19

My baby sister turned 19 today! yey! Happy birthday! She is going on her last year of arts academy this year after which she has big plans for her life (that by the way constantly change) And another good news, my mom is actualy coming to visit me and Amir for 28 days, we are sooooo excited, cannot wait to welcome her here again!

Nice quote

Sometimes the course may seem very hard, but one can witness, again and again, that the soul who steadfastly obeys the law of Bahá'u'lláh, however hard it may seem, grows spiritually, while the one who compromises with the law for the sake of his own apparent happiness is seen to have been following a chimera: he does not attain the happiness he sought, he retards his spiritual advance and often brings new problems upon himself.

(From a letter written by the Universal House of Justice to all National Spiritual Assemblies, published in “Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1968-1973”, p. 106)

Iliya turned 7

well, it was supposed to be apicture of me, Sisay and this dall i was holding:) pictures took Behi, and it is his style:)
I blew very hard, but no sound...
That stripes shirt and dark shorts is a birthday boy:)
preparing for a song
Iliya was being creative
food of the night - PIZZA!!!!!!!!
movie o the night - Monsters Inc. in Russian with English subtitles
song of the night - Happy birthdya to youuuu - was sang 5 or 6 times;)

My soul is wedded to none...

Purge Thou mine ear, O my Lord, that I may hearken unto the verses sent down unto Thee, and illuminate my heart with the light of Thy knowledge, and loose my tongue that it may make mention of Thee and sing Thy praise. By Thy might, O my God! My soul is wedded to none beside Thee, and my heart seeketh none except Thine own Self.

Bahá’u’lláh: Prayers and Meditations, p. 142

Picture: Akka sky

My sisssssssssss

pictures taken last night. yea, i know, we don't look alike... she is with our friend Alima and with her fiance Askar.

What a wonderful world

Kerala, Bharat (India)
This picture along with many others of the place was sent to me by my friend in India. Hard to believe such places exist in the world. Makes me wanna travel and see everything by my own eyes. I can feel the freshness of the morning in the shade of forest, silence that hurts ears, complete harmony, peace and tranquility...

Talking to an Israeli taxi driver

This is not exact conversation, but close to such:
cab driver (young hansome man): good time in haifa?
us (all at once): yea, yea, good time, good time:)
cd: you chose a good time, it is quiter now, when did u arrive?
us: we were here all this time
cd: really? where? what were u doing?
us: working, how about you? where were u?
cd: in Lebanon
us: ???? wow
cd: just got back two days ago, slept for two days, took a normal shower after two weeks of not having it, ate normal food
us: shower and sleep sounds good, so you are in reserve?
cd: all Israel citizens are a reserve army, this war was small, so they sent only young ones there
us: did you reach the litani river?
cd: no, not my unit, other units did
us: were girls also serving with you?
cd: they were, but close to boarder only, they did all sorts of stuff we couldn't do, they worked much harder than us
us: wow, so how does it feel to be home?
cd: great, war is not good, people die, friends die, no purpose, for nothing
us: ...
cd: my girlfriend couldn't believe she saw me alive, i am glad i am alive
speaking about girlfriend, his phone rang, it was her... and we were about to get out.

Chinese style lamp

This was a construction game given us by Nicholas. We had to put it together from a lot of tiny pieaces. After completeing building up the Chinese house, Amir put the bulb inside and it turned into a beautiful Chinese style lamp.

Persian rice and chicken

Absolutely fabulous evening with Shohreh last night showing us (me and three other friends) how to cook typical Persian style rice with scipes and beans and chicken. Yummy! But a lot of work. It took two hours to complete everything and just 20 minutes to consume most of it. It turned out to be a lot and we even had some "to go" for our beloved husbands waiting at home. Shohreh has a beautiful, very modest but well-organized home, which was hard to leave, spectacular view of the bay. The whole process of cooking was accompanied by Josh Groban and Sade's singing, and thorough explanation of each step by chef Shohreh:) She is an amazing teacher. Evening ended with very romantic restaurant like candle light dinner and nice chat. Food was more appreciated after seeing how much effort was put into cooking it. Cannot wait to try cooking it on my own:)

Peace

I have never been this close to war. It was exciting in the beginning just because it was different, but then excitement turned into stress as I would become overwhelmed by the news of how many people died in it. I learned a lot in this 34 days. Never ever in my life I appreciated clear skies and quite days as I do now. The cease fire has been in effect for 26 hours. Really, it feels so good to be able just to be outside and enjoy the sun and peaceful atmosphere, although tension is still felt in the air, because it's all temporary. It feels like this state of peace is so natural to the world, that's how it meant to be, that's how it should be always. People create problems for themselves. I am praying for lasting peace to come to this land. But, in a way, I am grateful for this opportunity to be here during this time, if you know what I mean, it has been a good experience to learn from. Feels like eyes are seeing differently.

We pray God - exalted be His glory - and cherish the hope that He may graciously assist the manifestations of affluence and power and the daysprings of sovereignty and glory, the kings of the earth - may God aid them through His strengthening grace - to establish the Lesser Peace. This, indeed, is the greatest means for insuring the tranquillity of the nations. It is incumbent upon the Sovereigns of the world - may God assist them - unitedly to hold fast unto this Peace, which is the chief instrument for the protection of all mankind. It is Our hope that they will arise to achieve what will be conducive to the well-being of man. (Baha'u'llah: Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, Page: 30)

Busy weekend

Friday afternoon - invited to a meeting/dinner with some friends.
Saturday - invited for brunch at one place, for lunch at another, and for a dinner to the third place.
Didn't go for dinner, went to the Shrine instead. Phew, that was one busy weekend:):)

Whensoever ye be invited to a banquet or festive occasion, respond with joy and gladness, and whoever fulfilleth his promise will be safe from reproof. This is a Day on which each of God's wise decrees hath been expounded.
(Baha'u'llah: The Kitab-i-Aqdas, Page: 75)

Young and beautiful

Another friend of mine whom I met two years ago on a teaching trip in Lithuania wrote to me after a long break, Vladas. He changed a lot since I last saw him, finished high school and entered the university. On the pictures Vlad is celebrating the New Year with his girlfriend Olga and friends Jurij and Natasha. In his letter he congratulates me with being married and says that family is one of the best things in the world. It was heartening and hopeful to see how family is much valued in the hearts of so young people.

Discovering Ani DiFranco

Songs with balanced harmony between quality music and quality lyrics? Not many these days. I mean songs that tell about one's world veiw, personal processes and life struggles. Simple and understandable, touching. Today Layla introduced me to Ani DiFranco and I just love her art from simply listening to the samples of her songs on her web site. I find it quite unique and simple, easy to listen and connect to. He art is way out fo standard, just being herself. I love how she can laugh at the end of a song, or simply recite the lyrics to music.

from the web site: "Ani DiFranco's career has been full of surprises — for her, and for the rest of us — and she's no stranger to change, both sudden and slow. But some things remain unchanged, like her commitment to speaking the truth, as she sees it, without fear or concession. Bruce Cockburn recently observed in Performing Songwriter that Ani considers it part of her job description "to try and reflect real life in [her] songs. The life of the streets; the life of nations; the lives of people coping with power or its absence, looking for joy through the loneliness and pain and the complexities of relationship; the life of the spirit. All these are the stuff of human experience, and human experience is what we all share.""

Here are some of my favourite parts so far:

ask any eco-system harm here is harm there
and there and there
and aggression begets aggression
it's a very simple lesson
that long preceded any king of heaven
and there's this brutal imperial power
that my passport says i represent
but it will never represent where my heart lives
only vaguely where it went

cuz i know when you grow up surrounded
by willful ignorance
you learn that mercy has its own country
and that it's round and borderless
and then you just grow wings
and rise above it all
like there where that hawk is circling
above that strip mall

and this one:

long time love has got to breathe, babe
you got to let it ebb and flow
if you want a ball to bounce
you gotta let it go
just let it go

i know men are delicate
origami creatures
who need women to unfold them
hold them when they cry

and this one:

yes, i've bin so many places
flown through vast empty spaces
with stewardesses whose hands
look much older than their faces
i've tossed so many napkins
into that big hole in the sky
bin at the bottom of the atlantic
seething in a two-ply
looking up through all that water
and the fishes swimming by
and i don't always feel lucky
but i'm smart enough to try
cuz humility has buoyancy
and above us only sky

and this:

i swear some stuff you just see better from further away
and i think i communicate best now, the less i say
and i can't dance if the band can't play
and the vibe is going nowhere tonight

Her arrangements are quite surprising to me and here what i read on the web: she "inspired countless other musicians to rewrite the rules of the recording industry by striving for self-sufficiency and refusing to allow art to be subsumed by cold commerce."

http://www.righteousbabe.com/ani/index.asp

Rumi about [divine???] love

"Love is the cure,

for your pain will keep giving birth to more pain

until your eyes constantly exhale love

as effortlessly as your body yields its scent.”

~

"Do You Love Me?

A lover asked his beloved,

Do you love yourself more

than you love me?

The beloved replied,

I have died to myself

and I live for you.

I’ve disappeared from myself

and my attributes.

I am present only for you.

I have forgotten all my learning,

but from knowing you

I have become a scholar.

I have lost all my strength,

but from your power

I am able.

If I love myself

I love you.

If I love you

I love myself."

Love is how the world began

Found this in my inbox today. Never heard the song but love the lyrics. Enjoy...

Artist/Band: Walker Clay
Lyrics for Song: The Chain Of Love
Lyrics for Album: Live, Laugh, Love

He was driving home one evening,
In his beat up Pontiac
When an old lady flagged him down,
Her Mercedes had a flat
He could see that she was frightened,
Standing out there in the snow'
Til he said I'm here to help you ma'am,
By the way my name is Joe

She said I'm from St. Louis,
And I'm only passing through
I must have seen a hundred cars go by,
This is awful nice of you
When he changed the tire,
And closed her trunk
And was about to drive away,
She said how much do I owe you
Here's what he had to say

You don't owe me a thing,
I've been there too
Someone once helped me out,
Just the way I'm helping you
If you really want to pay me back,
Here's what you do
Don't let the chain of love end with you

Well a few miles down the road,
The lady saw a small cafe
She went in to grab a bite to eat,
And then be on her way
But she couldn't help but notice,
How the waitress smiled so sweet
And how she must've been eight months along,
And dead on her feet


And though she didn't know her story,
And she probably never will
When the waitress went to get her change,
From a hundred dollar bill
The lady slipped right out the door,
And on a napkin left a note
There were tears in the waitress's eyes,
When she read what she wrote

You don't owe me a thing,
I've been there too
Someone once helped me out,
Just the way I'm helping you
If you really want to pay me back,
Here's what you do
Don't let the chain of love end with you

That night when she got home from work,
The waitress climbed into bed
She was thinkin' about the money,
And what the lady's note had said
As her husband lay there sleeping,
She whispered soft and low
Everything's gonna be alright,
I love you, Joe

Piggy was looking right at me and i couldn't help taking picture of it:)
Sunset in our bedroom window
Our dream hasienta made by Amir from cardboard paper and toothpicks .
Sunrays shining through the clouds and reflected in the water. Before coming here i saw such dialog of sun and earth only on TV. Here I witness this beauty with my own eyes and cannot believe it's real. I cannot explain, this space in between the heaven and earth pierced with sunrays makes me think of the times of Divine Revelation happened with different prophets, or of the love and mercy of God that mankind is immersed in and is not aware of. It also reminds me of a watchful eye that God has on mankind, or of a window to the next world, connection between divine realities.

Duo

Corinne and I during last Ayyam-i-Ha party
Penina and I in Omid's car during her pilgrimage a few weeks ago.
Baboosh and I during the devotional meeting a couple of days ago:)

Tanya and Danielle

Two beautiful devoted servants of Bahaullah are leaving the World Centre today. Tanya is from Russia and Danielle is from the United States. Danielle expressed a desire to have a little get-together with some Russian-speaking friends before she goes home. She said if she wasn't American she would've been Russian. Her wish was our command, and we got together for some food and songs and games at our house. Wishing them a safe trip home and praying for their continued services to the Cause.

Commit not...

I talked to a friend with whome I haven't talked for many years. It feels great.

O ye beloved of the Lord!
Commit not that which defileth the limpid stream of love or destroyeth the
sweet fragrance of friendship.
By the righteousness of the Lord!
Ye were created to show love one to another and not perversity and rancour.
Take pride not in love for yourselves but in love for your fellow-creatures.
(Baha'u'llah: Tablets of Baha'u'llah, Page: 138)

Just about...or life indoors

cute morning faces on the stairway outside of our flat -- this new alarm we have almost every morning will wake up the dead!
oh, that morning it happened too early, but we still manage to smile:)
enjoying the stairway, oh, and my hair is twice short right now
I think I used to enjoy our bathroom better, it's just too tiny to fit everyone
Just about to chop the onion...
Just about to guess the word...
Just about to throw the snail out of the window...
Just about ... ????