Here

Assalamu alaikum,

Man, the past week has been a big one. Tornadoes and sugar plant explosions in the south. I came to work and the first thing one of my co-workers mentioned after good-morning was that 49 people had died in the storms. She was clearly shaken- until that point, I'd had no idea. Plus the primaries are making people nuts. Duas, always dua'a.

I'm feeling better and trying to make the weekend as uneventful as possible. InshaAllah I'm getting away from the negativity, even if it makes for less writing. I'm fighting the isolation I've been able to marinate in since moving to Conservopolis. It's wierd how into things you are just by living in the DC Metro area, and being away from it is kind of numbing. I just have to be more proactive about information than I did there.

While at halaqa (tuesday, not sunday) I completely went off into a tangent with Samina, asked her the story of how she and her husband met. Those are like my fairy tales, you know? I love to hear those stories. They give me hope. InshaAllah, one day. But she's also got me convinced (again) that I actually could do med school and then when I came out get rid of the debt. To tell you the truth, it's always the money in a situation that worries me, especially when I'm thinking about going back to school. But I really want either the nurse-midwifery or a medical degree. And Samina said that the people who seemed to do best were those who were married (humph) with kids (eg had a family- that I do have, even if my father will have thirty kinds of fits when I say, hey I want to go to med school. don't get me started.) Once I start, I won't let myself stop... inshaAllah. All things come from God.

Man, and we're reading the best book I've ever seen re:Qur'an in English for that same halaqa. It's called An Introduction to the Sciences of the Qur'aan, by Abu Ammaar Yasir Qadhi. I'm sure part of it is that since I've started going to this halaqa the whole subject has become even more interesting, but this book is also just well-written. I've not felt this excited about tafsir related anything since I almost bought Maarif ulQur'an after East Zone last year. Still debating that one.

Turns out I won't be able to go to MSA East Zone this year, which stinks. Elle is really upset, and I was looking forward to seeing everyone and getting into some fun with them. I also wanted to see Taraal since apparently he and Elle have gotten to the whole parent-meeting stage of not-quite-courtship. Super exciting that I was there when they met! SubhanAllah.

So yeah, everything is everything. I hope the same is for you.

peace
Twenny