Fasting is a Shield

Yusuf learned the Hadith (saying of the Prophet Muhammad) that fasting is a shield (from bad deeds)...so, we made a shield out of a paper plate and tin foil.  Taken from this blog - click here.

Dua List

Since the last ten nights have approached, Yusuf and I were talking about laylatul qadr.  For those readers who arent aware of what laylatul qadr is, it is called the night of power and this is the night which Allah sent the Quran to Prophet Muammad.  It is sometime in the last ten nights, most likely an odd night but we do not know exactly when (there is wisdom in this: it encourages us to do extra worship all throughout the ten nights and not just on one).  This night is better than a thousand months and if one stays up this night to do worship it would be as if he had worshipped for 1000 months.  We make extra prayers and supplications.  Something I have personally done and also heard of others doing is making prayer lists so that you dont forget anything :)  Allah is the Most Merciful, the Most Kind and the Most Generous and we should shy away from asking Allah for anything.

So anyways, today Yusuf and I made a dua list for him.
This is what he asked me to write:
(this is the order he said it, and most of the things he thought of himself but some things I kinda 'guided' him with )
-Oh Allah, please give me an astronaut suit and a rocketship
-knowledge of Islam
-make me a good muslim
-give me and my family and friends Jannah
-protect me from bad people and Jahannam
-make me healthy
-take me to Chucky Cheese
-take me to Saudia Arabia to visit AbdurRahman and to see Makkah and Madinah
-take Momma and Baba for Hajj and then let us all go for Umrah  together
-let me help the orphans and poor people
-help the people in East Africa
-allow me to memorize the Quran
-make me an imam like Sh Alaa and Sh Bilal

People to make dua for :
-poor people
-Momma and Baba
-Ibby
-Dada and Ami
-Naani and Pops
-GG and Papa
-Baby Muhammad
-Chaachi and Kaka
-Khadijah and Jawariyah
-orphans
-myself
-Chaachi's uncle (who passed away this month)
-Prophet Muhammad SAW
-Amina Khala
-Musa and Musa Hassan
-Baba's new work


Then we decorated the list with sparkles and stickers.
May Allah answer all of our duas in these blessed nights, Ameen.

Ramadan Mubarak!!

Asalamualikum and Ramadan Mubarak!!
I miss my blog! We have been pretty busy with a new addition to the family mashaAllah (a cousin, not a sibbling! lol). Along with that excitement we worked really hard to prepare for Ramadan to inshaallah make it extra special, specially since for the first time in a while, I am not pregnant or nursing and Yusuf is mashaAllah at an age where he can understand and enjoy more.
Here are some of the things we have been doing:

Good deeds Jar.  We have done this before but this time to make it different for Ramadan, I have told Yusuf that he is responsible to keep track of his own good deeds.  I showed him where the rocks are and whenever he does a good deed he can put a rock in himself.  The goal is to fill the jar up this month inshaAllah!

This is Yusuf's area.  I bought this awesome calendar from a friend - check out her blog here.  I filled each pocket with a sticker and an activity.  And every few days we have a surah to learn about and a dua to memorize.  We also got this awesome check list from little explorer - check it out here. 

 I also put some Ramadan books (some which I even found at our local library!) on his desk, he has some binoculars to find see the Ramadan moon with that he made, a lunar cycle chart, some duas, surah Qadr, and a fasting wheel.

Some flower garlands I put at the boys room and our room as well

Lights in our hallway

New pajamas that I gave the boys on the first night of Ramadan

Lights in the boys' room

We also have plans to make trays for our neighbors inshaAllah.  Maybe well bake some cookies or something.

Yusuf is also going to fast for a couple hours everyday inshaAllah.  He is older now and sees all of us fasting and wants to be apart of it. Yesterday he fasted for almost five hours (he had a long nap which helped).  I obviously wont be too strict but we will try to encourage him as much as possible.

The day before Ramadan we all sat down n had breakfast together and had a family meeting.  My husband and I went over what Ramadan is, how it is special and what kind of things well be doing.  We told him how we are lucky to be alive this Ramadan and how it is a gift and like a guest.  I noticed Yusuf really felt our excitement which in turn made him excited.

In Ramadan our schedule gets turned upside down! We go to the mesjid and stay late (get home around 12:30am), then sleep in in the morning and have a nap everyday.  Im a big advocate of taking kids to the mesjid.  I notice how much Yusuf LOVES going and Id like to believe its because we take him so often, especially in Ramadan.  I dont feel like kids get the full feeling of Ramadaan unless and until they get to attend taraweeh.

And I feel that the more they go to the mesjid the more they learn how to behave properly.

May Allah swt keep ours and our children's hearts attached to the mesjid.
May He accept all our ibadah and efforts during this month,
May He help us to make the most of this month and be productive as possible, Ameen.

Love You Forever

Tonight before bed we read "Love You Forever."  After I finished reading it, I told Yusuf that one day hes going to be big and have a wife, and kids, and a house, and a car, and a job and hell be busy but he can never forget about us.  And then I was telling him about how Momma and Baba did so much for him when he was small: play with him, wash him, feed him... and Yusuf added:  vacuumed for him.  Then I told him how when we get old he will have to take care of us.  We also spoke about the dua from the Quran which translates as " Oh Allah take care of my parents like they took care of me when I was small."  Within a minute Yusufs face went red and his eyes filled with tears and he barely managed to get the words out, "But Ill miss you."  My heart sunk!  I told him its okay to feel sad and that Ill miss him too, but well always be a family!  Then more tears flowed as he told me that hell miss us when we die.  (This is when my tears started to come too)  I told him that we have to be really good muslims and make dua so that we can go to Jannah and be together forever and how well never feel sad in Jannah.  He asked me if his grandmother will take care of him when we die.  I told him inshaAllah we wont die until he is older and by then he will be able to take care of himself.  But for now we are together and we should be happy for that.  I also said that no matter what happens Ill always love him, and that Allah is the Only One who will be able to be with him all the time and Allah will always take care of him.

It was not an easy conversation, but I am grateful it came out.  I think we both learned some important lessons.

Yusuf, may Allah swt always keep your heart soft towards your parents.  We will make mistakes, but we have and will always try our best to do whats right.  May Allah fill your heart with mercy towards us especially when we are older.  And may Allah allow us to be a means of Jannah for you, Ameen.

I love you forever.

Camping

The boys checking out the water

Yusuf and I canoeing and saying our evening athkaar <3

Baba showing the boys how to make a camp fire

Ibby chasing Yusuf and his new friend

Playing at the beach

Alhamdulillah last weekend we had a wonderful family trip camping (in cabins, not tents).  We went with ten other families.  It was a blast! Yusuf really enjoyed it!  He made a new friend, went swimming at the lake (3 times), went canoeing, had camp fires, roasted marshmellows, ate smores, went on hikes, saw a huge snake, chased racoons (he was more brave than I was!), played soccer, enjoyed the food and company, stayed up late, slept on the top of a bunk bed and... survived the 5 hour car trip.  Alhamdulilah!

Waste Management and Botanical Gardens

Last week we went to the Waste Management place which was really interesting! We learned about all the different things you can recycle, how the landfill works, how we should compost, how we should try hard to avoid things going into the landfill, how they make soil out of compost and how landfills have birds of prey to prevent seaguls from over crowding the place and also carrying the garbage around the city and spreading disease.  We had a school bus for all our homeschooling friends and after that we went to the botanical gardens.  The kids also had fun there, the program was really cute for kids complete with digging for bugs and feeding chipmunks.  Alhamdulilah for a great day! 

Fire Truck Visit

Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE our playgroup? Mashallah we do some pretty awesome things!  This week we had a fire truck come to one of our houses for a presentation.  It was super cool! The fire fighters were really friendly.  They showed the kids all around the truck, let them sit inside and best of all, hooked up the hose to a fire hydrant and let them play in the water.  They finished it off with coloring books and driving away with their sirens!  We were really impressed = )