Ramadan, Day 4

Salaam alaikum wa rahmat Allah wa barakatuh everyone!

Insh'Allah you're all in the best of health and the highest of iman today!

So, days 1, 2, and 3 of Ramadan all passed rather uneventfully for me, but yesterday, alhamdolillah, I feel passed rather eventfully.

I unfortunately didn't end up waking up for suhoor...but I was okay nonetheless because right before I went to bed I ate an entire pint of Ben and Jerry's chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream (YES I KNOW I WAS BEING REALLY REALLY BAD LOL), and I had also managed to drink around 20 oz of water as well, so alhamdolillah I was all set for the day :P I did wake up for fajr though, so I prayed fajr, then layed in bed a little bit, then I threw on an abaya and a scarf and drove my dad to the airport (the rest of my family is away dropping my sister off at college/visiting my grandparents...so I have the house to myself until Tuesday ^_^)

After that, I came back and slept until one to catch up on my sleep that I've so desperately needed, agggg! After I woke up I prayed dhuhr, I read for a bit, and then I left to mail a package at the post office. Upon returning, I saw that a giant tree branch had fallen over the power lines up the street, which caused the rest of the houses in my area to lose power for about an hour and a half...lol...so that was fun. I prayed asr, read a bit more, played with my cats, and just as I was about to leave to go to the masjid for iftar the power came back on.

Iftar was AMAZING...it was probably one of the best iftars yet for me this Ramadan! I had rice, two types of chicken cooked Indian style (yumyum, nice and spicy!), some kebab, some salad, some pita bread, and this really delicious pudding that was a lot like rice pudding, except that it was made with long thin noodles. Before eating the actual dinner though, we prayed maghrib (after breaking fast with a date and some juice...btw does anyone agree with me that the first bite of whatever you're eating/the first sip of whatever you're drinking to break your fast with ALWAYS tastes like the most delicious thing you have ever ate/drank? Lol, dates have never tasted so good!) After dinner I drank some chai (lol, the auntie I was with was astounded that I "only" put two sugars in my small cup of tea...this is why I always insist upon making my own chai because if I didn't, it would be mostly sugar and milk :P )

After drinking my chai, I went into the prayer hall to listen to a very beautiful and powerful lecture that was given by a brother. In the interest of not making this post too long, insh'Allah I will write about it in a separate post some other day, but it was really really good, and very motivational, mash'Allah! After listening to the lecture, it was time for Isha. So everyone prayed Isha, and then Tarawih. This time I thought to bring along my Qur'an so that I could follow along with the imam...personally I found it more beneficial for me to do that, because it helped me concentrate better, and it also helped me to read the words in Arabic while seeing them. Right now we're all the way through Surah An Nisa'a Ayah 147. On another note...it's astonishing and sad how many people just up and left right after we prayed 8 rakaat...very few people stay for the 20. Now, I'm not going to get into the 8 vs. 20 rakaat debate...but brothers and sisters, if you're praying behind someone who is praying 20 rakaat Tarawih, it's RUDE to just get up and leave after 8! D: Insh'Allah try to stay for all of Tarawih!

Anyways, after I came home from Tarawih...I caved into my nafs a bit and watched an episode of Project Runway *blushes* After that I drank some hot milk with honey (YUMM) and then went to bed. So yeah, yesterday was pretty eventful...we'll see what today has in store for me ^_^