My First Day of Ramadan

Mmmm, I want another slice!!

On my first day of Ramadan we went to Lancaster for Iftar. Before that we did some Islamic Studies so it made our minds off food until 5:00. At 5:00 some of my brothers and sisters friends came. Then we left at around 6:30. It took us about 1 hour and 30 minutes. When we arrived we had to wait an hour so we made some crafts. After that we ate yummy pizza. Then we has some delicious food. For dessert we had cookie cake. It was very yummy. After that we waited another hour and we prayed taraweeh. Then we left at around 12:20. We arrived at home at maybe 2:00. Then we had to keep our mind busy until suhoor. So we had to do many different activities. After suhoor the guest left. Yesterday was really fun, especially because we could sleep late.

First day of fasting

Yesterday was the first day of fasting. It wasn't that hard. Obviously I was hungry later in the day but it didn't feel that bad. We were going to have iftar at lancaster and some of my friends came with us so that helped pass the time quickly.  The iftar was really good, as usual.  The reason we went to Lancaster was to talk about the Orphan project.  We didn't prepare for it really until the last few minutes before it so me and Mirac just improvised.  Until taraweeh we played outside, then came home.  Then we played on the ps3, and listned to islamic lectures for a while and then ate suhoor.  That is pretty much what I did the first day of Ramadan.

My first day of fasting

My first day of fasting wasn't that hard. I ate a lot for iftar. A reason why it was easy is because my friends came at 5 pm came over for a trip to a Lancaster masjid. when we got there we played outside and talked to each other. I hope all the other days are that easy.

First Ramadan All-Nighter

I titled the post "all-nighter".  Others might protest and say that I meant "qiyaam-ul-layl".  The truth is, however, that we didn't do much of qiyaam, but we did do more of just staying up and trying to keep ourselves occupied until morning when we could sleep.  It might take a little while to adjust to this schedule.  I am really tired right now.

The Lancaster trip was long.  We had to travel almost two hours to get there and when we got there, we were starving but we still had to wait one and a half hours to eat.  Then at iftar time, the food wasn't there.  There was just pizza and it finished fast.  However, we soon got the other food and enjoyed the meal heartily. 

But then there was a long wait until Taraweeh would start.  Basically, the whole night was all about waiting.  We waited during the drive to Lancaster.  Then, we waited for iftar time.  Then we waited for Isha time.  Then we waited to go home.  And then during the ride home, we waited until the trip would be over.  And then we waited until we could eat suhoor and then eat Fajr and then go to sleep.  Wow!  Those are a lot of waits.  Maybe I should have titled this post the "all-waiter" or the "all-nighter-waiter" which actually doesn't make any sense at all.  However, this is to be expected of a sleepy person.

Now, to think of one of the best parts of yesterday, the first day of Ramadan, I would say it was...Well, getting the cookie cake was awesome and it tasted really good.  I want another one!  The pizza was good, too, especially since I was so hungry, but then it finished really quickly because I was so hungry...I also enjoyed going into bed at the end of the night when I could finally sleep.  That felt good.

What were the highs and lows of your Ramadan day and night?

Ramadan Mubarak!

Wow!  We're finally writing on the blog during Ramadan.  :)  Hooray for Ramadan.  It doesn't feel completely like Ramadan yet since we didn't pray Taraweeh, but that will soon be cured, insha Allah, when we pray Taraweeh tonight.  ;)

I gave the first Ramadan gifts today.  I hoped everyone liked them.  It took a while to do the wrapping and stuff.  I am sure everyone is looking forward to all the other Ramadan gifts everyone else will be giving the rest of the days.

Here are some important things I think we should be doing this Ramadan.  Please add to my list with your ideas.

Make a Schedule: We should have daily schedules to manage each day (and night).  There are lots of things we want to do during Ramadan and many hours to do the stuff in.  We just have to organize how we will do everything.

Write Down Our Goals: We probably have a lot of goals of things we want to do this Ramadan, but it can be hard to keep track of how far we are getting along when we don't write stuff down.  It's not hard to make charts and posters and it's fun to see a visible reminder of how we are coming along.  It also helps to compare our progress with each other and try to go faster.

Compete to be Good: One of the hardest parts of fasting is being nice while we are hungry and thirsty.  But sometimes everyone just thinks about the eating and drinking part and no one realizes they have to be nice, too, while they are fasting.  If we all make an effort to be nice to each other, then it won't be hard to be nice anymore.  If even just one person is in a bad mood or says rude things, then everyone will feel like being mean.  But don't let one person be your excuse for being bad.  Let's have a competition.  Let's see who can be the nicest this Ramadan!

Focus on Important Things: By focusing on other things we can keep our minds off food. 

Now I have to send a powerpoint to an insistent person, so see you later!

Even though this post really doesn't have anything to do with jealousy, when I saw this picture I thought it was funny so I put it. :)

Why I am Excited For Ramadan

-shaitan is locked up -yummy food for iftar every day -taraweeh at masjid every day -last ten nights -lots of gifts

How to keep your mind off food

Fasting can be really hard when you are bored. If you are bored, you usually feel hungry. So all you have to do is not be bored. Here are some ways.

1. read a book
2. sleep
3. play outside with 1 hour before iftar
4. read quran
5. play video games
6. make a movie
7. write a story
8. play board games
9. read hadiths
10. giving gifts
11. making crafts
12. take pictures of random things
13. write in a blog
14. write in a diary
15. clean the house
16. cook food(this isn't a good idea)
17. watch Islamic movies
18. read the translation of the quran
19.make a puppet show
20.draw

Those are some ideas of how not to be bored in ramadan

More Ideas for Ramadan

Usually before Iftar it is very hard to resist the awesome smell of food. So all we do is sit there watching the clock. Here are some of ideas that might be able to help that problem.

The Jeopardys would be fun.

1. We could play a family board 2 or 3 hours before Iftar. (In long games we should start before that because mama needs some time preparing for Iftar.)
2. We could watch an Islamic movie a few hours before Iftar.
3. Abla could make weekly islamic jeopordys. (or we could get them from online, or from ablas previous made ones) So one day a week we would do a jeopardy before Iftar.
4. Everyone said that we could just go outside and play before Iftar, which was also a good idea to do before Iftar.

Those are some of my ideas for to-do-things before Iftar.

Family Traditions to Start During Ramadan

Let's start/continue some fun family traditions this Ramadan.  If we all pitch in together, we can make this Ramadan awesome!!

Play Games Together - Remember when we used to always play unique games together for hours and had lots of fun.  I think this Ramadan we should start playing games together.  Only, we can't play running around games like the hide and seek tag one because then we will obviously get tired and hungry very fast.

Make Suhoor Surprises - I want to make suhoor surprises for each other with cool looking food or decorations. 

I wrote a lot more on my website a few minutes ago so you can check that out for more. 

What are your ideas for some Ramadan family traditions?

Ways to Make Fasting Easier

-dont walk near the kitchen -dont think about food -read quran -listen to interesting islamic lectures -play sports right before iftar(not during the day) -play some video games

Ways to make fasting easier

In ramadan fasting can get hard. For me when I fast i don't usually get hungry. But when I am bored I get hungry. I like playing sports but if makes you thirsty. But sports make time past fast. Here are some ways to keep your mind of food. I sleep as late as I can and as soon as I wake up i play video games for a while. When I can't play anymore I would make a movie with huda and meryem. If I don't feel like that I would draw or make something. If i'm tired I would read a book or go to sleep. The last hour is probably the hardest hour. So what I do is play sports for one hour and i doesn't matter If I get hungry because I'm about to break my fast. Thats how I make fasting easier.  

Elaborating on Huda's Post: Stuff to do while fasting

During Ramadan we are going to have 16-hour fasts.  Now that's a long time without food and drink.  As Huda mentioned, there are tons of things we can do to occupy our minds.  However, I have discovered a problem from previous Ramadans.  While we're fasting, it's so hard to think of what to do.  When we're bored, it's not easy to transition from boredom to having fun. 

That's why we should make long lists of fun things we can do right now before we start fasting.  We could have a fun activity basket that has a bunch of strips of paper with fun things to do and we can pick one out when we're bored. 

I think I will start making a short list right now.  Who would like to add to it?  A lot of the stuff are not related to Ramadan, but we could incorporate Ramadan themes into all of them if we're creative.

- Play a board game (as Huda said).  We have so many board games.  We could play one a day.  And most of the board games take a long time to play, like Monopoly, Life, and Friendo.  And the winner could choose the next activity to play.

- Get crafty.  There are so many art activities we could do.  We could paint, make cards, scrapbook, make Ramadan decorations, decorate gifts.  All of those things are really fun.

- Prepare Ramadan/Eid Gifts.  (as Huda also said).  If we work on Eid gifts all month long that take a long time to prepare, then we'll always have something to do when we're bored or hungry. We just have to work hard on secrecy.

- Make up games.  Remember when we were so bored in Chicago, but we made up games and had so much fun for hours playing them?  We played mystery a few times and that other game without a name...the spy game.  That was lots of fun and we all played together and we weren't bored.  We could make a different version of the game and play it.  I have the rules for the game on my website somewhere.  We should find it and play it one day.

- Play Outside.  If it's not too hot, close to iftar time we could ride our bikes.  We shouldn't do it in the morning when there's danger of getting thirsty quickly and then suffering the whole day from thirst. 

- Making surprises for each other.  We could do some kind of version of secret brother/sister.  Instead of giving gifts to each other, we could do good stuff for each other and try to make them guess who did it.  (Like cleaning up tissues, fixing the bed for someone else, sorting books, etc.)

- Treasure hunts/scavenger hunts.  We could make treasure hunts, scavenger hunts and the winner could choose the next game to play.  Only, I can;t be the only one making the treasure hunt!

- Plan cool iftars.  We could plan unique iftars.  Like one could be the green-only iftar where we do everything in an earth-friendly way. Another could be an iftar where the kids are in charge and make everything. 

- Plan cool suhoors.  I know Huda already started this but we could spend more time preparing.  Different themed suhoors would be cool and unique menus would be awesome.

- Plan family events.  We could plan different times of the week for unique family events, like reading club, juz amma review club, etc.  And we could spend the days beforehand preparing for the event.

- Dress-up Show.  With all the clothes everyone got during the wedding time, we could spend hours taking pictures of different poses with different outfits.  That would also be practicing photography.  We could also wear each other's clothes and try to guess who it is if we're good enough at the disguises. 

- Talent Show.  We could have talent shows regularly and everyone could present something weird or funny.  That would also give us something to do in other times because we would need time to prepare for the talent shows.

- No Video Games and Computer Games.  This is the lamest solution to solving boredom and hunger.  I came up with a long exciting list and I'm sure we don't need to rely on the PS4 during Ramadan for anything.

What else can we do during Ramadan when we're bored...that is to say, when we have time to be bored?

Playing Board Games really keeps your mind off food!

In Ramadan, I am usually very hungry during the day. The weird thing is when its Iftar time I don't feel that hungry anymore. I put a lot of food on my plate and then I only finish half of it. This Ramadan I will just try to eat a little food during Iftar. I think that if you do many things to keep your mind occupied you will forget about hunger. If you just sit down waiting until Iftar time you will feel the hunger a lot more than if you at least did something. You could just read Quran, plan gifts, or play board games. I hope all those things will keep my mind off food this Ramadan. I think its worth it because you get sooo much reward and you have something to look forward too, and you won't be able to stuff yourself. I cant wait until Ramadan because I am pretty sure it will be fun.

Hunger in Ramadan

The first few days are harder than the rest.  I miss the morning tea the most.  The important thing I have to remember is not to eat too much at iftar, so I have energy to pray taraweeh.  
Cooking iftars is mostly fun as I know all the Kose kids will definitely finish it :-).
So Huda have you finalized our weekly suhoor menu?  What about the iftar menus?

But not cooking breakfast & lunch does give me so much more time for other things.

Reflections on Hunger

Even though we are not necessarily doing this on purpose, we are, in a way, practicing fasting in Ramadan.  Right now I am starving...I mean I am really hungry.  I spent the majority of yesterday hungry, too.  And remember the day when we ate "breakfast" at 2:30pm when we went to the Chinese restaurant.  These are all great for practice because obviously we are still surviving and are able to do stuff. 

The other thing is that the more hungry I am, the less I can eat afterwards.  This is why I think we should have small iftars in Ramadan.  And big suhoors.  Midnight feasts!  Also we have to drink a lot of water.  And since other places aren't very reliable in providing good water, we need to take a large supply of water with us wherever we go.  I could probably drink ten bottles of cold water during the night.  I don't think it would exactly be easy to carry around ten bottles of water to the masjid for myself.  It would be helpful if the masjid had a water fountain...in the women's section I mean!  Our next project should be to raise money for that.

Also, I have been inspired by the others who put cool pictures in the post so I am now doing the same. :)

My Goals For Ramadan

-pray taraweeh
-review 1 page perfectly so that i can say it in my prayers
-finish surah rad and ibrahim

Reasons why i am excited for ramadan

Here are some reasons why I am excited for ramadan

1. Staying up late because of taraweeh

2. not eating junk food because I'm fasting

3. Waking up early and eating

4. eating yummy food

5. fun iftars at the center

6. watching interesting  lectures

Why am I excited for Ramadan by Meryem Kose

I  am excited for Ramadan....

1. to fast
2. to give gifts to each other
3. to be nice to each other
4. to pray tarawih
5. to learn more about allah

 

Ramadan is Only a Week Away??

This is my first post on this blog.  That's kind of cool, except that Mama beat me to it and already wrote a post first.  I'll probably beat Huda though since she can't think of what to write.  Unless I write a really long post and by the time I'm done I find out that she has already published something. 
I think it's awesome that Ramadan is so close because now we have something to look forward to.  All this time we were looking forward to the wedding weekend and now it's over.  But we don't have any time to be sad about it because Ramadan is a million times better than weddings.

Okay, here's a joke.  It's not really a joke (as Furkan will probably be quick to point out if he ever reads this), but I want to say it anyway.  During weddings and Ramadan, our feet hurt.  But what's the difference?  During a wedding, our feet hurt because we are wearing extremely uncomfortable shoes that leave red marks all over our feet and make us wish we could just sit down.  During Ramadan, during tarawih, we stand for a long time and that makes our feet hurt, too.  Actually, forget I said that because I can't remember a time in any Tarawih prayer that my feet hurt as much as they did in the wedding.  But you get good deeds for praying tarawih and you don't get good deeds for wearing party shoes...unless of course you are making your grandmother happy for wearing the shoes she gave you.  That gets good deeds, too.  Which leads me to say that making your big sister happy can also get you good deeds.

I think we should all make some Ramadan goals and I can help anyone who needs help with it.  For example, one idea I have is for all of us to try to not bother other people when they are trying to go to sleep.  But then, I just realized I won't sleep during the night in Ramadan.  Or maybe I will if I don't get enough sleep.

Another idea I have is to make videos of cool suhoor meals.  A certain girl with a certain apron from Turkey could help make that possible.

Did anyone else realize that Turkey and Tarawih are similarly written?  I wrote Tarawih instead of Turkey in the above sentence about Huda.

I think Huda already wrote a post, too, because we chatted with me a little while ago about it.  It doesn't matter.  I'm pretty sure mine is more interesting than hers. 

Let's start a Ramadan countdown.  Let's do it like the Care Bear countdown.  I love the CareBear countdown except that it starts from 4 and we have to start from 7 or 8.

Why I am Looking Forward to Ramadan

Look at all the gifts!

There are many reasons why I am looking forward to Ramadan.

1. Giving each other gifts.
2. Eating yummy food during Iftar.
3. Planning Eid gifts.
4. Learning more about Allah.
5. Staying up late.

There are many more reasons but it would take forever to name them all. I can't wait until Ramadan!

What do you think of when you know Ramadan is coming?

Beautiful duas in taraweeh

Quran reading ever so close

Early Morning Suhoors & sleeping in late

Pretty decorations around the house