Tears of blood! The blood of the innocent 8 dead victims( so far) and over 100 of those injured from a bomb explosion in Achrafeih -Beirut in Lebanon. My sadness is larger than my words, I only want to weep my Beirut and pray for tonight…
I have a few, pick which ever suits you. Here are my LOL wisdom quotes for today:
“Never make the same mistake twice, there are so many new ones, try a different one each day!” by: Silvester the cat
“Marriage is like going to a restaurant and order your choice from the menu, And then look at neighboring table n wish you”d ordered that” by : Living in regret!”
“The secret of a happy marriage remains a secret” by: Married since 1914
“Most mothers feed their babies with little spoons and forks. What do Chinese mothers use? Toothpicks?” by: hmm, I wonder!
It’s a journey that starts with a slap on the back, and you never know when it ends!It’s life! You’ll never get to know the famous ” Ups and Downs” until you experience it! You’ll never learn the lessons until the events are history and you’re looking back.
Live it, love it and embrace it. For better and the worse, for richer and hpoorer, you ought to thank God!
Would you know the value of happiness, if you haven’t experienced sadness? Would you know the value of water, if you haven’t experienced thirst? And I ask you, as I have asked myself, would you know how many blessings are shed on your life, if they weren’t taken from you, even for a short while?
We nag a lot, don’t we? we blame destiny for every wrong thing we experience. We curse, we shout, we rebel for the tiniest and silliest reasons. How many times have you said: “It’s not fair!” or ” I don’t deserve this!” Or even worst ” Why me God? Why me!”
If you come to think about it, Are you the judge of what’s fair and what’s not? Who can be more fair than God? Can you? I have asked the question ” Why me God?” So many times, until I reached the answer ” Why not me?” The mighty God, who has given me so many blessings through my life, who has saved me from my own self and others, doesn’t he deserve my thanks and gratefulness when he puts me into trial? If I thank him and accept his judgment when I’m happy and healthy, doesn’t he deserve my thank you and acceptance when I’m sick and down? Is he my God only at my best, and during my worst I blame him?
For two months I was almost crippled, unable to walk, and perform the simplest everyday functions the way I used to. And guess what : that experience was the most in lighting and educative experience I’ve ever had! And I was sure to thank God for it, especially through my sickness. And that’s how I prayed through it.
” My God, I know that you are fair, and your judgments are just. If I’m sick because of all the sins that I’ve made through my life, then I thank you for the suffering I’m going through now instead of experimenting it after you take my soul. I pray that you would be erasing my sins through this suffering. If I’m sick, but not because of my sins, then I thank you for the purpose you intended for me, even if it’s hidden from me now, but I’m sure I will learn it later in life. I pray that you lift this heavy burden off of me, if that’s your wish. Whatever you wish for me God, I accept it thankfully!”
Do this with me, think about your regular day, the one you might describe as boring. I guess you would say: I wake up, get out of bed, walk into the bathroom. I might change my clothes, or stay in my pijis. I have a cup of coffee….” In those three simple sentences, do you know how many actions you have done, and you have the Lord to thank for? You might have never considered this before, I never did as well, until …
How would you feel, that on that same boring day, you woke up, but you couldn’t get out of bed? Your whole body was in terrible pain? unable to move your legs and having a serious wish to go to the WC. but the only way to do so is to ask for somebody’s help?! you can’t sit up straight to drink, and have to eat your meals lying on your back? you can’t walk, carry things or even dress yourself?!!! how hard is that? how tough?! Well now you know what a blessing it is to be able to do the simplest things, like walking, dressing, eating while you’re sitting up. and going to pee by yourself! You see how many things you’re blessed with? how thankful you should be? Before my experience I used to look to people on wheel chairs with pity, not in a bad form, but I used to be sorry for them. Now I see them through different lense: I respect them, for their courage, their strong will and their acceptance for God’s judgment. And for trying to make the best out of their condition.
Now I know, when I see crippled people in worship houses, that they’re there to pray for their own miracle, to ask for forgiveness and mercy and patience. They’re not there to put the blames on destiny, nor to rebel!
There are a few lines from an Arabic poetry that I came to admire so much, here’s my translation of these lines into English: You, who whines and weeps even though you are healthy , I wonder what would you do if you got sick? An evil person on this earth is the one who wishes himself death every single day!
Indeed….
If you plant grapes, you shall not harvest thorns!
Thank you to all those who prayed for me… your prayers gave me strength, and were definitely heard…
Thank you God for healing me…
I’m writing this post while lying on my back and holding my laptop upside down, so excuse me for all the typing mistakes I might be making.
July has been a tough and sad month in my family. Tomorrow is the last day of this month and I can’t explain how happy I’ll be to say goodbye July and welcome August.
At the beginning of July, I hurt my back badly while moving a sofa on my balcony. I can’t tell you how many times I have moved this sofa, but for some mysterious reason on that day ,moving it gave me a terrible pain in my back! I didn’t give it much thought, took a five minutes rest and then carried on my usual house chores. Two days later I was unable to move, every muscle in my body was hurting. My husband rushed me to the nearest hospital where the doctor asked for an x-ray of my back. He later told me that I’m suffering from disc!! He wrote a prescription and asked me to rest, and not lift more than 5 kilos.
A week later after taking the medication and resting, the pain only grew worst! I wasn’t able to walk, and my husband had to carry me around! We went to see a new doctor, who decided I had to take B 12 injections because my nerves were all swallow. He ordered me to complete rest for 8 days, and warned me that this was serious.
I was unable to carry my baby girl or take care of her, she would be crying in her bed and I would be crying in mine at the same time! My sister came to help, she was taking care of my baby and my husband of cooking. The house was a total mess, and I wasn’t able to hire anyone to clean up. why? Because suddenly, no one in Lebanon wants to work as a house keeper!
Two days after I started my injections, my husband came home early from work! His right hand all wrapped! He had an accident at work, an electrical appliance exploded while he was using it. And caused him a second degree burn! “Thank God you’re still alive !” that’s what the doctor said when he saw him!
Two weeks later, my husband’s hand is 70% better, thank god! And the doctor said within two months it will heal completely. As for me, the injections didn’t work and I’ve entered into a new cycle of therapy. This is my last chance of getting better, the doctor says! For one week I should lay on my back, and move only if I had to go to the restroom. Or else I will not be able to move without a wheelchair ,surgical operations are not very much advised , especially for someone young like me ,but we’ll see what happens.
My little girl crawls over to where I’m laying, she stands up with some help from my left hand. She puts her little head on my shoulder and closes her eyes. She makes me cry, I grab some chocolate chips from a bag beside me and feed her one by one. She claps her little hands and says “za2if” , which means clap in Lebanese, I taught her that before I got sick.
I wonder whether I’ll be able to hold her again, whether I’ll be able to take care of her again. I wonder whether I’ll be able to live a normal life again. I look at my husband, as he takes care of our little girl with his hand still wrapped and I’m thinking they both deserve better. But still, I thank god for everything, even the pain because it made me realize how lucky I was to be able to do the simplest thing like walking, and carrying my little one.
And I pray, that August will come with all the goodness in the world to my family, me and all those who need it, I pray for a healing for my pain and sickness and that one day I look back to this phase of my life and smile at the memory, and thank god for healing me.
We all search for that one miracle, that great spark of light to strike our lives and change everything for the better.
Some people are suffering from pain, or from seeing a loved one suffer! Some people are sad in heart and souls, but to those who have faith Our Lord has said :
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
And he has also said : if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Because God is merciful, he has given those who ask in faith the relief they asked for.
Here , in my country Lebanon, My beloved Saint Charble became known for his miracles of healing the sick. People from all over the world, came to Annaya Lebanon to ask the Blessed Saint to cure them, and from all religions. And they testified of his ability to heal their pain.
I believe that Saint Charble, is a blessed touch of God’s mercy to his sons here on earth, I always pray to him and he’s always answers my prayers.
Here are some of the miracles that Saint Charble has performed:
Samia Matta
Samia got lung cancer. The tests revealed that her situation was so critical and she needed to undergo a surgery. She asked her husband to take her to the tomb of Saint Charbel. During this visit, she asked Saint Charbel to heal her or to help her die peacefully and quickly to avoid suffering. She drank blessed oil. Afterwards, she went to the hospital to start the treatment. The relevant tests revealed that she was healed.
She visited the convent of Saint Marun in order to thank God for the grace she had through the intercession of Saint Charbel and she got her healing registered on the Holy Friday, on April 22, 2011.
Suzy Bordkan
Two swollen glands of 2 cm and 1.5 cm appeared in her breast. She asked her husband in Lebanon to visit the tomb of Saint Charbel and prayed. He went to Annaya and lit a candle asking the intercession of the saint. When she woke up early, she found out that the glands have disappeared. She was completely healed.
When she came back to Lebanon, she visited the convent of Saint Marun and got her healing registered on April 26, 2011.
Georges Wehbeh
After nine years of marriage, Georges didn’t have babies due to sterility. He visited the tomb of Saint Charbel and asked his intercession in order to have a baby. The saint answered his prayer and Georges had a son after nine months and he named him Charbel.
He came once again to the convent in order to get this miracle registered.
Christian and Elie el-Chartouny
After buying them a new car, their mother took them to participate in the holy mass in Abidjan for it was Saint Charbel’s Day, in May 8. However, Christian and Elie refused to go into church and decided to go for a round. Their mother knelt in front of the Saint’s photo asking him to protect them so that they come back safe. At about 11:30 p.m., she heard them when they came back home so she could sleep. When she woke up in the morning, she found them on the balcony, still awake, then they called her. When she got out, she saw the new car damaged. They told her that they were driving too fast and their car deviated and hit an electrical post, 10 km away from home. At that moment, an old monk showed up, but they didn’t see his face, he got close to the car and pulled it away from the post. He tied it to a cord and pulled it extremely fast, crossing these 10 km in two minutes. He stopped the car in front of their house, he removed the cord and disappeared.
The mother thanked Saint Charbel for saving her sons. She came on May 8, 2011 to the convent and got this miracle registered.
Jacqueline Hanna
Jacqueline, a Copt woman, was sick but didn’t know the kind of her illness. A Copt priest gave her a relic from Saint Charbel and told her that he was healed from a heart attack when he visited the hermitage of Saints Peter and Paul in Lebanon. He told her: “Pray Saint Charbel and he will heal you”. Thus, she was healed from her aches.
A child named Ram, was living next to Jacqueline and he was studying in the Maronite School in Egypt. He got a disease in his eye and he couldn’t see anymore, suffering from redness and itch for months. All medicines were in vain. One day, he visited with his parents the church of Sainte Rita in Egypt where they prayed in front of Saint Charbel’s statute. The child implored Saint Charbel: “Saint Charbel, I can’t see and it’s painful. Would you please heal me?”
In the morning, his eye was healed. They went once again to the church and they thanked God for the grace they got through the intercession of Saint Charbel.
But I will say no more about this Amazing Saint. I’ll give you the link to website, please visit it, read the miracles that he has performed, read the thank you letters and testimonies from all the world. And Pray my brothers, pray deeply, ask Saint Charble to help you, with all your faith in God the mighty, and you shall be given what you ask for.
http://www.saintcharbel.com/home.php?url=stcharbel_grp&lgid=0&depid=5&grpid=7&menu=51
If this link doesn’t open please search on google for ” Saint Charble, Lebanon” and it will take to the official site. I hope you’ll find the miracle and healing you need with Saint Charble, the man of God.
Please don’t forget to mention me in your prayers, and wish me to get better soon.
hello my fellow bloggers,
Today I’m seeking your advice, about the right publishing agency.
I want to publish my book, and can’t decide whether to go with self-publish or not, or which are the descent publishing houses that can advertise and sell my book without having me do this work?
I tried searching google, and the publishing industry doesn’t look so promising with all the scam out there,
I would very much appreciate your advice.
Rana
All I wanted was your hug,
All I needed was some care,
All I longed for was your laugh,
But now I realize you never even care…
This love was just a bluff
to a casino dealer with a poker face
a fairy tale in a little girls dream
And nothing I do , will be ever enough..
But tonight when the trees weep
I’ll be there to wipe its tears
And tonight the stars shall see,
that I’m over all those fears
And my soul is free,
And my soul shall soar into the new day
And the world shall see,
how my heart dances and sway,
And I’m sure you’ll be
sorry for not being there.
And soon my dear,
your nights will turn into days
and deep down you have that fear
that you’ll never be forgiven
you should’ve known better, than to take for granted
all the great love that you have been given…
As for me, I already see
Crystal clear, the way I should’ve been living
And the wind will carry my breath
to where the sun never sets,
to where the shores are warm,
a place away from you
a place with no regrets…
Anna has been growing up so fast, exploring the world around her everyday! She’s now nine months old, and has thoughts and opinions about stuff. Here are some of her baby adventures through her day to day life, so look at her talk too!
Hello there! I just had two bottles of milk, and now for dessert I’m chewing on my foot 🙂 hehehe
YEH!!!! I didn’t see you dada you surprised me!
VIVA Mexico 🙂 viva la Fiestaaaaaaaaaaaa
I wonder if this hat is eatable… hmmm
Well, I’ll give it a chew and see..Nop, I don’t recommend eating your hats people, but you can chew on it to rub your tiny teeth though 🙂
Dada stop licking me and look at the cam , they’re taking our photo!
Open your eyes , you always close your eyes in photos!
yeah so now he’s eating my ear, he’s been trying to do that since I was born, and he’s not convinced yet it’s not FOOD!
Hey what you Laughing about ? hehe! Dada why you Laughing?
Hey grandma, do you want some cucumber? it’s good for you, and you can chew on it to rub your growing teeth 😀
Today I’m introducing to you all “Meghli “, yeah I know you’re wondering ” What is Meghli anyway?” Well …
I don’t know what you all might think when you hear that a woman just gave birth, but I definitely know what the Lebanese people think. Here in Lebanon when we hear about a birth the first thing that pops into our minds is the yummy ” Mighli” . Someone tells that a neighbor just gave birth, we don’t ask whether it’s a boy or a girl or whether she’s doing fine, we ask ” Is there Mighli?” if the answer is yes we rush to the nearest gift store, buy any gift- doesn’t really matter what the mom needs LOL- we wrap it in a hurry and head directly to the newborn house. We give the gift to the mother, take a quick peek at the baby” Smallah adorable” that’s what we say even if the baby is UUUUUGGGGGGLLLLLLLLYYYYY. LOL. And we sit there waiting for the ” Meghli” ! We nod our heads in approval to any conversation going on, we rub our feet together and almost bite our nails off. LOOOL. I.E Where’s my Meghli people come on I have work, I bought the gift thingy now I want my meghli ! Give me my Meghli 😛
So “Meghli” is the traditional homemade sweet from the Lebanese cuisine that people honor their guests with for a period of 40 days after a child birth to celebrate his arrival to life healthy and sound and the good health of the mother. It is one of the most delicious sweets that you’ll ever eat! But it is so hard to make that people save it for this special occasion. That’s why in the Lebanese mind this word is related to a child birth! But now times are changing, and people don’t have enough time to spend cooking “Meghli” so a lot of families in Lebanon gave this tradition up, and exchanged it for baby souvenirs .
Now if you are in the mood for some Meghli after reading about it , here’s a recipe for you:
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
Number of meals:6
1 cup ground rice, soft
11/2 cup sugar
7 cups water
3 tablespoons caraway small
3 tablespoons small cinnamon
For garnish:
Nuts of all kinds
Grated coconut
How to prepare
1. Put all ingredients in a pot on the fire with constant stirring until boiling.
2. After boiling pot is placed on low heat for a quarter of an hour with constant stirring.
3. When you are done and noted that the mixture has become denser, poured in the cups to cool.
4. Decorate cups
Serve cold.
Bon appetite!!!
How about you? Do you have a traditional food from your country’s cuisine that you make on special occasions?
It’s a shout out to all you amazing people who believe in the miraculous power of true prayer. Please light a candle and pray for our fellow blogger Wayne Augden, and all those who are in pain.
Bless you.
Pain is terrible. Can’t sleep. Can’t hardly stand it. I’m just trying to get through. Thank you. Please remember people on my prayer list, too.
Rana Armoush 