A WEDDING AND TWO HOUSEWARMINGS

The last school break went by like a lightning......

At the beginning of the break, we were so busy furnishing our new condo. Mak Uda and family then 'officiates' it by being the first one to spend the night there. They came home for Abg Long Anas's wedding, who got hitched to Kak Izza, adding yet another MD in our family. Mama and Abah were terribly busy, but, Alhamdulillah, with so many of your cousins balik kampung, you were occupied and happy read didnt bother us.

The condo not quite ready yet as the front grill need to be altered. It may take another couple of weeks before we could hand it to Ridel Hotel to turn it into service apartment. Good news for you as you would still get the chance to use the swimming pool, just in time before Ramadhan. We did the 'housewarming' our way. All four of us did our sembahyang hajat individually and Abah then recited Surah al-Baqarah. It took him over 1 hour to finish it. That's it. May Allah bless this house. (Rasa sayang pulak nak turn it to a rented place. The Kelantan river flows gracefully infront with a breathtaking view and from our window we get the magnificent view of Masjid Muhammadi and Padang Merdeka. Very nice indeed. The bonus is, the mosque is walking distance. It would be nice to do the tarawikh prayers there. Hemmm, I might pujuk Abah to delay the handing over.......)

The wedding took three days, the aqad nikah, the kenduri at Kak Izza's and finally the hectic one at Ayah Mat's. Abg Long and Kak Izza make a handsome couple, bagai pinang di belah dua. Hectic it was because the invitees turnout was overwhelming. Abg Long, being so active in many NGOs and whatnots, have soooo many friends and almost all came!! As for Ayah Mat and Cik Ma, they are known for their very courteous way in dealing with people, thus respected by many and people came to honour them. In droves!!! By 5.30 pm all the food were gone and guests were still pouring!! Mak Uda and Cik Jae the Prof took over Cik Ma's kitchen and emptied the freezer and larder. They expertly turn everything into edible things....Mama, Abah, Kak Aishah, Abg Ngah and many others,one after another, ran to the nearby restaurants and took away their gulais and ayam pedas and tomyams in the big pots and pans. It was hectic alright but no one minded because we all love Abg Long. Yes we did joke about it and warned him not to get married again as we couldnt bear to go through this again.....Abg Long is loved by all uncles and aunties for his good manners and for always being helpful to others.

Here's a picture of the happy couple....

Abg Long Anas Karimi & Dr Nurul Izza

We then took off to KL for yet another kenduri. The housewarming of Cik Lah and Ayah Pa. They are so lucky to get a big bungalow with a stunning view of hills and waterfall!! Imagine sitting on the front porch while listening to the sound of waterfall....blissful!

 Breakfast al fresco in Cik Lah's garden.

                         Drunken sailors in full bloom

 At the nearby waterfall...with Nana.





The kenduri was of the opposite end of the wedding. Lots and lots of food was still there by 7pm. Ayah Pa, always the generous one, ordered too much. There were nasi biryani, nasi dagang and bihun goreng for main dish. The desserts were bubur kacang, tepung pelita, slices of watermelons , jellies and the neighbours brought many others. Almost all invitees turned up but most of them didnt eat much as there were also few other kenduris nearby on the same day. Alhamdulillah, it didnt get wasted just like that as Abah happened to know an Ustaz at the nearby Bukit Beruntung Madrasah. A call was made and some students came over and took the food back to their madrasah and saved us from membazir.

The best part was the gathering of mama's sibling. We got to meet the newly promoted Brig Jen Ayah Long...dah lama tak jumpa dia. Ayah Az just sent Cik Ti as he is on his routine 3 days a month of learning deen. We met Ayah Chik Ju, Pak Uda Firdaus and Ayah Ngah ......it was fun,fun, fun....Mak Tok was ferried from one child's house to another while we spent 2 nights at Mak's and the rest at the new abode of Cik Lah's.

We came home on sunday, meaning you two ponteng 1 school day....and now we are gearing up for the blessed month of Ramadhan. May Allah give us the the taufiq to do as much ibadah as possible to get the 70x rewards for the fardh and the reward of fardh for the sunat ones.

OF RAIN AND SADAQAH.....

It's been raining everynight lately. Rain is good. We all love rain, especially when it comes pouring down at night time. It makes the night cooler and the morning after, fresher. Plus, we dont need to use air-cond at night....kinder on the electricity bill. And no watering the plants... kinder on my back...

Whenever it rains, I notice that both of you would immediately recite the Rain Prayer. Without me reminding or prompting, as in other occasions such as waking up from sleep or going to sleep for that matter. And lot more others....you know,where I always sound like a broken record!

 But I dont mind that because I'm always hoping to get reward from Allah for teaching good things to my kids. I always do it consciously......

So, when rain comes, you would recite the doa and remind each other should one forgets. And, would immediately say, "Chik Jah taught us this do'a. She said we would be rewarded as much as the raindrops if we recite this do'a." You always always say that....and I AM jealous of Chik Jah!

I must teach you other do'as as much as possible before somebody else teach you and get the rewards for it......hehehe,see how kiasu Mama is!!

Anyway, thanks to Chik Jah for that. May Allah gives you the best reward......

I hope, both of you, Abang and Adik, will always treasure all those do'as and hafadzans that you've been learning since small and make it a practice in your whole lifetime.

I wont be here forever to see to it......

In fact, I'm writing this now so that you could read it in future and be reminded of what Abah and me are hoping from you.

We hope that you'd be successful persons.That's what we are hoping from you. And you know how we define success.....

It's not about whether you will get to be a doctor, engineer , astronaut or in Adik's case, a zoologist. It is about whether you could live this life while at all time obeying the commandments of Allah, stay away from His prohibitions according to the way shown by our beloved prophet Muhammad SAW. That IS success in our book.

Abah and me try as much as we could to instill in you two, the value of the life in the hereafter. Try as we could, we are not always successful as we ourselves are so full of love for this world and the worldly things around us. The fact is, by teaching you, we are actually reminding ourselves. Isn't it great?

So, my darlings, let us be a family that always lovingly reminding each other, ok.

(Adik is doing very well on this. Always very vocal when critisizing Mama especially, hemmm......)

At this moment, you two seems to have some insight of the value of your good deeds.....Recently, we read a hadeeth about how if you recite 100 ayats in one night, you will be rewarded as one who spend the whole night in worship. I then noted, "oh, I just recited surah yaseen tonight, which is only 83 ayats...", a bit sadly.

Later on, Abang came near me and said, 

" Mama, I counted the ayats that I recited tonight and it was nearly 500 ayats. So, Abang nak sedekah kan Mama yang lebih tu so that you could get the reward for reciting 100 ayats". 

It was so sweet and thoughtful of you Abang!! It brought tears to my eyes......you are such a darling.

As for Adik, you are very fond of fasting. You've been doing the puasa sunat even when Mama is not. I just cannot remember fasting the whole of Ramadhan in my tender age, let alone doing the sunat ones. Both of you started to fast the complete month of Ramadhan when you were 6.

Abang always want to do the obligatory prayers at the mosque to get the multiple rewards . Sometimes Mama would discourage you from going....when it looks like the rain is coming and Abah is not around. I was worried that you'll be cycling alone in the dark and anything could happen. But you'll reassure me that Allah will protect you as you are going to His house. You made me ashamed of myself sometimes.....

So, Abang and Adik, please,please dont let anything rob you from these good habits....we must always keep improving ourselves. 

Lets make tomorrow better than today.....

AZ-ZAIN... AT LAST

Alhamdulillah, Az-zain finally arrived on our shore....and makes my life easier in a way that I dont have to spend so much time reading all those frosty small prints at the back of frozen food wrappers at the supermarket.


Abang,you can now eat the chicken on our table with peace of mind....I hope it makes you happy.


Eversince he reads about the adverse effects on eating mass produced poultry quite some times ago, he has been reluctant to eat chicken. Questioning almost everytime a chicken dish appears(come to think of it, how come you'd never fire any q's when eating kay eff see?) ,"  Mama, ni ayam kampung ke ayam 'bandar'?"  Since it is not easy for mama to get her hands on ayam kampung, Mama is prone to resort to white lies...the answer would usually sounds like," I bought this at a kampung..."(while thanking God that we are actually living a place called kampung even though it is not actually very kampung ) implying that is some sort of ayam kampung....hehehe...sorry Abang. 
I'm sure by the time you are interested enough to read this blog, you would be able to forgive me,kan! As for the time being, you show no interest at all....unlike Adik who would from time to time check out this blog and never fail to declare that it is BORING. Adik!! you are the one who ask me to start blogging in the first place,show some encouragement la...
(she actually said,she could only understand the conversation parts and it is boring because there is no picture at all. I will post some picture once the know-how comes to me...InsyaAllah,by the time you are big enough to really read and appreciate this blog, you will see some pictures as well.)


Anyway....


Mama and Abah are so keen on Az-zain products that we decided to stock up on them...and what better way to do it othen than become a distributor? So,we went out and bought a deep freezer and stocking up. Mama sent out text messages to a group of selected friends,families and neighbours informing them about our new venture. Turn out that they really are supportive and are actually quite well-informed on halalan toyyiban food. So, Alhamdulillah...so far so good. The profit margin is so tiny that Abah said we have to be in business for 10 years before we got back on what we have invested....it was a joke, really. Profits is not our main concern. To be able to have not only halaal but pure food is. 

Az-zain products contains no artificial growth hormones and haraam materials such as hydrolized protein, bloodmeal and porcinemeal. They are also free from synthetic chemicals and genetically modified organism used to intensify production in the normal farm.


One of the bad effects of regularly feeding on this 'artificially' reared animals is early puberty which then will be followed by a series of social problem...being involved with the shelter homes makes me more aware of this. The age of trainees coming in nowadays is getting younger and younger. We even have a thirteen year old.....that's really makes me shiver. And to think that for one reported/discovered case, there would be tens more like it out there....


So, Abang and Adik, we dont want you to grow up faster than you should.....
(i would lose my two staunch admirers who think I'm the most beautiful girl in the world,the best cook ,the best storyteller and the best of everything...you would realise that it is not true once you grow up and out of my wings,huhuhu.....)


p/s
1. thanks to Cik Jah for forwarding the mail informing the arrival of azzain to KB. Nanti balik kelate,maghi la dumoh, kito blanjo make burger yg fat free,msg free and 90% meat.

2. to Adik...i've finally figure out how to add pictures....we start with a photo of Grey and others will come along, tungguuuu!!