Our first Umrah journey

Alhamdullillah, my yearning to fulfil umrah with my husband and our sons was granted by Him. Subhanallah, for He answered my prayers. 

Our journey started on 20 Dec 2013, and as I'm writing this, we are in Madinah, listening to the call of the azan for Jumaat. 

I shall update again soon. Salam Jumaat from all of us from Madinah.

Insert image: our family picture taken at Jabal Al-Rahmah on 22 Dec.

An important journey

On this coming Friday, 20 December 2013, we, as a family of four, shall make an important journey.

We hope that it will be fulfilling, enlightening and bring us closer to each other and to our Source.

May He make our journey safe and easy. Ameen!

Today's life lesson

Idea = p (k + i) 

Idea is when a person takes things that he know (ie.knowledge) and combine with things that he does not know but wants to learn (information).

An idea may not be great. However, a great idea may turn great unexpected results.

Idea perception is the ability to see change, understand what this change will mean, realise the potential of this change and do!

Creativity is about combining 2 ideas to come up with a new idea. Innovation is about executing this new idea. 

Creativity is about doing things differently to make the world better. It's not creative if it does not 'sell'.

A creative mind is the most organized mind. They can find order in chaos. 

Defining the question should take 90% of the time. Asking yourself the same problem in different ways will make you come up with different ways in seeing it and solving it. Thus you will only spend 10% of your time solving it.

Creative confidence is a necessary prerequisite in becoming creative and innovative. However it does not mean that you are creative or innovative. Confidently doubting yourself is equally important.

Kids are creative. With little knowledge, they tend to be very imaginative. Schooling kills their imagination and creativity. 

Creativity can be nurtured. 

Knowledge makes us predictable (unimaginative) 80% of the time the first 10 ideas that we think of are the same like everyone's else. That makes us predictable. 

For every 10 ideas, come up with 10 more from each of these and 10 more again and again. Until we think of the infinite possibilities.

Copying is not innovative, innovative is  about copying right.

The best idea may not be the original idea. Copy the best from the best.

A high IQ does not mean you are intelligent. It just means you are average.

You can teach someone to learn a musical instrument, but to be a musician, you will need to inspire.

An innovative person does not sell products. They sell inspiration.

Are you able to sell inspiration?

My boys, My heroes

Today is 26 Nov 2013, and my babies have grown into a 13 and 4 year old teen and pre-schooler respectively. I love them deeply - they are the light of my life, the purpose of my life.

Afzal has grown into a young man, looking rather handsome here on his13th birthday where we spent the day at Snow City before a family dinner at Earle Swensen, Vivocity. He is introverted and reserved at times but yet he makes good and loyal friendships with friends from his primary school days. He loves being in the company of his like-minded buddies and his awesome cousins. Grounded in civic-consciousness, he is dependable and reliable. For now, he is still discovering his strengths and figuring out his ambition in life.

Aqil is a precocious little nursling who enjoys a good adventure, loving every new experience that he encounters. His fearless spirit made him embraced the snow slides and the iciness of snow without flinching an inch. He is social, a good conversationalist and contributes his thoughts and perspectives on any topics. He can be the life of the party and superb in connecting people and forming meaningful relationships.

My hopes for my boys are that they grow into fine young men - healthy, happy, confident, resilient and successful in all their pursuits - worldly and the hereafter. 

I hope they have the wisdom and perseverance to navigate their life in the right direction, strengthening their hearts, minds and souls in Islam. The Quran and the Sunnah shall be their compasses in life, shining the path of khalifah-ness and intellectualism for them. Imams to their own families, loving and supporting brothers to each other and the source of constant prayers and duas for me and their father.

I love them both to the moon and back.

Ameen.

Flowers

At 4 years, 20 days old, Aqil drew four flowers. The flowers have petals, stalks, leaves and probably the buds or pollen.

'You put a seed, you cover with a dig one (showing hands gesture of digging), then the water goes in. You wait first and then flower come out from the hole in the dirt.' 

From what he says, he seems to show an understanding of the process of how to grow a flower, starting from a seed. He showed a knowledge of sequencing as well as the very basic materials that one may need to grow a plant or flower. He is still developing in his vocabulary, thus more authentic exposure to the plants, parks and gardens will help to enhance his repertoire of vocabulary.

He ain't heavy, he's my brother

My boys in the car

Today's life lesson

Change your Words, and change your World.

An important lesson on the power of words - it can either boost or burst your self-esteem. 

Reflecting on education especially of learners that seemed to be struggling. Educators and parents will have to make a paradigm shift - view these 'struggling learners' with a growth mindset rather than a deficit mindset. How we view others and use the words on them will impact the way they will learn - our teachacy impact their learnacy. 

Praise effort instead of intelligence. It will go a long way.

Looking good, feeling fab

It's been a while and finally found this time to blog. My children are now 13 and 4 years old, and the multiply sites are all gone. Memories and pictures erased... maybe I have stored the pictures in the hard disk but I haven't check - but the stories, the anecdotes ... No point looking back. The only way is forward.... Yes! I'm in my fab 40s - and working towards being fit!!! Since Nov 2012 until now, I have lost 14 kg and I'm very happy about it. I'm targetting another 15 kg more to reach that healthy weight range, so here I am, on a quest to looking good, and feeling fab. More updates later ... :)

Wow, long hiatus

... and suddenly I'm back here again. My three multiply blogs are all gone, meaning my life stories and all other pictures that I have uploaded there have disappeared for good. Not sure why I'm back. Maybe it's time for another new beginning....