Last Trimester

Ack! My mind has been everywhere with finishing the classes for my diploma in Islamic studies, getting ready for baby, getting DD ready for school, and trying to keep up with the home. InshaAllah, it all comes together. DD is getting a great head start in school, mashaAllah. This last trimester is hitting me pretty hard as I found out I have gestational diabetes, but alhamdulilah, everything else is very healthy. Just the typical aches and pains of late pregnancy to whine about. I'm getting together the to-do list of things I need to get done or buy in the coming weeks. It gives me something to do and helps pass the time, alhamdulilah. Unfortunately, I can't fast this Ramadan because of the diabetes, but I'm trying to support those around me fasting and increase in my ibadah. InshaAllah the fasts and ibadah are accepted from all of our Ummah during this blessed time.

My Newest Obsession

I have recently become quite fixated on being more "green." I have focused on this in the last year especially (not working gives you time to look into what is important :) ) but in the last month or so, I've come across so many more ways we can live a more sustainable life! I'm bothered by how much compostable stuff we throw away inside a non-compostable garbage bag. We live in an apartment though so a worm box, instead of a compost pile outside, would be the answer... but it feels a bit too weird to implement right now, and the hubby likes it even less than I do.

Family cloth is another item that has come across my mind. Now, I don't feel that using it for #2 is where we are heading, but considering that we rinse after even doing #1, it doesn't seem that gross to use cloth instead of paper. I have bought a ton of fleece that I plan on sewing together in order to start doing family cloth for DD and I when we go #1. We even put a date on the toilet paper pack we just bought to see how long it lasts. After this pack is gone, I plan to get the exact same pack and again put the date on it, and see how much longer it lasts.

The current green things we do:
Grocery shop about 70-80% organic, use cloth bags for groceries, only use plastic bags for produce when absolutely needed, turn off heated dry on the dish washer, make sure dish washer/clothes washer is full before using it, reuse the same glass throughout the day (sometimes), recycle, buy used items when we can, sell our items instead of throwing them away, use water filter pitchers instead of buying plastic bottles, use eco-friendly cleaners from Shaklee including personal care items, DH takes the bus to work, use vegetable leftovers (outer layer of onions and ends, etc.) to make our own veggie stock, get local seasonal veggies from a local farm/CSA, make our own jams using the veggies from the CSA... hmmmm, that's all I can think of right now.

Things to do:
Cloth diaper baby, use cloth wipes for baby, family cloth for #1, reduce overall waste, unpaper towels, compost/worm bin

It's amazing what ideas you come up with when you are simply trying to plan for an upcoming child. :)

Do We Look Outside of Ourselves?

We're faced again with a challenge of our faith. We ask that those around us who ask us to be Christian, at least understand what we believe. We aren't asking anyone to be Muslim... just to have a clue about what we believe. Frankly, I'm sick of seeing emails and literature that talks about how Islam is the black-man's religion and Christianity is the white-man's religion. Hello?!?!?! I'm white as paper, and while my husband tans nicely, he's white too. Do you think we'd get into a religion that taught us that white people are the devil? Ugh. Why is not logic and reason used. And why is what "makes you feel good" so dang important? It used to feel good to do bad things... but now, that doesn't feel good anymore. We instead need to stick with what is solid, what matters, and what is not going to change over time. The things that are important in this life, are not always going to make you "feel good." Heck, the baby just did a big flip in my belly, which didn't feel good. Labor isn't going to feel good either. That doesn't mean we run away from having kids.

I try to understand why we are faced with such opposition on something people know near nothing about. All I can come up with is fear - fear of what is outside of themselves. Do we all assume that we know everything, or that our pastor knows all? Any new idea is thrown out the window because it wasn't given to us on the silver platter of "what makes you feel good" or it wasn't presented in a way that matches what you believe already? Why are we always wrong when no one knows what we even believe? *sigh*

I just don't get it.

Daily Lessons

In an effort to make sure DD doesn't deteriorate over the summer, she will be working on some lessons. We went to our local Barnes and Noble to find some workbooks she likes. She picked out a Summer Links book that includes Math, Reading, and Test Prep and I was planning on that being the only thing she was going to work on, but she found an American History workbook that she wanted, so we purchased that as well. She absolutely loves History, so who am I to say no? In fact, we got a membership to our History Society so we can visit various museums and sites throughout the summer. She's so excited!

So each day she is assigned:
Math: 2 pages from her workbook
Reading: 20 minutes of any book she chooses and 2 pages from her workbook
Test Prep: 2 pages from her workbook
History: 6 pages from her workbook
Islamic Studies: 1-2 lessons from her ad-Duha curriculum (See a breakdown of this below)
Writing: Write a blog daily that includes a couple paragraphs or more on any topic of her choosing

So, before anyone thinks I'm being all harsh-like over her summer vacation, the first 4 items take her a half hour total (minus the 20 minutes of reading). Islamic Studies takes the longest, and she knew that we'd spend time on this over the summer because a) she doesn't have her weekend Islamic studies over the summer and b) the curriculum I just signed her up for this year is quite advanced, so she is a couple grades behind their expectation and we want to catch up.

With that said, here's the breakdown of ad-Duha. For anyone interested in an Islamic Studies curriculum for their kids, I highly recommend ad-Duha! Each one of these items is a lesson, and like I said, we will do 1-2 lessons each day, depending on time available.

Qur'an: Read 15 minutes of Qur'an every day. Qur'an lesson is reviewing memorized surahs and learning new ones.
Tafseer:  Learn the meaning of surahs, learn vocabulary words, and surrounding situation behind a surah
Names of Allah: Learn the 99 names of Allah and their meaning
Adi'yaa: Learn various supplications such as leaving the home, Ayat ul-Kursi, entering the masjid, etc.
Arabic: We are learning how to join letters currently

I'm expecting that we will work on these things roughly 4 days a week, but it being summer, we aren't super strict on it. I want to enjoy the summer and be outside (in the mornings, before it gets HOT) and enjoy time with friends before we get back into school and a stricter schedule. InshaAllah this summer will be highly enjoyable for both of us.

Done with school!!!

I'm so proud of DD!! She finished school 7 days early, mashaAllah. She really worked hard this year to exceed the goals set by her teacher, then she set a goal to finish by this Friday (4 days early), and she even exceeded that goal by finishing on Tuesday! Alhamdulilah, she is such a great student, mashaAllah.

So yesterday was our "first day of summer" and we started it beautifully. We went for a bike ride at about 8am, before it got too warm outside for us to really enjoy it. We came home to plant the remaining flowers on our porch and we cleaned up the porch by removing the bird's nest (yes, we removed it... I typically wouldn't, but seriously... they need to make it in a tree, not the side of a building, please), cleaning up all the bird poop from the chairs and cleaning the chairs generally, and sweeping the porch (including all said bird poop). I still need to throw away some stuff, but I'll get to that in due time.

We had a pretty relaxing day and made goals for what she's going to do this summer. She looked at the programs offered through our local Gifted and Talented Institute and made her top 3 picks which include Make Your Own Computer, Fencing, and Sonic Blast Rock and Roll (they make their own band). We made a chart that includes everything she should be doing every day, which does include some lessons four days a week. I'll include this on another post, for those not interested in our homeschooling stuff. :) Alhamdulilah, Kira loves school and learning, so she doesn't mind doing some work over the summer, and really, she is not even doing a half day in comparison to her normal school day. I told her she doesn't get to become a vegetable when the weather gets nice.

MashaAllah, I'm just so proud of her, and she's such a great kid! She helps with chores, does her school work, doesn't talk back. How did I get so fortunate?

Yay! Ultrasound!!

Alhamdulilah wa mashaAllah, we got an ultrasound done yesterday! I was a bit worried I was having twins which, yes, I know is a blessing, but it is SCARY also! I'm not a big person, and I just think that one at a time is enough for me, inshaAllah. Baby is healthy and mashaAllah, in perfect order. I feel so blessed. Now, as the first child born into Islam, I need to learn the sunnah acts for its birth such as saying the Athan (call to prayer) in the baby's ear, having an aqeeqah, etc. So much to learn, but it feels like we have a ton of time because this pregnancy is going sooooooooo slow! I'm so excited to raise a child from the time it is born into Islam, because switching gears when DD was 7 (when I converted to Islam) was jarring for both of us, and we are still getting adjusted to it (no bacon, please)! Top that off with she is with her dad's family, who doesn't like the idea of her ever being Muslim and puts pork on her plate for dinner.... let's just say it makes her life that much harder and I'm afraid of her living a double life because she's being pulled in two different directions.

We have four Bibles at home; a Revised Standard Version, King James, Catholic, and Jehovah's Witness. She is more than welcome to pick one, preferably the RSV just because from my knowledge it has the most accurate text of the four, and read it. She says she plans on finishing the Qur'an first (she is assigned 15 minutes of reading Qur'an each day per a lesson plan we have setup on Islamic studies) just so she doesn't get the texts mixed up in her brain. MashaAllah, I'm proud of her for making a plan, knowing what is best for her learning, and continuing with her education.

So yeah, fun times. I really look forward to educating both DD and coming baby in Islam... it's the teacher and student in me.

Need to combat my short attention span

After watching an episode of Frontline about our technical age and they touched on the effect of this technology on our attention span, I started thinking about how long I pay attention to things lately. I take pride in my great multitasking ability, but I have a hard time sitting down and reading a book! So, I've decided that I need to make myself concentrate on one thing at a time, and make time to sit down and read books... you know, with paper and ink (no wai)!

It's hard to break old habits, and especially hard to change how much time you give to certain tasks. Staying on one webpage at a time or within one application on the laptop is especially hard. InshaAllah it'll get easier because I need to get back to the books including finishing reading the Bible, continue reading Qur'an (always) and just never stop learning, inshaAllah.

As for the computer, it is easiest when I have a task to complete, but with my free time... that still needs some work.