First day of Ramadhan!

Salam!

Bismillah

So RAMADHAN MUBARAK everyone out there!!!!

Fasting Today:
I woke up and there was no food in the house, lol. I had stale bread and peanutbutter with water for suhoor, and alhamdulillah that I had at least that much!
Around 7 o'clock (we break fast here at around 8) my dad decides to order my FAVORITE pizza. I was like... dad I have to go. He was like, don't you want some pizza? *curious/shocked face* and I was like... uhm no thanks. He still doesn't know that I converted so therefore has no idea that I'm fasting.
Alhamdulillah I got hungry, but not too hungry. InshaAllah it keeps getting better and better.

May Allah accept your fasts and prayers, protect you from the fire, and give you the best in this life and the next, ameen!

Sunnah Prayers II

Salam!

Bismillah

I have done more research and made another table of Sunnah prayers! I included the prayer name, time, # rakaat, and benefits to help motivate us all inshaAllah!I also left a square open at the front if you want to print the list and check it off at the end of the day :-D

It should also be noted that if you add these prayers, it is better to keep them consistent, even if you only add one per day.

The Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace) said to Ibn Umar (Allah be pleased with him), “O Abd Allah! Do not be like so-and-so. He used to pray at night and then left it.” [Bukhari and Muslim] Therefore, one should take on an amount of works one can sustain, for the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace be upon him, his family, and companions) said, “The most beloved of actions to Allah are the most constant, even if little.” [Bukhari and Muslim] [Ibn Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar, from Ibn Amir Haajj’s Halba]



If you can't read the words after you download the picture, just e-mail me at findingguidance AT gmail DOT com and I will send you the original word document inshaAllah!

Are you Hot in that?

Salam!

Bismillah

Okay I feel like everyone who doesn't live at the north and/or south pole has heard this question before.

"Oh MY, aren't you HOT wearing that scarf?!?"

My favorite answer...?

"No ma'am, I'm wearing this scarf because I AM hot!" *wink*

Heart Wheel Journal

Salam!

Bismillah

The other day I was reading blogs and I came across a coment on one of the posts. I can't remember whose blog it was, or who made the comment, but they suggested that the person go to islamchannel.com to look up something called a Heart Wheel Journal. I had no idea what this was, so I clicked the link, but it didn't work, so I was still in the dark.

Today, subhanAllah, I decided to google it and I found the website and the Heart Wheel Journal is just FANTASTIC!!!! MashaAllah, it has a lot of good reminders and prompts you to really think about getting closer to Allah every day.

The link is **HERE** and I strongly encourage everyone to download it and at least look it through and see if you like it! It only takes just a few seconds, and I think that it will be worth it, inshaAllah.

Let me know what you think!!!!!

Sunnah Prayers

Salam!

Bismillah

One of my goals this Ramadhan is to incorporate the Sunnah Prayers into my day. I figured I needed to find when all of the Sunnah Prayers were and how to execute so I found this really handy table!


from **this website**

Hope that this is helpful!

Little Children :-D

Salam!

Bismillah

MASHAALLAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! InshaAllah I will be able to teach my children (if I am so fortunate to have them) this well!!!



PLEASE REMEMBER TO SAY MASHAALLAH!!!

*On a side note* My mom saw this and was really offended that it called Christians "the misguided." She doesn't believe everything that Christians believe, but still considers herself one, so this was very "personal" to her. So if you know someone under the same circumtances, best avoid showing them this video.

Dreams

Image via Wikipedia

Salam!

Bismillah

I keep having dreams. Not really bad dreams, so I don't feel bad talking about it, just weird dreams.

You know how people have those dreams where they are going about daily life, then they realize they are naked in public? Well I have dreams that I am going about daily life, then I realize that I'm not wearing hijab.

I heard a long time ago that this happens when people are nervous about something, like going back to school or public speaking or something. Maybe that is my problem: I'm nervous about something. Don't really know what... but yeah, lol.

It just reminds me how attached I am to my hijab, alhamdulillah.

Do you guys have weird recurring dreams too?

Award from Laila of Course!

Salam!

Bismillah

Today I recieved an award from Laila at selections in the life of a muslim girl!!!! It was her first award and my first award too, awwww! :-D *big cheesy grin*



In the words of Laila, "in keeping with the tradition of bringing up the spirits of 6 lovely blogs that need encouragement or some material appreciation" I would like to pass this award on to:

Dedra at MY DEEN IS AWESOME!

The Light of Islam

OhSoMuslim

Malizea at Simply Ramadan

Fatimah at Forever Fatimah

Stacy aka Fahiima from Livin in Layla Land

SubhanAllah

Salam!

Bismillah

I was reading a website called "Holla Back New York" where people who live in New York City can report harassment. They can submit location, time, pictures, etc. in order to shame the harassers and also to help others avoid that situation.

I came across **this** report and I just thought, wow... SubhanAllah, Allahu Alim.
*note* the post I linked to does have some foul language, fyi

This girl was being harassed and what did she do?!?! She wrapped her scarf around her head and shoulders to protect herself.

SubhanAllah.

Ramadhan Objectives

Salam!

Bismillah

I weekly attend a halaqah (sort of study group) with several ladies at my local masjid. We share with eachother the things that we have learned. One of the ladies challenged us this week to create a list of our objectives for Ramadhan this year so that we can mark our progress and really keep ourselves focused on bettering ourselves for the pleasure of Allah subhana wa ta'ala!

I was thinking of saving this post until two weeks before Ramadhan, but I think the sooner we all start thinking about it, the better ;-)

Okay so the following will be a list of my goals for this Ramadhan, inshaAllah. This will be my first Ramadhan and could very well be my last Ramadhan so I hope to make it worth it, inshaAllah. Also who even knows if we will make it to Ramadhan... so I'm trying to start now on these goals as well.

If you have goals that you are planning on, or if you do a post about this as well please let me know because I definitely would like input on this!!!!!

1. complete all 5 fard prayers PROMPTLY on time
2. pray/incorporate sunnah prayers into my day
3. give at least $1 to charity per day
4. spend at least one Saturday working at our local soup kitchen
5. memorize one of the longer surahs
6. help provide food for iftar at our masjid at least twice (mashaAllah our masjid does iftar every day during Ramadhan!)
7. try to cultivate real friendships with women who will help me grown in my deen (thanks to all of you bloggers out there who already help me with this!!!!!!)
8. avoid gossip and television
9. attend Arabic class every day with the intention of learning so that I might read and understand the Qur'an in order to worship Allah better (I will be taking Arabic 1 at university in the fall, inshahAllah)
10. not eat too much at iftar, try to be moderate
11. get in the habit of saying "bismillah" with the intention that everything I do will be in the sight/will of Allah
12. attend as many tarawih prayers as possible at the masjid
13. try to give dawah
14. try to incorporate niqab: I admire the modesty and believe it is better for our hearts. If I believe it is better, why do I not do it? (Please let me know what you think of this one sisters, because I'm not 100% yet!)
15. keep my home and myself as clean as possible

These are what I have come up with so far! Please comment and let me know what you think.. additions, subtractions, general thoughts, etc.

I pray that we all make it to Ramadhan this year in order to worship Allah during that holy month!! Ameen

Finding Friendship...

Salam!

Bismillah

Growing up, I was always more comfortable around guys. I have one brother and spent all my time playing with him and the other neighborhood boys. Once I got to school, it was just a given that all of my friends there would be guys. Girls were wayyyyy too confusing for me...

As I matured, girls did not enjoy my close friendships with "their" boys and so making friends with girls was even harder.

Eventually I went to college I made more friends (some girls), mostly guys. Finally I fell in with a crowd of Muslim guys. I know you are thinking... haram... these guys should know better than to hang out with girls!!! And you are right of course, but we became friends never the less and I positively INUNDATED them with questions about Islam. So inshaAllah they will be rewarded for dawah even though I was a chick.

Okay so I started to love Islam and decided to convert. As a result, I decided to stop hanging out with these guys. I decided to stop hanging out with ALL guys unless it was unavoidable (like in classes and study groups and such). SO as a result of this result (lol) I find myself with a religion I love and no friends.

I have of course met many ladies at the masjid, but all of them are much older than me and so don't share my views or problems. I made a friend online here and we talk a lot and I love her dearly as if she were my very own (little) sister :-P However sometimes I just want to get OUT of the house, lol.

So I prayed that I would be given HALAL friends (lol) that would help me practice my deen and also keep me occupied and SUBHANALLAH I met two Albanian sisters today at the masjid and I'm going to hang out with them tomorrow. They seem to have the same kind of background and sense of humor that I do and I am SO excited to become friends, inshaAllah!!

Okay that was just my exciting news for the day as well as a smidge more background :-D
Love you girls!!!!

Vacuum

Salam!

Bismillah

I was halfway through vacuuming my room (at 3:45am) and my vacuum exploded. It made a weird noise and started smoking... now my whole house smells like burned rubber.

Looks like I will be taking a trip to Wal-Mart tomorrow for a belt... bummer.