married for one year

this picture is one of our favourite ones.

"A good marriage is an intimate and loving relationship which gives both partners security, friendship, companionship, support, comfort, and deep love that penetrates every aspect of life. None of this can be achieved without work and sacrifice. Marriage may be compared to a plant that requires daily nurture, daily attention, daily care and cultivation. It will not develop of its own accord; only as effort and will are exerted will it grow and mature. For a marriage to succeed, both husband and wife must be committed to its success. They must build an enduring love relationship that is centered in the heart of their consciousness. Their relationship must be nurtured with the water of loyalty and love.

A pilgrim who visited 'Abdu'l-Baha reported that the Master spoke to him of marriage, saying:

The greatest bond that will unite the hearts of man and wife is faithfulness and loyalty. Both must exercise toward each other the utmost faithfulness and loyalty and not let any trace of jealousy creep between them...The man and his wife must dedicate their knowledge, their talents, their fortunes, their titles, their bodies, and their spirits, first to Baha'u'llah and then to each other. Their thoughts must be lofty, their ideals luminous, their hearts spiritual, and their souls the dawning-places of the rays of the Sun of Reality.... Their hearts must be spacious, as spacious as the Universe of God."

read more here http://bahai-library.org/essays/marriage.ruhe.html

spring time

exactly two years ago we were doing ruhi 4 in haifa with my flat mate as a tutor whom i miss very much. the group was soooooooo nice! i am thinking of it right now because it is a spring time and we are doing ruhi 4 here. content of a book is so springy - new Revelation, Divine spring time! it reminds me a lot of our studies of the life of the Bab and Bahaullah within the Holy Precincts in akko and haifa! plus amazing spring in the holy land, oh, i miss everything.... happy coming Ridvan!

Kakenova

just to inform those who have my name written as Kakenova-Daumar anywhere in their contact lists may want to change it just to Kakenova. Apparantly and unfortunately i cannot change it to a double name here...:):):) won't go to the details...

these days are the days of transition from winter to spring. one day it may be warm, snow melts, sun shines, birds warble. the other day snow comes again. yesterday snowflakes were huge and were falling as if winter doesn't even think of giving the turn for spring.
my little cuties are singing a song with me at the English class
we were learning emotions, i asked them to make an angry face!
sabina

Hot tea Samovar at NawRuz celebration 22 March. It is a National holiday in Kazakhstan just like in all Central Asia countries.
crafts sale at NawRuz celebration
walking around with my auntie! the weather was very nice!
Kazakh Yurtas (traditional houses) were spread out all over the central square of our little town. Inside you could see the traditional furnishing, try traditional food, like NawRuz Kozhe, a dish made only during this holiday, watch traditional rituals and listen to traditional songs.

Trip to Astana

the last day of the Fast we spent in Astana - the new capital of Kazakhstan. Although Amir doesn't have a permission of permanent stay and a right to work here as yet, we got an interview in one of the companies and decided to go and explore it. My dad happened to go for a work trip there and we took this opportunity to get a free ride with him:):):) These pictures are from the green house of the company that is interested in Amir, and some sites of just 15 years old, still under construction Astana.

some pictures

in January we went to the village to visit our relatives, it was so windy and snowy on the way that we found it difficult to drive. at one point i was scared we'll get stuck somewhere, but after i saw this guy walking along the road ALONE AT SUCH WEATHER i thought i am a complaining sitting-in-a-comfortable-warm-car coward...hehehehe
this picture was taken on our way back, we left at sunset time... so beautiful!

it was nice to see we are not alone on the road!
this is a picture of my grandma's Persian carpet hanging on the wall at my uncle's house in a village we visited. even i remember it, and i was only 5 when my grandma passed away.
every morning we have a sunlight in our kitchen which makes it look so happy:):):) i wove it!
this note was placed in the sink by my mom when our kitchen sink got broken and we weren't aloud to use it. she didn't know how to get our attention and had wrote in Russian "don't turn it on" and for amir "stop" - probably the only word she could come up with in English for warning... hahaha soooooooooooo cute!
my beautiful cousins from the village with amir

amir is currently helping my uncle here to repair a flat. i went to their work site yesterday and took some pictures. here is my uncle, putting glue on tile and posing for the cam

their little entertainer - radio
amir is checking on how even the tiles are
poor plants got all white because of dust
these tiles are waiting for their destiny to be fulfilled
work is in progress

.... cute couple
hammering
have you ever seen a hanging switch????????
he is having fun!

Update

A little update on what we have been up to. We finally finished collecting all necessary papers for amir's residence permit and submitted the package to the respective authorities. Now we are just praying for it be successful. Amir is helping my uncle with his business and is happy to work after a long break:):):) in the meantime I found a temporary job of teaching little kids English in the kinder garden. Both Russian and kazakh speaking kids. I find it so much fun! Especially kazakh speaking kids, they speak only kazakh, in which I am weak and I am noticing myself beginning to speak kazakh as well, I love it! They teach me and I teach them:):):) kids' memory is amazing! They remember everything I tell them and do with them. I find it hard sometimes because all they want to do is to play, they cannot sit a while on their chairs. Thank God I am currently tutoring ruhi3 with local bahais and reviewing the methods of disciplining kids. Today I tried the method of having rules in the class and "punishing" kids for not following the rules, it worked so well! They saw that my words were not just lipservice and were trying to behave not to be deprived of taking part in a game. And they all feel the love I have for them. One boy was always sitting next to me, and others were teasing him as if he fell in love with me, so cute! I am beginning to love them more and more, and trying to find different ways of teaching them the language. May be one day I could take a picture and post it here so you see yourself how many gems are surrounding me twice a week! I'll certanly do that!

went to the village to see our relatives and found these pictures in their albums. This was taken at the wedding of our cousin. Left to right: my sis maryam, my cousin Gulya, myself and my cousin Dina 10 years ago. Me and my sis were not yet Baha'is:):)
same year, same location, same event. My little sis Ruzanna, my dad and our niece Ilmira
29 and a half years ago. Left to right: wife of my uncle, my uncle, their son, myself (with white hat), my dad, my cousin and my mom:)

How it was

happy crowd
cake time
parents
rings
winter bride

loving atmosphere of the wedding had its effect on us...hahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!
Baha'i certificates
happy bride
sisters... missing our third one who stayed home because of sickness
first dance as husband and wife
we were so happy for them that coudn't stop hugging each other!
There is something special about winter snowy weddings! The air is crispy fresh, so is the couple:):):):) The sun is bright but far, the mountains are inviting...
In folklor they compair bride with birch tree - white, graceful, pure, beautiful...