Birthday Party in Gan

Here are some photos of my party in Gan last Wednesday, 17 December. I thank my teachers and friends for all the preparations and surprises.

I am turning THREE!

I have been SOOO excited about my upcoming birthday, every day I would ask my daddy to please make my birthday come now, as I still find it very hard to wait. My real birthday is this Wednesday, but my mommy and daddy invited my friends to celebrate it with me yesterday. When I woke up in the morning, there were colourful banners accross the living room, and a LOT of balloons!! My daddy made a delicious carrot cake, which made the house smell very nice, and my mommy prepared spaghetti and pancit, and then finally all my friends came for the party! There was a puppet show, which was a lot of fun, and then after that we had a little dance party, which was also really nice! A lot of mommy and daddy's friends also came, and so the house was really full! But everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and because it was good weather we could also play on the balcony. Auntie Negeen beautifully decorated the cake that daddy made, and there were three candles in the cake that I got to blow out, because I am already turning three!! And I got lots of presents from all my friends that I got to unpack after the party was over! Thank you everyone, for making this such a special day! I really had a great time, and I hope you enjoyed it too. Here are some pictures for you to enjoy :)!

Dinner with the Klapps and Schramms

We had some guests at home from Germany this evening, they are Jorgen & Thorle Klapp together with the Schramms. The Klapps are parents of our friends Karsten and Josa (opa & oma of Ruhi & Naysan), they are visiting the Holy Land for few days.

Dress-up

I love dressing up, especially if I do it with my friends...so here are some of my photos all dressed up...

with Carmel

with Aliyah

wearing my new cinderella outfit




















Sometimes I wear fun outfits or play pretend like these...

posing like a model

getting ready for winter

preggy look (he..he..influenced by some aunties who just had their babies)

Manila Regional Conference

We would like to share with you a note about the Regional Bahá’í Conference in Manila written by Chana Johnson, one of the Bahá’ís from Macau who attended the Conference...enjoy!

Also pls. visit Bahá’í World News Service for the official report and some photos.

MANILA, Philippines Conference

On the way to the conference there were about 50 Baha'is from Macau all on the same plane! Walking down the aisle say hello to about half the plane is a very interesting experience. It gives you the feeling that half the world is already Bahá’í! When we arrived we were greeted by smiling friends with signs saying: "Bahá’í Regional Conference"! Seeing that and realizing that the expression and excitement that was arising in myself was showing forth in everyone else around me!

This was the largest amount of Bahá’ís to gather under one roof in the history of the Philippines! A large amount of people were from the Philippines itself but were also joined by a few hundred more people from Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, Taiwan, the Caroline Islands, Mariana Islands, and the Marshall Islands. Such an amazing and diverse group of a little over 1,000 friends! A group so diverse that many times the only thing you could say to someone was Allah'u'Abha! In this single word smiles would fill peoples face, heart, and soul. So much love between people who had never met before but that obviously shared the same Faith, the same love for Baha'u'llah resulting in the same love for each other…meeting more and more members of our beautiful human family…there's nothing like it.

Being graced with the presence of Dr. Penny Walker and Mrs. Zenaida Ramirez as representatives of the Universal House of Justice we were guided through focused talks and discussions on the 20 October 2008 letter and a letter addressed to the conference from the Universal House of Justice. We also had the opportunity to hear real stories from some participants. These stories were very different from what I have been used to at least. These stories were filled with phrases like "I did" or "I am" not with the usual "I will", "I plan to". These stories were mostly told by young Bahá’ís between the age of 18 & 22. These were young driven people who went international or home-front pioneering. Youth that went into an area that had between 5-15 Bahá’ís and were able to enlighten and assist them in launching a full Intensive Program of Growth in just a few months. These are the flames that can and will 'illumine the whole earth'.

Some friends from Taiwan shared a story that involved all elements of the Institute Process. The part that I found amazing and heartwarming was about the Children Classes and those involved. The children in this community make sure to finish their homework early so that they can go with their parents to do home visits. If you ask any of these children involved three certain questions they all answer…Who do you love? - Bahá’u’lláh...Who do you follow? ‘Abdu’l-Bahá...Who do you obey? The Universal House of Justice...and these are children!

So pretty much if you don't find some way to make it to one of the 41 Regional Conferences you're going to regret it for the rest of your life!

Sinterklaas is here!

Also this year Sinterklaas and zwarte piet did not forget us as we received some goodies again from Holland! Thank you Sinterklaas!

Farewell Sisay & Laurel...

...and thank you again for joining us, Negeen and kids for dinner few nights before you left the World Centre. We will miss both of your radiant faces, take care!

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

Latest videos of Enna-Marie

Enna-Marie loves singing and dancing, and since it has been a while since we last posted a video of her on our blog, here are two of her recent "performances":). In the first video she dances to a song called "A place in the choir" by Red Grammer; in the second video she sings a Hebrew song that she learned in Gan on the occasion of "Rosh Hashana", the Israeli New Year; and in the third video she sings the "ABC song" both in English and Tagalog.

Arnel's visit

Arnel Lejano from the Philippines is currently visiting as a consultant, he used to serve at the World Centre & left in 2002.

a gathering with the Filipino friends held at Remegia's place. Arnel shared with us about the status of the Bahá’í activities back home, he is one of the Auxiliary Board members there.

Our dear Counsellor Mrs. Zenaida Ramirez updating us on the upcoming Regional Bahá’í Conferences that will take place around the world. We are fortunate that our National Assembly will host one of these historical Conferences to be held in Manila...yey, so exciting!

us at home with Arnel and Laroya family

Moms night out...

A group of mothers are meeting every week for sometime now discussing and sharing various concepts such as creative goal setting, decluttering, law of attraction, parenting, raising children, motherhood, etc...For several Thursday evenings now, it has been a mom's gathering without children (what a good break for us moms ha!)...But just yesterday, the group decided to meet in Arcaffe for a relaxing evening...check out our group photo.

Visit to Kat-Katim

Here are some photos of Enna-Marie and her friends when we visited Kat-Katim (an indoor play center) one afternoon...

go-go-go-car...

so much laughter

catching her breath

Run Rodrigo, run...

Layla: I'm up here!

Jasmin: are you talking to me?

EM hiding

digging something?

come and get me mommy...

Farah's visit

Our friend Farah Moshirian from Australia visited the Holy Land recently and we were happy to get a chance to see her again when we invited her to visit us at home (Edinah also joined us, as well as the Laroyas and Aquinos). She came and served here at the World Centre in the Department of Statistics until the year 2000. Her visit was short but nice and we will certainly see her again when she comes back next year for pilgrimage, this time she will be with her husband Bruce.

All girls photo

and the group one...

the little girls with tita Rhea

Maarten with the three ladies who used to serve in Stats department.