After A Year

A year ago today we were joined by a multitude of friends and family to celebrate Charlotte Jane Bassett's life. It is a day I will never forget. There were tears. There was pain. There were smiles. There was joy. There was HOPE!
With Elaine in my arms, with Elizabeth and Justin by my side, and many of you surrounding us, we sang out to the Lord. We sang Before the Throne and claimed Christ's intercession on our behalf. We sang Blessed Be Your Name and offered our worship to the Lord despite our broken hearts. We sang O Glorious Day and rejoiced in the miraculous hope we have that one day we will join our girl, Charlie, in the presence of Jesus!

Rick spoke about Charlotte's life, and while I don't remember much of what he said (because I had a super cute Lainie K to capture my attention:), I do remember that he reminded us that we had been chosen to be Charlotte's parents and chosen to share in Christ's sufferings in a very real way. These words, while simple, have spoken volumes to my heart over the past twelve months. In God's providence, He chose to demonstrate His great love and mercy toward us by bringing Charlotte into the world and allowing us to be with her for seven days. What a gift!

Every eye gazed heavenward as we sang Jesus Loves Me and released balloons. CJ's life, much like those balloons was fleeting but caused many eyes to be directed toward and captured by King Jesus. Thank you Charlie!

A year later, the pain is still there. We grieve the fact that we don't have a crazy one year old full of personality to chase around. We grieve the fact that we are a family of four and not a family of five. We grieve the fact that we will not see Charlotte grow up. We grieve that our plans for our family have changed.

A year later, we know Christ so much more deeply. Justin and I are both very aware that God has cultivated great depth in our character and faith through the circumstances of the past year. We are no longer just claiming truths hoping for them to be true. We are proclaiming what we know to be true because we have seen it played out in our part of His story! Jesus is enough!

A year later we have seen so many prayers answered!

In a situation where many couples struggle, our marriage has only become stronger. Justin and I have grieved differently, but we have grieved alongside one another and fought for joy in each others' lives. Thank you JESUS!
Elizabeth and Elaine have thrived!
Elizabeth has such an incredible heart and desire to know God. She has a sincere heart that is filled with compassion. Her love for Charlotte is beautiful. On Valentine's Day, she received a cute frog balloon that said I LOVE YOU on it. She asked me to write "sissy kisses for you" on it and then "sent it up to Charlotte." She is an amazing four year old! Thank you JESUS!
Elaine's zest for life has been a welcome bright spot on many hard days. Elaine has spent the year really trying to understand about Charlotte. After twelve months of her saying "Charlotte is with Jesus!" Elaine finally asked, "How long is Charlotte going to be with Jesus?" I replied by telling her that Charlotte will always be with Jesus, but we have hope that one day when we die or when Jesus comes back, we too will get to go to be with Jesus! She responded, "Oh, like O Glorious Day!!!!!" Yes, my love, like O Glorious Day! I love that she is connecting the songs that we sing to life. At the age of two, Elaine is grasping truths in ways that only the work of the Lord could produce. Thank you JESUS!
God has indeed taken such tender care of my girls' hearts. He has been the Comforter for our Family. Thank you JESUS!

We have been surrounded by the Body of Christ and know what it is to be upheld by those around us in prayer and in truth. We have been taken care of so well and remembered often. We have not journeyed alone. Thank you JESUS!
God has used us to speak truth into the lives of others who are walking in similar circumstances. We have been able to encourage both friends and strangers as we hear of their situations. Our sphere of influence has widened greatly, and we have been able to proclaim the power of the Gospel to those who are in need of healing. Thank you JESUS!
God has transformed countless lives through Charlotte's seven days. Men and women have been brought into deeper relationship with Christ! Hearts of stone have been broken. Our need for Jesus has been made evident. The Lord has been gracious toward us. Thank you JESUS!


On Charlotte's birthday, we celebrated! A few friends who have walked especially closely with us this year as well as Nana and PawPaw and Grammy and Pop joined us at the cemetery to sing Happy Birthday and Jesus Loves Me as we released pink and purple balloons in Charlotte's memory. It was really precious. Afterward we went to dinner and enjoyed pink cupcakes together (a Bassett family tradition to celebrate birthdays!).
The week between the 10th and 17th was such a tension between celebrating and grieving. We received so many phone calls, texts, emails, and cards; I was blown away! Several of my girlfriends took me out for breakfast and encouraged me greatly. Justin and I were able to get away for a date and process a little bit. I recounted sweet moments with my girl and longed for our Heavenly reunion.
On the 17th Justin and I woke up at 5:30am, the time our loss became Charlotte's gain of eternity with Jesus with a transformed and perfected body! Justin prayed, and we were filled with a great peace and gratitude that God has indeed carried us through the hardest year of our lives! Lizzie went to school, and Justin, Lainie and I went to breakfast together; what a treat:) Then, Lainie and I met friends at a beautiful park to play, have lunch and enjoy extra special cupcakes in Charlotte's honor. We enjoyed our time as a family that night and finished out the day reading about Heaven in the Big Picture Storybook Bible and singing O Glorious Day as a family. We are so thankful that we can grieve in honesty and in hope!

Thank you for walking with us. Thank you for serving us in prayer. Thank you for your words of encouragement. Thank you for grieving with us. Thank you for allowing us to share the hope of Christ with you in our suffering.

We love you Charlotte Jane Bassett!
Your tiny footprints have made a huge impact; we will never be the same because of you!
Your life, precious one, worshiped your God and King!

Psalm 145
1 I will extol you, my God and King,
and bless your name forever and ever.
2 Every day I will bless you
and praise your name forever and ever.
3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
and his greatness is unsearchable.

4 One generation shall commend your works to another,
and shall declare your mighty acts.
5 On the glorious splendor of your majesty,
and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.
6 They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds,
and I will declare your greatness.
7 They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness
and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

8 The Lord is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 The Lord is good to all,
and his mercy is over all that he has made.

10 All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord,
and all your saints shall bless you!
11 They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom
and tell of your power,
12 to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds,
and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.

13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and your dominion endures throughout all generations.
[The Lord is faithful in all his words
and kind in all his works.]t
14 The Lord upholds all who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all look to you,
and you give them their food in due season.
16 You open your hand;
you satisfy the desire of every living thing.
17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways
and kind in all his works.
18 The Lord is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
19 He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
he also hears their cry and saves them.
20 The Lord preserves all who love him,
but all the wicked he will destroy.

21 My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,
and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.

What’s in a Name?

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything on this blog (my wife is an all-star blogger), but I wanted to use this opportunity to celebrate / remember Charlotte Jane’s life and talk about the meaning of her name and the names of our other girls.

As you may know, if you know us well at all, names are a HUGE deal to us. More than just a name sounding cool, we are always conscious of what each of our girls names mean. Modern-day America has completely divorced the concept of choosing a name from that name’s meaning. If you spend anytime in other cultures or study cultures from generations past, you’ll discover what a person’s name means is a HUGE deal. For instance, Angela and I have both spent time in places where Islam is the predominant religion, and one of the first questions asked when getting to know us is “what does your name mean?” Therefore, we’ve always wanted this to play a factor in naming our children. It’s easy to share the gospel simply by explaining the meaning of your name. I wanted to share the story of how each of our girls got their names.

Elizabeth Grace

The name Elizabeth is from Hebrew origin and means “consecrated to God.” The idea here is that our child, our first born, is not ours -- but God has entrusted her to us, and we are therefore stewards of her life and well-being for all of her days. Furthermore, the idea of “consecration” infers that her life is not her own but belongs to Christ. Because of His grace, our hope is that she has been adopted as a daughter of the King and her citizenship is in His Kingdom.

Furthermore, Angela’s mom and sister share the middle name “Elizabeth”. We couldn’t think of a better way to honor each of them.

The name Grace means exactly what it sounds like - an expression of the graciousness of God. Throughout the world in cultures and languages where Christianity is the predominant religion or at least has been at one point, you see the name “grace” being used as a name. Names such as Anne, Jane, Hannah, Anna, Karis or Charis, Kyleigh (no we didn’t know this when we named our dog), Rae, Nancy, Janna, Nina, and probably many more names that I’m leaving out, are from variations of the word grace in several languages.

Since High School, I’ve wanted my first girl’s middle name to be “grace”. Yes, I’m a huge dork that I had these plans this early in life. I understand that. I absolutely love this name and its meaning.

Full meaning: Elizabeth Grace - consecrated to God because of His grace.

_____________________________________________________________________

Elaine Karis

The name Elaine is Greek and means “light” or “sun-ray”. This is my mother’s middle name, so this name was already decided, (unless my mom’s middle name had been Beezus or something). However, we think this accurately describes her and our hopes for her life. She is full of life, and this comes out in so many ways. We know that her life will bring the light of the Gospel to many.

The name Karis is also Greek and is a phonetic spelling of “Charis” which is the Greek word used in the New Testament for the word, “grace” such as in Ephesians 2:8, “by chariti (dative form of charis) you have been saved...” Notice another name that can be added to my list above, “Charity” which is the exact word used in this verse.

Because we liked the concept of Elizabeth’s middle name being Grace, we wanted to copy this and apply it in naming Elaine. At some point, we decided that this would be the naming convention for any girls God blessed us with moving forward.

Full Meaning: Elaine Karis - light bearer because of God's grace.

______________________________________________________________________

Charlotte Jane

The name Charlotte is of German origin, but was popularized in England and means, “freedom”. We picked Charlotte’s name for several reasons:

(1) we liked it, and at the time we chose the name, it was not very popular (although it has shot up the charts in the past year).

(2) Charlotte was one of the characters on LOST, which we both love.

(3) Elizabeth and Elaine both have short versions of their names that they may prefer to use as they get older - “Lizzie” and “Lainie”. We loved the name “Charlie” as a shorter version of Charlotte.

(4) Another really random thing about me is that I wanted to name one our children after a town in Texas (even though that has nothing to do with why my name is Justin). I love Texas and as much as I love the concept of living in Colorado, unless God calls us somewhere else, this is where we will be. I always assumed this would be a boy’s name. However, as we were thinking through naming Charlotte, we realized that Angela’s Aunt and Uncle own a ranch near Charlotte, Texas. This is where I got to know her family, and we’ve spent time there every year since we met.

(5) Most importantly, the meaning of Freedom was so very appealing to us in the naming process. One of the results of God’s grace on our life is Freedom. Many people (as popularized in western philosophy) believe that we have a “free-will” or the ability to choose Christ. In reality, our hearts, our minds, and our souls are completely incapable of choosing Christ. We are spiritually dead. When grace is applied to our lives, we are given true Freedom, and as our heart is regenerated, we have the ability to now choose Christ over idols that we’ve created in our hearts.

The name Jane is of Hebrew origin and also means “grace”, or “God is gracious.” We loved the way “Charlotte Jane” sounded. It fit together perfectly. Interestingly, the Charlotte Jane was a ship that carried the first English emigrants to New Zealand. Much like the story of America, these “pilgrims” were seeking religious freedom in another part of the world. We knew that Charlotte Jane would be a vessel God would use to bring freedom to many lives.

Full meaning: Charlotte Jane - Freedom through the gracious gift of God.

Thanks for hanging in there if you’ve made it to this point. I hope you found this post both informative and entertaining. It’s a unique insight into the reason each of the girls have the name they do.

Finally, in regards to Charlotte Jane, we obviously didn’t see what would lie ahead in choosing her name. As much as it hurts to not have her with us and as many times we’ve grieved her loss, we know that she is now experiencing true FREEDOM that is not found on this side of heaven. Her joy has been made complete, her sin nature is gone, and her lowly body has been transformed to be like his glorious body.

May you take hope that Christ can bring citizenship, light, and freedom through the power of the gospel.

11 in 11 Update (plus some pics)

We are almost six weeks into 2011, so I thought I would give a little update on how my 11 in 11 challenge is going.

1. Rise and Read- Unfortunately this has not been as easy to get back into the habit of! Elaine has decided to visit our bed several times a night many nights of the week, and it has been tough to get up before the girls. However, I have enjoyed Bible reading injected into many other parts of my day like while blow drying my hair, during the girls' rest time and before bed. While I would still love to be getting up early and preparing for my day by being in the word, I am thankful for the good time I have had to read and pray and meditate as I go through my day.

2. Teaching Domesticity- This has actually been great! My bathroom has stayed clean for the past six weeks, our bed has been made most days, the living room and kitchen have been neater, and overall, order has returned to our days. Sunday morning I timed my bathroom tidying and making my bed; it took 2 minutes total! I realized that I had fallen into a lie that I was too busy to do those things or that something else was more important. CityView was not going to fall apart if I was two minutes later, but my husband would be blessed to come home to a clean room and bathroom.
The girls have taken notice too:) Elaine is a great help at making the bed and knows where everything goes around the house. Elizabeth has a great desire to help where she can and to be on board with my plan.


3. 1 on 1s- Justin had a great time taking Lizzie to get a birthday present for a friend and to the party. He commented on how fun it was to just be the two of them. Lizzie felt extra special too! Lainie and I enjoyed Souper Salad one day while Lizzie was at school. I sought to just ask her questions and let her talk about whatever she wanted to. We talked about her favorite colors (pink and purple), her friends, and the songs she loves (Oh No You Never Let Go and Grace Greater). We had a good time just chatting.

4. Project Restoration- Justin completed our bedside tables with new hardware and a dark stain. They look great and pull our bedroom together! I have all of the materials for the entry way bench. My assistant (My MIL) was unable to come over last week because of the weather, so hopefully we can get it done next week.

5. World Focus- This has been awesome! So far we have prayed for North Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Maldives, and Yemen. My research has been eye opening for myself and for the girls.
This has been something that I have been able to share with our CityKids ministry at church, and the kids there have also connected with it. I may start posting my weekly country profile on here if anyone would like to join us.

6. Project Organization- I mentioned it earlier, but my bathroom is pretty awesome these days. The organization there has made it so much more pleasant! In the living room Kyleigh's toys got a basket as did our books and remotes. This just declutters things and makes me happy! There are still some closets that need a good clean out, but I am feeling good about progress in this area.

7. Redemption- Oh my goodness! I cannot tell you how fantastic this study has been. I really wish EVERYONE had the opportunity to walk through this material with a godly group of men or women. God is opening my eyes to my sin and growing in me a heart that grieves my sin and has a greater view of Christ and the Cross.

8. Take Care of Me- So far so good here! Face creams have been applied most mornings and nights, makeup has been put on in my clean bathroom rather than in my car on most days, I have spent some time just being rather than always rushing from one activity to another, and I am hoping to cash in on one of my massages next week:)

9. Helpmate- Hmmm, I guess I should let Justin update this category:) There has definitely been a season of learning what it looks like for him to be working from home, but I think we are figuring it out. He has knocked it out of the park with NewCoast Media, and I am so proud of him! I hope I have been an encouragement to him a helper.

10. Spontaneous Fun- I would say we have had a lot of fun lately! Probably our most spontaneous adventure was taking the TRE train from NRH to downtown Ft Worth for dinner, Barnes and Noble and Subway cookies. The girls LOVED the experience!!!!

11. Follow Through- I have enjoyed the challenge and appreciated the accountability of those of you who have asked me how things are going. By no means have I been perfect in my endeavors, but I have grown and been stretched in some much needed ways!

Back Up... Christmas!!

Yes, here are our pics from the Christmas season. I will go back and do captions sometime soon, but for now, I am pleased to have this slew of pictures up! Justin and I love our girls, and we had a really fun time together this season.

Our celebration of Christmas spanned over several weeks- Jesus is worth the celebrating!!! Here are lots of photos to capture our fun:)