remembering Dan Seals

one of the great Baha'i musicians in the world just passed away.

"we all are one, the flowers of one garden...
ponder in your hearts, how we were all created from the same dust"

the sweet days of fasting

This year the month of fasting seems to have flown by. How sweet it has been to share it with my Ram. We have been having amazing breakfasts and dinners...colorful and joyous just how I LOVE them.
Breakfast this morning --lemon water, oatmeal with pine nuts and raisins and lots of fresh fruit.

Then some sweet prayer time together. We have been doing our 95 'Allah'u'Abha's together with the help of the coral and jade prayer beads that Ram made for me a few days ago. This morning we read from a lovely compilation on The Importance of Obligatory Prayer and Fasting...


"Well is it with you, as you have followed the Law of God and arisen to observe the Fast during these blessed days, for this physical fast is a symbol of the spiritual fast. This fast leadeth to the cleansing of the soul from all selfish desires, the acquisition of spiritual attributes, attraction to the breezes of the All-Merciful, and enkindlement with the fire of divine love." 'Abdu'l-Baha


We were very honored by the presence of Hayden Knight Weiler of Ellis and Knight fame at our little weekly devotional gathering last week. He played the song he and Vahid composed especially for our wedding--sweet sweet sweet!
[You must go to their reverbnation site and listen to some of their songs]

"make Thou this marriage to be as threading lights of Thine abounding grace..."

the first week of our new marriage has been very sweet. we decided to begin our marriage during the Baha'i month of fasting (March 2-21) so that we could try to establish habits of prayer and meditation as integral to our family life from the very beginning.

my favorite pictures from the wedding are around the lovely wedding cake (carrot cake with cream cheese icing--delicious!!).

One picture in particular delights me because, just by chance,
it is almost a replica of my favorite picture from my parents' wedding that I have hanging on my wall.




I wore the jacket my mother wore at her wedding. I had it slightly altered.



"From the pairing of even the smallest particles in the world of being are the grace and bounty of God made manifest; and the higher the degree, the more momentous is the union. 'Glory be to Him Who hath created all the pairs, of such things as earth produceth, and out of men themselves, and of things beyond their ken.'[1]
And above all other unions is that between human beings, especially when it cometh to pass in the love of God. Thus is the primal oneness made to appear; thus is laid the foundation of love in the spirit. It is certain that such a marriage as yours will cause the bestowals of God to be revealed. Wherefore do we offer you felicitations and call down blessings upon you and beg of the Blessed Beauty, through His aid and favour, to make that wedding feast a joy to all and adorn it with the harmony of Heaven.
[1 Qur'án 36:36, and cf. 51:49]

O my Lord, O my Lord! These two bright orbs are wedded in Thy love, conjoined in servitude to Thy Holy Threshold, united in ministering to Thy Cause. Make Thou this marriage to be as threading lights of Thine abounding grace, O my Lord, the All-Merciful, and luminous rays of Thy bestowals, O Thou the Beneficent, the Ever-Giving, that there may branch out from this great tree boughs that will grow green and flourishing through the gifts that rain down from Thy clouds of grace.

Verily Thou art the Generous, verily Thou art the Almighty, verily Thou art the Compassionate, the All-Merciful."

(Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 119)