Aymsgirl

Congrats!

Baj---keep your faith sister....keep your faith.

Angel and Prince----I agree with IHQ. Let him know you need help now. My hubby is spoiled to some extent but he will do anything I ask him to if I ask him. He will also be very lazy if I let him. So, sometimes I have actually went a little nuts. Not really on him but everybody in the house. I get home from working very hard and concentrating all day and there are crumbs in the kitchen floor, dishes in the sink, toys throughout the house. If I raise my voice everybody in the home starts working. I am not suggesting you do this but get a grip on it now. You don't want to wait as long as I did to get some help. Good luck!

Nagi--I'm sorry about your dog. We lost our little Pooh almost a year ago and we miss him every day.

Amanda---good luck with the CS. In my hometown we don't have to pay either. I think my ex is about $700 behind due to being laid off several times this year. It gets hard and sometimes you just don't think it's right. I want to say to my kids when they try and play the I want to live with dad because you are strict, lol. I want to say...hey, you are lucky you have me...I make you be respectful and I make sure you have what you need even if we have to pay bills late or run low on groceries and he would never do that. I just bite my tongue...it's not worth hurting their little feelings for my anger towards him. Best wishes on this. I feel for you.

For me I was in Epic training until after 5pm tonight. Just got back about an hour ago. Man, it was a long, boring day. My mind is on overkill right now. So far, I have checked with mom and my little one is doing great. Besides the fact that his father dropped him off in sweat pants and a long sleeve shirt he was clean and fed and happy. (why?, why?, why, can't I get him to understand Malek doesn't feel cold like he does). I am still missing my little one. This is the longest I have been away from him. I can't wait to see all of my kids and give them a big hug and kiss.

Well, I am off to have desert with ummsqueakster. Have an awesome night! I am enjoying this Wisconsin weather!

Sharifah----I'm here for you girl! You can always call me up when you are lonely just pm me for my phone number. My husband will be here for just a little over a week during Ramadan and the rest of the time I will be celebrating with me, myself and I. I am grateful he can have a wonderful Ramadan at home though.

Jackie...I'll be back 8-30 for the week. We should plan a get together with you, Terrie and MRSAMERA--Amanda. Of course I have no car and no clue where I am at though.

Had a great dinner. The first time I have ate Indonesian before and it was super yummy!

Hey guys! Reporting from CHEESE HEAD territory! I am officially in Wisconsin starting my new journey in my career. I am anxiously awaiting meeting up tonight with a friend that has been such a great inspiration to a lot of us on here!! I won't say who it is but I am too excited. Have a great evening!

BTW, Terri we need to plan something!

Congrats!!!

I've been missing out on all of this troll stuff.

I think a lot of it is location too. The economy in our part of our state is very very bad right now. We recently have had big companies with thousands lose their jobs and they were all out on the hunt. As far as giving somebody a chance I strongly believe that could be a great reason as well.

I think a lot of it is location too. The economy in our part of our state is very very bad right now. We recently have had big companies with thousands lose their jobs and they were all out on the hunt. As far as giving somebody a chance I strongly believe that could be a great reason as well.

Congratulations momma and baba!! He is absolutely gorgeous!! Please take care and thank you for sharing!

I didn't realize a simple article would cause such a stir

i'm just sayin....

But hey Lisa, you know it was a controversial post but we had some good discussions out of it.

I am keeping my fingers crossed for you!!

Thanks everyone for your replies. I'm almost sure it's the Visa on it's way to him. I managed to get him on the phone long enough to say.. you should be gettin your Visa Sunday. Then the phone went dead and that's it, no phone, no internet. I went to DHL's site and they are open on Saturdays, so he might get it tomorrow. I'm excited and ready to ....

Jolie

I bet you are!! It is crazy when you have an important message and you can't get through!!!

I'm a bad mommy and even more a bad nurse. My 16 year old came home about 3 weeks ago complaining that he had hurt his hand at the base of his thumb. I waited to see if it would get better. After 3 weeks he said it still hurt really bad and I took him to the Doc. It was xrayed and was broke. They sent us to the orthopedic Dr and thought he would just get a cast, but nooo, he has to have surgery on Monday. He has hurt his self so much since he is a goalkeeper on the soccer team and never has broken anything. I just kinda ignored him this time. I feel so bad now.

Meriem

Dont feel too bad, we all make mom mistakes. Mehdi fell backwards off the bed about a month ago and wailed his little head off. I thought maybe he just had a bruise or pulled a muscle. Turns out he broke his clavicle! I was wary about taking him to the ER because I didnt want to make him suffer through hours of wait for nothing, but now Im glad I took him. I felt like such a horrible mom for making him wait even five minutes to get fixed up.

I did the same thing when Malek broke his arm. I thought oh nurses elbow let me give him some Ibuprofen and make sure he didn't stub it or something. The area the break was in he was still able to use his arm just not bear weight. Well, he walks and doesn't crawl so I didn't notice. The next day it was swollen and I had to take him. was scared to death to take him to the hospital just because of the CPS horror stories you hear. Everything went smooth and I am glad I took him, a day late, but I took him.

Don't feel bad Meriem. You know if I jumped every time my daughter cried wolf about a pain we'd have a major investment in the hospitals. I pray his surgery goes well on Monday.

Hey

I am draggin my butt today

It got nice and cool last night and today so far is beautiful.

Ladies, you can add Casablanca to the list of cities it is CRAZY to drive in

Good thing I already came from a big city and am a very skilled driver Add stick shift to that and it makes

for a seat grabbin ride.

Did any of you get an "international driver's license"? I did not have one but I had a friend tell me to do it when I plan on driving abroad. I just used my state license and passport.

Maureen...what's the plan for the weekend? I am so dang tired, right now, I don't feel like doing anything but veggie out at home. However, our time "alone" is so few and far between that I figure we better get out and do something.

I am thinking about venturing into the city and just walking around with hubby to get more familiar with the sites.

It should be just the right temperature for that.

Tash..have a safe trip. I am sure hubby will be fine. We all know that men just can't do things the way we do

GG howz it feel to have time on your hands now??? What are you doing now that your residency/internship is complete?

Nagi, morning lady.

Are y'all saying that Thursday's thread just vanished??

I'm feeling so tired too! anyhoo, if my husband gets his way, we will more than likely be at the casino, if I get my way, we will be at a comedy club. Maybe we can compromise and squeeze in both.

I had this man leave a message on my answering machine the other day telling me that he will be my daughter's soccer coach this fall and to come to his place this Sunday at 3pm for a meeting, ummm, i never signed my daughter up for soccer this year, what the heck???

Did he use her name?

yeah, i'm still wondering how this happened. I know for a fact that I did not sign her up for any soccer, the last time she was in soccer was almost 3 years ago.

Ok, that is weird.

You are right! It should be discussed and should be in depth and at length. I think in the discussions that I have had with those that have children (these are all married with MENA husbands) is that the husband originally had the respect that their religion and traditions are different, their father is responsible for making sure the children follow through, not him, he was the stepfather and he was not to push the fact. They are not his children. But as time goes by and he forms a bond with them and loves them and wants to treat them as his own and wants them to be good examples to his own, his feelings are different. I don't always think that the discussion and expectations churn out to be the true reality. This can be a big deal breaker in a marriage.

Amysgirl, I agree with alot of what you said. HOwever the mother was not just bringing her culture here, she was also bringing ISlam.My kids wont date, there is no boyfriend , girlfriend thing. As a Muslim convert, born and raised here, I knkow for sure this is what my Islam teaches me. Ya my kids will like someone, think they are "inlove" etc. but they wont go to prom, dates, and so on.

I honestly understand your point of view. I guess for me it was something new. I know all of this but when the mother ran out and assumed that the boy wanted her daughter for a reason like boyfriend and girlfriend it kind of shocked me. I guess all in all he was a neighbor boy that wanted to let the daughter know that his brother was selling his skateboard and wanted the daughter to have first dibs on it. His sister sent the daughter a text telling her why he came. The boy should have voiced this when the mother opened the door though.

I can totally understand your beliefs. Although, with Christian children I am sure I will find it and maybe some others a hard pill to swallow if stepdad puts his foot down about things that are very acceptable in his religion, traditions, culture in his country but then to these children it isn't the normality that they have grown up with for so many years. He comes in and rocks their world.

Hey

I am draggin my butt today

It got nice and cool last night and today so far is beautiful.

Ladies, you can add Casablanca to the list of cities it is CRAZY to drive in

Good thing I already came from a big city and am a very skilled driver Add stick shift to that and it makes

for a seat grabbin ride.

Did any of you get an "international driver's license"? I did not have one but I had a friend tell me to do it when I plan on driving abroad. I just used my state license and passport.

Maureen...what's the plan for the weekend? I am so dang tired, right now, I don't feel like doing anything but veggie out at home. However, our time "alone" is so few and far between that I figure we better get out and do something.

I am thinking about venturing into the city and just walking around with hubby to get more familiar with the sites.

It should be just the right temperature for that.

Tash..have a safe trip. I am sure hubby will be fine. We all know that men just can't do things the way we do

GG howz it feel to have time on your hands now??? What are you doing now that your residency/internship is complete?

Nagi, morning lady.

Are y'all saying that Thursday's thread just vanished??

I'm feeling so tired too! anyhoo, if my husband gets his way, we will more than likely be at the casino, if I get my way, we will be at a comedy club. Maybe we can compromise and squeeze in both.

I had this man leave a message on my answering machine the other day telling me that he will be my daughter's soccer coach this fall and to come to his place this Sunday at 3pm for a meeting, ummm, i never signed my daughter up for soccer this year, what the heck???

Did he use her name?

I know that KH is speaking from some experience here. She has a son with a MENA man and she has been married to a stepfather to her son. Maybe this doesn't apply to all MENA men but I think it will apply to more than some think it will. Some people when having a child with one of these men even though they may be very liberal at first things start to become strict as the child grows. This is not just only from my personal experience but from a few others even on this board that I have spoken to.

I know of situations where the stepfather isn't pushing his religion from his view on the step children in his mind but especially with the young girls stating that if they are Christian they shouldn't show their bodies as much as they do. This can be as small as the young girl wanting to go to a public swimming pool. He is uncomfortable with her wearing a one piece bathing suit and to him he is looking out for her safety and for her to not be misled but for her it is pure miserableness and a nonunderstanding stepfather putting his nose in her business and making her not feel Christian enough because she shows skin.

I've heard of situations where the man threatens to divorce his wife because she isn't strict enough on her children. These children will be examples to his children and he will not have his child seeing that the little negative things in their behavior can be overlooked as often as we do in America. That the children rule the parents and the parents do not rule the children.

In some aspects this is correct. I remember my sibling calling the police on my father when we were young because he spanked her. Why??? Because she snuck out of the house and wasn't in her bed in the morning, scared the family to death and was doing only God knows what. So, my father, who is a good man trying to discipline his daughter almost went to jail for correcting her.

This doesn't state that the police and children services aren't a great resource. They can be and can save lives as we all know. But sometimes our kids know at such a young and early age that they can get the upper hand over us. In other countries where these men come from you get beat with a stick or a belt and you never do what you did again because you remember it. (Not condoning this is proper to me) It's hard sometimes to retrain your thought processes to think differently when you live in a country and see some of the things that you see here. Unfortunately, to some they don't always see the positive outweighing the negative.

Also, let me share some culture with you. I was at fellow Egyptian friend's home last night. The doorbell rang, my husband answered it and whispered to the 17 year old son that there was a boy at the door for his almost 16 year old sister. The son, being born and raised in America knowing how his parents were, tried to go outside and tell the boy listen, don't come to the door or come around here because intermingling of boy/girls in our home is wrong. Well, the mother heard the son talking to this boy at the door and she came running out of the house and yelling and said what do you want with my daughter? The boy told her he wanted to talk to her. The mother screamed at him and told him to leave and not come back and that they weren't like some families like he may know and that if he came around again the police would be called. The teenage kids were so embarassed. They looked as if they were going to cry. I just sat there with my mouth shut because it wasn't my business to talk but you know I witnessed cultural clashes in that moment and saw how hurt the children were and how hurt the mother was. It was sad...she's been in this country for over 20 years and still she brings her culture with her and she doesn't budge on it.

I know my post is all over the place, I apologize. I am also not trying to offend one of you. My wish is that all of you that have children and your spouse is a step parent that you have an easy transition and life. Not everybody does though and there are more than admit it. I know because we have spoken about it. You know who you are but it's a lot of work, tough hard work to raise culturally mixed children.

Amanda, if Jordan is anything like Egypt I would have had a heart attack. I was always searching for that OHHHHHHHH ####### bar above the door window to hold on. There were times when I had to just close my eyes and pray that God would allow us to arrive safely. LOL....I am sure the drivers thought I was a pure nutjob! BTW, I will remember your family and hope for your husband a job and license.

Jackie, I am flying. I will leave out of Dayton Monday morning and fly to Milwaukee and then on to Madison. On the way back I am praying that I don't get stuck because my older son is having surgery early Friday morning but I am coming from Madison to Chicago and then back to Dayton. I don't mind flying at all. I've done a lot of it in the past few years but just hate long layovers and such.

Tasha, that's got to be rough on you. My thoughts are with you. I am sure everything will be fine. I bet when you're back, you are going to see the happiest faces in the world!

You know how men can be Maureen. He just doesn't pay attention to things like I do. Mom is watching him in the evenings when he works so I am 100% certain she will tattle on anything and everything wrong. LOL! I just hope it's not much!

I hope they are happy faces! I have 9 more days after that before I leave again and then my husband will be gone for 5 weeks. I feel like we are just passing by each other every day. Busy life but thank you!

I am keeping my fingers crossed for you!!

Happy Friday everybody! Today is a busy day at work and then preparing for my trip next week. I have to get all of my ducks in a row at home.

I'm a little nervous how things will go with my husband having the baby for a week. I'm hoping he keeps food in his tummy, clean diapy on his bottom and doesn't dress him like's its -20 outside when it is almost 100.

Have a great one!

A very heavy topic derailed that thread......Sorry, but Admin action may need to happen on that.

Thanks for opening a new one!!

Awwwwwww, I was wondering where it was and kept thinking maybe I was overlooking it. I always go back to see who posted after I did to respond and couldn't find it. Thanks for the info.

Salam,

I am a new Muslimah in Houston's Southeast side. Any other Muslimah's in the area??? I need help learning. Thanks!!!!!

April

I am definately now in the Houston area but I would like to say welcome sister and please keep posting.

You can find me on there too. I'm on Amal's friend list.