Bonnette Acres

In Germany they celebrate Christmas on Christmas eve. They first put up and decorate the tree, then they sing a couple of songs, and then its present time. Present time did not seem any different then life at my house as a child. When you got a gift you opened it up like crazy. Elke putting the gifts under the tree, they dont have them out to stare at for many weeks like us. This way the kids dont go crazy with anticipation. I thought that was the best part about getting the gifts? Debora and Lukas opening there presents So the next morning. Christmas morning, I decided to have my own Christmas like we have done every year in my house. I first read the Christmas story... and the I opened my present. To make it even more festive I listened to Christmas music on my I -pod. Oh and Dad I waited till sun rise, so dont worry all the rules were right for having christmas. Every year we have to take a photo with all of our christmas presents. Here you go Fam. Well my Christmas was a little dif...

Let me just prepare you for a second here. This post changes in emotions quite frequently. I probably should have made this three different post. But there all together, so here you go... Like the title says cereal is the NEW granola bar. I know shocking, I have not given up on my first love but when chewy granola bars are no where to be found here in Lushnje you have to give in to something new sometime. I have always enjoyed cereal, but never have I craved it... Yep those frosties are frost - i - licious I had way to much free time today... but it sure was fun! I could have put these on my photo page, but I felt they needed to show themselves here. This weekend has been a miraculous weekend. After the past two months of struggle after struggle, God has given the church here some amazing encouragement. From my past post it might not have sounded like the church is having problems. That is because its hard for me to be debbie downer all the time. On here I want to tell you of the posit...

Yes it is holiday time, but it does not completely feel whole. Thankfully this past week I have seen more and more decorations, been to a couple of Christmas parties, and have heard a few Christmas songs. So im slowly getting into the spirit a little more. But it is hard with out the family. Im really missing them, I will admit I did not think I would miss them that much (sorry no offense fam) but like the old saying goes "You dont really know what you got, till it's gone." Let me tell you I have done a lot of thinking about this and that is so true. Because my head always seems to be in the future, sometimes I miss whats right infront of me. Being here where life is not always that easy and 'Not eveyone knows me name..." it makes me yearn for the warm love that is always welcome at home. I am so thankful to know that I have had that, and that I still have that. So for the first time in my life Im not just looking forward, I am also looking back. But I pray I don...

Yesterday I awoke to the sound of repeated banging outside my window. I was unsure about it but it is not uncommon to hear strange noises outside, so I started to get ready for church. The last couple Sundays I had gotten ready, I had a hard time and a hard attitude. It just was not fun getting ready, when I could not feel my toes. Thanks to Steve and Rachael this Sunday was a wonderful morning. They got me a heater, and I truly, have cherished it. Needless to say my attitude was much warmer and I felt ready for the day. Before church started I was reminded of the noises from the street, I asked Elke and Ilir about it and they were quick to tell me what was going on. Today Muslims celebrate " Eid al - Adha " which is "the Festival of Sacrifice". If you were not aware there are many muslims here in Albania, some practicing, some sort of practice, and some just follow the tradition of things. I am not sure why but yesterday part of the tradition to get ready for ...

So let me just say my time spent in Turkey was A-mazing! It was all I could ask for. The hotel was the nicest hotel I have ever been in, and the service was phenomenal. I did not feel Like I should be worthy of such things but somehow I was. The hotel was right on the Mediterranean so there was a pretty amazing view from my room. The food was wonderful, my favorite thing they had was in the mornings. They had PANCAKES with SYRUP!!! You do not know how much I have missed that, yes it has not been that long since I have been away but I really love pancakes. Especially pancakes with such a beloved thing as syrup. Syrup is a rare thing here in albania, you can get some in the capitol but its about 20 dollars a bottle. hmm I think I will pass on that price. Anyways It was way cool to meet all the different Nazarene missionaries in Eurasia. I loved hearing there different stories, and just getting to know these people who are impacting the world. ohh what a feeling. The whole meaning for the...

I wish I could play you the very song I am listening to today, but it seems a little to complicated and its a good day and I don't want to burden myself with this unneeded task. Ha Ha Today is a lovely sunny day and I am so thankful! The last couple of days have been so gray and dreary and put me in a non lovely mood but today the sun has decided to shine and help me out. The song in my head is from one of my favorite bands "The Beatles". They are classic to me and will always remind me of my childhood and mostly my mom. She loves The Beatles and kindly passed her love of them down to her children. The song is "Good Day Sunshine!" is off of Revolver, I remember the first time I heard this song I felt it summed up a perfect day. Yesterday I wrote a really long post but decided to delete it and I am glad I did. It was depressing and very sad. It would have only depressed you and made you feel sad for me. I am glad I did not post it, because today with the bright s...

So I should be studying right now... yes even when you are in a foreign country the internet can still be a wonderful way to procrastinate. At first I was very eager to learn the language soaking it up every bit I could. But now I have learned key phrases and are able to get around ok, so I'm putting the studying off. WHICH IS WRONG EMILY! Sorry just needed to get mad at myself for a second. ha ha. Yes I do need to study, so please pray that I keep focused and not just let this major thing slide away from me. Tomorrow will be 3 weeks since I've been here and it's odd how much it feels like 3 weeks and how much it doesn't. Everything has gone so smoothly and everyday I find myself in a loss of how to thank God enough for this life I am living. On friday I went to tirana, to visit with the main missionaries for the night. They just wanted to check up on me see how it was all going. They were very thankful to hear that I was perfectly fine and was even kind of sad to leave...

Yay! I made an Apple Pie in Albania! Ha Ha, I know kind of a rare accomplishment, but I was quite happy. I would like to give a big thanks to my father for teaching me how to make an apple pie with out a mixer, getting the recipe for me, and reminding me that they are Celsius people over here not Fahrenheit. Last Saturday I made macaroni & cheese for the family, they were very interested afterwards and wanted me to make more American things. So I realized that they don't really bake here, I mean they bake breads. But not pies, brownies, or cakes. So I said it's Apple Pie time! I have to say I was pretty proud of myself, It was very very yummy. They seemed to like it as well, but I was surprised how the kids were so scarred of it. Who is afraid of tasting Apple Pie? ha ha well these kids are, it was like seeing mu gai pan for the first time. Anyways I had a grand time making it with Elka, and I am already thinking of what I shall make next. Oh P.S. The 4th video of my virtu...

So ta da da video number tre this video is of my own personal laundromat and some of the way cool kids. Yesterday I hit the two week mark on making my home here in Lushnje. I am not usually a ritual kind of person meaning like celebrating every two weeks, month, or 5 month anniversary. But they are very big with traditions like that here so I thought I would honor that. My comfort level here has now gone up to pretty much complete. It probably fully became complete the day we got wirless here, and oh am I thankful for that day. Thanks to Skype and Facebook, my family and friends do not feel so far away. Here is a list of things I have now learned on week two in Lushnje: - No mattter who you are with or where you are going here, no one will ever tell you exactly what you are about to do. I don't know if it is language barrier, language translation, or just being in Albania but I seem to be never expecting whats next. Yesterday I was asked by the family i'm staying with to go v...

So here is video number 2 It shows the lovely front of the house and neat little garden. Hope you Enjoy!

So here is a little welcome video for you guys at home. It is a little quiet so you might want to turn up the volume for this one. This is just one of four videos, but they take quit the long time to load so im doing one at a time on a post. have a grand one!

I have been living here for a week now. At moments it has felt like a year, and other seconds it has felt like a day. I put my two large bags in the back of the missionaries green land rover and we set off for Lushnje on last tuesday morning. It was about an hour and a half drive, I was feeling pretty good and was ready to meet my new family. During the drive there were many prayers said quietly and out loud, I was thankful that Steve and Rachael cared a lot about how I would fit in, and hope the best for me. When we arrived it seemed the sky became gray, and I literally could not think. The reality of me being in the town alone away from anyone I knew, or any Nazarene Americans started to set in. The next couple of hours went by very quickly, we went by the house quickly to put my stuff in my room, then were off to take a tour of the town. I honestly do not remember all that I saw or was told during that time. By brain seem to have one thing it was focusing on and only that “Yo...

"Falemnderit Zot", which means "Thank You God" has been the phrase coming out of my mouth every other second since I left the airport in Nashville. I have never felt God so close to me then on Thursday and Friday. My flight to Washington, Dales airport was a pretty normal flight. It was fairly packed, but the ride was nice and smooth and I don't think I even got through two chapters it was such a short flight. When I got to Washington, I had this amazing peace. Usually when I come into airport I have never been to before sometimes I get myself worked up and stress a little. This was not so, I walked in there like I had been there a hundred times. I even questioned myself like it was so strange of me to be so calm. But there I go again not trusting what God can do for you. I got a hamburger from fudruckers (which was my last American meal by the way and it was mighty tasty) and then I headed to my gate to wait for my plane to Vienna, Austria. I didn't have to...

So it has felt like forever to get to the point I am at today. A year ago, I was making a big trip to Kansas City. I felt I needed to somehow further my call, and the Mission Corps door swung opened wide. The next step was to go to the training. The closest and most available was in the lovely emerald city of Kansas. I had never been to mecca before, and always hoped to so it was time to follow my feet and head there for a weekend. I learned a lot, met a lot of fun people, but I also was given two places they might be sending me. My advisor told me I was made for Europe, which I have always had that feeling kind of deep inside so I had no problem with the comment. He said that I should either go to Slovenia or Albania. Yes, me and "nia" countries go together like PB&J. So after hearing that I was quite excited since I had People in my family that had been to both of those countries, and enjoyed it. When I got back from KC, There was e-mail waiting for me from Slovenia. I ...

Today as I made myself get outside and take a walk this morning, I realized something. I have realized it before, but this morning it was like the floodgates had opened (what really are those floodgates everyone always talks about?) Nashville is perfect in the fall. Every time I walk outside it is picturesque, the weather is perfect and the leaves are starting to change into bright beautiful shades of orange. Absolutely perfect, I love to breathe it all in. There's this clean rustic feeling that feels my soul, if that makes any since. I mean when I smell the smell of fall, I think about the start of something new (not high school musical kind) and fresh. But I also have this feeling, of old historicness . I remember the many lives that have walked these paths many years before me. hmmm maybe that's why everyone always has homecoming's in the fall? Fall makes me think of the warm rusticness found behind my grandparents shed. The young youthful spirit up in our tree house i...

I had a mission today. I would scour over all the Internet for kid's curriculum written in Albanian. The day is ending, and my mission seems to be coming to a halt. I did find a couple organizations that offered it, but only to there church or the people that are on there mission teams to use it. I was tempted by the bait they had placed, then they just swooshed it out of my hands. Saddened. It left me Saddened. I was hoping to lean on the Nazarene church to provide me with Albanian literature, but that one is out of there usual basic languages. What people do not speak Albanian here in the u.s all the time? What has this place come to, I thought we were the great big mixing bowl. I guess someone left out the pinch of Albanians, right next to the tablespoon of Liechtensteiners. Well I know God will work it out, whatever he will have me use to teach these kids will find it's way to me somehow. So I might need to tone down on "the robot" when I go to Albania, I mean the...

So I randomly decided today, that while I am in Albania that I should try to do a few video things on here while im over there. To give you guys a little more feel of the place- more then pics can describe. So today I did a trial run, just to see if it will work out or not. So here ya go. - Yeah i know the light in the back is crazy bright but just think of it as the wicked crazy light monster and you never know who its going to attack. hmm maybe. ha ha I got to watch Split Infinity today. Its an old feature films for families video, it was my fav out all the ones in the 90's. It even trumps the butterscotch gang, oh yeah because of that I had a grand day.

A couple weeks ago my grandpa asked me if I would go to Dollywood with him. He said it was bluegrass & barbecue month and thought that I would be interested. Well I will admit I love myself some large amounts of both of those things, so it was an offer I just could not refuse. As the days got closer to my drive to Chattanooga, my grandpa got more excited and I became more hesitant. Now I was not hesitant about my love for some good pickin' and tasty ribs, but I was a tad hesitant about one on one time with grandpa. We have really never spent time together just the two of us. I mean occasionally he would take me out for peanut butter milkshakes, or while I was visiting we would go get the grocery's together. But most of the time there was always someone else with us. My grandma. She passed away this summer from bone cancer, she had been fighting it this whole last year. We all new it would be hard on grandpa, but we were not sure of how or what he would do. He has not stoppe...

Because of all this time of walking, thinking, and reading. I have become a little obsessed in the world of Ms. Austen - once again. I will admit since I was in highschool I have been a fan of her writings, but it seems all I do these days other then trying to prepare for my upcoming adventure is think of life in Bathe, Hampshire, or even London. Her stories never seem to fail me, with each so distinguished without being snobbish. Everything is painted beautifully, and each character is so unique. As i sit and take in the silence, I think of the women of that period. How did they not go crazy? They were not suppose to work for that was beneath them as a women, and they were not suppose to be adventures, because they could harm themselves. So they were to stick to there own grounds, and wait till the day a suitor would notice them. O my goodness, I would seriously go mad. Not be able to be free, to do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. So they learned small skills of admiration, wore ...

The last two and a half days have felt like a week and a half all wrapped in one. I guess it is because I have actually done things, which is quite the leap from when I was doing nothing (clearly stated in the previous writing). My brother Robert (now prefers Rob - but still unable to call him that) and his lovely wife Elisa came to Nashville on Thursday and I left with them for there home on Saturday evening. I have never stayed with them, without any other family so I definitely was very interested how it would go. The drive to Ohio was pleasant, it felt like a breeze compared to 13 hours on the road to Texas. We listened to "The Shack" on CD, got yummy black crouton's, and was startled by a belching sheep in a dog cage as we were leaving Ruby Tuesdays. Ordinary Trip. Yesterday, after the church picnic we had a random idea of filming some strange doll around Cincinnati. We went to the dollar store and found a stuffed bee from "The Bee Movie", every once in a w...

As a procastinator life is hard when you dont have a boss. These days I do not have one overwhelming thing that takes up my days, but i do have a list of little things that need to get done before I leave. It is amazing to me how those little things can not enter my brain untill the very end of the day when Im laying in bed and thinknig of how I did squat and did not do anything I had planned. If I actually get to Albania I think that will be a pretty huge ordeal, because of all the silly things I keep forgetting to do. you know like get insurance, and shots, oh yeah a plane ticket. yeah I know nothing big. But I have been doing a lot of walking (I love to walk) and a lot of reading, and that pretty much seems to be taking up my day. But in the last two weeks I have learned how to make a apple pie and peach cobbler from scratch so at least I have one accomplishment to feel proud about right? Im thankful for these peaceful moments but im ready to get back into the world.

So its official, and its officially awesome that I am going to Lushjne , Albania at the end of October. Woo hooo! A few posts back I spoke of my confusion if it was right or not. A week later I was in Ithaca, NY at a kid's camp. There I was sitting outside at a picnic table soaking up the most beautiful weather and I knew God wanted me to go to Albania. I just felt it all around me, that there didn't need to be some big sign of "Yes I should go" from above. Just all the pieces of my life fell in front of me and I saw that this was the very mission opportunity I had prayed so hard for so many years. This was it. The last week I have been waiting for details, to get started on raising money and just preparing. I came into check my e-mail this afternoon after an amazing long walk, and there it was totally unexpected (like always) all of the details I was hoping for. One thing I was especially happy to see, was a description of exactly what I would be doing there. I had b...

So I feel like my life in the last week in a half is summed up in a good ole country song. Without all the cheating, lying, redneck, big hair kind of way. But in the just sittin back watching the world go by kind of way. hmmm. Ever since I started real life and real working, (you know life outside of school) I have not had a summer. I have not had that time to just stop and sit, and there be no schedule at all. Well I have now had that time. Partly I have enjoyed the silence, and slow pace but for the most part I would much rather be up and going engrossed in everything but myself. I have been doing a lot of reasearch on diffrent personalities- I being a ENFP which stands for Extrovert iNtuitive Feeler Perciever. Which with out crazy big words means : I like hanging out with my peeps, and I always talk off the fly. (hmm maybe even those terms needs need explanation from hip - hop talk?) ha ha But I was researching other people who had my common personality type and was a little shocked...

My head seems very dizzy at this moment. Sometimes I wonder can you pack any more different kinds of thoughts in your head. Up till a month ago I fully believed I was Albania bound. I had no thought otherwise. Then I went to Texas, surrounded myself around people in ministry and was tired of waiting for Albania. I started seriously thinking that there could be somewhere else I can serve that needs me more urgently. Today after I got back to my Grandpa's house after the funeral, I checked my e-mail and there it was what I had been waiting for these past seven months. My approval to go to Albania,there it was and instead of being excited, I found myself confused. I just told myself to think about another option, and here comes my golden ticket. It feels like it was lost in the gutter this whole time but just today it decided to show itself. I have no idea what feels right anymore? I seem to have no emotion good or bad. Through all the activities of the month-I guess I am just raw in...

For the past year, maybe a little longer then that I am not sure. But I have been becoming more and more aware of the stupid amounts of stuff we buy all the time for no reason. We buy because we are bored, we buy because its fun, and we buy because we have grown up with this inward mentality that more is always better. This thought is only the beginning first flaky layer of a huge huge disgusting topic. We buy, because its there so why not buy it. We never actually stop and think about how that product actually got into our hands. To us the thing we are buying has had no future until we pay for it at the cash register. It just appeared in a place where we can easily view it and where we can easily take it home. But I have some bad news for you those hundreds of thousands of products laying on the shelves in supermarkets, there lives did not just begin there. Those products started out in conditions we cant even compromise. To us when we hear about Hard labor in other countries, we thin...

So first off i must say thank you to erin and now karye for getting me intrested again in the world of laying out your feelings on the line. My biggest thanks to you both. I have been thinking about writing again for a while, since so many big changes are about to occur that i would like to keep others updated on and this might be easier then a mass e-mail. maybe not, maybe it will take the same amount of energy to do both, but i choose blogger. Kind of reminds me of booger, and let me tell you i see a fare share of boogers during my day. I shall just plainly say : I work at a daycare. Yes this is true, it is not my life's dream job but for 24 more days I have to suck it up, and only think of the fun times that these crazy kids display. Today one of the lovely crazy kids that i work with did something a little unexpected. HE THREW A DIAPER AT MY FACE!!!!! Ohhh yes he did, i was in mid sentence talking to my coworker and before i new it a big squishy diaper slapped me on the cheek. ...