Friday, November 16, 2012

Heroes Conference

Bismillaah

alHamdulillaah, alHamdulillaah

yesterday was one of the happiest day this year. After so long, I've got to attend an Islamic conference from the beginning till the end with all of my four beloved children!

It was the Heroes conference at IIUM.

okay, honestly I was not registered until last Thursday, wasn't even aware of any conferences or Islamic programs around the Klang valley, which were lots of them day in and day out.

A friend told me about the conference, I checked the website and alHamdulillaah, happy to find out that mother's room with love live telecast would be available, and hey, the fee was cheap too, mashaAllaah!

So, I registered as a group with two other friends alHamdulillaah.

I was very excited that I prepared everything the night before - yup, packed all the stuffs I thought would be needed to keep my children entertained and comfortable to stay in the hall from 10am to 10 pm! I ended up with several bags - looking like getting ready for a week away!

In the morning, everyone woke up a bit earlier, as abah had to leave for a talk in the morning too. So, syurgawan and ibu got ready and waited for ibu's friend to pick us up.

The ride to IIUM was smooth and happy, the sky was bright and beautiful mashaAllaah. We made a few stops to buy breakfast and refill the fuel.

Arrived at IIUM, everyone brought their bags and alHamdulillaah for ibu's friends for helping us carrying our stuffs - uhuhuhu..too many and heavy!. We parked a bit farther from the hall as the parking are was full. Was informed that attendees were about one thousand!

AlHamdulillaah the volunteers are friendly and helpful. We finally made it to the mother's room, alHamdulillaah! Unpacked our things and got ready for the ilm session.

However, the telecast was not up yet :( uhuhuhuhu. At first, we were told to join the others in the main auditorium, but no children allowed. My syurgawan refused to be left at the nursery(available for RM20/child). They wanted to stay with ibu walHamdulillaah.

So, I was down initially, but quickly made du'a to Allaah to grant me patience and ease for the duration of the day. I made the same du'a last night, and I knew Allah heard me. It was just I have to be a bit patient.

I enjoyed my time waiting, while entertaining my baby and curious toddlers.

An hour later, the lady technician came and set up the LCD, it worked! but, no sounds.uhuhuhu.
They said the audio cable was not long enough to be pulled and connected to the mother's room. We had to move to a new room later, because the main session was ongoing and they didn't want to interrupt the audio.

AlHamdulillaah a'la kulli haal. AlHamdulillaah, Allaah gave me the strength avoid complaining, and stayed happy and content with everything around me. Yup, I missed all the morning sessions.

Finally, after the Zuhr break, they moved us to the new mother's room. It was a musolla, so it was very comfortable. It was a clean and nice room with attached wudhu'a area and restrooms! It was a blessing indeed as I didn't have to run back and forth to the restroom everytime a child wanted to use it. Plus, only mommas with child/ren were allowed to use the facility, so no QUE and big crowd, alHamdulillaah, alHamdulillaah. I wouldn't complaint about having to take all of our belongings from the previous room to the new one, which was located at the second floor and we had to walk quite a bit. I was helped with many volunteers and friends, jazakumullaahu khayr.

AlHamdulillaah, I enjoyed the conference and almost throughout the conference just stayed in the mother's room, except for the few minutes moving from the previous room to the substitute room, and oh ya, went to the restroom with Adam and had to wait in a long line(before we got into the musolla cum mother's room). I guess I was so focused on listening to the talks and taking care of my little ones that I forgot about taking a walk outside or meeting a friend etc, mashaAllaah. syurgawan visited the booths with kakak Saadiah. oh ya, lunch were bought by kakak saadiah and Amirah too.

my children were busy making new friends, coloring, exploring, etc. they enjoyed the conference too. little complaints and no major fights and crankiness, mashaAllaah walHamdulillaah! All were up and running until they were really tired, only after 9pm LOL. Adam fell asleep first, followed by Hajar, then Maryam. Sarah was the one who remained awake. Sarah was so very cooperative through the entire stay eventhough she had a runny nose and cough, alHamdulillaah alHamdulillaah, she was easy and happy! A 5+ month old baby mashaAllaah.

The conference ended half an hour earlier than scheduled. It was scheduled to end at 11pm, but the VVIP was not there for the final closing ceremony. Abah came to pick us up at around 11pm, he was around at IIUM too for his coaching session earlier. By that time, all 3 toddlers were fast asleep. We managed to wake Adam and Hajar, but not Maryam, LOL! Our lil Sarah almost immediately fell asleep as the car left the carpark! I guess she was very tired too, but too happy to be cranky at all mashaAllaah.

We reached home just a few minutes past midnight, alHamdulillaah.

That night, I cought a flu and fever, alHamdulillaah a'la kulli haal. Gave it all out for the conference, and it was time for kaffarah of my sins :)