Bismillahi Rahmani Rahim Salaam Alaikum wa Rahmatullah. Okay, congratulations.  It’s been a few weeks since Eid and you’ve managed to completely block out of your mind the fact that you have an entire sheep in your downstairs deep freeze.  You roasted a leg immediately after the slaughter and sauteed the liver and other internal bits in a lot of onion and garlic to share with friends and family, then the next day you ordered pizza and from then on the... Read more

Bismillahi Rahmani RahimSalaam Alaikum wa RahmatullahI always like to be generous, and even though these are tight financial times I want to help my less fortunate neighbors.  There are always donation bins at the grocery store.  You can purchase a non-perishable item and toss it in the bin on the way out.  The item is then donated to a worthy cause. I never do that.  I’m not stingy, but I found out that if I donate $1 to my local... Read more

Bismillahi Rahmani Rahim Salaam Alaikum wa Rahmatullah. I didn’t know Mokhit Hossein.  I never met him. I  talked to him on the phone a couple of times.  Usually I keep it pretty short.  No, brother, my husband is not home, let me give you his cell phone number….  But Br. Mokhit was a bit talkative so he would always ask about the family and keep me on the line a couple of minutes.  I would hang up the phone with... Read more

Bismillahi Rahmani RahimSalaam Alaikum wa RahmatullahI’m feeling guilty for not writing anything the last several days.  I can just about manage a quick status update on FB, but a longer, more thoughtful missive is beyond my ability at the moment.  His Majesty Zaid has been demanding constant attendance.  He’s mashAllah very active, busy learning to crawl, and also appears to be headed for a future in any career that involves yelling at the top of your voice – yodeling? auctioneer?... Read more

Bismillahi Rahmni Rahim Salaam Alaikum wa Rahmatullah Do I love my country?  Today is Veterans Day, so I guess it’s as good a day as any to contemplate this question.  So, do I love my country?  Well, I’d have to say no, but before you come after me with flaming torches and pitchforks, screaming “Love it or leave it!”, let me explain: I’m an American.  I was born in France to a German mother and an American soldier dad who... Read more

Bismillahi Rahmani Rahim Salaam Alaikum wa Rahmatullah Last night was movie night in our house.  We were camped on on the bed, hubby on one side, me on the other, baby in between, my oldest son teetering on the far edge while his brothers and sister came and went.  They were more interested in fighting space battles with plastic light sabers than watching a shoot-em-up bang-bang movie on TV. The movie was pure action adventure, with an unlikely hero pitted... Read more

Bismillahi Rahmani RahimSalaam Alaikum wa RahmatullahI got a message from a friend on Facebook.  “MashAllah, how do you do it?  Take care of the kids, the house, everything?”  Well, much as I would love to bask in the plaudits of my loving friends, I have to set the record straight.  To the question of “How do you do it?”, my answer is “I don’t”. See, what you see on Facebook or my blog or elsewhere is a snapshot of my... Read more

Bismillahi Rahmani Rahim Salaam Alaikum wa Rahmatullah I read a lot, probably way too many news websites.  I read articles about major disasters such as floods, fires, plane crashes,  and other mayhem.  Oftentimes, there is one person who survived, and the media makes the most of it.  The survival is labeled “a miracle” and people are in wonderment that one has been spared.   Then I think about the flip side.  If the survival of one person in a plane... Read more

Bismillahi Rahmani RahimSalaam Alaikum wa RahmatullahGood Thursday everyone!  Happy Yawm al Jumuah-Eve!  :).  I’ve been pretty busy and also a bit unfocused the last several days.  Allah knows there’s plenty in the news to comment on, from a toxic spill in Hungary to bullying to firefighters letting a house burn down.  No slow news days lately, with plenty of chaos and lots of “Beware: graphic content” videos. I have been hearing a lot lately about the state of our nation’s... Read more

Bismillahi Rahmani RahimSalaam Alaikum wa Rahmatullah I looked at what I’ve written over the last few days and I am thinking to myself, whoa, not exactly looking uplifting and inspiring there.  I guess when you’re dealing with a complex topic like the relationship between men and women, you can get very down on everyone.  I mean, look no further than the pages of your local newspaper and you can see evidence of the dysfunction of the family.  And I don’t... Read more