my drawings so far...

Here are few photos of my drawings lately. I think I am trying to draw some eggs, see the circle ones I made. Most of the time I play around with my magic pen and these are my creations so far...hope you like them!

drawing one, daddy is showing to all of you as I wanted to play with other toys.

close up of drawing one

drawing two

drawing three

Sabina and Rohan are here...

Our dear friend Sabina and her son Rohan are in town and we visited them at Shradha's place. Rohan's dad, Derek will soon join them and the whole family will be on pilgrimage. It is soo nice to see Sabina with baby, we talked about how busy motherhood is and life in general in the States. Rohan is such a cutie, happy baby, always ready to give us his gorgeous smile. We hope to see them again as their schedule permits it before they leave.

Twenty-three months old pics...

Babysitting Elfida...

Elfida was such a behaved baby when we babysat her this week, she was all the time happy and smiling. Enna-Marie was also happy and excited to spend time with her. It's kind of a practice for mommy Menchie doing this (he..he)...and of course a practice too for Enna-Marie to be a big sister. We can't wait the next time we babysit her.

Celebrating Ariana's 100 days

Baby Ariana has turned 100 days old recently. Mommy Farzana bought a delicious cake that she shared with us, some moms came with their babies/children and joined the celebration. She also invited her friend Rochelle Brader from New Zealand who was in town. She is a very good singer and puppeteer, so we had a nice entertaintment as well. Below are two photos from Kami's camera, thanks for sharing these with us.

Meme tagging

My friend Selvi has meme tagged me (<<--pls. see the meaning of meme from wikipedia on the link provided). She was tagged by Leila and now it is my turn to name seven random and/or weird facts about myself. I have been blogging for over two years now and this is also my first experience to be tagged. Honestly, it is not so easy to do this and it took a day or two to know what to write here.

Anyway, I was able to name seven of them:

1. I am a "crumb picker" whether it may be a bread, cookie, chips, small piece of chocolate, or rice, pasta, meat, etc. Whenever I see or step on any of these, I right away pick it up and throw them. I may do this many times during the day and I don't get tired!

2. I put salt on green mango (yes we have lots of sour green mangos back home), mandarin or orange (or "dalanghita" in Tagalog), and strawberry...yum!

3. I also put chocolate sprinkles (or "hagelslag" in Dutch) on top of cheese and bread. I think my Dutch family still wonders why I eat like this :-)!

4. One funny experience I had was that one shoe flew out of the stage while on a dance practice during my dance workshop college days. Good thing it wasn't the real break-a-leg performance yet.

5. When Maarten was new in the office - he was my coordinator at that time - a friend once teased me while we were driving together that next time he will see me riding in Maarten's car (meaning I'll be dating him and so on). True enough, I did not just ride in his car, but also married him!

6. I just LOVE arranging my daughter's wardrobe and buying her clothes. I feel like I am dressing up a doll!

7. When I was a child, my nick name was "meme" from my real name "Imelda". My sister baptized me later with a new name "Menchie" because "meme" didn't fit me anymore as I was approaching ladyhood. As far as I now, "Menchie" doesn't have a meaning. It's weird that this tagging is actually called 'meme' as well...!

This meme tagging entails tagging other friends of mine...So I would like to tag Ailsa, Martha, Sieni, Negeen, Edward, Maxwell Eblaghie and my new blogger friend Bev! But only if they feel like doing this...:-)!

Birth of Bahá’u’lláh

"All glory be to this Day, the Day in which the fragrances of mercy have been wafted over all created things, a Day so blest that past ages and centuries can never hope to rival it, a Day in which the countenance of the Ancient of Days hath turned towards His holy seat." - Bahá’u’lláh

"Render thanks unto thy Lord, O Carmel…Rejoice, for God hath in this Day established upon thee His throne, hath made thee the dawning-place of His signs and the day spring of the evidences of His Revelation…Call out to Zion, O Carmel, and announce the joyful tidings: He that was hidden from mortal eyes is come!…Ere long will God sail His Ark upon thee…"
- Bahá’u’lláh

Play time with Lillian

This is my friend Lillian who is a year and 3 months old. She and her mom Selvi visited us today.

We missed each other's company as we didn't see each other lately. She lives down the street. You need to get down the stairs to get to her house coming from our place. I know exactly where she lives, everytime we pass the street I always point it to my mom and say "that's Lillian's house".

So now I want to play with her or first I say..."hello Lillian"!

...and oops...I want to lean on you...

...or hug you...!

...I want to touch your hair...

...and touch your chubby cutie cheeks...!

Weekend at Caesarea

"On the site of what was once a Phoenician town, Strato's Tower King Herod (37-4 BCE) built a resplendent city and named it Caesarea in honor of his patron, Augustus Caesar. It's inhabitants Romans, Samaritans and Jews enjoyed the pleasures of the Romans: water in plentiful supply, bathhouses and places of entertainment. In 6 CE Caesarea became the seat of the Roman governors. The status of the city's Jews deteriorated, and in 66 CE they rebelled against the Romans. When Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 CE, Caesarea became the Roman provincial capital of Judea. The city reached the height of its prosperity in the Byzantine period (fourth to sixth centuries CE). It retained its status as an important center of Christian Scholarship and its harbor became the gateway to the Holy Land for thousands of pilgrims. The Jewish community grew, and religious academies, where famous sages taught, were founded in the city. After the Moslems conquered the land in the seventh century, Caesarea's status diminished in 1101, the Crusaders captured the town. Eighty-six years later, Saladin conquered it and destroyed its walls. The present fortifications were built in 1251 by the French king Louis IX. Following the Mameluke conquest in in 1265, the city was abandoned. At the end of the nineteenth century, the Ottoman authorities settled a group of Bosnian Moslem refugees there. The remains of ancient Caesarea attest to the city's illustrious past. "

Fun time at Rose Garden

Auntie Tiffani who was our teacher for the day taught us the virtue of helpfulness.

coloring time with friends Brennan and Salim. Aiden joined us too.

and this is my favorite color: berde (green).

Enna-Marie at 22 months...

Our dear Enna-Marie has turned 22 months old. Below are the things she does and says now. We are so happy for all her milestones achievements and we look forward to more accomplishments. To see her grow into a little individual with her own character, likes and dislikes, brings us such great joy, and a greater realization and appreciation of the greatness of God's creation! Of course, there are also the tantrums and the occassional challenges she presents to both mommy and daddy, but these quickly fade into insignificance when she gives us a happy smile.

Enna-Marie...

• can count from 1 to 10 in Dutch, Tagalog and English


• can name 5 to 6 colors in Dutch and Tagalog


• can name a lot of animals when you point each of them in a book or flash cards


• knows 3 children's prayers by heart (O God, Guide me; He is God, O God my God; and Blessed is the Spot) and 2 or 3 more but just the beginning or ending part


• knows most of the Bahá’í songs in the Australian album cd "Love All The World", her favorite one is "Tread Ye the Path of Justice for this Verily is the Straight Path"


• can remove her jacket


• can put on a skirt


• can put her shoes on with velcro


• can tell where her family and immediate relatives are (Holland, Philippines, Haifa)


• can already say her complete first name "Enna-Marie" as previously it was just "Enna"


• can show us how she should behave or pray, see a photo below with arms folded.

Vocabulary:

saying goodbye at bedtime: "Love you Mama" and "Love you Papa"...weltrusten (sleep well)
can also say: "Mahal kita" (I love you in Tagalog but it is mostly "Mahal tika")
when we are out and Mama drives: "dami auto" (there are lots of cars)
when Mama is driving and breaks abruptly: "careful auto"
inside the house playing a ball: "dami bola" (there are lots of balls)
at night when she sees the moon: "Enna...scared moon"
when she hears the sound of the ambulance car: "scared ziekenauto" (scared of ambulance car)
when she wants Papa to look what she just did: "see, see Papa"
when Mama holding a camera or taking pictures: "Enna...look pictures"
when asked what breakfast she wants: "am..am...(thinking)...oatmeal, please"
when she wants to sit on a dining chair: "Enna-Marie climbing chair"
when she wakes up in the morning and Mama picks her up: "Enna-Marie...cry"
when she wants to draw or write something: "Enna sulat" (Enna writes)
when she just woke up in the morning or from afternoon nap: "Enna-Marie wakker"
when passing the street of a friend's house: "Bahay ni Lillian" (house of Lillian)
when she doesn't like a kind of food: "Enna-Marie no nike..." (she means Enna no like :))
when she hears the phone ring, she says gently: "Mama...get...phone"
when asked who passed on/gave a pair of shoes to her: "Aliyah"...then she says: "thank you Aliyah"
when we are out in the street and a car is coming: "car...car coming...Enna tabi" (car is coming...Enna should stay at the side or stay beside mommy)
When she asks for a drink or snack and ask her in return what will she say: "thank you" or "salamat".

...and here are some shots of her taken yesterday in Bahji at the gardens and the Mansion...