Pictures taken from here and there
We are looking to Makkah, humble and devoted.
We are thinking of our dear prophet Ibraheem (Abraham, aleihi salam), who was such a great example of a true believer.
We are thinking of our brothers and sisters over there who are on their journey of their lives, the pilgrimage, the Hajj.
We pray that Allah may accept their efforts and we dream and hope to go on this journey one day as well, inchaallah…
‘Id moubarak saïd to all of you!
Not much time to write because we are in the midst of ‘Id preparations, strivng to make most out of these blessed days of Dhu’l hijja.
Here and there I found some great inspiration.
May you have a week of abundant blessings – especially the day of Arafah (day before ‘Id, here in Morocco his means it is on Friday, ‘Id on Saturday)!
“There is no day in which Allah liberates more servants from the hellfire than the Day of Arafah”
Today was one of these days when you ask yourself how you will ever go through it, longing for the evening and a moment of peace to come (“ya Rabbi grant me patience – right now!!”)…
Alhamdulillah, the kids sleep now (ok baby is still with me, but that’s ok).
I took a deep breathe, I made myself a cuppa and a big bowl of “mousse au chocolat” – yummy – and decorated it with a lot of sweet-little-hearts … I think sometimes we deserve to tell ourselves how much we love us… a really peaceful moment, I can tell you…
I am too tired now to respond emails; too tired to sew; too tired to read… will watch a bit Huda TV with beautiful images from Hajj … peaceful evening and a blessed week to you, friends!
“Lord, grant me patience to bear the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.”
« Ask forgiveness from your Lord, then turn towards Him in repentance;
He will loosen the sky over you in abundance, and He will add strength unto your strength.”
(Qur’an, Sura Hud 11:52)
Wishing you a delightful November-weekend!
These days before ‘Id el kebir (the Muslim’s most important feast during the year), we are in preparations and in a lot of making and baking, just as last year.
In these days I am always remembering my own childhood and how dear especially Christmas and its entire atmosphere were to me – I still love to remember the lights and smells, the peace, the excitement of getting gifts and being all together.
Now as a Muslim, I do neither celebrate Christmas anymore (although I still believe in Jesus as a prophet and as one of the very important messengers in Islam), nor birthdays or Easter.
As a convert/revert, I find myself in kind of an explorer-position conquering new lands in establishing personal family traditions. I am having only a few experiences of Muslim’s feast- and everyday-traditions and am free now to build up our own rituals for my little family by following the Prophetic Sunnah as well as by creating personal ones.
I remember, when I had my first child I wanted to have right away family-rituals. I always wanted to gift my kids with memories of smells and tastes, decorations and lights, poems and songs and warm comfortable feelings.
But soon I had to realize that these rituals do not come by themselves, they are things we have to make growing and then they grow with the age and the number of our children.
It is up to us as the parents to make an effort to establish such rhythms, rituals and routines in their best meaning and I believe that this is something very important for every family – I mean rituals in general, not only the celebration ones.
I think it is so important to strengthen our family connections, to nurture the souls of our kids and their sense of security and togetherness by establishing traditions.
It is so important to give them the feeling of a rhythm and a home, just as nature and everything within follows a rhythm and a routine.
And alhamdulillah, there are so many moments to build such rhythms on a daily, seasonal, occasional and festivity basis: just think about the ritual of a good-morning-hug, daily teeth-brushing-sessions, story time before saying good-night, the Friday’s-Couscous at grandpa’s house, tea-time in the afternoon, singing a protection surate when being frightened, the yearly Ramadan calendar, mealtime blessings, lights and candle-decoration in winter, a healing-song when someone is hurt, strawberry marmalade in spring, the sweet cake and family-BBQ on ‘Id’s day, … I am sure you could continue this list with your personal unique family-traditions…
To introduce new rituals sometimes feel a bit artificial or swollen to us as parents, especially when we are trying something new we didn’t experience in our own childhood. We may have to dedicate some time to think about what we want offer our kids, what traditions we want to build and what we are ready to follow continuously.
But if we believe in something, if we stick to a rhythm or tradition, if we are ready to discipline ourselves a bit and to let become something a ritual or routine, we surely will be blessed with a peaceful, homey atmosphere, with a community-feeling and much stronger connections between our family’s members.
It needs time, but one day, I am sure that for our kids such things will simply seem natural and become second natures and treasured childhood memories they will carry through their lives, inchaallah.
So we are, by following our daily rhythms and routines, into our yearly ‘Id-crafting- and baking-time, which I would now, in the forth year, call a tradition … and I am sure new rituals and traditions will follow… subhanallah, I am excited!
What are your personal family traditions?
Blessed week, friends!
_maybe the most important moment during day for me is right after waking up and having prayed fajr. I love my morning coffee -ritual with some Islamic read. I enjoy every sip, mhmm: milky and without sugar. I love sitting in the kitchen, getting some inspiration, doing some notes and enjoying the early sunlight coming in… a perfect start into a new day, alhamdulillah_
After my post about the time management, I thought it could be a great thing to share moments of peace, ease and comfort.
So I wanna begin kind of a series of posting every now and then pictures of my most treasured me-time-moments in daily life with children: Moments that keep a promise of release, of renewed energies and gathered beauty in the mundane; moments that keep me sane and healthy and help me going through my day.
I would really love to know more about your personal moments of peace during your daily life struggles and I wanna invite you to join me on this capturing-journey, to get inspired, to inspire others and to remember the little blessings in our life (apart from the sweetest blessing of having kids, subhanallah).
Instead of tagging some of you, I simply suggest that you leave a comment here with your blog-address if you want, so that we all know you’ve joined in.
I am looking forward to visit your blogs and to meet on “peaceful moments”.
Happy weekend! Salamu alaikoum!
Just a quick hello and thank you so much for the lovely energy and words you’ve sent me after my last post – they really touched me.
With these pictures of my latest crafty outcome (an “inchaallah”-banner, a love-cushion and a bathroom-rug) I wanna wish you a beautiful blessed Friday!
I was inspired, felt in love with and want to recommend soulemamas new book to all handmade-lovers and to everybody who wants to bring more crafted bliss into his home…
Jumuah moubarak, friends!
So if you ask God with a pure and good intention and out of love and compassion, Allah will hear you, He will respond to your prayer (maybe not in the way you expected, but surely in a good way) and He eventually will gift you with the same.
And did you know that Allah loves when we ask from Him? The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Allah is angry with the one who does not ask anything from Him” (Tirmidhi).
Writing about all these positive thoughts and energies, I want to take the chance and apologize to you, dear friends and readers. I am so sorry that I rarely find time to answer to your lovely comments, the nice emails you write me and the deep friendships you offer me. May Allah reward you all, Muslims and non-Muslims as well.
I am really sorry not having been a reliable friend over the last years and I am sorry not being good in keeping contact at the moment.
May peace be with you!
For more information read here and here (current issue page 30)
Subhanallah, I am having a bit of free-time!!
Hubby took the kids to town and baby sleeps… wow, that means time to fill my creative spirit, to renew my energies and to centre myself… that’s a thing that rarely happens here due to my husband’s working conditions. Normally, I am alone with three little kids the whole week long.
How to make most out of these seldom me-time-periods in my life as a full-time-mother is a big issue I am thinking about every day and I wanna share some of my personal experience here with you.
I am sure you are often feeling the same as well: overwhelmed by the many tasks that have to be done and by a lot of housework on the daily run that simply cannot wait, we often do not find time for all the many things we want to do.
Lost in between all these duties we tend to think “ok, I will finish this and that first and then, later, when I hopefully have a bit more free-time, I will finally begin with the thing I really wished to do” (May it be sewing, reading, sport, gardening, bathing… or simply daydreaming along).
No friends! Let’s forget about the yearning for more free-time and the “when only I find a bit more time…”-thinking, because, to be honest, it just will not happen!
We never will have more time. We rarely will find the perfect free moment, morning or day during these years of parenting little kids.
So let’s change our attitude! Let’s see how we can make most out of the given situation right now, inchaallah.
I really do believe that it is up to us to make time and to make things happen.
Sure, it needs discipline and some planning-ahead; it needs established routines and a logistic thinking. But I think it really is worth these efforts.
Organisation is the key – and allowing you to take breaks!
Professional time-managers recommend sitting down and thinking clearly about all the things in your life that have to be done and the things you want to do.
Then prioritise and put them into a ranking list according to importance and urgency and figure out how much time you need for the things to be done and what place every single task will have on your daily/weekly schedule. Minimize and cut out as much as possible and concentrate on the real important things. Now see, how much time is left for all the things that you want and love to do beside. Write all down, put it into a schedule that fits with prayer-times, kid’s nursing and sleeping rhythm and other circumstances.
And then stick to it!
I always try to improve my own time-management by adjusting things to keep the balance and to manage my energies wisely. Over the last year I read some good articles and established different schedules for our days, trying out what fits most. Circumstances, kids and needs change and so do duties and time occupation.
Now, with two preschoolers and a nursing baby I have to stay quiet flexible and that’s why I lately worked out a very free and open schedule which leaves enough space to move and change things around.
Most of the time, I am really happy now with our weekly rhythm.
I am actually in a schedule that helps me to accomplish every day a bit of cleaning-up, of laundry, house- and garden work, but also leaves some flexible time for special needs, projects or other unforeseen things.
Daily tasks such as making beds, cooking and else have become automatically-routine-things and are fitting in easily.
Surely most of the days are spend with the kids: nursing, nappy-changing, playing, outgoing, learning or simply being with them.
But yes, even though my days are really full, I luckily find every now and then 5 minutes to read, a moment to pray, a bit in front of the sewing machine… and eventually I finish one book after another, I accomplish my Muslim-duties (inchaallah) and have a new handmade dress…
How? you will ask. Hm, I will say… it really is all about priorities, organisation, discipline and taking breaks…
I always have some sketchbooks at hand to write down ideas, crazy notions and deep thoughts.
In my home you will find magazines and books everywhere and there are always several that I am reading the same time, picking up this one or another one whenever and wherever I have a minute of freedom.
I make myself tea about 5 times a day, taking mini-breaks to treat myself and to allow my soul to calm down – that really helps, even in the midst of busy family-life.
There is always a knitting bundle, an embroidery hood or a little crafting project on the go, and while kids play I can easily sit with them and work on my hobby.
And my computer stays off during the day until kids are in bed.
Apart from these lucky-little-moments, I find important to dedicate some special time for the things I want and love to do because it is so easy to get distracted by other things such as checking and answering an email here, cleaning up some spit-up there, reading another blog here, ranging some clothes there…
I personally dedicate my evenings for the things I love.
When kids sleep and hubby’s away, I spend every evening different: some for crafting, another one for social projects, one for spiritual and religious reading, others for mailing and blogging and one for getting inspiration (by reading other blogs) and planning ahead.
I think it is important to have goals and to stick to our plans and schedules if we want to accomplish things in our life and to manage our God-given time as wisely as possible.
But I think it is also important to stay spontaneous and flexible, to leave some time for nothing, for simply being, for slowing down and daydreaming, for relaxing, thinking and listening to our inner voice and God’s guidance – because it may bring us closer to our self and to the purpose of our lives and it may make us realize the beauty and gifts within.
May your days run smooth and well with lots of lovely breaks, friends!
We had guests and we have been guests this week.
Time was filled with a whole lot of chatting and togetherness, good Moroccan food (up here: couscous), lucky moments and some beautiful insights into colourful Berber houses … subhanallah.
Wishing you a Jumuah moubarak – blessed Friday – friends!
