What else do we need?

"It is He who created me and it is He who guides me. It is He who feeds me and gives me to drink. When I am ill it is He who cures me. It is He who will cause me to die and then bring me back to life. I hope that He will forgive me my sin on the Day of Judgment." (Ash shu'ara (26: 77-82)

Lancaster camp was very fulfilling to say the least. So much happened in so little time. I felt overwhelmed, yet felt I had so little time to accomplish what I wanted to finish. When Murat saw: Sura Fatiha as my educational topic, he was like: "Again?"
Yes, again, and i still feel like it has not been half covered. We are getting there though. I feel like the younger kids are more attentive, like the 8-10 year-olds. The older they get, the more distanced or occupied they seem. What is taking our kids' attention? I put visual, audio and interaction into the educational period and alhamdulillah it helped. But preparing for the 3 day educational periods and in doing it, I realized I could spend two weeks doing the same topic and maybe then, maybe then I would feel that they understood, or would maybe start to grasp the meaning of fatiha, the beautiful opening verses of our guide to life.
I love 8-9 year olds! I feel they have the most capacity to be influenced, they are not as occupied with the frivolities of life yet. They were the most eager to answer questions.
Dress-up was fun. I never fail to be entertained at the imagination our girls have. And the artistic ability some of our children have! I wish we could use that to steer them to the right direction. They all have their hidden talents given by the Creator. May Allah give us the wisdom to discover them and steer it to the place it can blossom.
The kids finally caught the attention of their parents this camp. The fathers felt it necessary to have a kids/adult panel in the schedule alhamdulillah. The number one advice children had to give their parents: "Please spend more time with me!" May we take the time to sit with them and listen to them.
Preparing for family night as usual was stressful. But I loved the enthusiasm all the kids had. Everyone wanted a part and if I let them, they would love to entertain their parents for many more hours.
That is a beautiful trait our kids get from our American culture: confidence and social outgoing nature.
What else, other than the fact that I was finally able to get up from sleep with no headache the day we were leaving!

Almost forgot: The ayat I put at the beginning was an ayat I had them memorize in groups. I felt it such a beautiful one, we have so many sayings from the Prophet(SAW), ayats in the Quran, and wisdom from our rich Islamic history, we don't have to look anywhere else for poetry or things to memorize for our kids. It's all there and our kids are just waiting to be showered with Islam's beauty. Are we ready to give it to them?

May Allah accept all our efforts and forgive all our shortcomings.