Saturday perfection.

It sounds crazy to say I had the best Saturday in a long time, especially since I worked today. But it really was great. First I was surprised by a volunteer and good friend who came unannounced to the office. She sealed 200 catalog envelopes while I worked on a report and we chatted. We ate strawberries together and I didn't have to seal envelopes—WINNING! After a few more hours of working in a quiet office while the boss is out of town I was freed at 4:00 p.m. into a glorious 74-degree afternoon of cloudless sunshine.

Savor it, people—I am not this chipper often.
But isn't this beautiful? I'm on a muted aqua and red kick, if you didn't notice.

The day got better as it went along.




EXERCISE
A family I started off helping as relatively new refugees two years ago have become great friends and today I visited them at their new house near my workplace. Ironically, a couple of years ago I used to live next-door to where they just moved in—isn't life weird?? The house they are renting is great. It's big, clean, and airy but the best part is that it has a fenced-in backyard and a clothesline. Did I mention there are 10 kids? Yeah. So they really need a yard but have never had one.

We took a walk down the road a piece to a nice park and I definitely got my exercise in when you combine the 6 blocks of walking there and back, pushing the kids on the swings, and generally chasing them around in the sand. I got a bunch of Twin Pops from the ice cream truck that rolled up and we had a wonderful little break.

The kids almost never all fit into one picture. 

This one somehow cried her way into getting a stranger's Sour Bomb Pop.
She doesn't get the stick thing.

You can't tell but Lucky's on a weird spinny thing that almost made her puke.

Health Tip of the Day: Get some rays! Vitamin D, Serotonin production, all the warm vibes and mood-boosters ... it's not just myth. If you're feeling SO-SAD you may want to try some sunshine therapy. Don't hate me for sounding like I think this is a cure for depression. It's not. I'm just saying the sun is awesome. I hope no one is keeping track of these tips. I feel like I already said this one. OH WELL.

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ISLAM
I was supposed to try (again) to memorize Hadith #11 in Imam an-Nawawy's 40 Ahadith but as it happens I was chilling at another friend's house after I left the Family of 12 (easy way to describe them) and we weren't being very studious. We did pull out the books though and discussed the hadith from the perspective of a talk we we've been having about Muslims who reject ahadith (sayings of the Prophet ﷺ) and claim to follow the Quran only. This premise doesn't make a lot of sense to either of us since Allah clearly says in the Quran:

"These are the limits [set by] Allah, and 

whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger will be admitted by Him to gardens [in Paradise] 

under which rivers flow, abiding eternally therein; and that is the great attainment." 

Surat An-Nisa [4:13]

This is just one of the many examples of this commandment in the Quran to obey the Messenger ﷺ which pretty obviously means heed his advice and do what he's said to do. The argument against this holds no water at all, and is a bit like a Christian saying they will just follow the Bible but ignore the teachings of Jesus (Peace be upon him). They go hand-in-hand.

Hadith #11, which I've posted about recently, basically asks the rhetorical question of how can Allah answer the prayers of someone who eats, drinks, earns, and clothes himself in that which has been made impermissible to him? Yes, the Quran tells us some of these things but the Prophet ﷺ made many rulings on these matters as well and imparted so much wisdom to us—it is nonsensical to bear witness that he is the Messenger of Allah in our shahada (testimony of faith) at least 9 times a day during our prayers but decide to toss out his entire life as an example to follow.

I ask Allah to bring benefit to those reading this post, especially the Muslims who may have doubts in this matter. Please know that anything correct in what I have said is from Allah and anything wrong is from me, and I ask for His forgiveness for any mistakes I have made.


Anyway, it was a good day. I got things done at work, ran around in the sun a bunch, saw a whole mess of good friends, ate delicious food, and had a good chat with the ladies which at one point included laughing at a ridiculous "cookbook" from central Minnesota. Priceless!!