Lauryn sleeping
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
BABY LAURYN HAS ARRIVED!!!
Hopefully soon I'll have pictures, but my newest neice, Lauryn Michelle Boisvert was born this morning at 8:03am (North Carolina time)! Hooray!! I am so sad that I can't be home for this amazing day, but I know that Lauryn is being loved by many people back home. I can't wait to hold her in my arms in 6 months! Mom says that my brother Brad (Lauryn's dad) is just beaming... well, what guy wouldn't be? He has waited so long to be a dad. I know he's going to be a great one!
Well, I'll put a picture here as soon as I see one myself! Until then... goodnight from SA!
In Him,
Bonnie
Link to pictures:
http://community.webshots.com/user/bonnieb81
Monday, May 16, 2005
Wow… I feel like I have so much to update about! I really should get better about updating this page more often. So let me think… where do I start? Last week started out fairly normal… then Wednesday afternoon I got invited to go to the Blues Room to hear a friend’s band, Grounded, play. We got on the guest list, so we didn’t have to pay to get in, which is always cool. :) That’s my second time going to the Blues Room, and once again, it was packed full of people… I’m starting to get better at handling big crowds, but it’s still not the easiest thing in the world for me! I much prefer small groups where I can actually hear the person next to me speaking to me. :) But all was good. Thursday, quite randomly, I got to go BACK to the Blues Room. The Finkelstiens were playing, ad a friend of mine kinda knows them so I got to go for free again. Hooray! Now, let me give you some background here. Last year when I first heard a Finks song on the radio, I really liked them. They’re a local punk band… Anyway, they’re the first South African band I liked. They’ve been in Joburg before and I’ve always wanted to go to a show, but I’ve always been busy. So I was pretty psyched to be going to hear them finally! So Thursday night on the way there I was trying to psych myself up and get ready to deal with big crowds of people again. Well… to my surprise (and delight!) there are a lot less people there on Thursday nights!! So my friends and I sat at a table right down front. Sitting at a table with people I know was much more enjoyable for me than standing around pretending to be comfortable with the fact that people I don’t know are squished beside me! The whole time I was trying to act cool, all the while trying NOT to let people know that I was really feeling like a 13 year old at some boy-band concert. I sat there acting all chill… when my insides were screamin’ like a school girl. heehee I was so excited to finally get to see them up close and personal. I even got to meet them afterwards and chatted with one of the guys while he put his guitar stuff away. A 13 (or *cough cough* 23) year old’s dream come true. haha All in all, it was an awesome night!
Friday night I went with some friends from Northcliff Union Church to an Uzbekistan dinner/fund raiser for the mission trip Craig is going on in June. That was quite fun! It was awesome to be introduced to another culture and experience it as best as we can from this far away!
Saturday was also an awesome day… after going to Durban Deep and playing with the kids, Nurse came home with me to spend the night! She insisted on cooking for me, so we went to the grocery store and got the necessary ingredients. Everything she made was vegetable stuff… we had rice with a tomato-green pepper-onion gravy/sauce, mashed potatoes/green beans, sweet carrots, potato salad, butternut squash and cabbage. It was all really good, but everything she cooked was soaking in oil… if I could learn to make the dishes without all the oil, I’d try to make them myself… maybe I’ll have to try that sometime. :) She wouldn’t even let me help cook – she wanted to do everything herself. We also watched The Lord of the Rings. She’d never seen any of them and wanted to see it, so I watched it for the 4th or 5th time! It was really fun to hang out with her outside of just teaching.
Sunday was ANOTHER great day! After Sunday school at Rand Leases, we finally went to Braamfisherville to do Sunday school for the first time! 24 kids came!! Praise the Lord! I was so excited that the kids came. Being that this was the first week, I was prepared for a small number of kids, but God surpassed my expectations. Man, isn’t He amazing? I just love Him. :) After that exciting (but somewhat tiring!) morning, I went to Joshuwa’s 3 year old birthday party and a local mini-train place. It was nice to hang out with the whole team for a while and celebrate with Joshy! I gave him a Little Bill (a black cartoon in the States) doll from America and he just went crazy. I did good. haha Today when I was at the Holidays’ house, Josh woke up from his nap, and out he walked with Little Bill under his arm. I felt so proud. :)
TODAY! NEWSFLASH!!! There’s a SUBWAY at Westgate mall!!! WOOHOO!!! I was at the mall today with the Holiday family, and all of a sudden, there it was… the all too famous green Subway sign. We almost passed out. Of course, we just had to get Subway and take it home for dinner. No, it wasn’t exactly the same as in the States. Some flavours were different, but just the idea of eating a Subway sub – ahh… it was nice. :) We took them home and ate them while watching the first Star Wars… we have to catch up and review since the 3rd one is coming out this week!
Well, that’s about all I’ve got to say for now… See, I really should have written more about this stuff as it happened so that I wouldn’t have to write one long update, but oh well! Thanks for sticking with me, and for checking in on me!!
In Him,
Bonnie
Link to pictures:
http://community.webshots.com/user/bonnieb81
Friday night I went with some friends from Northcliff Union Church to an Uzbekistan dinner/fund raiser for the mission trip Craig is going on in June. That was quite fun! It was awesome to be introduced to another culture and experience it as best as we can from this far away!
Saturday was also an awesome day… after going to Durban Deep and playing with the kids, Nurse came home with me to spend the night! She insisted on cooking for me, so we went to the grocery store and got the necessary ingredients. Everything she made was vegetable stuff… we had rice with a tomato-green pepper-onion gravy/sauce, mashed potatoes/green beans, sweet carrots, potato salad, butternut squash and cabbage. It was all really good, but everything she cooked was soaking in oil… if I could learn to make the dishes without all the oil, I’d try to make them myself… maybe I’ll have to try that sometime. :) She wouldn’t even let me help cook – she wanted to do everything herself. We also watched The Lord of the Rings. She’d never seen any of them and wanted to see it, so I watched it for the 4th or 5th time! It was really fun to hang out with her outside of just teaching.
Sunday was ANOTHER great day! After Sunday school at Rand Leases, we finally went to Braamfisherville to do Sunday school for the first time! 24 kids came!! Praise the Lord! I was so excited that the kids came. Being that this was the first week, I was prepared for a small number of kids, but God surpassed my expectations. Man, isn’t He amazing? I just love Him. :) After that exciting (but somewhat tiring!) morning, I went to Joshuwa’s 3 year old birthday party and a local mini-train place. It was nice to hang out with the whole team for a while and celebrate with Joshy! I gave him a Little Bill (a black cartoon in the States) doll from America and he just went crazy. I did good. haha Today when I was at the Holidays’ house, Josh woke up from his nap, and out he walked with Little Bill under his arm. I felt so proud. :)
TODAY! NEWSFLASH!!! There’s a SUBWAY at Westgate mall!!! WOOHOO!!! I was at the mall today with the Holiday family, and all of a sudden, there it was… the all too famous green Subway sign. We almost passed out. Of course, we just had to get Subway and take it home for dinner. No, it wasn’t exactly the same as in the States. Some flavours were different, but just the idea of eating a Subway sub – ahh… it was nice. :) We took them home and ate them while watching the first Star Wars… we have to catch up and review since the 3rd one is coming out this week!
Well, that’s about all I’ve got to say for now… See, I really should have written more about this stuff as it happened so that I wouldn’t have to write one long update, but oh well! Thanks for sticking with me, and for checking in on me!!
In Him,
Bonnie
Link to pictures:
http://community.webshots.com/user/bonnieb81
Monday, May 09, 2005
My new endeavour...
You know, I've learned a lot in South Africa... much being"spiritual" stuff... but I write enough about that. ;) On to something new! Just recently I had a strange desire to make a video. Now mind you, I am armed with a regular little video camera, and my 3.2 mega-pixel digital camera which also takes really cruddy videos (but hey, they're still good for making memoies!). Well, one random Sunday afternoon I went to town on my video. It's kinda cheesy, but I had fun, and that was the intended goal. Being pretty excited about my little video, I sent an incredibly low scale version of it to my video-editing guru friend in the States. And low and behold, he says I'm not bad! He says it "looks like he might have a new video editing assistant in the next few months!" Wow... definitely not the reaction I expected, and let me say, this friend is not one to just dish out compliments to make someone feel good about themselves! He says when I come home, he'll have to put a real camera in my hands and see what I can do! Interesting, hey? Who knew I even had an ounce of talent in this area!? Not me... that's for sure! Since then I've made another (also cheesy) video... and now I'm out of footage. Too bad! Oh, this couple also came from the States just last week to get some video footage of our area as well as other areas in Southern African because they're making a prayer DVD. That guy took a look at my video and said, "just get yourself a good camera and a good editing program and you'll be ready to go!" I said, "yeah... with what money?!" And he replied, "well, mine only cost me $5000.00" HA! Must be nice to be rich! I wouldn't know... and don't plan to ever know for that matter. Anyway... that's my new endeavour as of late. Who knows where it may take me...
Until next time...
Bonnie B.
Link to pictures:
http://community.webshots.com/user/bonnieb81
You know, I've learned a lot in South Africa... much being"spiritual" stuff... but I write enough about that. ;) On to something new! Just recently I had a strange desire to make a video. Now mind you, I am armed with a regular little video camera, and my 3.2 mega-pixel digital camera which also takes really cruddy videos (but hey, they're still good for making memoies!). Well, one random Sunday afternoon I went to town on my video. It's kinda cheesy, but I had fun, and that was the intended goal. Being pretty excited about my little video, I sent an incredibly low scale version of it to my video-editing guru friend in the States. And low and behold, he says I'm not bad! He says it "looks like he might have a new video editing assistant in the next few months!" Wow... definitely not the reaction I expected, and let me say, this friend is not one to just dish out compliments to make someone feel good about themselves! He says when I come home, he'll have to put a real camera in my hands and see what I can do! Interesting, hey? Who knew I even had an ounce of talent in this area!? Not me... that's for sure! Since then I've made another (also cheesy) video... and now I'm out of footage. Too bad! Oh, this couple also came from the States just last week to get some video footage of our area as well as other areas in Southern African because they're making a prayer DVD. That guy took a look at my video and said, "just get yourself a good camera and a good editing program and you'll be ready to go!" I said, "yeah... with what money?!" And he replied, "well, mine only cost me $5000.00" HA! Must be nice to be rich! I wouldn't know... and don't plan to ever know for that matter. Anyway... that's my new endeavour as of late. Who knows where it may take me...
Until next time...
Bonnie B.
Link to pictures:
http://community.webshots.com/user/bonnieb81
Sunday, May 08, 2005
Happy Mother’s Day! This is my second year away from my mother, which is sad, but we are both excited that next year we’ll be together, and I plan to spoil her richly (well, “richly” in the non-monetary way – haha)!! To all you mothers out there, thanks for putting up with snotty nosed kids and temper tantrums. I’m sure my glad my Mom didn’t give up on me when I had a tantrum… I’d have been a goner a long time ago. ;)
Nothing all too exciting is going on today for me… it’s been a quiet afternoon of studying with the cats at my side. :) It’s surprisingly warm today… and quite frankly I’m ready for the cold to come and stay! I love winter time… warm sweaters, fuzzy scarves and cozy hats – I’m all about it. =)
Today Rand Leases went really well. We had a cool skit about temptation where Craig literally tempted the kids to do something I had told them not to do while I went to my car. They actually didn’t take the sweets! I was quite impressed. Sadly, however, after the lesson was over I gave out the sweets and at least one kid lied about having received one already… I think we need a lesson on stealing and lying!! They were cute though, and I know the leaders had fun taking part in the lesson too. Nurse continues to be an excellent teacher. Today she said, “ooh, I just LOVE teaching… even when I am sleeping I think about teaching.” Wow… she is SUCH a God send!! She makes teaching lifeskills more fun for me too, and much less stressful. She’s excited that we go back to teaching tomorrow, after taking a break last week. Please pray for Nurse – God is teaching her and using her in mighty ways!!
In a few minutes I am going to Braamfisherville to meet with Kurt and Pastor Aaron, the pastor of Braamfisherville Baptist Church. We are trying to partner with the church and begin a children’s ministry there on Sunday mornings. A lot of the kids that we see on Saturdays at Durban Deep are actually coming from Braamfisherville, so it will work out well if we can start meeting there. I think it will help the church to grow as well. Be in prayer for this partnership – that it will be successful and will contribute to bringing God’s glory! Nurse went to the church this week and last week on her own and really enjoyed it. It is only about 10 minutes from her house. For a while now she has been teaching the kids on Sunday mornings and has not had a chance to take part in a church service. She’s loved worshipping at BBC, and she’s making some friends!! Hooray!
Well, I’d better go get ready… thanks for checking up on me!!
In Him,
Bonnie
Link to pictures:
http://community.webshots.com/user/bonnieb81
Nothing all too exciting is going on today for me… it’s been a quiet afternoon of studying with the cats at my side. :) It’s surprisingly warm today… and quite frankly I’m ready for the cold to come and stay! I love winter time… warm sweaters, fuzzy scarves and cozy hats – I’m all about it. =)
Today Rand Leases went really well. We had a cool skit about temptation where Craig literally tempted the kids to do something I had told them not to do while I went to my car. They actually didn’t take the sweets! I was quite impressed. Sadly, however, after the lesson was over I gave out the sweets and at least one kid lied about having received one already… I think we need a lesson on stealing and lying!! They were cute though, and I know the leaders had fun taking part in the lesson too. Nurse continues to be an excellent teacher. Today she said, “ooh, I just LOVE teaching… even when I am sleeping I think about teaching.” Wow… she is SUCH a God send!! She makes teaching lifeskills more fun for me too, and much less stressful. She’s excited that we go back to teaching tomorrow, after taking a break last week. Please pray for Nurse – God is teaching her and using her in mighty ways!!
In a few minutes I am going to Braamfisherville to meet with Kurt and Pastor Aaron, the pastor of Braamfisherville Baptist Church. We are trying to partner with the church and begin a children’s ministry there on Sunday mornings. A lot of the kids that we see on Saturdays at Durban Deep are actually coming from Braamfisherville, so it will work out well if we can start meeting there. I think it will help the church to grow as well. Be in prayer for this partnership – that it will be successful and will contribute to bringing God’s glory! Nurse went to the church this week and last week on her own and really enjoyed it. It is only about 10 minutes from her house. For a while now she has been teaching the kids on Sunday mornings and has not had a chance to take part in a church service. She’s loved worshipping at BBC, and she’s making some friends!! Hooray!
Well, I’d better go get ready… thanks for checking up on me!!
In Him,
Bonnie
Link to pictures:
http://community.webshots.com/user/bonnieb81
Thursday, May 05, 2005
When You Call My Name
There's a hunger in this wilderness
For Your revelation
To hear the words of life that strengthen me
Come and show what you've prepared for me
Speak your confirmation
Show me how I fit into Your plan
For when you call my name, I can see again
Who You are, and who I'm meant to be
And as You beckon me, I am free to see
Who You are, and who I'm sent to be
I am seeking true identity
In the light of Your presence
I am longing to know how You see me
In the time that You have given me
Release the strength the follow
And the grace to be who You say I am
I just recently heard this song, and it immediately became my new favourite. It speaks so clearly of the cry of my heart at this very moment. I've had a lot of "God, what do You want!?" moments lately... The reality that I've only got 6 short months left here has really begun to set in, and truth is, I don't want to leave. For a brief while I thought there was a chance I could stay another year, but that door has recently closed, leaving me somewhat confused and quite grieved that I really will have to leave this awesome place. Cool thing is, I am convinced, beyond the shadow of a doubt that God has a great plan in store for me. I do wish I knew what it was, but part of the excitment of following Christ and His plan is discovering that plan one step at a time... knowing all the while that it's never a surprise to Him! I might be confused, but my loving Father is not confused at all!! And in that I find ultimate comfort. :) He's so good and faithful, isn't He? He is!
Goodnight and love to all...
Bonnie
Link to pictures:
http://community.webshots.com/user/bonnieb81
There's a hunger in this wilderness
For Your revelation
To hear the words of life that strengthen me
Come and show what you've prepared for me
Speak your confirmation
Show me how I fit into Your plan
For when you call my name, I can see again
Who You are, and who I'm meant to be
And as You beckon me, I am free to see
Who You are, and who I'm sent to be
I am seeking true identity
In the light of Your presence
I am longing to know how You see me
In the time that You have given me
Release the strength the follow
And the grace to be who You say I am
I just recently heard this song, and it immediately became my new favourite. It speaks so clearly of the cry of my heart at this very moment. I've had a lot of "God, what do You want!?" moments lately... The reality that I've only got 6 short months left here has really begun to set in, and truth is, I don't want to leave. For a brief while I thought there was a chance I could stay another year, but that door has recently closed, leaving me somewhat confused and quite grieved that I really will have to leave this awesome place. Cool thing is, I am convinced, beyond the shadow of a doubt that God has a great plan in store for me. I do wish I knew what it was, but part of the excitment of following Christ and His plan is discovering that plan one step at a time... knowing all the while that it's never a surprise to Him! I might be confused, but my loving Father is not confused at all!! And in that I find ultimate comfort. :) He's so good and faithful, isn't He? He is!
Goodnight and love to all...
Bonnie
Link to pictures:
http://community.webshots.com/user/bonnieb81
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
This past Sunday we gave out warm clothes to the kids. People from Northcliff Union Church donated them. Some of the sweaters the kids got were brand new and knitted by hand! The kids really felt special (which the should have, because they ARE). They were so cute, strutting around in their fancy new clothes. Praise God for each person who donated clothes for these precious children!! This is one of my girls, Samquel. Isn't she adorable!? :)
Hooray for holidays! Monday was a public holiday... I don't even know what it was, but I know I got a break from teaching. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids and I love teaching, but it's always nice to get a break and have a chance to unwind a little bit. Both yesterday and today (Tuesday) I have off from teaching, so I am taking a chance to relax! Tomorrow I get back into the swing of things, and I'll be going to Rand Leases to work with the little ones there. I just love those little guys!! I guess I don't really have a ton to write about, since not too much has happened. Oh... I went to a new church Sunday morning after Rand Leases. I went to Braamfisherville Baptist. Kurt has been working with this little church, and there is also a chance that the group I work with might start coming and joining them to help start a children's church for the kids. It's definintely my dream to get us all working together for the common goal, and this is one step in that direction. The church service was lots of fun... it's been a while since I've gotten to participate in an actual African church service. :) Northcliff is great, but it's definitely Westernized (and I'm not complaining about that!). Nurse also really enjoyed Braamfisherville Baptist. She lives in Braamfisherville, but is new to the area and doesn't know any Christians her age. I hope that through this church she will make some new friends! I know that having Christian peers is so important at our age. (and any age really!)
Well... I do have some reading to get done for my counseling class on Thursday, so I'd better get to work. :) Thanks for checking in on me!
In Him,
Bonnie
Link to pictures:
http://community.webshots.com/user/bonnieb81
Well... I do have some reading to get done for my counseling class on Thursday, so I'd better get to work. :) Thanks for checking in on me!
In Him,
Bonnie
Link to pictures:
http://community.webshots.com/user/bonnieb81
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