On Turning 40- Contentment

On the first day of March, I was born into this world 40 years ago in 1976. Do I feel any different after my birthday??? In the age of Forever 21, there is a push to stay young, dress young, act young, and do whatever it takes- even going under the knife to look young. It wasn't always this way, there used to be a time when turning 40 meant spiritual maturity and wisdom. And there used to be a time when the wise were valued and sought after, not put away in a home to be visited once a month.

Surrounded by Love, Cake decorated by my Beloved Asha & Azara,
while Zahid is lighting the candles.

The Name and the Named- 3rd 12

Jummah Mubarak, Happy Friday!

I am happy to release the 3rd set of the 99 Names Allah. I didn't quite finish the complete set with worksheets, however the cards are finished and I wanted to release them before the Day 25. Are you counting down the days to Ramadan with us? Today is Day 24: al-Muizz, the Bestower of Honors, which means we have about 75 days until the first of Ramadan. Are you ready, have you made up all your days fasting, have you looked through our old Ramadan post for ideas to do with your children?

The Name and The Named- 2nd 12

Jummah Mubarak! Happy Friday! ♥

We are excited to release the second set of the Name and the Named today. This set has many new items to help your child review the first 24 beautiful names of our Creator, the one God- Allah.

The Worldview of the Believer

Most Friday and Weekend morning when I am busy completing computer work (making curriculum) or any day when I am cleaning up, I will put on a lesson to listen to while I work. This Friday morning, I chose to listen to Shaykha Nagheba Hayel who tells a beautiful story of Habib Ali Jifri and what our world view as Muslims should be. With these cold winter days in the Northeast, the reminder came at the right time. . . time to stock up our car with gloves, blanket, food, etc. to give out to people on the streets. ♥

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 . . . 

Children's Islamic Calendar

Just in time for the Islamic New Year, Muharram & Safar Copywork pages are now available for download.

Muwasala has shared a beautiful message for the end of the year and a du'a (prayer) to recite.

Ramadan Moon.

We went to our beloved Makkah Learning Center, the home of our Makkah Community Garden and where we take our Fard Ayn Classes with our beloved Imam Mikaeel Smith to look for the Ramadan Moon.  Yes, we are in love with this place. The Imam, the Space, the Community. And we are so excited to bring back the Sunnah of trying to sight the Ramadan moon.

Ramadan Calendar Inserts

Do you have a Ramadan Tradition? Ramadan Calendars were our main tradition that we held for many years.

Lately our Ramadan Calendars have not been used as much because of our travels during Ramadan. However, this year we decided that if we are to travel, we are going to bring our Ramadan Calendars with us. Hey, Traditions are important!

The Perfect Name

When I created the first 12, I was concerned about filling two pages with cards and out of my imperfection did not add the most perfect name: Allah. 

As I was working on the next 5 names of Allah, an image of five attributes/colors encircling the Name of Allah came to me:
*Pink ~ Allah is the Loving One~ Al- Wadud
*Blue ~ Allah is the All Powerful ~ Al- Qadir
*Green ~ Allah is the All Compassionate, All Merciful ~ Ar-Rahman/Ar-Rahim
*Yellow ~ Allah is the Perfectly Wise ~ Al-Hakim

I doodled down the idea, then reread the chapter on Allah. Under the Aqidah term: Takwin it reads:

"All existence and actions depend upon (Allah) Him. He is the only creator. . . He created the creation, not because He needed it, but to manifest His love, His will, His wisdom, His power, and His compassion."

Behavior Chart

Our Behavior Chart took alot from this Chart.

When I first learned about this Behavior Chart a couple of months ago, I wanted to implement it but didn't have the time to create one to suit our family's need. So it was on the back burner... however, after having another bout of nerve pain and extreme fatigue that usually comes during the Winter (I need HOT weather!) that has had me spending many days in bed, I felt it was a good time to tackle this project. Not to mention that a Behavior Chart is needed even more when the mother is sick in bed . . .

A Lesson on Controlling Anger ♥

Sometimes I just post our thoughts on the Noor Janan facebook page with no plans to make a blog post on it. However, due to it's popularity, I have decided to share it here also for those who do not use facebook. Anger (patience in aggravated situations) is something that I have been working on as well as other diseases of the heart. So this is not coming from a place, of I got it all together . . . it is just one example of a time I was able to control my nafs (ego).

~ ♥

Z Man sings Qasida Muhammadiyah

MashaAllah, Z Man first time singing in front of hundreds of people went pretty well. InshaAllah, his love for the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasalaam will grow through these nasheeds and other acts of ibadah. Amin.

Prophet Muhammad's Lineage

We listened to a wonderful talk this morning by Amjad Tarsin titled Embodied Light. I couldn't think of a better way to spend this blessed Monday, than learning more about our Noble Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasallam. The great thing about Amjad is he really knows how to captivate his audience, so my Big Beloveds sat their attentive and experienced every emotion described. May Allah reward him with all that is good.

We saw Amjad Tarsin for the first time recently during our trip to Toronto, Canada which made listening and learning from him that more appealing. In this talk, Amjad expressed how important it is to know the Noble Lineage of Prophet Muhammad. We set out to complete the task and MashaAllah, the Big two Beloveds memorized the whole list. The younger two Beloveds progressed through the list well also.

I thought of making a way to make it easy. Because my Montessori thought process is on auto-pilot, I quickly knew I wanted to make a self-correcting material. This stacking lineage was the result.

The Name and The Named- 1st 12

I have taken another book "The Name and the Named" and made it kid-friendly. I love the applications in this book, and I wanted us to not just learn the beautiful Names of Allah, but to reflect on them. MashaAllah, this Fons Vitae Book gives practical application on how to do just that.

Grateful Tree ♥

I am grateful for so many things in my life. My Beloved family is one of the most important. However, it was funny that most of the things on my list surrounded food and the BEACH... Am I that linear? All I need is my family, good food, and the Ocean to be happy. . . God, of course, is número Uno in my life, but Alhumdulilah He is everywhere and is beyond everything.

What are the things you are grateful for and do those things make happy? Beautiful Free Printable to write it down with two versions: either a verse from the Quran or the Bible. ♥

  

We used these wonderful watercolor pencils to create our art.

 BIGGER HEARTS for Little Hands

♥  Download the Free Printable
The Grateful Tree

♥  More Character Development
The Goodie Jar

I am Grateful
Learning Character Through Stories

♥  Amazon Store: Art/School Supplies

♥  Pinterest: Practical Life

♥  Check our Progress: Curriculum Checklist

Peach Cobbler & Rootbeer Floats

Happy Islamic New Year ~ Muharram

The first of Muharram is upon us and we are celebrating with some homemade peach cobbler a la mode and Rootbeer Floats. Our favorites!!!

A Lesson in Patience

We are a working class family and we weren't always at that status. Humble Dad and I married in our early twenties and will inshaAllah, God Willing celebrate our 15th anniversary soon.

During our marriage, we were starving students, poor, really poor, struggling to get by poor, rice and beans poor, and our current working class status with a boat load of Beloveds which means a boat load of expenses. We were so poor when we got married that we never had a real honeymoon and I received a promise as a dowry. As more Beloveds were born and less babysitting options were available, taking a trip as a Married couple without the Beloveds became a distant dream of the day when Lil A is old enough to stay home alone.

Arabic Letters- Montessori School

I visited a Montessori School today and I was surprised and delighted to see Noor Janan Homeschool's Arabic Letters being used. I loved the colors that they used. It really warmed my heart.

Arabic Vocabulary

After learning the Arabic letters, we can learn how to write words. If you have not visited our post on Arabic letters, please do so now as it has the information about the Movable Arabic letter cards.