You read that right! 10 years ago my family moved to Saudi Arabia. We lived in the Eastern Province for the first 7 years,then spent 3 years in Riyadh and now we have made our way closer to the Haramain. Masha’Allah! Not much to update you on, as the 3 years spent in Riyadh were pretty hectic. I went from a Stay At Home Mom to straight hustling! I worked, tutored and developed several entrepreneurial projects. All of that, along with raising my 4 wonderful children. My children were actually my inspiration behind my Head Lice Treatment and Removal Service (now in Jeddah!!!).
This summer the daughter of a friend of mine got married in Jeddah, so we did another Umm Adam Family Road Trip (National Lampoon has nothing on us!), we also made our first umrah in 3 years. The thought of being closer to Makkah and able to make frequent umrah trips,plus finding out about a great Quran program and being around a great bunch of sisters is what put my plan in action.We returned home in the middle of July, I ran the idea of moving by my dear husband and he was supportive of it. By the end of August we moved to Jeddah walillahil hamd!
Right now I am still getting settled into Jeddah. I have my precious ones in great Islamic schools. Once I find a reliable driver, insha’Allah, then maybe I can update this old blog with more Umm Adam Family Adventures, insha’Allah!
Carol of the American Bedu Blog, interviewed me recently,to see what I’ve been up to two years after our last interview. My life has changed so much in the past two years. You can read the good and the bad of it in Umm Adam’s interview with the American Bedu.
Good news! For the people of Riyadh, the good news is that we now have a Carribean restaurant in town. The good news for those interested in making hijrah and/or looking for a business opportunity, is that the expat couple from trinidad who own the restaurant, has franchises available. They are very reasonably priced. For more information contact Danle Rasheed tropicaloasisinc@gmail.com
The only thing that I know is that it’s located in Marina Mall and the menu is slamming, so please do not contact me for more infro.
…and I’m tired. It was business not pleasure, so I don’t have anything exciting to share. I did get to have lunch and dinner with some Saudi and American friends that I haven’t seen in a while – alhamduillah. I did snap a pic or two of somethings I found interesting in Riyadh.
Honestly, this is something that bothered me even back in my NOI days, when I told you guys about that fine brother I wanted to marry. Him and the rest of his FOI buddies drank non alcoholic beer. To me it is playing a dangerous game and could possibily fall into the haram , because it imitates the kufar. Why drink non alcoholic beer if you are a born Muslim (like Saudis)? If you are a convert who likes the taste of beer, why even remind yourself of that mess? I don’t get it. How can conservative Riyadh alklow thos to be displayed?
This is near King Fahad Medical City on one of the busiest streets. This is a tent pitched in a lot and it appears as though a man in a wheel chair lives in . I just found that interesting….
Adam loves airplanes and cars and absolutely has had a great time on the 5 flights he’s taken in the last two weeks- masha’Allah. However, this week he asked everyday to go home. He woke up in the middle of the night crying saying he wanted to go home. He spent so much time asking to go home that I had to pray that we would be alright, because I was worried he was having a preminition or something. Subhanalllah! Needless, to say I was relieved when we arrived home safely today – alhamduillah.
and now that we are back and I attempt to document this trip on my blog, that^ is what I sdee when I turned around to see what he was up to. The boy is cutting the hair off of his toy horse… or is that his sister’s horse? Anyway, I’m pooped and it’s past our bedtime. I needed to get this in before my husband takes his lap top back to his office tomorrow. My old decrepid pc doesn’t alow me to blog sometimes or facebook or hotmail. My new water damaged by Adoomie laptop has not been repaired yet. So I’ll see ya when I see ya insha’Allah 🙂
After our Cable Cart Ride we headed down in the Valley for dinner.
The men ate dinner in this little hang out. They wanted to talk business 🙂
The women and children ate in the istaraha. A small rest area where we could get comfortable and remove our outter garments. Of course we were served heaping servings of hot rice and lamb.
Day 2 – Jabel As Sooda
The next day we were taken to Mount Sooda. This is the highest peak in all of Saudi Arabia. It’s about 10,000 feet high.
After leaving the mountain, we went to a modern mall. The husbands took the kids ice skating and to the amusement park, while the wife and I shopped.
On our final day there, we went shopping in the souk and had a pinic at a local park, before catching our 10pm flight home.
The park was bustling with excitement. They rented green machines and use of the tampoline. Straight hustlers!
My favorite part as usual is when the time for prayer comes and you see everyone – men, women, and children take a break from their fun and pray! No awkwardness, shame, or embarrassment. It is just natural and a part of life, to take time from your daily activities..no matter what you are doing to pray. Did you noticed those parked green machines? That’s because the boys were praying!
Abha, Saudi Arabia – is a nice place to visit. I’m trying not to feel pressured to live there. My husband’s friend is ill and owns a factory in town, that he has closed down because of his illness. He wants to make my husband his business partner. My husband said that it is the opportunity of a lifetime. However, Abha is for locals. If you are not from there or do not have family there, it will be very difficult to live there. Most people live in Family Apartment buildings, and have their relatives as neighbors. Children do not go outside to play. My kids would be bored and depressed. We are already without our family, but to not have at least a good grocery store to go to would be aweful…lol. We lived 5 years out in the boonies when we first came to Saudi, but my girls were little. Now they are older and active. They take tai kwon do, karate, and swimming. This would not be possible in a ‘Village’.
I often tease my husband and tell him that our family could do a National Lampoon’s Muslim Family Vacation. However, this vacation actually went rather smooth – masha’Allah. Abha is in the Southern Region of Saudi Arabia. We have met many Saudi Families over the years who are from Abha and have invited us to visit their city. It was not until my husband reconnected with a very old Saudi friend that we accepted the invitation. Abha is a mountainous region and a tourist attraction because of it’s beauty and especially due to it’s cool weather. We were treated to typical Saudi generousity and hospitality – from the moment we stepped off the plane.
The wife of my husband’s friend has a family furnished suite building that we were set up in. Most Saudis prefer these over hotels because they come with full kitchens and are not as expensive.
It is always especially nice to open the nightstand and find a Quran in it!
View From Balconey
After getting settled in our Apartment, we were taken to
Jabel Al Akhdar (The Green Mountain)
We had drinks on top of the Mountain at Mata’am Jebal Al Akhdar (The restaurant of the Green Mountain). When we first arrived there were few people but as the evening went on it filled up. After our cocktails we went sight seeing.
I didn’t mention anything about going on vacation, if you haven’t noticed, I usually tell you guys after the fact. I don’t like talking about things before it actually happens, which is why I didn’t mention my lat pregnancy until after the baby was born.
Due to the Saudi Schools being on their midterm break, all domestic flights were booked. My husband is not the type to plan ahead and if we do something it is usually at the very last minute (once I pray REALLY LOUD in front of him ” O Allah Let My Husband Take Us on Vacation and not leave us bored out of our minds in the house again…aameen”). So two days before we left my dh finally went to book us a trip. We were told that we were on standby. I made dua (supplication) almost every waken moment and even dreamed about it. I needed an Umrah trip. Umrah revises me.
We Get to the airport and shaytaan (satan) knows how hard I’m trying to be a good. Knows I want to please Allah and make umrah so my past sins are forgiven. He also knows that traveling with my husband can be the ultimate test. So the moment we leave the house the trial begins. Shaytaan uses him to provoke me. I know tyhis trick so I try to remain cool. Even when he didn’t know where he was going and admonished me for trying to help. After wandering around the airport for an hour and about to miss the flight that we weren’t even sure if we were getting on, my dh finally admits defeat (well not exactly but he asked for my help) and tells me to go see if he was standing in the right line (which I knew he wasn’t but was told earlier not to say another word). So I go off to find the right line and the were all very very long except for the first class line, that had nobody in it. I approached the clerk and asked him where do we go to check in as stand bys. He tells me to go dowb stairs. I told him that we had already been up, down, and all around and that we were going to miss the flight. He then takes my info, tells me that there are 55 standbys. I ask him if they are ahead of us and asked how difficult would it be for all 6 of us to get on. He then started fiddling around and I knew then that he was hooking me up but tried not to get excited. I told my daughter tpo get her father out of the WRONG line and to have him hurry up and get over here with the tickets cuz I was getting a hook up. He then sent us to the Supervisor who alhamduillah put us on the flight. All this time my oldest motor mouth daughter had been quiet. I could see that her faith had been boosted because she was earnestly making dua the whole time and that is why she was so quiet.
We arrived in Jeddah after midnight and took a taxi to Makkah. After checking in the hotel, which was just a hop, skip, and a jump away from the Masjid Al Haram, my oldest daughter and I went to make umrah and left my husband and the other kids sleep in the room. We got to the Haram at 3:15am. I was looking forward to making umrah before fajr prayer, which comes in around 4:30am. It usually takes me around 2 hours to perform umrah. However, the adthaan for tahajud was called at 3:30am. and people started pouring into the haram, waiting for salatul fajr.
It got so crowded, that I was not able to make umrah until after fajr. It took a while to make tawaf and messa, because so many people were making Umrah after fajr. My husband made umrah between salatul dhur and asr. Which is the hottest and least crowded time to go.
I took the children to see the Kabah before we left for Jeddah. This was around 2pm. Can you see the big difference in the amount of people who come at this time?
Here are some pictures from my Hotel Room window:
Do you see how they have carved roads into the mountains?!
I guess it’s just a matter of time before these homes are demolished and roads and new buildings are put up.
However, it started to pour down after the race. Listen closely around 1:40 as the announcer makes the dua that is made at the end of gatherings.
Subhaanaka Allaahumma wa bihamdika, ‘ash-hadu ‘an laa ‘ilaaha ‘illaa ‘Anta, ‘astaghfiruka wa ‘atoobu ‘ilayka.
Glory is to You, O Allah, and praise is to You. I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but You. I seek Your forgiveness and repent to You.
Reference: Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah, At-Tirmithi and An-Nasa’i. See also Al-Albani, Sahih At-Tirmithi 3/ 153.
Aishah (RA) said: “Allah’s Messenger (SAW) did not sit in a gathering, and did not recite the Qur’an, and did not perform any prayer without concluding by saying … (then she quoted the above).” This was reported by An-Nasa’i in ‘Amalul-Yawm wal-Laylah (no.308), and Dr. Farooq Hamadah graded it authentic in his checking of the same book, p. 273. See also Ahmad 6/77
Recently my family went to a race for the boys school. Usually females are not allowed in the Sports Stadium, but since it was for kids, it was a family affair. Still the women sat on one side and the men another.
My girls were looking forward to being in the race. They were so excited and were the ones who told us to take them. When we arrived we found out it was for boys only.
The boys will be able to get in the race in 1st grade insha’Allah.
Remember My Walk In Photos from last summer? Well i also videoed it and it some how mysteriously appeared on my pc. I recently installed bluetooth on my pc so I suspect that since it is paired with my phone then it just some how got there. This is actually taken on my old phone, which is now my daughter’s phone and my nephew gave me his Nokia 95 which has better quality videos. I’ll try to take some new videos on the Nokia cuz the Moto is bad quality and grainy.
I can view these fine from my YouTube account, but for some reason I get a message on here saying that the video is no longer available. If you get the same message you can go directly to my youtube account and view them insha’Allah.
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