list of what the kids can do and enjoy while I prepare dinner. After all, that is the only crucial hour I seem to need something on the screen to prevent them from running laps around the sofa and dining table (read: noisy, crazy happy, top speed, potential falls). On the upside, they work up an appetite!

How do you keep your kids busy at dinner preparation time? Please do share!

 

An update: We have since then reconnected ASTRO "limited" service out of sheer desperation of not being able to take the kids out to the park or pool during hot, fasting days. Our bad. Wish us luck, ok?

Zakat Fitrah

Assalamualaikum my lovelies,

This is the time of the year in our Hijrah calendar to be settling our zakat fitrah. There is a booth at the corner of Uniqlo KLCC across Sephora/Cold Storage where we can conveniently do so, if not already fulfilled at our respective local mosques. It opens from 11am to 6pm this Ramadhan. In Kuala Lumpur, the zakat fitrah rate is RM7 per person. 

The officers stationed at this ad hoc collection centre do not accept zakat fidyah and/or qadar but we can easily do this online at Maybank2U, which I did and it was so convenient!

In both cases, as where applicable, do not forget our niyah.

May our sacrifices be accepted and pleasing to Him. Amin!