Two new little Dinnies!!!

Wow...two new little Dinnies...Alhamdulillah!

Congratulations to Aisha & Faris on the birth of their precious little boy, Malik!

Congratulations to Ika & Ned on the birth of their adored baby girl, Issara!

Sorry if the spellings were wrong. Hope you couple will write in to tell us all about our young new members, plus pictures please. I know, that most of you have probably seen them. But Julia and I who are far and away, chomp on every little tid bit of informaon and pictures that you throw at us. (Take your time though, you all must be exhausted!)

Anyways, I believe that Sara was born on 14th August 2006 right? What about Malik?

May your children be a joy to you,

May they bring light in your moments of darkness,

Bring humour when there may be bitterness,

Be a balm to your pain when you are suffering,

Be that child that will beseech Allah on your behalf,

When you are gone from this earth.

Love,

Nina

"We and They" by Rudyard Kipling

Here is a wonderful poem that I stumbled upon during my multinational business management class. It is written by Rudyard Kipling, who spent some years of his life in the Indian Subcontinent. His "Jungle Book" the captivating story of Mowgli's adventure in India's jungle is well loved by Taufik. I am assuming that he grew up in India during the time when it was under the British rule. Oh how the British loathed the Hindus and tolerated the Muslims then. And how strange and appalling these Indians were to them.

Arent' we all guilty of enthnocentrism?

Here's his poem, it is insightful and delightful.

We & They.

Father, Mother and Me
Sister and Auntie say
All the people like us are We,
And everyone else is They,
And They live over the sea,
While we live over the way,
But-would you believe it?-
They look upon We
As only a sort of They!

We eat pork and beef,
With cow-horn-handled knives,
They who gobble Their rice off a leaf
Are horrified out of Their lives;
While They who live up a tree,
Feast on grubs and clay,
(Isn't it scandalous?) look upon We
As a simply disgusting They!

We eat kitcheny food.
We have doors that latch.
They drink milk and blood
Under an open thatch, We have doctors to fee.
They have wizards to pay.
And (impudent heathen!)
They look upon We
As a quite impossible They!

All good people agree,
And all good people say,
All nice people, like us, are We
And everyone else is They:
But if you cross over the sea,
Instead of over the way,
you may end by (think of it) looking on We
As only a sort of They!

Rudyard Kipling (1923)

The things Taufik say.

A short funny incident I had with little poom poom the other day. Kim was driving my pick up truck while Taufik and I sat in the open air at the back. It was a beautiful night and the sky was clear with a rich sprinkling of stars. Inspired by the majesty of the night, I told my son, "Far loves Allah soooo much. Mommy loves Allah so much." and my son chirped "Taufik love Allah so so so much...Mommy? Allah purple colour?"

I had to laugh my head off. Purple is his most favourite colour.

I also once read a book about a mulatto boy who lived with a horde of siblings together with his white mom in the black ghettoes. Frustrated about the discrimination he faced, not belonging to either the white or black world, he asked his mom, "What colour is God?" Her answer, "God is the colour of water."

If there had been an answer, this was a beautiful answer.

Love,
Nina

p.s. Here is a picture of Taufik on a piggy ride after a walk by the beach in Denmark.

Jasmine & her little adventures

Just a short note to say hello. The summer months are coming to an end - thank god for it! To tell you the truth I can't wait for the cooler months to come - I love the autumn.... my favourite season of the year - all colours, especially red, gold & brown. I hope Jasmine will share my favourite season when she grows up. She's getting a little bit temperamental these days - I'm learning more about her personality as she grows into her own. Just the other day, there's an older baby joined the nursery and she doesn't like it when the babyminder's attention swayed away from her... and I don't think she liked the other baby either. The other day I saw her trying to reach her toes and succeeded. Everyday is a new adventure for her and it's good to see that she's making progress. I'm very impatient in these matters - I would love to see her start crawling but then again I'm afraid that when she does - there's no stopping her climbing her way up and down... much to our dismay. I think we may have to screw everything down. I'm still learning. You guys would probably been there and seen it but I haven't.

Happy Birthday Ika!!!

Happy Birthday to you..happy birthday to you...happy birthday dear Ika...happy birthday to YOU!

So how did the birthday celebration go? Hope you enjoyed yourself silly.

Isnt it Arissa's birthday this month too? I havent got her date on my calendar so please do tell. And how is Arissa doing? Has she started going to school yet? Did you enrol her in that Japanese program you spoke? If you did, how did it go?

And I realise that you are due to deliver soon, I pray that you will have an easy delivery and enjoy the arrival of the newest addition to your family. Keep us posted.

By the way, has Aisha given birth yet? WAsnt she due last month? Was it a girl or a boy? And the name too, what is it?

Once again, Happy birthday Ika.

Love,
Nina

Working well....

It's the 2nd day of work and it looks as if I've never left the place.. Yesterday, I stuck in and got to re-arranging my section and now I'm satisfied that everything is in the right place.... and it has already reap its rewards when I saw a lot of customers buying them. I'm working part-time (28 hours - 4 days week) with an alternate Saturday working. Stephen will be taking care of Jasmine whenever I'm working on Saturday. It's time he takes care of her. He hardly see her these days.... whenever he comes back from work, Jasmine is already in bed.