May Peace be with You!

 
  

Salam alaikoum, may peace be with you,

Thank you so much for the emotional comments on my last post. I really appreciate all the different opinions and approaches and the good intentions behind all of them. Mashaallah.
I have a high regard for the courage of our fellow brothers and sisters in other Arab countries and I wish them relief from tyranny and peaceful solutions for a better future.

But I still think that the case of Morocco is a different one…

“Verily! Allah will not change the condition of a people as long as they do not change what is within themselves.” 
(Surah Ar-R’ad 13:11) and (Surah Al-Anfal 8:53)

 

I pray for peace, I pray for guidance, I pray for justice, for harmony, for prosperity and for wisdom. Ameen.

The prophet (sas) said: “If you see evil change it by your hand, and if you can not then do that by your tongue, and if you can not do that, deny it by your heart (hate it), and this is the weakest (degree of) Iman (faith).” 

Think global – act local.

Happy Friday!

My Morocco

  

Maybe the whole world looks these days towards Morocco.

I don’t know, but I get asked a lot about the situation and I can feel that people are concerned and kind of wait that something boils up here just as in the several countries around.

You know, I am not interested in politics as I’ve mentioned before; I really have no idea about it. My approach to the world and its realities is more of the intuitive kind; I try to feel things. And I feel that there is a huge pressure of western media who would like to see a revolution here in Morocco. I feel that they would love to see the country burning because that sells. Mashaallah.

But you know what; from my point of view I can tell you that things are quiet and just as before. Especially up in our mountains one wouldn’t even recognize that something’s going on, if people wouldn’t tell.
I know that in the cities there is some little riot and that they tried some demonstration this weekend but it kind of failed because only few people showed up. I know that the youth tries to revolutionize in some places.

It’s true; you can find poverty, illiteracy, corruption, unemployment, miserable conditions, despair and injustice here – just as in so many other countries.
Leading such a various country isn’t easy because it is heterogenic in just everything (culture, language, landscape) and therefore so various in its needs (social standards, education, living conditions)…

But one has to admit that slowly there is a change for the better to be seen. There are new laws made and new directions taken. There are very good intentions to be felt, new doors open and there is a lot to hope for.
But good things take time to grow and to establish and rushing head over heels for something new wouldn’t make it better.
We will have to be patient and try to peacefully act for the better in our own environment while praying that Allah might guide this country, the people and its leader in peace towards a hopeful future, inchaallah:

Allah, Al’Ouatan, Al’Malik!

Homemakers at Heart

 
 

I am a homemaker at heart. And I am proud to be – alhamdulillah and with God’s help.

I deeply feel that it is us, the mothers, who create a home, who feed the spirit within.
It is us, the mothers, who introduce meaning and consciousness to family life.
It is our God-given duty to provide love and care, an open ear, a beautiful environment, a warm meal and a welcoming hug.

It is up to our individual creativity how we celebrate family life, how we establish rhythm, how we practice faith, how we strengthen family bonds, and how we create a peaceful atmosphere.

It is us, the mothers, who are responsible to bring up a new generation of people to this world – children who are able to live in love, peace and respect for themselves and the world around.

I love to be the center of our home, the maker of rhythm and routine in the best of its meanings.
I love to be the provider of comfort, coziness and nourishment.
I am proud to be a manager, a guide, the keeper of balance, of continuity, of love and of peace around here.

I am the shepherdess of my flock.
I am the heart and the soul of the home.
I am the mamma – a real homemaker.

And I am thankful for it, subhanallah.

Today I feel blessed to be. Alhamdulillah.

 
 

There are great books out there on homemaking and here are some articles I wrote and some literature I read:

Shea Darian: “Seven times the sun”

Steven and Teri Maxwell: “Managers of their homes”

Amanda Blake Soule: “Handmade Home” and “the creative family”

Rahima Baldwin Dancy: “You are your child’s first teacher”

Myla and Jon Kabat-Zinn: “Everyday Blessings”

Mohammed Rida Beshir: “Meeting the challenge of parenting in the West”

* about how to make a house a home
* the making of traditions  
* manager of my home
* time management
* about children’s playplace and toys

Back to the Basics

  
  

Today I wanna talk about my re-discovered love and sense for a healthier and more balanced diet, especially concerning snacks.

Our last year was loaded with lots of work, with things to do and: my oven didn’t work.

So sometimes I didn’t take enough time to choose carefully what food I would provide for the kids and myself. When hunger came between the meals, the quickest and easiest thing was to eat chocolate-bars, factory-made-cookies or other sweets. Mashaallah, our sugar-consume raised immensely and I didn’t even notice it very much.
Sometimes an awakening comes slowly, but one day I sat there, unpacking some bars out of their foil, asking myself what processed stuff I am eating here and why we should produce all that extra-rubbish… I thought about self-sufficiency, about my eco-organic-living-aims, about the healthy lifestyle of our Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) who gave a perfect example of a green living.
I immediately felt the urge to take again more care about our bodies, our health and about what we eat. I felt the rush to take back control about ingredients, sugar and vitamins and about what we are feeding us with. I reached the decision to go back as much to the basics as possible, to reach out for more local food, to make again homemade sweets and to use the most natural ingredients possible.
Luckily the poor and frugal life circumstances here offer maybe the best bases for an inventive living and the lack of modern supermarkets make it easier to remember resourceful ideas, alhamdulillah.

So beside the main meals which I always cook freshly and mostly without processed helpers, here are the new snack-ideas I recently added to our meal plan:

 
Instead of expensive cereals we make our own grind whole meal muesli for breakfast or the wonderful sourdough-bread I’ve already written about. 

Instead of processed cookies we eat dates, prunes, dry fruits and nuts, freshly baked cakes and sometimes even homemade bars (there are lovely recipes to be found on the net).
If I can get enough fresh milk from the farmers around, we make our own yoghurt and curd cheese (without a lot of work and measuring, only by boiling the milk, letting it cool down a bit, adding some spoon of yoghurt and then leaving it under warm blankets for at least 5 hours).

Instead of poor waxy sausages we make our own home-smoked-beef-ham and liver sausage for sandwiches.

Yummy!

I feel more energized that way and I am sure our teeth, bodies and minds do so as well, subhanallah.
How much better it often is to go back to the basics, to follow the example of our ancestors, to let us guide by the sunnah of Islam and by the lifestyle our prophet (sws) led and how much more reward there is in overcoming some laziness, inchaallah.

I wish you well, I wish you health, joy, love and peace and a wonderful Sunday, and I would love to hear about your favorite back-to-basic-recipes.

Finally Winter

  
  

Finally we got some snow here. At least a little breeze of winter with icy air, cold blue skies, the sound and taste of snow, lovely walks in the white and no water at home because of early morning frozen pipes ….

Subhanallah a tiny bit of winter and some covered mountains which are so important to provide this country with water in summer, inchaallah.

Happy week, friends !

My Marrakech 01’11

  

It’s been quiet a long time since I wrote my last post, I know. We had holidays over here and spent some days in Marrakech – only the girl and I.
It was the first time since a year that I quit our valley and the day we left it snowed and rained for the first time this season, subhanallah. It felt strange to leave home, the boys and the mountains to come back into modernity. With every hill we crossed, the rural simplicity faded away and vibrant city life welcomed us with lots of noise and new things to see.
Time was short and filled with professional appointments and things to get done. Unfortunately there was no time to meet all friends, to visit all the places I would like to, there even was nearly no moment to take beautiful pictures of the old town markets or of the warm colours of that vivid city called M’rrakch. But there were so many new ideas, inspiration and things to think about, but also a deep feeling of thankfulness to come back to our life in the High Atlas of Morocco, alhamdulillah.
I stayed with two dear friends and had a very quick but really lovely meeting with moroccomama Nora.
So here you go with some simple impressions of beautiful homes, typical views and lovely food.

Welcome back, wishing you a wonderful week!