The Mystery Box

The mystery box arrived about a week before Eid. It was addressed to S, N and H!

"It's from the Islamicbookstore!" they exclaimed, after scrutinizing the box top, sides, and bottom, even rattling it to figure out what was inside.

"Hmm who sent you that package?" hubby and I asked.

I spied S whispering something to N's ears as N continued to verbalize her guesses out loud. Suddenly they both giggled. Knowing smiles lit up their faces.

"I'll open it tonight, " I said.

"Will you tell us what's inside?" they asked.

I nodded absent-mindedly. I'm no good at keeping surprises.

That night, I opened the box with the excitement of a child who had just received the most sought after gift. Let's admit it, I'm sucker for giving people gifts. The process of preparing them for giving is what gives me the thrill; the wrapping, the arrangements, and of course, the joy you see on the recipient's face. With the kids, I have started to write short notes to them in their books that we gave as Eid gifts. The notes are individualized thus making them special. They love them!

We had ordered a bunch of books from Islamicbookstore for them, but as I looked through the items in the opened box, I realized that some of the books I thought would be good for N were too 'grown-up'. So we ordered a new batch of books just for N.

We gave S a set of three series of the Story of Yusuf alahissalam, since she finished memorizing surah Yusuf by the end of Ramadan. H, we gave a book about Muslim heroes in the Crusades, and Umar Ibn Al Khattab from the Golden Series. For N we ordered Salman Al Farsi, Saad Ibn Abi Waqqas, and Saad Ibn Muadh. For all of them we bought the Quran Challenge game by S. Khan.

Hubby, in his cruelty, put in his Economics and Public Policy textbooks in the empty box and taped it up, to give the kids the impression that we never opened it. You will see why I say 'cruel' later on.

I made notes to them in their books, and we waited for the new package to arrive. This time hubby made Baby Z as the recipient.

"Ooh! It's for Z!" they exclaimed.

Again, they rattled the box to figure out what was inside.

"I think it's a toy for Z," H said, convinced with his hunch.


On Thursday, as we got news that Eid was on Friday AND Saturday, I prepared the gifts, including the newer ones for the kids. The 'mystery box' we had left sitting in its original place in the living room.

S, seasoned to hubby's tricks, said,

"Well you could have taped it up again," when I told her how could we have opened it if it's still taped shut.

"Why would we do that?" I asked her, and she gave me a grunt.

I set the gift bags on the little table in the living room downstairs, ready to surprise the kids when they come down in the morning.


Hubby went to the masjid for Fajr, and before he did, he brought the 'mystery box' upstairs and told the kids they could open it. I was still sleeping but I managed to catch him in the act out of the corner of my eyes. I remember thinking to myself,

"How cruel!" but I slept on, too exhausted from the night before to wake up immediately.

I heard the girls talking between themselves in their room as they cut the box open with scissors. Despite my exhaustion, I opened my eyes, and strained to hear their conversation.

"It's just Abi's books," I heard S say to N.

I felt like my heart was wrenched and squeezed away from me. It was a bad joke. I called N to my room and asked her,

"So what did you find in the box?"

"Oh, just Abi's boring books with highlights in them," she replied. I fought down a bubbling chuckle. She left and headed downstairs.

H was still asleep. By then, I was sorely curious, so I got up and squatted at the top of the stairs, trying to make out the girls' conversation. Unfortunately, I couldn't hear much because Baby Z was too busy making lip vibrations in the room, drowning out the sounds of his sisters' soft voices. Just great! I have girls who have soft voices and boys who are loud. I guess if H were awake I would have at least been able to hear what was being said. That boy is loud.

I decided to jump on them, so I came down the stairs quickly, giving them no time to run and hide. S and N were sitting on the couch, already reading their books. When they realized I was coming down, they tried to run and hide but it was too late.

"What are you guys doing?" I asked, feigning ignorance.

They grinned and giggled.

When hubby came back, I told him what happened.

Oh, that was a very cruel joke. I would never have done it, though it did provide some early morning entertainment on Eid day. As for Baby Z, I could have done without his loud sputtering and continuous saliva bubbles, hindering my eavesdropping mission.

And, S, N, H! I know you're reading this!!!

Ready for a Celebration!

This is what our staircase looks like (yes, present tense) by the time Eid came. It still looks like this now, as I didn't bother taking everything down. I have a feeling they're going to stay up there until we have to move and I have to start packing.
It's a gallery of sorts, and I rather love the feeling of festivity. I have always loved putting up framed art in the home, but due to frugalness, I only put one piece up. As we homeschooled, I have taken to putting up the kids' masterpieces as wall decor.
Yesterday we attended one of the local masjid's Eid celebration for kids, big bouncy castles, slides, pony rides and carnival games. They used to have it at Masjid Omar, but this year's Masjid Al Noor hosted it. We went kind of late because we had gone out earlier in the morning for H's last soccer game for the season followed by grocery shopping, and library visits.

"It didn't feel like Eid."

"It didn't feel like Eid," they complained.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

We had spent the day going to Chuck E. Cheeses, where they got to play the games minus the crowd, and redeem their receipts for prizes, visited T and S, and entertained the brothers the whole afternoon, plus they got to goof around with Ammu B from afternoon till evening.

"There were no women," they replied.

I sighed. I had decided, for this year, that we were not going to invite both brothers and sisters because of Baby Z's bad case of eczema. His eczema is so bad that it's all over his body, unlike S's (and I had considered S's eczema to be the worst of all three of them), and it seems that it flares up, complete with hives due to unknown causes, which I have yet to discover. If I were to invite the sisters, it would just be too hectic with me having to nurse him in between entertaining people, and I wouldn't be able to just put him down anywhere (for dust mites or any other foreign particles might be the cause of his hives). It's simply easier for my husband to just invite the brothers. Plus, we already have too much ants upstairs in the kids' room (where we never had them before) that I didn't want us to eat upstairs (which would be the case were we to invite both the brothers and the sisters). The logistics just weren't working out with Baby Z's eczema.

This year's eid however was the most relaxing for me. While hubby entertained the brothers downstairs, and the kids played with Ammu B, I slept with Baby Z in our room. Sure, I had to bustle in the kitchen before, but once the pulut kuning and rice were done, I was home free.

All these years, Eids have been somewhat of a source of stress for me as I have had to prepare food for our guests the night before, most times even cooking after Fajr on the Eid day, rushing to the Eid prayers and rushing back home to receive the guests. Then, we would also be rushing to Chuck E. Cheeses with the kids so they could have their fill of Eid, which is exclusively for them. So it rather surprised me to hear them complaining that this year's Eid didn't feel like Eid.

"Our house last year was brighter, this year it's darker. There were not a lot of people."

Well, I guess, we have gotten the kids used to having a LOT of people over on Eid day, such that when we had people over so that they all have enough room to sit, the kids considered it 'not Eid enough'.

Eid Mubarak! (be it Friday or Saturday)

To those who drop by who are Muslims, we wish you

EID MUBARAK!

Taqabbal Allahu Minna wa minkum

May Allah accept it from us and from you, Ameen.

Eid Mubarak! Day 3

The kids donned on their Eid attire again. We were the only family there. The rest of them were students, single and very much on the ho hum if you know what I mean. I know. I was 'been there and done that'.

A group of students from Cleveland came in and there was one girl among them. She sat with D and me and looking at N, asked us,

"Family dia ni tinggal kat sini ke?"

For a while I had assumed she knew I was N's mother. After a while though, it appeared that she didn't and we replied heartily, "Yes."

She said I didn't look like I have three children. Now that is something really nice to hear!

Sunday was a good day but I was struck with a very great disappointment and depression at having witnessed something I didn't expect. Suffice it to say, it's really depressing to find out that people change. Even though we don't have any business judging people by their attire and appearances, it is apparent that Iman can't be hidden. When iman is present, its effect and presence is felt. When a change occurs as obvious as it did before my eyes then, I could see it as a downward movement, because prior to that, it was better, at least on the surface. We can't judge what's in people's heart and should have no business doing so. Even the hypocrites during the times of the sahaba were considered Muslims unless they announced it. That's between them and Allah, and not for us to judge.

Anyway, I hope it's a temporary stumble for her sake.

Back home, I had a talk with the kids. H had asked me on the way to the van,

"Why don't some people wear tudung(hijab)?"

We replied with "I don't know."

We didn't talk at all about it for fear of backbiting, but I wanted to make sure the kids understand what was going on.

So I hashed out a lesson on how important it is to keep our hearts pure and keep ourselves close to Allah so we don't veer away. Even minute insignificant things can steer us further away from Allah. Before we know it we can be million zillion of miles away from where we want to be.

Overall, the day had a somber mood to it, at least for us adults. We silently sat watching TV, not saying anything to each other, though I sensed that we were probably both thinking the same thing. I still can't get over how it happened.

Since it was pretty windy that afternoon, we let the kids fly their kites. I really marvel at their kite flying skills, because I have none! Even H knows how to steer his kite. However, his coughing sounded pneumonia-like. I resolved to bring him to the doctor Monday.

Over was our Eid weekend. All in all, it was a great Eid Alhamdulillah! May we see another one as we ascend up the ladder of iman insyaallah. Ameen...

Eid Mubarak! Day 2

Saturday: well officially day 3 of Eid, but our day 2 was spent at home, while F went to campus to do his work. We didn't do school though. That night we visited some of the Malay guys' houses.

We were invited at 9 am Saturday to one of the Indonesian guys' apartment, who is a Chef.

It was really GREAT food. Fried talapia with Indonesian-mexican salsa and sayur. I really love frequenting these Indonesian houses.

There was an American lady there amongst us Malaysians and Indonesians. We had a Quran recitation and she sat through it, next to me. I took the opportunity to explain bits and pieces of the verses we were reciting. Interestingly they chose to read Surah Al-Imran, which is chock full of stuff on Christianity. Coincidence? I would never know.

The girls received Love-a-lot. They were ecstatic and lugs it everywhere they go from then on. After the great food we went to Al Maghrib's study session. Lugged all the kids. However, last minute H bailled out as A dropped us off on campus. He had dozed off and when we woke him up, of course he was all moody and refused to come with us. So we let him go with A. Turned out, he spent the afternoon playing computer game in the guys's house while we sat through the study session with the girls.

It was another great day of great food, Alhamdulillah. The next day, Sunday, we are to sample the Malaysian's cooking. Another cooking-free day for me. Nasi kerabu and nasi dagang were my anticipated menu for the day. Can't wait!

Eid Mubarak! Day 1

S fasted full the whole month! Mabrook!! N missed 2 days because she was sick. And H fasted 7 full days, 2 three-quarter days and 1 half day. Eid fell on Thursday, after much waiting until at night on Wednesday. The kids had already gone to bed that Wednesday and they fell asleep not knowing that the next day was Eid.

Clad in their Eid clothes, we all headed to the Bill McDonald Sports Complex for the Eid prayer that was supposed to commence at 8:30 am. But of course, Muslims and their perception of time, we only started praying at around 9 am or later. I didn't even pay attention because we were rushing like crazy, thinking we were late for sure, and when we got there, they haven't even lauded the Takbir yet! S came with me to the women's side while N and H went with their Ab to the men's side. In our rush S forgot to bring her hijab, we when we arrived at the complex she had to wear N's hijab while N had to go without. So much for all the training during Ramadan!

The Eid prayer went on smoothly, we heard the khateeb very well. Overall it was a very nice Eid prayer. We rushed back home for our open house. Received Indonesians and one Malaysian. The other Malaysians who were supposed to turn up before noon didn't turn up until much later in the day, rendering us bleary-eyed and weary. I vowed never to hold an open house without making sure people can actually attend, ever again. To make it worse, it was on a weekday and most people had to go back to class and work. I also just realized that most of the Muslims here live in clans and have their own families to spend Eid with, though I'm sure there are some who don't but they had to go back to work. Spending Eid in a university town where most of the Muslims were foreigners was much different than here. I still have to get used to it.

We had promised the kids we would go to Chuck E Cheeses, but the people came to our open house group by group, one after the other, stretching our open house hours longer than we intended to have it. F had specified it to be from morning till noon, but it became extended till 4 pm. We were also invited to our Indonesian friend's house at around 5/6 pm, so that meant we had to rush to Chuck E Cheeses right away. We promptly left at 4 after our guests left.

I was dead tired by then. Never had I wished for guests to leave like I did then. Some didn't stay too long, but some did. By the time we all were in the van, headed for Chuck E Cheeses, I was very deathly silent; a very abnormal occurence for a chatter like myself.

I felt bad for the kids, because we only had a small slot of time left to spend at Chuck E Cheeses then. We had planned to go around 3 pm initially. So since maghrib came in around 5:30, we only spent a rushed half an hour or more at Chuck E Cheeses. ALhamdulillah though, the kids had fun and didn't demand more.

The last part of the day was spent at our Indonesian friend's house and it was such great company. The kids really enjoyed themselves there too because there was a lot of romping space. Alhamdulilah our day ended with joyful company.

When we got in our front door, S said to me,

"Ummi, here's my money. It's for you."

"What for?" I asked, simply relieved to be back home.

"For bringing us to all those places even though you were tired," she replied.

My heart melted right there and then. Did I ever mention that we were tired to the kids? I didn't think we did. My silence was what probably did it, or maybe I did unknowingly say to F that I was exhausted beyond exhaustion in Malay in the van, unaware that S understands Malay.

Alhamdulillah, to Allah the most High for blessing us with very good children.

We went to bed that night excited to go to another invitation the next day. The host is a chef, so I anticipated GREAT food. Night, night, don't let the bed bugs bite.