Sunday, May 30, 2010

رسائل لبابا... 2

عبدالرحيم و هناء، بروكسل 1967
Re: تحياتي

From: Hannu Naas

To: Abdulrahim Naas

صباحك صباح الخير والأنوار يا بابا،


كم أسعدتني رسالتك التي استصبحت بها اليوم. والله كلنا مقصرين معاك لو تأتي للحق. للأسف مشاغل الحياة تلهي الناس وتضبب الرؤية لديهم عما هو مهم بالفعل. ربما ما مررت به أخيراً فتح عينيّ على حقائق عدة عن الحياة وأولوياتها، وكما يقولون بالإنجليزي ربما هذا هو البطانة الفضية لهذه التجربة الصعبة. الحقيقة هي أن قيمة حياة الإنسان لا تفاس بعدد السنين التي يحياها ولكن بعمله في هذه الحياة وما قدمه لنفسه ولمن حوله وللبشرية بصفة عامة. يختلفون البشر على الدين لدرجة قتل بعضهم البعض، ويغفلون عن أن الدين ما هو إلا تهذيب وأخلاق مهما أختلفوا في إسم الرب أو طريقة العبادة والإتصال به.


المهم، من وجهة نظري، أفضل أن تكون حياتي قصيرة نسبياً ولكن غنية بالعلم والمعرفة والعطاء والتجارب والتكرس لما فيه النفع للبشر، فهكذا تقاس حياة العظماء... والحمد لله أنني ولدت لأب مثلك لم يبخل علي بأي من هذه الأشياء وهو الذي وصلني لما أنا فيه اليوم من نضوج عقلي وذهني و طموح للأفضل دائماً. حقاً كنت--وستظل دوماً--أفضل معلم لي في هذه الحياة. أعرف أنه هناك الكثير والكثير في جعتبك لتعلمنا إياه، ولا أريد أن أهدر هذا المصدر بقل التواصل والإهتمام. للأسف مجتمعنا ليس بهذه الدرجة من الرقي ليعي أهمية من مثلك في بناء المجتمع والأجيال الجديدة وخاصة بما في جعبتكم من خبرات وتجارب في هذه المرحلة من دورة الحياة والتي هي مهمة لأتمام حلقة التطور البشري.


والله مش عارفة ما الذي جعلني أتفلسف لهذه الدرجة على الصبح، بس رسالتك جد أفرحتني وأطلقت العنان لهذه الدردشات، وأعجبني كثيراً أنها بخط يدك، بصمة مهمة للإنسان معرضة للمحي من قبل التكنولوجيا إذا تغاضينا عنها. المهم سعيدة أنك لديك هذه الأهتمامات ولديك المجال لشبعها، وأنشالله لا تمل أو تكل من القراءة وتتبع الأخبار والمستجدات في عالمنا هذا والأستمرار في رحلة التطوير الذاتي.


نهارك مبارك إنشالله وللحديث بقية،


هناء

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Flower Power!

I got up around 7 am today. Had my Everything bagel (upper half, toasted) with whipped cream cheese and coffee with milk while checking my email. Then I started cooking tajeen, peas stew, and rice with chick peas, cleaned around the house a bit, paid some bills... And in between all of that, I finished loads of laundry including that we brought from Hocking Hills' trip last weekend, and the kids nagging wanting to play in the sprinkler.

Once I finished my chores, the three of us got in the car heading to the nursery to get some flowers and plants. Sol got into the driveway as we were getting out of the garage. We left Sol to maw the grass, ordered asked him to prepare the flower pots for when we come back, and went our way. We loaded a cart with beautiful flowers and potting soil and came home. I was exhausted! I let the kids join Sol in the yard... Of course, they immediately turned the sprinkler on and got in it!--and I lied on the sofa to rest some.

Later, Tala and I spent some time planting the flowers. There's no better than getting the hands dirty with soil! I missed gardening. For years, my garden was beautiful and I enjoyed caring for it, but not the last couple of summers. I think it would have helped me if I continued, but well, everything takes its time. It's amazing how relaxing gardening could be, digging, planting, arranging, watering... I should get back into it even if it's only potted flowers. Let the power of flower take over :)

It was a beautiful day and we got a lot of beautiful things done... including Bazeen. We have not had it for a while; it was good! Oh, and I got a beautiful rose bush called The Double Knockout Rose to plant by the mailbox, I meant for Sol to plant by the mailbox. It blooms bright dense red roses from spring to first frost. And yes, Tala lost another tooth while eating anise cookie (kaaka) so a visit from Shamsa is looming!


Thursday, May 13, 2010

That's My Lella!

Tala took the Terra Nova CAT and InView achievement test in March. She brought the report yesterday. TerraNova is a series of standardized achievement tests used in the United States designed to assess K-12 student achievement in reading, language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, vocabulary, spelling, and other areas.

The graph below shows Tala's National Percentile score. Tala achieved a National Percentile of 99 in total score. This means that she scored higher than 99% of the students in the US.

Way to go Tala!


Sunday, May 09, 2010

Happy Mother's Day!


Family Portrait

We all squeezed in the Photo booth last night at Easton for this picture. It reminds me of one Sol and I took in 1998 in a train station in Zurich on our way back to the US from Tunisia. I'll dig it out.
 
Breakfast in Bed Menu

This is the menu for the breakfast Moody and Tala treated me to this morning. They wrote what the menu is and who's responsible for preparing what. Pretty organized and god team work!







A card from Moody


Love letters from Tala


Sunday, May 02, 2010

The Boys and I

It is true what they say that men cannot handle stress well. I know my 2 boys can't for sure. Sol and Moody both have been stressing out since my recent diagnosis. And Tala, sweet Lella, is always the balancing act!

Most of the time I seem fine, happy, and energetic; but it does not come without a lot of effort on my end. I need to be strong, but I also need those around me to be strong for me. I cannot deny them their feelings and frustration, but I wish they'd share them and talk about them.

C'mon guys, chill and help me out--let's focus please. You are the source of my strength, you give me reason to carry on... hmmm, isn't that a song?! I love you!