Lots of Firsts

November was a month of many firsts for Elizabeth Grace. Her first Thanksgiving was quite busy. It began with the Turkey Trot 5k where we competed in the "stroller race" that Justin created. I think we came in 2nd among strollers. We will have to train a little harder for next year! The rest of the day was spent with family and lots of food.
This time next year will be quite an ordeal with turkey and all the fixin's for Elizabeth. Friday was a day for celebration in the Bassett house as the Aggies stomped on the longhorns with a HUGE VICTORY! We also celebrated Aunt Jenn's 21st birthday on Friday. Saturday we had Thanksgiving in Kaufman. No more turkey for us for a while! Thanksgiving was a fun time with family and friends, but it took Elizabeth a few days to recover from all of the travel and lack of a schedule.
Elizabeth also got to experience her first snow last week! After being in the northeast for a year, the dusting of snow was a little disappointing, but snow is snow I suppose. Atleast I got to dress Lizzie in her cute little snowsuit!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Well, Elizabeth was qutie the party animal as we celebrated Justin's birthday this weekend. She had her first trip to Aggieland which was fun but quite disappointing due to a 1 point loss. Justin and his dad went to the A&M game while Elizabeth, Grammy, Aunt Jenn and I did a little shopping.
On Sunday we had a little hang out with some friends and family to celebrate 24 years for Justin, and of course Elizabeth was the main attraction. Between two grandmas and a great grandma, the camera rarely stops!
All in all it was a good weekend.
We went to the doctor yesterday for her 2 month check up and she is weighing in at 12 lbs 2 oz and is 23.5 inches long! According to Dr. Scroggie, she is flawless! She is sleeping 6-7 hours at night and is a happy girl! We couldn't be more blessed!

Life Group Adventure

Many of you have heard a lot about CityView, our church. Here are a few photos from our rock climbing adventue with our lifegroup. It was quite an experience!

A Busy Week

Well, life with Elizabeth Grace has been quite eventful lately. She went on her first road trip last weekend to celebrate her great grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary! I am so thankful for my Granny and Grandaddy and their example of love and commitment! We stayed at the 5G Ranch in Caldwell where Justin enjoyed the 4 wheelers and fishing and I ate way too much! It was a great get away and quite refreshing to have several other who love Elizabeth to take care of her while I rested and relaxed.



Tuesday was Elizabeth's first Halloween which was enjoyed at home with Nana and Paw Paw. Justin and I helped to organize setting up two bounce houses in neighborhoods around where our church meets which was a lot of fun. You can't see her wings, but Lizzie was a little angel!


Yesterday, Elizabeth had her first "play date" with Phoebe, a friend from church, who is 3 weeks old! Phoebe's mom had to go into work for a bit, so I kept both girls. I think they had lots of fun. Praise God for the Boppy, the Bouncy, and pacifiers! I got a little taste of life with twins!

Happy One Month Elizabeth Grace!

Sunday, October 15th, will mark the one month of the life of Elizabeth. She is continuing to grow rapidly, now weighing 9 lbs. 14 oz. She has gained almost 3 pounds since birth which is really good. She has also grown over an inch.



Angela is doing well and finally able to get sleep at night. She is learning to readjust her life around 3 hour increments, because that is the longest Elizabeth will sleep at once.

Justin is doing well also. He is working during the week trying to sell copiers (or more like do the paperwork for those that do). It's not a bad job at all, but probably not what he is going to be doing long term.


In other news, CityView is going great. It's really awesome to be part of this community. We are growing and we are getting to see God do some awesome things in people's lives. The best way we can describe our church is "refreshing."


We will keep you updated as Elizabeth grows. We love you guys. Thanks so much for everything. So many of you who read this blog have blessed our lives in soooo many ways and we can't express enough thankfulness.

--justin, angela, and elizabeth grace :)

She's Here!!!!!

Well, Elizabeth Grace Bassett has arrived! She entered the world at 12:18 am on Friday, September 15. She weighs 7 lbs and is 21 1/4 inches long. She is beautiful, and we are so very blessed to be her parents. Here are a couple of pictures, and I promise we will keep 'em coming!

Just missing one thing...

Well, Elizabeth's due date, also my Granny's birthday, has come and gone now, and she is still quite content in her home inside my belly.
The nursery is ready,

the bags for the hospital are packed, she has more cothes than she could ever need,
and Justin and I are anxiously awaiting parenthood!
We would like to thank everyone who has been so supportive during this fun time in our lives. It is a little overwhelming, but we are excited to experience life as parents. We promise to keep you posted when Elizabeth Grace arrives with plenty of pictures and such. Until then we will wait "patiently" and enjoy our last few moments of quiet for awhile!
Eeyore and Cuddles are keeping an eye on the crib; it's just missing one thing, ELIZABETH!

A Hot Summer in Texas!

107 yesterday, but a "cold front" today means only 105! ATLEAST WE HAVE GOOD AC!

Well, we are back in Texas and finally settling into our house... with a YARD and a
DISHWASHER! Kyleigh loves the yard and Angela loves the dishwasher. Thanks to Mom and Dad Harris and Mom and Dad Bassett there is fresh paint in Elizabeth's room and the extra bedroom (which has a queen size bed for visitors!), the backyard is looking good, and most of the boxes are unpacked.

Our journey back to Texas was a lot of fun. We took a different route that took us through Washington DC where we had dinner with Sarah Whiting and experienced the flood. We also passed through Durham, NC, and Justin got to see Cameron Indoor Stadium where Duke plays basketball. He was like a little boy whose dream had come true! It was a good trip to talk and process what we learned in our past year in the Northeast.

Now that we are getting settled, it has been refreshing to have a little bit of time for Angela to rest and take things easy after a great year teaching first grade. Justin has hit the ground running and is the Commercial Account Specialist at Tarrant Business Systems where he does all of the billing and customer service type stuff. We are loving being a part of the body at CityView Church where Justin is going to be doing a lot of work with the local and global missions.

The countdown to Elizabeth's arrival date is currently 53 days!!!! We are getting super excited and Angela's belly is definitely growing. Lately with crazy insurance stuff, God has really been teaching us a lot about depending fully on Him and trusting His provisions (Matthew 6). We are thankful for this trial as it has forced us into dependency, and there is no better way to bring a child into the world.

We love you all and are thankful for the prayers and support!

Last NJ Update

Justin and Angela--2/14/06












Hey everyone,

this is our last post from New Jersey. We are going to continue and keep this blog updated, but we are not going to send out annoying emails everything we update. If you want to stay connected, please enter your primary email address in the text box on the right side of the screen. This way, you will receive an email telling you that we have updated but if you don't want to receive the emails, you don't have to.

Elizabeth Grace Update
For those of you that don't know, we are having a girl and her name is Elizabeth Grace. She is due to be here around September 10, and we couldn't be more excited. We will keep you posted.

Last days in New Jersey/New York City
We are ending our time here in the next week (if this is news to you, scroll down to the next article). With that being said, we are really looking forward to what lies ahead: parenting, new job for Justin, a new place to live, and the opportunity to be part of a church plant. This is an exciting opportunity and one that we are ready to jump into. Please remember to pray for us as we travel: June 27-29.

Fort Worth, Here we come...
We will be living in south fort worth and eventually moving to the Keller/Alliance area. But until then, we will be at our current location right off of I-20 and Trail Lake for at least the next year. I can't tell you how excited it makes us to be living right down the street from a Sonic. In the northeast, they always show Sonic commercials, but the closest one is 5 hours away in Virginia! If anybody wants a franchise idea--move to New York and open a sonic, it will make a killing. People here have been watching the commercials for years but have no way of satisfying that craving. I know at least 100 people who would be there in a heartbeat.

On a more serious note, we are definitely ready to make our new house a home for our family and to learn how to be Jesus in our community. And we also can't wait for the opportunity to reconnect with so many friends in the DFW area.

That's about it for now. Please pray for Angela as she finishes school. Her last day is next Wed. The 21st. Also, please pray for Justin as he is in Texas next week doing job interviews and working on the house.

for His glory,

Justin and Angela

Finishing the Race

The Home Stretch…

By now most of you know, so I apologize for the repetitive nature of the following information, but we are in the final leg of our journey and work in the New York City Metro area. We came to New York City about a year ago making a one-year commitment to serve God, the local church in which we were placed, and the peoples of the community God placed us in, especially the 1 million college students scattered abroad the New York City area. We knew we would spend a year here, but we were open for the possibility of spending several years in this area, investing into this church and the community. However, over the past six months, God has continued to guide us on the path He has planned for us. We have learned to trust and rely on His sovereignty and not our own ambition or our own plans. The bible says something about that in Proverbs, “there is a way that seems right to a man…but it leads to death”. Over the last few months, God has done so much to show us His path, to direct our steps, to close doors that need to be closed, to open others, and to help us accomplish milestones along the way. One of my favorite musicians/song writers is Derek Webb. One time in a song he wrote, “I know the plans You have for me…but you can’t plan the ends and not plan the means…” I used this phrase when I asked Angela to date me. Anyways, this phrase has meant a lot to us over the past four years. He has continuously taken care of the means.

Shifting Gears…

What’s next? Well, we are moving to the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Initially, we will be living in Fort Worth, but we have plans to live in the Keller area. I am currently looking for a job in the Fort Worth area and Angela will be taking care of the baby. We have the exciting opportunity to get involved at City View Church in Keller. Over the past couple months, we have had the opportunity to connect with the leadership there and we are very excited about being able to be part of this community. We get the chance to join the church (now about two weeks old) in a very early stage, and get hands on experience in church planting. We are sad about leaving NYC but ready to jump into the next phase.

Currently…

Angela is doing great!!! She is now at 20 weeks in the pregnancy and doing well. We find out in a week if we are having a boy or a girl!!! So, we will definitely let you know when we find out. Last week was her spring break, so she got the chance to take the week off, relax, renew, and refresh before going back this week. My job here at the church is also going well. Over the last few weeks, I have spearheaded our church’s efforts to get a new website, which has basically consumed my life. But, it’s finally up and running, so my work is almost done with it. Check it out by clicking here. Other than that, I’m working with the student leaders and adults in the leadership roles to effectively phase out of my leadership roles here at BCI. It’s a slow road but it’s going well.

Please Continue to Pray…

We have been so honored and blessed by many of you and your commitment to lift us up here during our time in New Jersey. We have seen the results of your prayers in many and very important ways. Here are some ways that you can pray during our last six weeks in New Jersey:

Please pray for:

-A.J. Camota; he is taking over where I am leaving off with The Well (our collegiate ministry). He is a gifted leader but young. Please pray for Him as he transitions into the role of college pastor.

-BCI children’s ministry: Half way through our year here, the children’s pastor stepped down, so Angela and I have been co-filling that role. We honestly have no idea who is going to step in here. This was kind of unexpected, so please pray for the church to help them find a children’s pastor.

-Angela and I as we pack and move. We have a lot going on all at once, so we really need focus and wisdom as we prepare to move 1800 miles for the second time in 13 months.

-My job search. I have some leads; I need wisdom and clarity as I interview and make decisions.

-Baby Bassett: continue to pray for B.B.’s health and Angela during this time!

Thank you so much for praying for us and being such good friends. If we can do anything for you, please let us know. Thanks for hanging in there for this incredibly long update.

For His glory,

Justin and Angela

::baby

We want to take this opportunity to let everyone know that we are having a baby!!! We found out a few weeks ago; Angela is 9 weeks along and will be due in September! We have told many of you already, but we want to let everyone know! Please keep our family in your prayers during this time.

You will hear more from us very soon.


for His glory,

justin and angela

Blizzard of 2006!!!

First of all, we really want to apologize for not writing for such a long time. It's been well over a month. It's been crazy as we travelled to Texas and back via 28 hours each way in the car. Justin then went to Tennessee for a conference before returning to New Jersey, going to straight into a week-long intensive seminary class in the city, and trying to keep up with his workload at church. Angela began the spring semester on January 2!!! Her flight on the first from DFW to Newark was delayed significantly; she arrived at the airport at 7:00 a.m. and arrived in New Jersey at 4:00 a.m. on the 2nd. Then she taught class 4 hours later! It took a while to recoop from that, but she did a great job. In other news, we are very excited to be making another trip to Texas at the end of this week. Angela is out of school for all of next week due to winter break. We are going to use this time to spend time with family in friends in College Station and DFW. We will also have the cool opportunity to recruit for the TLJ program in NYC when we visit Texas A&M and our old church, Central Baptist. Blizzard of 2006--26.9" was the total amount of snowfall in NYC's Central Park. I don't think we got that much--but very close. Schools are closed today, and BCI, our church, cancelled its services yesterday. Angela is enjoying a much needed day off. After while, we will get to play in the snow!!

justin and angela