New Horizons and a Good old Home

 
  

We’re back.
Alhamdulillah, finally we made our way back home, back into our little valley, back into our personal rhythm and life.
After having been away nearly a month in Germany and Switzerland, it feels so good to have a home to come home, subhan’allah.

Since I am nearly never going out of our village with three kids, travelling always means so much to me:
to leave my beloved house and our valley always makes me sad and coming to the city always shocks me with all the modern life, the noise and the rushing around.
But, mashaallah, then there comes the excitement of flying and crossing countries and there are so many new inspirations to find, lovely people to meet, new plans to make and relationships to maintain… Although all of this makes me feel exhausted and tired sometimes, I really love to travel and to explore new horizons: What an amazing blessing it is to live in between two cultures!

We’re working on big new projects and have a lot to look forward to, incha’allah (soon there will be more to be said about it.) And while we had no computer and internet after coming home last week, I enjoyed nature, the quiet time, thoughts about the past and the future and I (re)discovered the good old fountain pen and paper to write on and to process all the work we did during our long journey.
It is sometimes good to be forced into “old school manners” and I think I will keep on writing a handwritten diary… But is feels good to come back to this blogging-place here as well, and so I wish you a blessed weekend friends, see you next week, incha’allah, may peace be with you!

Snapshots

 
  

… just a few snapshots of the last few days… we are busy planning new social projects…
more details later, back home, inchaallah… blessed Friday to you friends!

  
  

The Traveller´s Praying Mat

 

When we prepared for our travel trip, I realized there was a need for a little, lightweight, easy-to-carry prayer mat to take away with us.
 
So I sewed this little foldable rug out of light African cotton.
It’s an easy two-sides-pattern with some seams to fold on and a string to bind together.
On the upper side’s head part I did a little abstract appliqué to mark the Quibla (the prayer direction) and to make clear how to put the mat on the floor. It symbolizes the Kaaba (the holy house) in Mecca and I did it in green, which is called to be colour of Islam, the colour of peace.

Now that we are on our journey, I am really happy to have made that mat, alhamdulillah. It is so light and so little and really easy to put into a handbag. We carry it with us all the time so that we are ready to make the prayers wherever we are.

… Up and away… wishing you a blessed weekend from Europe! Salamou alaikoum.

looking back – looking forward

 

Hello 2010 and salam alaikoum friends,

Alhamdulillah, the new year begun peaceful and well with family, classical raclette-cheese-eating and midnight fireworks… We are on a little vacation these days, that’s why I come rarely to my little blogging-place at the moment.

I am looking back to a year full of incredibly different experiences, to times of deepest sadness and highest joy, moments of grief and moment of happiness. Mashaallah, it couldn’t have been more contradictorily and subhanallah, I’ve learned a lot about life and death and about Allah’s mercy.
Now I am looking forward to a new year full of new chances and new experiences. I am ready to follow my personal path of learning and growing, of understanding and developing and there’s a lot of thinking, planning and reflecting going on here.
Once again I wanna wish you a blessed new year, thanks for your visits and I am looking forward to meet you here, joining me on that journey.

Love, peace and blessings to you,
masalama and see you in a couple of days, inchaallah.