The Need for Warmth

I do not do very well in cold weather, it brings aches and sickness. When the dying seasons (Fall & Winter) approach, I want to escape the North like the birds and fly South.  . . . and in truth, I would never fly back North, making a permanent home in the warmer Southern parts of our country right along the Ocean .  . .  or anywhere .  . . in the World . . . would be fine.

Since living in Paradise, sipping on non-alcoholic Pina Coladas or fresh coconut water, swimming in clear blue-green water, riding the waves is not my current reality, I must find ways to cope with my situation.

When warmth is not found outside, then we must create warmth inside our homes, our kitchen, our bodies. . .

Reminiscing of Paradise in the Dominican Republic.

Introducing Asha, Sajid, Zahid & Azara

Please let me introduce my Beloved Children by their names: Asha aka Big A, Sajid aka S Man, Zahid aka Z Man, and Azara aka Lil A. Although, I am still quite protective . . . as they get older, I feel more comfortable with them knowing what to do when strangers approach them. Azara, forever my Lil A is not so little anymore as she reminds me :) and honestly I am trying to simplify things around here, which means now that you know their names, I don't have to edit the videos and their worksheets as much trying to hide them! . . . and inshaAllah some of our readers might want to pray for my Beloved children by their name.

The Du'a (Prayer) that Saved my Marriage ♥

It was the Spring of 2009, the year I started this blog under a different title "Our Life". Many changes were happening: we had just moved to Tyler, TX , my oldest son had moved out, and I had a block, well no .... block sounds too light, I had a head on collision in my spiritual life which consequently affected my marriage. Many Religious people understand that when you are disconnected from God everything in your life will eventually fall apart and I was of no exception: it was all falling apart.

I wanted to leave my marriage with Humble Dad, we had been married 10 years since 1998 and I felt I had tried long enough to keep it together. My mother and father divorced when I was two, both sets of grandparents were divorced and remarried. I really wanted to end this cycle of divorce in my family and I came into the marriage believing strongly in "for better or worse, in sickness and in health, till death do you part." But I was being tested in my words and in my beliefs....

I remember the day vividly when I drove off, eastward towards my grandma's house in Maryland. I made it as far as Arkansas before I turned around. I couldn't go through with it, but I knew something had to change  . . . and like many people who consider divorce, I was under the delusion that the other spouse: Humble Dad in my situation, was the person who needed changing.

Cream of Remembrance- Our Morning Prayer Routine

This has truly been a labor of love.  .  .  I have been working on the audio/video/pdf of the Cream of Remembrance for two months since the end of the al-Maqasid summer retreat. It was important for me to finish this project because words can not adequately describe how much I loved my mornings at the retreat. The Cream of Remembrance along with Shaykha Nagheba's class & the sister's remembrance gathering was the absolutely best part of the retreat. Most nights I would go to sleep at 2:00 am, sometimes 3:00 am . . . just to wake back up at 4:00 am to make it to the Pre-Fajr/Post Tahajjud Adhkar (Remembrance). My cabin was one of the furthest from the prayer room/classroom and I would walk alone each day in the peace of the dark night to the prayer room (except for the night that I slept in the prayer room.)

From the wudu . . .