Suhaib Webb - Occupy Your Soul

Tawbah - Imam Suhaib Webb

This lecture was conducted by Imam Suhaib Webb. This Imam is a revert from USA and is married to a Malay. He was named one of the 500 most influential Muslims in the world by the Royal Strategic Studies Centre in 2010.

Personally, I've seen some of his lectures, and MasyaAllah, his lectures are inspiring. I wanted to go to his talk/workshop last month on "Occupy your soul" but the time didn't permit me. So InsyaAllah, kalau ada rezeki I will go next time.
I somehow love going to workshops/talk that enables me to upgrade my knowledge in Islam. I love looking for inspiration and motivation, and like to look for ways to make my life better InsyaAllah.

So, InsyaAllah, December ni ada workshop on Twins of Faith. They're going to have to great speakers from all around the world one of which is Dr. Bilal Philips. I used to use his books as my textbooks during Islamic studies back in my school days.
I'm going to allocate time and money just to go to this 2 days workshop/conference. I'm excited! Ngee ^^

Well anyways, hope you enjoy watching this lecture, just like I did. It's a great great lecture. And after watching this I've decided that I'm just going to take baby steps to start a new life. InsyaAllah.

I hope this lecture will benefit you, just like it did to me.

Mana sungai

So the other day,  my kids (4 year old students) sang this song together while they were doing their activities:

Mana sungai, mana sungai,
Di hutan, di hutan,
Sungai makan daging, sungai makan daging,
ROAR! ROAR! ROAR! ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!

I was sitting on the other side of the classroom, listening to them sing. Just when the song finshed, I asked them "What is sungai?"

One child confidently answered "Ala teacher! Sungai to kan lion!" =_="

I wanted to laugh, but held back my laughter, and explained to them that sungai is river, and lion is singga.

After explaining to them, it just hit me, that, I only have less then a month left to be with them. I'm sad, knowing that I've got little time left to spend with them. Sigh!

I'm going to miss them so much. They were far the best group I've had in my teaching. I love them.

Dreams

Credit to my colleague who snapped this wonderful picture of me and the baby.

Ada tak ciri ciri seorang ibu in this pic? Hahahaha....yes, like every other girls, I longed to have a child of my own someday.

Krabi

So my final trip for the long Hari Raya holidays was to Krabi, Thailand. It was a one day getaway trip. We took a three hour drive to Krabi. The three hour, felt like it was a 12 hour drive, mungkin sebab, there was no proper highway, it was just jalan kampung all the way, and there definitely no R&R. Which was big turn off. 

The weather there wasn't sunny at all, it was rainy. 

We stayed at Krabi beach resort in Ao Nang. The hotel was superb. It was cheap, but the facility there macam 5 star. The rooms was big, and the bathroom was really big, with a big tub. The rooms was surrounded by trees, and the buildings was more like town houses and Chalets. Which was awesome. And hotel concepts was more towards saving the environment. They don't change the bed sheets daily unless you ask them too. 

Since it's krabi, it's a tourist hotspot. So it's really advisable for one not to shop there unless you know how to tawar menawar.  And food in krabi for us muslims, is very the senang to get one. There's a lot of halal restaurants to choose and eat. 

I wont write much, cuz I didn't do much over there, but it was a good get away trip from the city. 

I hope you enjoy the photos below. :)

View of the hotel from our room.

Susah sangat nak amik gambo budak ni = _=

The Bathroom. My fave part of the room.

The pathway to our room.

Having breakfast by the seaside.

Subhanallah. I just love this flower. It caught my attention. It's so pretty. 

The islands across krabi.

Abah searching for some grubs to eat for lunch.

The signboard at the hotel. 

The bed. It was a comfy bed. Just nice for me. Not too hard and not to soft.

Abah.

The T.v and the mini bar.

Mumsy. 

This is the card that we have to place whenever we want the bedsheets to bedsheets to be changed.

Not sunny beach.

The secluded part of the beach. Behind me is a cave. Was really tempted to go in. 

I had to put on a brave look to climb up these rocks.

My parents. My dad's a lil camera shy. 

The beach.

DECEMBER - Can't you come back [IRIS OST]

I'm in love with this song. I don't understand what the lyrics, but somehow i just love the song. :)

Raya oh Raya

Salam. 

First time in seven years, all seven of us gathered for Hari Raya. Mak, Abah, Abang, Me, Nini, Abu aass, and Amir all got together to spend our raya. 

We all headed down south, to Felda Bukit Ramun, Kulai, Johor. First stop in Johor, was my grandparents (my mum's side). Most of my uncle, aunties and cousins on my mum's side were all there. We spent a few hours catching up, before heading down to my grandmother's (my dad's side), where we spent a couple of hours catching up with my grandmother and a couple of my uncles.

Raya Pertama :-

Morning on my mum's side was chaotic. We all woke up early, the ladies prepared the raya feast such as ketupat, rendang, sambal goreng (orang jawa style), curry, kuah lodeh, kuah kacang and many more. Whilst the men, headed for the bathroom to shower before heading to the mosque for Eid Prayers.

After the prayers, and after we were all done beautifying ourselves, everyone in the household, gathered upstairs untuk bersalam and mintak maaf to the elders, and the elders gave money packets (angpau) to the young ones. 

When this was done, all of us (there were more than 20 of us) gathered for a family potrait. Ye lah, it was the first time in 7 years that almost EVERYONE actually balik and gathered in A63 for raya. So we wanted to capture the moment. 

It was havoc, chaotic but at the same time it was FUN.  After the big family portrait, each family had their own family portrait taken. 

When all the fun was over, all seven of us headed down, to Tok Ona's. Tok Ona was sitting in the kitchen all alone crying silently to herself. She quickly wiped her tears and smiled when she saw us. The house was literally empty, there was only three of my uncles who was lounging. We all salam, hugged and kissed her and sat down with my uncles for a few hours chatting and eating.

That evening, we all headed for our first raya house, Felda Pasir Raja, to visit Tok Angah's. Spent a few hours there, eating and chatting with abah's cousins and aunty. On the way back, we singgah Felda Sungai Sayong, to Mak Ngah's house. I was happy to see Mak Ngah again. Dah lama tak jumpa dia. Seeing her again was good. :)

Abah's face changed abit and didn't quite look that happy kat sana. He almost threw an amok kat sana, I was scared the minute he raised his voice a bit. I looked at him and I looked at everyone, and I was praying inside. Praying that there wont be a fight, I kept looking at my dad, giving a look for him to stop on what he's trying to do. He saw me looking at him, and immediately stopped. 

And kebetulan Mak Long and Sarah's family arrived at that time. I was happy again. I was happy to see her, and happy to see her son for the first time. All this while I only saw him through the pictures that she posted in facebook. He was cute, Masyallah. And active. Biasalah anak lelaki. And surprisingly, he wanted to sit on or laps he was friendly with us, and didn't mind us holding him. According to his mum, dia biasanya don't want girls to hold him, but he didn't mind with me and my sister. Aura kot. Hahaha.

There was so many kids at mak ngah's house, and semuanya comel comel. So geram. Hahaha. One child that caught my attention in particular was Mia, anak Uteh. She was like a walking doll. 

So about an hour later, we all said our goodbyes, and abah being abah, he wanted to settle the private matter with his family on that day itself. So me, mum, nini and atok headed outside and waited for him to finish. We couldn't do anything, but just hear the discussion from outside. Atok looked tired, and really wanted to go home. 

I guess Abah wanted to make peace, and wanted everyone in his family to make up, and be happy again. That is mine and my sister's theory. He was just being a peace maker. That's all.

I dare not write on what was the problem. Cuz I myself don't know what was going on. Ye la, if I do write and it's not true, nanti karang ada orang cakap I created a fitnah. So I'm just going to control my fingers and not write anything that's not true.

Our theory was also, that it would've been good that abah and his siblings all got together and talked, without  having someone else masuk campur. If you know what I mean. 

Knowing abah, he doesn't like it when somebody else's butt in his personal problems. Kalau aku pon, I wouldn't like it. 

Well that was my first raya. It was a bitter sweet first day.

Raya Kedua :-

This was a fun day. Everyone in mak's side, decided to convoy and raya at JB and kulai. Traffic was terrible in kulai. 

Our first stop, was Tok Wak Singerpore's house. Since Tok Wak was alone, me, my mum and my sister made ourselves at home, by heading to the kitchen and made the drinks for everyone. We also helped her cleaned up.

An hour later, we all headed to JB, with Tok Wak to Pak Itam's house. Pak Itam ordered pizza hut and spaghetti for us. We all sat down and ate. And then us ladies headed upstairs to his private pagoda and had a  photo session. 

After pak itam's we headed back to kulai, and went to Mak Njang's house. Cik Ari met us there, and bought KFC and Dominos for us.  

After Mak Njangs, some of us headed home, and some of us headed to JPO (Johor premium outlet). The JPO concept was similar to the one in Pandorf, but didn't come close to it. They didn't have much choices of good brands except for fossil, and coach. And practically all stores were empty. 

In conclusion raya kedua for me was a westernised raya. Haha...but it was fun, fun, fun!

Raya Ketiga :-

The next day we all headed back to K.L. As usual it was jam teruk sangat sangat. But we managed to singgah to a few places.

On the way back to K.L we singgah-ed to Cik Bujang's house (abah's cousin). I don't really remember them. But they remember me well. Abah's cousin's wife has cancer usus (stage 3).  She told us she how she got it, and how painful it was and still is. 

After visiting him, we stopped by Muor, to abah's cikgu's place. And our last stop was Pengkalan Balak, Melaka, to Amir parents angkats' house. We spent a couple of hours there before heading home.

Okay that was my raya. Enjoy the pictures below. :)

Mak ready to bersalam to her parents.  

Getting ready for a big family potrait.

Still not ready yet. 

Ini lah, keluarga Wak Jamil. 

Keluarga Wak Jamil. Most of us are here. Only missing my aunt,  couple of my uncles and some of my cousins.

Candid Picture of Keluarga Wak Jamil.

My Family Portrait. <3

Getting ready for a Mini family portrait.

Mak's family portrait. 

The only ladies in the Nasir clan.

Mak and her MIL (Tok Ona).

Us ladies with Tok Ona. 

Mother daughter.

Cool eh? Macam picture in a mag. ^^

Pictures session with Tok Besar and Tok wak (Mak's Aunt) at Pak Itam's.

With the Cousins. <3