Meeting the in-laws

Ive been thinking about writing about this for awhile and after reading recent blogs from Sara over on a little of that I thought I would write up my thoughts about the impending (we will arrive in KHI on Wednesday afternoon insha'Allah) trip to meet the in-laws.

Some history, when Chilli Tomato and I first met (I like the nickname, what dya think?) he didnt really tell his parents that he was thinking about marrying an English girl, for no reason other than he wanted to see how it went. After quite awhile of not speaking with them because we were busy together they eventually got hold of him and demanded to know what was going on. So he told them he had met an English girl and we were seeing how things would go if we wanted to get married. Of course we had the 'if you want a passport we have relatives all over England' and maybe the tears (I cant remember if that was then or afterwards) Now we have the 'Im so happy CT married Ammena... I would rather him have married an English convert than a British Pakistani' and this is how it is being said now that they are looking for a wife for his brother ;) The first day we went looking for flats was the first time I got to speak to his father, he was very kind and had an easy tone to listen to masha'Allah.. he asked me for things involving my marriage and asked me to look after CT. His mother had a harder time with us getting married here without them, she definitely cried about this.. but things went ahead and his family backed us each step of the way alhamdulillah.
When his brother came over for our civil wedding back in September that seemed to be another connecting bridge between my family and his. His family felt more included and my family felt relieved I think to finally meet a member of his family. So now we are travelling to Pakistan for our mehndi and walimah parties tomorrow, and Im not nervous about meeting anyone except his mum.. what does that mean?? hubby tells me I shouldnt be, then I remind him how nervous he was when he first met my mum ;) His Dad Im really looking forward to meeting, maybe because he is the one Ive been in most contact with since meeting my chilli tomato. His brother is fine obviously cause we have spent a lot of time with him since we married alhamdulillah. His little sister is just a ball of energy and I love listening to her speak to chilli tomato, even though she doesnt speak that much English she speaks a little but listening to the adoration in her voice when she talks to him or the excitement when she talks about me (not to sound big headed) she has such a cute voice masha'Allah. His other sister (I never know what to call her in terms of her place in the siblings line... shes his younger sister - not as young as little sister obviously - so would I differentiate by younger and youngest?) the English speaking sister I look forward to meeting purely because I think we will have a few things in common (apart from chilli obviously) although shes not my age I do tend to get on with people of all ages alhamdulillah. His Mother on the other hand.. well Ive said salam to her, she has heard me practising my Urdu words but apart from that we have had very little contact :( and I think thats why Im so nervous about meeting her... I can pick out her voice out from the younger sister and Im told by hubby what she likes, Ive seen photos... but thats about the only interaction we have :( I pray that this holiday will change things between us and we can get a chance to bond insha'Allah...

Im looking forward to reading over this post when I get back and see how things have gone :)
Peace and salams
Ammena