Febloguary Day 11 (Happy Heaven Day to You, Charlotte Jane)

Today was the day that we said goodbye to our precious baby girl after just a week of life.  It is crazy that it has been four years.  We were so very thankful for the AMAZING weather today!  Last Monday's FREEZING temperatures cut our cemetery time short, but today we made up for it!  Our family was able to enjoy our time together and worship God.  We are so thankful for the peaceful place we are able to go and remember our sweet girl!  Some of my favorite sunsets have been spotted from the cemetery.  

  These 2 know this place well.

God gave us a gorgeous backdrop tonight!

 Fun with BUBBLES!

 Liv exploring.

 Races are a tradition for Team Bassett :)

 Daddy joined the race!

 We brought the petals off our waning tulips to spread around at the cemetery.

Making sure the petals are just right. 

My lovely Lizzie! (No matter what I try, I cannot get this pic upright!)

 My Bright Light, Lainie K!

Liv happily sang "Happy Heaven Day to you, Charlotte Jane!" She totally doesn't get it, but she knows pictures of Charlotte and joins us in all of our celebrations with great fervor!

 

 Daddy's Girls :)

 I may or may not have promised ice cream to Liv to get this shot with my little ladies.

 Lainie got to take Mommy and Daddy's pic.

 I'm glad we asked her to take 2!  I love this man so much!  Together we have been brought through many fires and come out molded and shaped more into the image of Jesus.  We are thankful.  Thank you Charlotte Jane for your brave fight and for all the ways you continue to draw me nearer to Jesus.

These words were sent to me in a text message today from a dear friend. I just had to write them down.  For one, I LOVE writing Charlotte's name any time I get a chance, and secondly, this is AMAZING TRUTH!  I couldn't help but do a little happy dance when I received this message.  A day of glory, no doubt!

Febloguary Day 9 (Leaning Trees)

My precious grandparents still live in the house they built in 1959.  I love that house and the neighborhood where it sits.  Because the homes are well established, that means that as you drive through the area you see streams of light breaking though the canopy of mammoth oak trees lining the streets.  This is one element that is lame to me about living in a newer neighborhood; a single 5 year old Bradford Pear per lot doesn't do much for my tree loving self.  

Recently as I cruised through the neighborhood taking Lizzie to her knitting lesson with Granny (I know, awesome, right?!), something caught my eye.  There was a giant oak tree with two large pieces of rope attached to it and staked into the ground, pulling it back toward the house. There also were two raw cuts, at least a foot in diameter, on the trunk facing the street.  The tree looked awkward and out of place compared to its fine looking neighbors standing straight and tall around it.  

You see, the reason for all of those crazy interventions was a 50+ year old tree leaning significantly out into the street.  Every possible measure was being taken so as not to have to chop down the leaning tree.

The Lord immediately gave me a parallel to parenting and disciplining my children.  Had the tree's leaning problem been detected early on, the interventions would have been far less drastic and much more effective. This is why we guide our children in righteousness early on.  The older they get and the longer they linger in patterns of sin, the more painful it is to alter these behaviors.  Ultimately, behavior modification is NOT our goal.  The deepest desire of the hearts of parents who follow after Christ is that the Holy Spirit would pursue our children and that they would be brought into the family of believers.  While this is our hope, it would be foolish to hold off setting expectations and asking obedience of our children until this day.  Rather, in our home, we treat our children like members of the Body of Christ.  

We expect our girls to love God and love people. (Matthew 22:36-39  “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”  And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment.  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.)  

We expect our girls to honor and trust Mommy and Daddy. (Ephesians 6:1-3 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise),  “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.)  

We expect our girls to be kind and to extend grace and forgiveness. (Ephesians 4:32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.)  

We expect our girls to work hard and do their best. (Colossians 3:23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.)    

We expect our girls to be humble servants. (Philippians 2:3-11 Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 

We expect our girls to seek God and be teachable. (Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Psalm 143:10 Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground!)  

This list is basic, but it covers pretty much everything.  Guess what?  Our girls fail.  They don't measure up to any of these expectations.  Guess what?  Neither do I!  The Bible tells us that The Law acts as a tutor to show us our inability to measure up and our need for a Savior.  Our expectations of our girls serve them well as they learn  that they are not perfect and that as hard as they try, they will never get there.  These expectations also provide us beautiful opportunities to teach our girls how to confess their sin, apologize completely, ask for forgiveness and receive forgiveness.  

We have created an environment in our home where it is okay to mess up, but you are expected to own up to your mistakes.  In the past year we began expecting a full apology from one another.  This means, "I am sorry for ________.  I should have _______. or Next time I will ______.  Do you forgive me?"  These additions to "I'm sorry" have been huge for our crew, as it requires some thought and consideration.  It is a challenge and often adds several minutes to resolving a situation, but it does provide real reconciliation as opposed to the fabricated peace that we were practicing.  Justin and I have followed suit, and this has brought growth in us as well!  It is never our intention to sin against our girls, but we do.  The habit of coming to them and apologizing fully and receiving forgiveness from them is humbling.  Our girls are so quick to forgive.  I learn from them.  

When we have to deal with a discipline situation, our goal is always to point our little ladies to Jesus.  We wholeheartedly agree that "For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." (Hebrews 12:11)  It is not fun to spend time addressing your child's improper behavior, but it is so sweet to hug them close and pray with them afterward.  It is also beautiful to see God changing their hearts and drawing them to Himself.  It is all part of a process that requires of Justin and me to constantly rely on God and trust that He is the One who changes hearts and He loves our girls more than we could ever imagine.  

Ephesians 6:4 says Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.  Justin takes this command seriously, and I am thankful to walk alongside him in this task.  Though this discipline is not fun for our girls right now, we trust that it is producing a harvest of righteousness.  We serve our children well by pruning areas of disobedience while they are young.  Otherwise, they grow up in patterns of sinfulness that when addressed at an older age are much more painful and require far greater interventions.  Like the leaning tree that necessitated the painful removal of large branches, leaving ugly visible scars on its trunk, so is the person who grows up without discipline.  Our hope is that the training of our children's youth would produce godly women who know their need for Jesus and walk uprightly in his commands, confessing their sins, trusting the life giving blood of Jesus for their forgiveness and sharing that love among the nations.  We desire "that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified." (Isaiah 61:3)

Febloguary Day 2 (Almost 9 years!)

Today is dedicated to the hubs.  Justin Bassett has been my husband for almost 9 years!  We laugh as we look back at pictures from our dating days.  We were so cute, and naive, and unassuming as to what life was going to look like for us.  Things are pretty easy when you are dating on your parents' dime, going to class 13 hours a week is your job, and you are living in College Station, Texas.  Looking back on those days, life has slapped us around quite a bit since then.  Between then and now, we have each lost a grandmother, we have buried Charlotte, said goodbye to Hope in the womb, and I have watched Momma into the arms of Jesus.  We have lived in 4 different homes.  Justin has been employed by several companies and opened his own business.  We have been entrusted with Lizzie, Lainie, and Liv to shepherd well.  God has brought friends in and out of our lives. Whew!  We have experienced loss, been thrown into multiple changes, and been given huge tasks.  It has been painful.  Being us has been hard.  BUT, I cannot adequately define the depths of our relationship that have been formed as a result of the past nine years.  There is no one else I could even imagine walking through life beside.  I am proud to be Justin's wife!

The past three years have been especially interesting, as Justin has followed the Lord in starting NewCoast Media.  It has been an adventure for all of us!  If you could see the amount of work he puts in to make sure that clients get an outstanding product, while also taking excellent care of me, and serving his pretty little ladies in love, it is amazing that he has any opportunity to rest!  Together we have learned how to creatively manage our time and money, as it is very different when you run your own business.  Some days it is really hard!  Justin staying up until 2 am to finish a project, while I have to go to bed, so I can rise and shine with the little loves is not fun.  Waiting on a check to come in the mail that we need to pay all of our months' bills can be stressful.  The fact that no matter where we think we are getting away to, someone's site always seems to go down when we are away causes those peaceful getaways to become stressful.  However, having Daddy home to eat breakfast with us and do scripture memory each morning is a gift.  Daddy's ability to take the girls on a field trip impromptu is a gift.  Our ability to take a family trip in the middle of October is fantastic!  

There have been multiple career opportunities presented to Justin in the past year, but in the end, God has given us both the confidence that all the perks and the promise of a steady paycheck are not what he has for our family.  Justin really enjoys what he is doing and has a vision for how his company and our family can continue to make an impact for the Kingdom of God.  We are open to whatever God has for us, and we continue to seek His face for what the future holds for our family.  

All of our highs and lows together have given us opportunities to seek the Lord and proclaim His goodness.  This morning during family worship, Justin led us in the song God is Able.  Its lyrics really are our heart.  Because of the last nine years, we more fervently choose to cry out to God for every need and fully trust Him to fulfill them, as we have seen Him as faithful.  Our family's desire is that all those with whom we interact would witness our great God through us!  Justin leads Team Bassett well on our mission to know God and make Him known!

November 2012

November began with a bang as we celebrated Liv's 1st birthday, and it never slowed down!  We transitioned directly into a celebration of Justin's BIG 30th birthday, followed by much Thanksgiving celebration and preparations for Advent!

Liv just crawled right into this space after I had directed one of my sweet ones' meltdowns into thankfulness, otherwise I would have melted too! 

Lainie got her first EVER haircut at 4.5 years old:)

I introduced Lizzie to the wonder that is TCBY White Chocolate Mousse.  A date with this girl is a GIFT!

Leading up to Justin's Birthday, we had a 30 Days to 30 countdown.  Each day, Justin had a card to open that either told about a small gift or special activity.  This was really fun as the girls participated in many of the activities, both getting to take Daddy on a date- Lizzie to see Brave at the theater and Lainie to the Donut Shop:)  They also served their Daddy well in those 30 days, even cleaning his office one day!  The culmination of the countdown was set to be night with friends at a high speed gokart track.  Unfortunately, after we all got our schedules aligned, arranged for childcare and drove almost 2 hours away, the lights at the track turned out as we entered the parking lot, 30 minutes prior to their posted hours of operation!  We were told they just closed early since no one was there; AHHHHHH!!!!!  After another failed attempt at a place called Shenaniganz (where the carts went roughly 5 mph), we ended up at a place in Dallas that was still fun but not nearly what I had planned:(  Thankful though for a fun night out with 6 adults in one car for several hours of adult conversation and a lot of laughs!

My 30 year old LOVE!

FRIENDS!

One of my favorite gifts I gave to Justin- My friend Joy made our Wedding Vows fancy!  

You should definitely check out her Etsy shop!  

Dinner at Spaghetti Warehouse with the fam

My Cheesecake Making Assistant.  Butterfinger was the request this year:)

Lainie was the Shining Star on Super Hero Day at Preschool, where she saved the world with the Power Of LOVE (Celine Deon sang her theme song).

How can you not smile at this?!

Even Kelsey got a cape and a hair heart for this special day!

Thanksgiving fun began with Lainie's Thanksgiving Feast at school.

Elaine means "Ray of Light," and her Indian Vest said "Walks in the light"

I had tears in my eyes as I saw her wearing this, because this is our biggest prayer for Lainie, that she would grow to be a woman who walks in the Light of Jesus and shines for HIS GLORY!  We are already seeing glimpses of this light and have such great hope for what God has planned for this girl!

The girls worked super hard to memorize Psalm 100 in the month of November, and I was so proud of them for totally rocking it:)

You can see them Here

We were blessed to house hop to celebrate Thanksgiving with our family!

The cousins at Grammy and Pop's house!

Liv and Uncle GB bonding

My little leaf girls (a little earlier in the month when Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Trey were in town)

Liv loves snuggling with Aunt Cheryl

Uncle Trey... well we aren't so sure

Cousin Pics in Christmas Dresses!

 

A few other highlights...

     

We went to a special presentation at the Library by a relative of a Mayflower passenger!  Super Cool!

     

Liv found the favored spot of all my babes at this age!  Tupperware and plastic cups... FUN!

       

And we had a BLAST filling our boxes for Operation Christmas Child and praying for the sweet girls who will receive them.  Oh Jesus, capture their hearts, let them know your love!

(As a side note, it was after taking this picture that my phone disappeared for several hours.  I delivered the boxes to the drop off location and then had a horrible feeling that my phone had been packed up and sent away to one of our sweet girls!  Finally, my phone was found in our homeschool supply closest where Lainie had put it for safekeeping.)  

        

Our world may seem a little crazy and upside down most days, but we are thankful for all of the chaos and wouldn't change it for the world!