ramadan mubarak!

the first night of ramadan was after maghrib 22 sept 06.
ishaq came home and made the announcement.
we all yelled “ramadan mubarak!” and hugged each other.
a sweet family moment.
i’m typing this during the first day of ramadan on 23 sept 06.

according to moonsighting.com
the muslim world is still split on the start of ramadan,
but atleast it seems like north america has gotten itself together.
one year the maryland communities where fasting on a different day than dc and va communities.
crazy.

the ramadan books i got from the library are pretty good:

Ramadan by Suhaib Hamid Ghazi
is full of great info,
has beautiful illustrations,
but is a bit wordy.
i sometimes cut things out as i read,
especially at bed time.

Ramadan by David F. Marx
is a great beginning reader book.
even rahmah (1 year old ) really gets into it.

The Moon Seems to Change by Franklyn M. Branley
is not a ramadan book per se
but it’s a great way to link science/nature with ramadan/islam
in children’s mind.
some parts talk about experiments you can do to physically see how the moon changes,
but i thought that was a bit advanced for my 3 y/o.
maybe i’m just lazy.

a friend read Zaki’s Ramadhan Fast by Ann P Moslimany
at her daughter’s birthday party
and it sounded real good.
we may get that one, too, as the month goes on.

sanaa just woke up
– it’s about 7 AM –
saying she wanted to fast.
mashAllah!
gotta go cook some breakfast for my girl.