Mommy’s World

    Jum’at malam.., ke mesjid seperti biasanya. Seneng bisa dengerin tadzkirah dari Imaam, bisa silaturahmi sama temen-teman dan bisa makan "kabab" di restoran mesjid:). Anak-anak juga seneng.., ketemu sama temen-temennya, lari-larian di halaman mesjid, dan makan cheese pizza kesukaan mereka.
Hujan deras tadi sore tidak menghalangi orang-orang ke mesjid. Sama saja seperti biasanya, tetap rame dan hiruk pikuk.
   

     Alhamdulillah, di kotaku islamic community-nya sangat aktif. Setiap Jum’at selalu ada acara. Sister, brother, anak-anak, youth.., semua punya acara sendiri-sendiri. Sebagian besar orangtua mendengarkan halaqah, walau ada  yang ngobrol di luar sambil nungguin sang buah hati bermain bersama teman-temannya, para remaja bermain basket atau mengikuti lecture khusus remaja, sedangkan anak-anak berada di kelas masing-masing mengerjakan kraft atau aktifitas lainnya. Di halaman mesjid beberapa ibu-ibu menjual dagangannya, dari abaya, hijab, sharwal khamis, sampe accessoris jilbab. Pertama kali ke Mesjid Raleigh, bingung campur seneng.., soalnya suasananya kaya’ pasar malam. Memang seharusnya mesjid seperti ini. Menjadi pusat kegiatan warganya.
   

     Malam ini suamiku harus bantuin temennya pindah-pindahan…jadilah aku di drop di mesjid sama anak-anak. Ternyata, kalau sendirian kerasa banget capeknya. Pindah dari madrasah ke tempat sholat(yang berbeda gedung) aja    repotnya minta ampun. Capek banget deh, bawa Malik yang masyaAllah dah berat banget dan diaper bag yang berat juga. Ampun deh….Belum lagi nganterin anank-anak kemana-mana….repotnya ga ketulungan. Tapi, Alhamdulillah banget, banyak yang bantuin. Waktu Faris minta  dianterin ke kelasnya, temenku menawarkan diri untuk jagain Malik. Bahkan aku disuruh nemenin Faris dan Saif di kelas…, biar dia yang jagain Malik. Alhamdulillah…..
Pas mau pulang, ngendong Malik ke mobil, ada yang bawain diaper bag, ada yang bawain car seat…dan ada yang menuntun Saif.
   

    Terus aku jadi tersentak.., masyaAllah, banyak sekali kemudahan yang aku dapatkan. Teman-teman selalu siap membantu.., tanpa harus aku minta. Dari perhatian-perhatian kecil saat ditimpa kemalangan, kegembiraan, masakin makanan,sampe jagain anak-anak dikala aku harus ke rumah sakit, ngejemput keluar kota saat ban mobil pecah di tengah malam.., dan segudang bantuan lainnya. MasyaAllah.

    Terus aku mikir, ingatkah aku semua kebaikan temen-temen? Karena kebaikan itu cepet sekali terlupakan…..Ingetnya cuma sebentar…Coba kalau orang berbuat salah.., ingetnya lamaaaa banget..? he..he..he…Sifat manusia. Jelek banget ya?
   

     Di perjalanan ke rumah aku berjanji.., lebih banyak mendo’akan teman-teman…, semoga Allah membalas semua kebaikan dengan pahala yang berlipat ganda, menghapuskan dosa-dosa dan mengabulkan do’a-do’anya. Amien ya rabbal alamin

(Teruntuk sahabat tersayang di Peoria, sahabat ex-urbana dan college station dan Raleigh, sahabat masa kecilku, sahabat SMA-KU,  danSahabat IMSIS…..big thanks to all of you….)

As I was cleaning Nabila’s folder , I saw a "First Grade Memory Book". Curious, I open the book. It’s a collection of Nabila’s work during her  first grade. There’s a  picture of Nabila and her friends, Ms. Moss and Mr. Ruffin. There’s a report about "Vietnam" and her reseach about kitten, too. Then I read a letter …

Dear Mom and Dad,

I love you because you give me what I need. I love you because you gave me warm clothes. I love you because you help me cheer up when I’m sad. I love you because you said I am special. I love you because you are like an ocean….

I had tear in my  eyes as I read the letter. It is the best love letter anyone could ever gave me. I was touched. That was exactly what I want her to feel. I want her to feel she was special to us. I want her to feel that we always there for her. The last part though, I wasn’t quite sure what she meant. Does she meant we are like ocean, sometime calm but can be stormy too..:)Probably!!!

I love that my kids are so expressive. We always say "I love you" all the time, night and day..:). I think it’s a magic word that warms your heart. Really, it’s a magic.
I’m an expressive person. I would express my feeling toward my hubby and kids. But somehow it’s so difficult to communicate my feeling toward my parents. I think the last time I said I love you, is when I sang "Satu-satu aku sayang ibu…dua-dua juga sayang ayah…". Well, I sent them some cards which has "I love you"  couple years ago……but yeah..I think that’s about it . I can’t remember I ever said "I love you" directly to them.  It goes the same way with my parents. They call me sayang…we kiss, we hug, we love to be together. Somehow we  just know we love each other. 
It’s funny…because I think if you love someone you have to say it outloud and say it often. Maybe it’s part of our Malay culture too. We tend to hide our feeling. When we’re mad, we don’t show it too much. When we sad we don’t show it too much. When we’re happy or proud we don’t show it too much. I just hope someday I could say " I love you Mama or I love you Papa" loudly,  just like my kids say " I love you" to me…..

My kids ask a lot of questions……kids their age  think so critically, dont they? Sometimes they ask question that’s not easy to answer…, sometimes it’s  so innocence. I’m sure parent around the world experience the same things.

When your kids ask question,you have to think before you could give the best answer.
These are some questions from Nabila and Faris

Nabila (age 7)
1. Mama, you said baby come when egg meet with the sperm. You have the egg and baba has the sperm. But, how do egg in your body meet the sperm in baba’s body…?

2. What job can create a lot of money? I need a job

3. You said the first man is prophet Adam. Then he married Hawa..then they have kids and what not. How come we have different skin color if we come from the same people?

4. Why people create money? I think all things should be free. I like free stuff

5. I wanna marry a prince. Are they real? Then, I saw her the prince of one of the arab country.  Nabila said, " I need a prince who doesn’t have beard".:)

6. How my video games work? Why I can pause it and come back and play it again?

7. If we die, what happen to our body?

8. What inside the earth?

9. "Nabila, please finish your meal. A lot of people don’t have food in Indonesia.",
Why don’t you give this food to them?

10. How will I look when I’m a teenager?

11. What happen if two sperm enter the same egg?

Faris (age 5)

1. How it’s feel to be a grown up? Are you happy?

2. Why Allah create spider?

3. Do fish talk to each other? How?

4. Why saturn have ring?

5. How people make race car? Is it the same with other car?

6. Why fire engine is red? Why not orange?

7. Why sometimes the moon is full  and sometime half?

8. Why Baba have to go to work every day?

9. Why grown up have lines on their face?

    Then, I asked him, "Mas Faris, who have the line on their face? Mama or baba?"

    "Both of you," he said. I really need my night cream!!!!!!!

10. Why hair stick all over the body?   

I love color. I think it can change my mood. It’s funny growing up my favorite color is always ivory, light brown or light green. Very calming color…I remember one time my mom bought me a pink fabric. I screamed the moment I saw it. I told her I’m not gonna wear it. She said, "just have it tailored then see…maybe you like it". So there you go, bright pink party dress. I said, people will clearly see me from far away,  like a fire engine. I just can’t wear it".

My mom and my aunt said…."You shouldn’t be afraid of color. You’re a teenager. You shouldn’t just wear brown."

I never changed my mind. I gave that pink party dress to my aunt. She wore it it all the time. That was ten years ago.

5 years ago, a good friend of mine said to me ," I always see you in brown, you might want to try other color. Your skin is fairly  light, it goes with everything". After she said that, I try to wear different color, other than brown. Wow, I had no idea it’s so fun to experience color. Now, I think I have all sort of color in my closet. Red, pink, purple, you name it…I like them all….:)
My mom was so surprise when she saw me in red for the first time…..

For home though, It’s totally different story. I never  be afraid to paint my house with different color.  It adds a personality to a home. I love warm color.., It’s very inviting and joyful. When we first bought this house, it’s all white. I’m so uninspired. I said to my hubby, " I love this house, but I need to change the paint." He said, we’ll paint it . Don’t worry."

He never paint before, but he’s willing to learn it. We could hire a professional, but it will  cost some money. It could cost $300 per room. So, my hubby take the challenge. He paint the powder room first for training purpose. I chose orange. It’s a very refreshing color. He paint it beautifully. Now, his confidence is high…He paint almost anything, the family room, living room, and the kids bedrooms. The latest project  he did is our dining room. He asked me if I want a faux Finish wall…."Sure," I said, "It will add drama to the room". So, we went to Lowe’s  and  pick  sponging technique for the dining room. I love the finish result. It’s so unique. Thank you so much hubby for your hard work……..:) You’re the best hubby in the whole world….

These are before and after picture of the house…..Do you see the difference?