Kata takda duit...

Raya open houses mcm ekonomi sangat kukuh! Negara ini sangat dilimpahi rahmah Allah.Betapa tabahnya rakyat Msia semua mengharungi ujian demi ujian demi ujian.

I attend office raya functions for the hubungan silrahturrahim sahaja. Dah tak termakan-makan sebenarnya. Last night was with the Tashkent group and a guest from the US (nice conversations 3 penjuru).

Raya di RMC

The RMC gals

Z at her do with her colleagues

Discussions 3 penjuru (Msia-USA-Uzbekistan)

Dr Sheila and the gals

Tashkent gals in tudung

Tashkent gals

Steamboat and grill food

Back to back

Drove to Putrajaya for my women's conference.Kuasa doa..not only I arrived before start of event, I was allowed to park betul-betul depan pintu masuk dewan by the guard cos' he said basement 3 carpark penuh.Not only that, breakfast at the VIP table with people who really work for this country: the DG herself, UM covering VC and his Dean of Econs. Tan Sri Zaleha Ismail was there as well. Subahanallah...a fantastic time listening to scholars and administrators who are so inspiring.Sayang I could not stay longer cos' I had another engagement in Gombak.

Then pi beraya at Hazilah's with groups frm Tashkent and rombongan cik kiah kita.Sakan! Food was fantastic.The girls danced..depa tarik I suruh ajar inang.Haha..jgn nanti dituduh takda budaya pulak.

Mek is in a better mood today so we sat and talked.Pasal Sheikh Hamza. And Muhammad Ali.I'm glad a great change from semalam (lepas minum and mandi air Ustaz dengan izin Allah).Semoga Allah beri kami kesabaran menghadapi ujian ini.

Hospital scenes again

I took the day off semalam to send Mek to see her doctor at Putrajaya.Nasib Faiz ada to drive the car.Jaga orang sakit ni bukan kerja seorang.It was easier looking after my mom cos' she could walk by herself.Mek needs help to move around.Lucky her wheelchair is much lighter than the one my mom had.Ketidak menangis nak angkat sorang! Dr. Jamil is a very nice doctor.Tenang je dia ni but buat kerja cekap.Semoga Allah mudahkan urusan harian dia dan memberkatinya.

While waiting at the waiting lounge at the clinic, ada satu makcik ni who just discovered she had cancer.Dia menangis masa cerita.I had to pacify her and said take one at a time, don't think too far.Hari ni focus on getting well..you are seeing the doc which is part of your journey to recovery..yada yada yada.Then I told them our story..Mek's story..how she was near death..makcik tu dgn izin Allah rasa tenang and bersemangat nak jumpa doctor.But I had a supporter..another makcik..a pic of calm who also told her kita mesti redho..nangis2 tak menyelesaikan masalah.She was so calm...tengah buat chemo but didn't look it.She said she byk solat and zikir.MasyaAllah!

Then Faiz and I bwk Mek pi jumpa my physiotherapist. Mr. W mcm biasa...acting like the genuine caretaker he is.I think Mek moved better with some tips taught.

By the time we got home, it was 5 pm.Penat gila. My doa is I pun sihat to help out.My sisters take turn looking after Mek.

Raya stories

I won't pretend this year it didn't feel much of a raya.But I was determined to celebrate it with joy because that is perintah Tuhan.Raya puasa is hari kemenangan bagi mereka yang beriman dan telah berjaya mengikut perintah puasa sebulan kerana Allah Taala so we went to visit the kubur a day before for my parents in law in Kota Dsara and on day two for my parents in my kampong.First day was at our place.About 11 or so we drove back to Raub.Traffic was good.

We stayed at a hotel cos' mak's house was left empty for so long.My youngest, the owner of the house dah upah org cuci but still..I tengok the rumput still panjang. Sal and family slept for a night.Bihah said byk cicak and katak in the bathrooms...ada katak, mesti ada...eeeeiii.Told my youngest to take care of the house..sayang tak berjaga..kalau buat homestay, sebijik swimming pool lepas lagi tu.

I took more time to get to know my cousins on my dad's side and anak my cousin yg stopped growing at 12 intellectually tu.He's 47 I think but has the mind of a 12 year old but he could read and write (he went to sch until standard 6 then demam panas jadi mcm tu). Nama dia Zulkifli but my dad called him Leik.I don't know who added Chaleik.We used to laugh at him..my dad suka usik dia: hari ni makan lauk apa Leik? He would happily answer: lauk rimau.Or lauk buaya.And we would laugh and mock him.But guess what? Anak syurga inilah yang menjaga ibubapanya yang dah tua.Somehow, his emotional intelligence is very high.He's very protective of his ailing mom and dad.

Every raya, we would drop by to say hello and catch up.Biasa every raya Leik would get rm10 or more from each of us.This raya, my hubby just handed an envelope.Kita tak sangka Leik would inspect immediately.He found dua ringgit in his raya envelope.He muttered aik? Dua ringgit sahaja? My kak ngah thought he would redho and accept it but she saw him get up and shouted at Nik (we were by the roadside, ready to go): woiii...dua ringgit je ke? Nasib masa tu takda orang lalu lalang..suara Leik tak perlu pakai hailer.Haha. My hubby pun kasilah his usual rate.

Malam tu Leik and family went to visit Mek at Kak De's.I had told them about the early incident.But somehow someone gave rm5 in duit seringgit.He thought the same nightmare and asked seringgit lagi ke? Sal said awak kena redho Leik..apa juga rezeki yg diberi orang.He said iyalah..seringgit tu dapatlah beli air satu tin.Sal said ada dua ringgit tu.Dua tin, said Leik.

He has OKU allowance and he would quietly spend it on helicopter control and car control.Bukan main2 hobi Leik ni.But wht else would he do? I think this raya we look up to Leik with more respect and wish him well.

I'm inviting my non-Muslim neighbours over for a simple raya lunch today.Z's friends came last night.Amir and gang.Amir will be based in Cambodia for 3 months.Alia and Hanna and Z plan to visit him nanti.Byk le duit budak2 ni nak travel sana sini.

at Nadiah's wedding post Raya

Konon-konon anak ramai

Malam raya, waiting for org surau datang takbir

Juadah raya di malam raya

Jiran/orang surau bertakbir (our plc was the first)

Macam zaman saya kecil, meriah malam raya with takbir

Serai/halia/lemon juice ternyata popular

Solat raya di surau

Potluck raya breakfast after solat

Dah macam kampong kami

Too little, too late

I went back to pray at my surau malam-malam terakhirnya because dah start to feel less rushed with work.Lagipun rugi if I don't maximise the last 10 days.

Surau pun padat so the room was not so cold.Malam pertama, someone brought a baby who would cry non stop.I ni kalau solat, perlukan suasana senyap..no talking, no wailing.So there was a big struggle within as I did my teraweh and witir.Between feeling angry with the mother of the baby (berapa ramai yg akan terganggu focus solat mereka malam tu) and the understanding that the young mother wanted her lailatul qadr too (which she could get wherever she is).

Then you'd have women who love talking about donnia while on their prayer mat while waiting for Isyak.Yg ni I tak tahan betul. Rumah Allah IS rumah Allah...if in a library kita boleh senyap..why can't we in surau and masjid? Zikir ke...baca Quran ke.

Then there are those who would be so concerned over where you place your feet to ensure saf lurus. Dia nak lurus betul macam pembaris.I will need to refer to my ahli fiqh when I go back after Raya.Shoulder to shoulder should be fine..tak pyh le kata tumit tu kena letak kat mana.

Nik is so good this Ramadan.Semua dia buat.Pukul 2 am dah bangun.Wow! And after his iktikaf at the surau just before Sahur, he told me how worried he was if the family could not be together in akhirat.So we both sobbed and set a rule that there should only be one voice frm now on: his.Z was also briefed that no one could veto dad now...Subuh and Isyak must jemaah now in addition to Maghrib on working days.We have to adjust time to ensure this.

Entah berapa lama le tahannya vow tu knowing how busy we all are.Kekadang imam pun balik lewat!

Ustaz tazkirah said whtever Ramadan discipline we have, we have to continue after Ramadan or hati kembali keras..sifat malas akan kembali jika kita tak buat apa kita buat now: solat sunat, ngaji Quran, bykkan bersedekah dll.In some places, people travel by sampans in the dark of the night to listen to ceramah agama (tazkirah ustaz frm Sabah semlm..he quit his job as a lecturer to do dakwah fulltime in pendalaman Sabah di kg2 yg dah islam but no guru to teach them how to pray etc). There are still kids who eat from tong sampah.Ustaz said he grew like that till sekolah menengah but saved by Allah via wang zakat, ihsan orang that dia dapat sambung belajar till uni.SubhanaAllah..how protected our lives are..dok sibuk bagi bantuan sana sini...rakyat kita masih ramai eating from tong sampah.

Anyway, I decided to create the raya mood early this year by doing some flower arrangements using some recycled materials (botol jam and botol minuman in addition to a few vases I have around the house, often unused).