October 26, 2009
Adore you, I do
In love with you I am
My heart and soul is yours to keep
For they serve me no purpose
Without your love in them
Cherish you, I forever will
Desiring you, I always have
Without you I may die
May are out there
To devour you, they will try
But my love, I pledge to you
Time, I will wait
For our fruit to be yet ripe
To consume our love, we will
October 3, 2009
I’ve talked about the strength of the anthttp://eddiebonney.wordpress.com/2008/06/30/the-ants-strength/ before but then recently I was thinking about something I heard years ago, and then I saw the wisdom too that the spider possesses. We can learn a lot from this insect expect from destroying its webs all around our homes.
I’m sure you have seen spider webs before in the corners of your home all over, you brush them up and then some days later you still find new webs being made. Right? Sure you have unless you live in…. That’s the character about the spider I have come to realize. The spider is so wise that it builds its home up in the corners of our homes in order not to have anyone or anything disturb it but surely you are I are always out against them destroying their homes and trying to kill them because they make our homes dirty so even right there in the corners we get them.
Have you realized that everything the spider needs to survive comes from its body? Its silky lines that it uses to build its home; when it wants to capture an insect for you, it silk does it easily because anything gets stuck in the web but the spider doesn’t because it produces oil that enables it walk across the web.
So what I’m I saying? The spider is a very interesting insect. It doesn’t give up in any situation. Even when the home is destroyed, its environment is gone, it doesn’t lose faith. Why? Because the spider knows that he can’t start from scratch again. He can build again. He has everything he needs to start life all over. One event cannot get it down. It doesn’t give up. Yes! The spider!
Maybe something awful has happened in your life and you feel, this is the end, I can’t make it anymore, life is over, and it can’t continue without him or her or this thing, be like the spider and start all over. Life isn’t over yet. Like the spider knows that God never makes a mistake and He is still watching and God hasn’t given you everything you need to make it in this life. The things or people or the opportunities may not seem to be there but believe me they are. Just trust God enough and continue, pick yourself back up and build that web all over.
Have you ever since a spider fall from such a long height? It doesn’t die by the fall. It survives! How? By producing more silk from its body it makes the fall slow and safe. Look, if life hits you in the face, people you love so much betray you, mum and dad get divorce, you have a terrible breakup, keep believing and start producing silk, keep believing that it will also get better. No condition is forever permanent. It can’t last forever. The problems will only be stepping stones to greater heights if we see them as such. Keep believing, and keep producing that SILK!
October 3, 2009
happy 21st anniversary
My parents celebrated their wedding anniversary a few days ago on the 1st of Oct. they have been married now for 21 years and mum and dad I say a Happy Anniversary, the whole world wished you well when got married in 1988 and by God’s grace today you have raised a standard, a legacy of love and commitment for your children to follow and so we will.
You the funny thing I like about my parents wedding anniversary is that by calculating from the 1st of October to the 1st of July (my birthday) are exactly 9 months. I like to think of it that I was conceived on the wedding night. lol Well I was so waiting to come into this world, huh? 
I know many people too haven’t seen the people who birthed them live together in love in one home for many years but today I tell you that it is very possible. Perhaps you didn’t get that but you can change and decide that when you find someone you love you will stay committed to them till death parts you.
Of course my parents aren’t the most perfect people on earth. They have had differences before, I have seen them disagree on so many issues but in order not to make the thing venture into unpleasantries one would have to let go, be it mum or dad. They both may not know it but they have thought me so much about marriage that they can imagine. My parents haven’t really talked to me or any of my siblings about love and marriage and all that but they have shown us how it is done and that is the best example anyone can receive. They have thought me that when I find the woman I love, there will be ups and downs. We can’t runaway when there are bad times and stay when there are good times, that’s not marriage, that’s CONVENIENCE!!! Marriage stays through the thick and the thin, good times and bad times.
Mum and Dad we look forward to celebrating your 50th wedding Anniversary with both of you still strong and alive, with all your children, great-grandchildren, and the huge family saying ‘well done’, ‘what a leagcy’ and ‘Thank you, God!’ I pray that God Himself who started with you will end with you successfully such that when you go, you’ll be laughing and smiling and people will be crying not because you have departed but because two great repositories of love have gone. We pray strength for the many years ahead. I love you 
October 3, 2009
I’m sure you have definitely said these things before, ‘does God really talk to us?’ ‘something told me…’ ‘can we really hear God when he speaks?’ ‘how does God speak to us?’ ‘is it audible?’ ‘is it a small still voice?’ ‘is it very clear?’.
Over the generations many people have wondered whether God speaks to us audibly and how often does He speak and whether He hears us at all when we speak to me. Thing is our God speaks to us but many at times pastors and preacher men have confused us and they make us feel that it if us who don’t hear God when He speak. Some say listen to that small still voice.
So does God speak at all? Oh yes He does! What God does usually is to influence our thoughts, He drops ideas, thoughts into our minds. That’s why many people say something told me that this and this, that and that. God himself does speak but not so often as He influences. I prefer to call those influences whispers. Of course God speaks audibly too to people when it is major, He needs to be heard audibly.
Preacher men will tell you many times that God told me that this and that are going to be like this. Many times it was so much of an audible voice, it was a whispers, God pushing thoughts into their. They tell us it is God because they know where the thought is coming from so I think it is high time we stopped saying something told me… So don’t go thinking if God speaks to the preacher man why not me, well guess what He does whisper into your mind every single day
Oh surely the devil also pushes thoughts into your mind but just like God’s influences we make a choice, a free will to say we will go along with what came into our minds. That’s how God design it, it is your final decision to make, go with God’s whisper or the devil’s.
A man of God, Myles Munroe in his book “Understanding the Purpose and Power of Prayer” wrote as that that time he had heard God audibly only three times in his entire Christian walk but most at times God influences his thoughts, God whispers into his mind.
So God whispers every day, are you listening?
October 3, 2009
Have you ever had a day or week where you saw every go against you? Everything go so wrong? Have you tried to make a perfect start only to see it crumble before your own eyes? A week when you thought God wasn’t with you and life seemed to go nowhere? Have you ever lost something and you thought that was it, you can’t go on without what is gone be it human or material? I have had times like that.
Allow me to tell you what happened. This week I lost a very valuable possession my wallet.it wasn’t valuable to me because of how it looked or anything but what was on the inside and more especially the thought that went into buying it for me. I had my student id (without it you can’t do anything on campus, like write an exams), I had my driver’s license, my abstinence card, all the money I had in school and that of some people, and a pledge I had t make to a friend’s organization. I lost my wallet and up till now I still don’t know how, so many places come to mind but none so strong to be the reason why.
Anyway like I said I lost it in a public transport, I was so devastated. All I could think of was such carelessness I had never done before. I was with my girlfriend that day so she said we should chase the bus to the station, we did but to no avail, the bus had left again with passengers. It was a lost cause and I knew that if anyone else should find it apart from the driver and his mate and perhaps the sum of money in it, they will take it but the things in it were more important.
I had to come back to campus and thinking about all the stress, time and energy it will take me to acquire those two important items again, the ID cards, painfully I managed to sleep. I woke up the next morning much clearer and able to think. I realized I knew Mr. Afenu, a friend who works here in the University, who could help me out in acquiring the University card much faster than if I went myself; I had the bureaucracy to face. The sound of his voice asking me,” is that all you need?” made my heart calm down. I thought of the man called Elder who helped me acquire my driver’s license the first time-he could also help me much faster. I have decided to do this without involving my parents, if I need money I’ll go to my own account.
Now to the very important lesson I learned in all this can be put in a sentence my girlfriend told me during this period, “God doesn’t make a mistake.” My girlfriend stood with me and all, she knew I hated losing things in my life, especially things I mostly used, she knew I’d think so much and let the thoughts bother me but she kept saying, it will be fine, we’ll get through this. I heard myself in her; often I tell her that life is bigger than any problem we face and more so my God is bigger than them all. She echoed those same words to me, although heavy but nonetheless I went on to agree with it. I decided to sit back and put everything into God’s hands.
You see there are times when life feels too comfortable, too good, very okay, there’s nothing bothering you then something strange happens to shake you a little and say this isn’t the end, you are getting too familiar with where you are in life, there’s much more to look forward to. I know, but then again” it is just my wallet”, you say. The thing here is losing something so dear. In my problem, I began to think about people then losing their most dear ones, because losing my wallet that had everything in it didn’t come with a good feeling, I can tell you that.
To all those who have lost something in their lives and felt that it was all coming apart, I’m writing to tell you that that phase is not the end of your life and neither is it the end of all challenges, many more will come. A pastor said, ‘when it gets worse, know that a better one is around the corner.” Sometimes God sits back a second and allows the devil to do his worst to tear us apart then when he’s all tired and worn out, God comes in and over blesses us. Friend, be encouraged, I know it is never easy, but let the words of my girlfriend ring in your ears, “GOD NEVER MAKES A MISTAKE.” It all happened for a reason. Everywhere you find yourself has a reason behind it and a God who will never forsake you, what-so-ever. Ever since that event so many things have changed for me and I know there’s something BIG coming. I’ll be sure to let you know when it arrives, because life is much bigger than a wallet!
October 3, 2009
9 months
Forgive me my fellow bloggers and readers alike for not being able to continue to write as often as I can. Now that I’m in school I can’t even continue my MBJ. Learning has taken a majority of the time but that is not the reason for my coming here today. Something big drew me to my laptop this morning, the 18thday of September. I’m sure I will not be able to post this tomorrow. LOL
A relationship that started months ago, a wonderful relationship between Vida and I and today we are 9 months into it. We celebrated each month as they came by. 9 months is surely not 50 years but surely we‘ll get there, one step at a time, poco a poco. We are glad however that the relationship didn’t break during the formation period and it only got stronger.
This ninth month in our relationship marks the birth of a baby (love). The outcome is beautiful but it went through lots of birth pangs, labour pains, shouts, kicking in the stomach, happy times, carrying that love for 9 months and today we carry our new born baby. I said 9 months wasn’t easy , neither is nursing and caring for the baby itself but surely we will watch our fruit grow into maturity and old age.
Vida and I couldn’t have grown closer during these months. A lot of times have happened for us and a realization which no-one can change or destroy except God for He brought us together. I have grown to love a woman who I first knew nothing about, only jokingly quarrelled in class week after week. I’m sure you’ve heard the story a 1000 times over. She’s the best decision I could ever make and I thank God for that.
Ok! Ok! Ok! I’d reserve the story this one time, because I need to tell you something. If you are in a relationship and it gets to 9 months, you know you have got something going (a baby) that needs to be cared for. It is better to end it in the beginning stages than to wait for long. It wouldn’t be too late if you wait for long but you will cause a lot of pain. I have said before Love is not an event but a process. Most people don’t have love at first sight and even if they do, they have to take their time to allow their love to mature more slowly and more sure otherwise you risk an early divorce on grounds of not knowing what you were getting into and saying ‘I didn’t know that was how he/she was?’ Love is a whole new challenge but it is fun, love stays during the thick and thin, during the bad and good, during the hurt and the uplifting, during the annoyance and the motivation, love is very patient and generous, love is mutual and not selfish.
You may be probably looking for a dream person, a beautiful out of this world princess or a handsome strong knight…I’m here to disappoint you a little bit. When you are young they tell you it is a fairy tale, or you only see that aspects of it. If you want your love to be a blissful one, realize that there are times when the going will get tough but that is where the work is, not giving in. Challenging times will come but know that it doesn’t last forever.
I love her so much; being away from her for a period is a whole undesirable thing. I’m glad I have someone like her close to my heart. There’s so much to say because we virtually do everything together. They say being in the same school with your girlfriend is bad, you won’t be able to study and what have you…but that’s totally untrue, you get what you want. Strangely all our classes are alike, the time tables are the same and mind you we tried to separate our lecture times but it just wasn’t feasible, even courses we registered at different times and for which a computer will randomly group students into various classes put us in one class so our schedules are alike. Who said it was bad? It is good! Because we study together, when one doesn’t want to study or is being somewhat lazy, one drags the other to study. It is a whole experience, we go to the market, buy foodstuffs together (both financing…who said the guy has to be the one to bring money, when you both do it you value each other the more), we cook together ( oh sure I know how to cook)…
I’m sure I’ll write on the blog when our baby (love) reaches 50 years and we’ll be celebrating our golden jubilee. All the best in your love life.
August 27, 2009
Ok! Ok! People my girlfriend just reminded me that I have to write about the second part of my diary. Remember my first one
I miss the food. I remember the second day I got to Ivory Coast my Uncle Isaac & I went out to buy this Ivorian dish, ‘Atieke’. I hesitated on seeing the food looking at the location and the kind of hands handling the food. OMG! It was gooooooooood. I just can’t explain the composition. When you travel to the place one day and believe me you should. Try the Ivorian dishes but not too much though. You see Ivorians love sweet things and so much, in fact almost all their dises have a lot of sugar, oil in them. That makes them so tasty but bad if taken over repeated times. Yuuuuuuuuuuuuum-yum! Ok I’ll try to explain, it is like cassava that has been gotten to look like ‘gari’ (do you know gari…oh boy don’t get lost) you just have to come to Africa or maybe lets use rice then green pepper, onions, and tomatoes are sprinkled over it. it is so good! I realy feel for some right now. LOL. And you I miss their fufu although I don’t really like it that much because they use ripe plantain, which makes the whole thing sweet. Normally in Ghana we use the unripe ones and that was what I knew. This new one was different but then again I was all in for different. They usually had both people making the dish sitting down or then only one person did it. The sitting down part really didn’t go well with me because in Ghana the pistil was heavy, theirs was very light. Someone passed a comment and said, Ivorian didn’t ike to work too much and so tried to make everything easy hence the ripe plantain which was easy to pound and the light pistil, makes it all easy. Then there was this meat being sold all over the place, roasted meat…gosh! I miss those so much. It was so good! The first day I was like, ‘what is this?’ and before I knew it I was saying, ‘can we buy ‘meat’?’ like I said, go to Ivory Coast. Well as for eating, I ate a lot, I grew big when I was there.
I miss the teachers and workers who names I can’t begin to mention. There was Micahlord who came later when I was there, Richmond, Elizabeth (who left later), Aunt Cecilia (the assistant headmistress- she was like a mom and a fried at the same. She was one of the very first people who helped me get familiar with the place), there was Aunt Mercy, Xavier (I don’t want to say weird but yeah I said it and still coming up in the English language), Uncle Parkis (I didn’t really see much of him there except during exams because of the photocopies), there was Uncle Joe (I miss that guy, very funny, very welcoming, open, like a brother and he will tease you, I mean T.E.A.S.E!), there was Aunt Mary (omg I heard she’s married! IS that true? I use to work with her and Aunt Dorcas (another mother, always looking out for me) and Araba and the other lady I can’t remember her name in the canteen, there was Sylvester (the hard-working, no-spending funniest grade 4 teacher), and there were the two we-will-worry-Edwin-Liberians or is one Sierra Leonean,Jack and Taylor (those two are a pair), Aunt Louis, there were the hardworking drivers, Konan, Ambrose, Bartholomew, Francis, so many! There was Jules (who worked in the library, I loved his company, loved talking to him about everything, I miss him a lot maybe because he was working in the first lace I worked when I got there but he left when I was there, there was uhmm so-so-so many workers, yeah the nurse, she was always very nice and very persistent. I miss you all.
I miss my uncle Isaac. If there any one on top of my I miss list. He would be on top. He encouraged me to come the first time and he always made the place interesting for me. there were times I so left like going home back to Ghana but he always made me feel at home and now I’m actually missing the place today. Hmmmmmm. He is the main architect. He is one in a million, no a gazillion For all he has done for me, taking me round, helping me with the French, taking me to meet people, going place, shopping, eating lots of meat. LOL. He is the best. He is soon going to marry, I wish him all the best and a blissful married life.
I especially miss the family I lived with- the Takyi-Mensah’s. I loved that family so much. They are so generous and I know that God keeps blessing them because of that. They are dedicated to work, to God, to helping people, etc. My Aunt Vivian and her husband the big Uncle Dan made the place a warm place always. They didn’t make me miss my parents to much or feel too free to be far away from home because they were my parents, always watchful. They placed the cherry on my stay in Abidjan, they made the place feel warm for me and welcoming. Always a pleasure to be in their company, always! And I will always thank them for making me experience my first air flight trip. Thanks!
I miss bugging my cousin Adom the most. Oh did I tell you that Adom, the graced is with me on the same campus. Amazing huh?! I miss bugging my cousin all the time, everytime, so much so that my Uncle Isaac also kept saying jokingly, ‘you people are cousins oh!’. Uncle we knowwwwwwww! I used to bug her for food and when it came to washing dishes after meals, she wasn’t really a fun and I didn’t mind washing and so I did them or started and then Aunt Vivian came and told her to take over and stop making me wash and then Adom will later get a little angry at me for always washing. ‘ as if she didn’t like, I did then anyways. She tried to be pissed! now she’s here, I haven’t really started bugging her but I will, soon!
I miss Tonton Jean and Tante Christie. They are an amazing couple. The man is the administrator of the school and he used to live in the same house with the Takyi-Mensah’s but they later moved out to their own house and that was closer to their workplace so it was cool. Tante Christie and I always used to quarrel over who was her first born, me or Adom. She always sided with Adom saying she got to know Adom first. She said, “Adom est mon premiere bebe’ and me the second. She was like a mother too. Hmmmmmmmmmm I miss them so much, I haven’t been able to call her since I got back. I know they are fine. I pray that all their prayers come to pass.
I miss the French movies and television. One thing that will definitely help you to study a new language is to watch a lot of their television programs and movies, specially those with subtitles to begin with. It helped me a lot. In a situation where I couldn’t get English and everything around me was French. The first day I got there and put on the television and they started speaking French and I switch the channel and the next too was French and I didn’t understand a word. Maybe because I was too busy sayig, ‘is this what I’m going to be hearing all the time’. The most annoying part was that there had only two channels, all French and when one was boring and the other too was boring, you were stuck. For DVD French movies I had a sturdy collection of those. I miss then. Now sometimes I watch movies with French subtitles and even French audio, if it was an original DVD. You could always switch the language. Over there in all French land, I missed English a lot several times. I thank God I was living with an English family and then I grew to love BBC in English and French (with French I had no option than to listen)
I miss the students. The students were one of the best part being there, from the little ones to the big ones. Of course they are students, you will definitely have a couple trying to be stubborn. It was really funny sometimes seeing some students trying so hard to be stubborn…and of course the nerds, the brainy, the average, the not-so-want-to-school-type, the-my-parents-forced-me-to-come-to school ones, every kind. I really liked being in their company, especially in the canteen. I can say that now because I miss them. Certainly not when I saw there. Come on! Seeing those kids do running around, and not listening to instruction was so frustrating sometimes. I even wondered whether I was like that sometimes. I don’t think so. I was a very good kid. What?! LOL I sure can’t wait for you to blow my horn. of course I had favourites with the little kids, there was Nadia, Cecilia, there was Rohit, Faikat (she was the first kids I had conversation with. She was in grade 4 then in summer school. She came to the library and I asked her to help me with French. She said okay but never really helped. Of course she was a kid, shy and all), there was Aurelia (always couldn’t stop searching for me, she practically asked me not to go back to Ghana but stay with her in Abidjan. I promised coming to see her some day. She didn’t like it but she agreed.), there were so so many Marie-Christie and all the many others. I also miss most of the big kids, I can’t say I do miss the stubborn ones that much… I can’t mention names, otherwise I won’t be able to finish.
I miss Saturdays. Those days were somewhat the laziest days for me, of course if I took Sundays out. On Saturdays I always started by washing my clothes, then after a while Uncle Isaac and I went to work. Some parents loved coming on Saturdays to find out about the school but the number wasn’t too much. Many times you could get only one or two and so browsing the internet almost 24/7 was so on. I miss browsing all the time so that I even got tired of the internet a number of times. Did you hear that? MEEE, got tired of internet, totally untrue! lol. And then some Saturdays after work we didn’t go straight home, we went to shop, see around Abidjan, complain about my uncle speeding (you can’t blame the man he loved to speed) I seldom sat in the house on Saturdays to watch movies and eat lot.
I miss the public transport. OMG! Their day-to-day buses were like a death trap. The buses’ bodies were locally manufactured. I remember seeing, AFRICAUTO on almost all of them. I began to wondered if it was a company that manufactured the bodies. They needed to be checked. The bus so light that I felt it could topple over and coincidentally the drivers of all of those buses loved to speed. I don’t blame them it had big roads and few cars. Those we need in Ghana! (anybody listening?!!!!) I miss having to play over what I’m going to say in my head in French the moment I got into the bus, where I was going to get down, how much? I did that all the time when. Of course you still had your normal rowdy bus conductor jumping on board the moving car and the fairly old tattered clothes. You just need to see the bus. They called them ‘Gbacar’ Is the spelling right?
I so miss that place. I have to re-visit that place. I miss Abidjan.
THE END!
The Writer’s Pen
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