see what the boys and girls of Crescent Youth, a large group of youth in Houston have been reminiscing about (many are volunteers as well):

http://www.crescentyouth.com/board/showthread.php?t=18521

I still haven’t seen the wave of personal commitments yet :)

I would love to come inshaAllah one day.. =)

InshaAllah one day we will meet…maybe you should try to start convincing your parents for next year.

BTW, Delaware is closer to Canada then Texas! :)

I am too SAD that I missed this….Meet the Sheikh sounds like it was really cool!

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[We] were sitting in the Lecture theater C when Sh. Y. Qadhi walked towards us and spoke to a lady next to us. When he left, we both pounced on her – yes, his wife. I asked her about you, Reem and Abdullah (boasting, I guess – u r famous people).

[my neighbor's] brother is the imam in L . A. and had just recently met Sh Yasir Qadhi and also some relative of hers in Saudi Arabia is known to the Sheikh as well. It is a small world, and getting smaller with the advances in technology.

Today, we were late getting out from home and attended only one afternoon lecture. There was Sh. Qadhi’s ‘Irreconcilable Differences’ and Mamdouh Mohamed’s ‘House Rules for the Whole Family’. We could not attend both at the same time, so [my daughter] and I argued who would attend what. She won – she already knew Sh Qadhi and not Sh Mamdouh so she opted to attend the former lecture. She says it was good and has notes.

I will wait for the CD also : it was sold out too soon at the TDC.

Sh Mamdouh’s lecture started out good but was not finished in time. He covered only 4 stages out of a total of 8, I believe. In stage 4, he talks about children aged 2 -7 emphasizing that children are the most intelligent at this age and can learn a lot. He then used an example of someone who was home-schooled, finished the memorization of the Quran at 7 and a half years of age; and then went abroad to learn Arabic which she taught her mother upon her return – Alhamdullilah.

An embarrassing moment for me – Me and my daughter were browsing the bazaar. She wanted to buy gifts for her brothers and father; she had already got mine – she likes buying gifts. We encountered Sh Y. Qadhi’s wife again. I introduced my daughter and then went on to tell her about the argument we had over who gets to attend Sh Y Qadhi’s lecture when I noticed that he had come up behind his wife!!

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Yesterday, the choice of speakers were less and we attended Sh Baysouni’s ‘The Family Garden’, both part I and II – I made good notes.

Then I started off with ‘Safe Home’ by the FBI, thinking it would be about how to safeguard against sexual websites popping up on your screens unasked and unwanted but after about 10 to 15 minutes of child molestation information(which made me sick, even though we need to know)

I went to attend Sh Birjas’ ‘Sex Education’ lecture. I found it embarrassing at times (because of the segregated but mixed audience) and could not find the courage to leave and have everyone’s eyes on me.

When I discussed the issue with my neighbor saying that the lecture should have been restricted to married couples only, she pointed out that our children already have access to this type of information and possibly in the wrong way.

Our children were either on ansaar duty or at the MSA’s ‘Graduation, then what?’ and so (thankfully -for me) missed the lecture. But, it is an issue best solved by our keep-mum generation by giving a copy of the CD to our children upon their marriage. H

However I think I did better than my mother : When I started menstruation, Mum just shoved some pads at me and told me to put them on. There were no explanations, no discussions until years later when I, myself, was married and had a daughter. I informed my daughter at age 11, whilst waiting for the bus in the cold, wintery snows of Buffalo. I told her what to expect, what to do if at school, and that her body was preparing her to be a woman and to have babies and to guard herself from guys. Then, thankfully, Allah answered our prayers and we went to Saudi Arabia from a public school mixed enviroment to a girls’-only school.

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I badgered my neighbor to go with her kids to the mela. Her kids enjoyed the mela tremendously; She came to the TDC conference too. The first day, Saturday, I directed her to the lectures by Qadhi, Fazaqa, Baysouni and Birjas – this left her with a good first impression, and insha Allah she will continue to come.

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What was even cuter was the baby kangaroo, besides which there were 2 fluffy bunny rabbits, two funny ducks with afro heads, a very stern looking mother hen, an haughty llama, an experienced donkey seeking treats, a timid deer, 2 sleepy kid goats hiding behind their mother and 4 other adult goats, some with goatees, chewing methodically like old men; also a pony ride – 5 ponies in colors of brown and white. I loved watching the expressions on the children’s faces as they rode – varying from delighted toothy smiles to determined, courageous faces.