Ramadan Kareem everyone!

Assalamualaikum and hi. 

Ramadan Kareem to all Muslim! I hope you're in a pink of health, bestowed under His blessing and mercy. To everyone who have the chance to be with your whole family, be grateful and don't forget to count your blessings. Because some people don't get that. Have you tried eating kurma with unsalted butter? I haven't yet. I have a block of anchor pure butter dalam fridge but abang forgot to buy kurma madu yuta yesterday 🙄. 

Today is our first day of fasting. I told mama if possible I want to have just a simple meal for our sahur this year. Since I was little, mama has been diligent cooking lots of lauk pauk for me and my siblings. You name it. Rendang, sambal udang, sambal ayam, sambal ikan, nasi tomato, mi goreng, kueyteow goreng, masak lemak cili api, masak tempoyak, ayam kicap, gulai ikan, gulai ayam dan macam-macam lagi lah. But year after year, mama is getting older. Her energy isn't the same as it is now. So I told her to not to push herself to cook fancy fancy for me and abang Hafiz. Kita makan apa yang ada, cukup.

This year only me, mama and abang Hafiz will sahur together. Just us. My other brothers and sister are everywhere all around Malaysia. Keeping them in my prayer each time, safe and sound. Sedih sebenarnya. We are getting older. My brothers and sister have their own family now. I remember how chaotic our house was with voices every morning during sahur. Ada yang busy waking up other siblings yang liat bangun sahur and busy help mama prepare food in the kitchen. I miss those moments so much. But it's okay, that's life. 

One of the things I want to work on this ramadan is Tawakkul. I've battled anxiety about the future since I was a small girl and words can't express the feeling of relief it is to surrender and release my worries to Allah and put my faith into Him and trust His plan. Since past few days before ramadan, I started learn and memorize Allah names and meanings. I want to try reflect on each Ayahs and read seerah and also try my best to make lots of Duaa during this ramadan.

Alright, I guess that's that for now. Off i go. Selamat berpuasa again my dear readers. Semoga amal ibadah kita sepanjang this ramadan diterima Allah. 

Hugs through cyberspace, 

Nadiera Hashim 

6:46am 

Kedah, Malaysia. 

p/s editor note: I had nasi putih panas with daging dendeng (mother masak!), and a huge mug of green tea cold brew without sugar! It was good. Dendeng is my favorite dish by the way.