Visit to the Monument Garden

The lesson at last week's Rose Garden class was about the Holy Family. The children had a special trip afterwards to the Monument Garden...here's what happened that morning.

singing songs before heading to the trip





















Selvi, the teacher of the day talking about the Holy Family & where their resting places are located.

getting the kids ready for the short tour

saying some prayers together at the resting place of the Greatest Holy Leaf

holding hands

saying prayers at the resting place of Abdul-Baha's wife, Munirih

visit to Navvab & Mirza Mehdis' resting places

everyone

Rose Garden class photos...

Soon our dear Enna-Marie will be graduating from Rose Garden class (that is when she turns three in December), and it was nice that we were able to take a group photo of the children. Here how the photo shooting turned out...

trial one...

trial two...

this time with their mommys

Big Girl indeed!

We've been back to Haifa for more than a month now and thought of updating you all on what has been happening with us lately, especially with our growing daughter Enna-Marie.

First we decided to stop the use of the pacifier which Enna-Marie used for eight months after being weaned from mommy's milk. We told her she's a "big girl" now and that "big girls" don't use paci. She agreed and got excited when we suggested to have a little 'paci-cutting' ceremony. We helped her cut the nipple of the paci, so that she would know it wasn't working anymore. She only asked for it 2-3 times without crying and she was perfectly fine since then.

Second we moved her from her crib to a big bed, we bought a guard-rail and placed it at the side so she can't fall off the bed. We are happy that she likes her new bed and she tells us that she is now a "big girl" and not anymore a baby. Of course, her newly afforded 'freedom' means that she occassionally would come out of bed when she's supposed to be sleeping, but on the whole she seems to have been dealing with this change quite well!

Then third this month, we decided to bring her to kindergarden (Gan in Hebrew). It is a privately owned nursery, and you may remember seeing some photos of the Gan that we posted earlier this year. We decided to bring her earlier than we originally planned, which is when she turns three in December, since we can see that she is very independent and is ready to mingle and socialize with other children. Also since there are two other children from the World Centre who are also going to this school for the first time, one of which is even two weeks older than she is, it helped us in deciding to bring her as we know it will be easier to adjust altogether to this new environment. So far, she is doing fine in school, meeting new friends, doing some arts and crafts, learning music and some Hebrew words, playing with friends. And most importantly, she is happy!

The last new thing that she recently learned is using her potty-going to the bathroom. She basically one day initiated it herself and has wanted to use it more and more ever since. By now she is not wearing diapers anymore during the day (oh she loves wearing panties or underpants), but only at night. The teacher and the assistants at school have also greatly helped and encouraged her in this process.

We are so happy and impressed with these milestones and we so much enjoy seeing her develop every day and watch our little one growing into "big girl" Enna-Marie.

Here are some of her recent photos...

cutting her pacifier

showing her new bed

smiling for mommy at kindergarden's first day of class

painting with her new friend Rodrigo

here she is back to Rose Garden class

swimming at the balcony with Tara & Lillian

another photo with her girlfriends at Rose Garden

imitating mommy when she saw her singing & playing guitar

happy smile

content smile after eating dinner

telling a story to mommy

eating ice cream with Rodrigo

Enna-Marie started attendng Baha'i School as well this month

snack time at Baha'i school

with friends Aliyah & Layla at Gan

some art works of Enna-Marie...

Enna-Marie this past week

wearing mama's jazz dancing shoes...

and wedding shoes...

spending time with friends at Rose Garden class

singing happily the song 'if you're happy and you know it...'

waiting for papa in Bahji

singing "ring a ring a rosy a pocket full of posie"

typical pose of Enna-Marie these days

and this too at Bahji Visitors Centre

Happy Naw-Rúz!

Naw-Rúz marks the first day of spring and the beginning of the Bahá'í calendar. Bahá'ís all over the world celebrate it as a festive day. We had a pretty busy weekend. On Thursday at the Rose Garden class, the children had a special lesson about Naw-Rúz, did some crafts and ate delicious snacks. Some older siblings were there too so it was really a big party. It was also Tara's first time to come to the class. Then in the evening, the Laroya family and Necati joined us for dinner at the mall. We had a delightful dinner in one of the restaurants there and later treated ourselves with ice-cream (ooh, what a nice feeling after fasting!). On Friday, we went to the Naw-Rúz programme. That evening we hosted a dinner together with the Burias family for the visiting friends Josie Galehr with husband Hubert, and Corinne Padilla and husband Kevin. Josie is a good friend of Menchie's mom back home, she is living with her husband in Austria. Our friends Corinne and Kevin were both serving at the World Centre before, they moved to Holland after they finished their term and are now settling in Ireland. Saturday event was a beach party organized by the Filipino friends.

Happy Naw-Rúz everyone. Enjoy once more our photos...

Lillian joins Rose Garden

Last week we welcomed our friend Lillian in the Rose Garden class as she recently turned 18 months old. My mommy said that she was so well behaved. That day, we learned that we should obey our parents and make them happy. Below are two photos that my mommy took during the class.

Ayyám-i-Há Festivities

Sorry we neglected to blog as we have been busy this past week due to the Ayyám-i-Há festivities. Starting with Monday, we had a party at our Mother Goose class, then Tuesday was a special day where the children in the Rose Garden and Brilliant Star classes joined together and made cookies for the staff in the Office of Personnel. On Wednesday, we (me and four other moms with our girls) visited our friend Cllyv and daughter Sheehan in Akka. First we visited the Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh together, and then headed off to Cllyv's house and had a delicious lunch. We had a good time there and hope to do this again. On Thursday there was no Rose Garden class, but instead brought our kids to Kat Katim indoor play area in the Castra mall. In the evening we had an Ayyám-i-Há party for all the families that was held in the PRC. For the last couple of weeks I have been preparing some materials for the stationery card making that I volunteered to handle during the party. I am glad some children (and even moms and other friends) came to our table and enjoyed making their own cards for different occasions (Ayyám-i-Há, Ridvan, Naw-Ruz, Birthday, etc.). The last party we attended was Friday's party with the Filipino friends where we were only able to participate in the sing-a-long portion and of course another delicious dinner (the friends had exchange of gifts and played some games before we came).

We wish our families and Bahá’í friends a Happy Ayyám-i-Há and a blessed fast!

Arts & Crafts Show 2008

We put some art works at the recent Arts & Crafts show. At this annual event, the friends have the opportunity to share their artistic talents with the rest of the community in a spirit of encouragement and appreciation for each others work. Here are some pictures of the pieces we put in and a few others that we took photos as well, including the Rose Garden class selected crafts and photos of Enna-Marie with her friends...enjoy!

Birthday at Rose Garden