Miss Bass, is that your wedding ring?

Maggie: "Miss Bass, is that your wedding ring?"
Me: "No, but its my favorite ring."
Maggie: "Where's your wedding ring?"
Me: "I don't have one."
Maggie: "Why not?"
Me: "I'm not married."
Maggie: "You're not? Why not? I really really want you to be married."
Me: "Well.....I just haven't found the right man yet."
Maggie: "Oh, well I already know who I'm going to marry. I'm going to marry Kyle. I sure wish you knew who you were going to marry Miss Bass."
Me: "Yeah, me too sweetie."


Ya gotta love their little hearts sometimes. This conversation put a smile on my face for several different reasons. First, the honesty and sincerity from little Maggie. She was so disappointed to hear I'm not married. She genuinely wants me to find someone and live happily ever after. She cares about me. Second, it reminded me that we were created with a need for other people. She's only 7 (almost 8, she reminds me everyday) but she already knows who she wants to marry. I love her innocence and confidence, actually I am a little jealous of it. Which brings me to reason number three, the reminder that I will only be Miss Bass for a season. In fact, the ring Maggie was asking me about is a symbol of promise between me and the Lord. It serves as a reminder that my prince is coming. I call it my "I'm not going to settle ring." Every time I look at it I remember all that He has in store for me and that I'm not going to settle for anything less than God's best. Maggie reminded me that I should be equally as confident in the Lord as she is in knowing that she's going to marry Kyle (okay, maybe even a little more).

Standing on the promises that cannot fail, 

When the howling storms of doubt and fear assial, 

By the living Word of God I shall prevail 

Standing on the promises of God. 

Standing, standing, 

Standing on the promises of God may Saviorl 

Standing, standing, 

I'm standing on the promises of God.

Erased.

Teachers love Halloween....or not. After moving down to 2nd grade this year, the talk of Halloween had been brewing more than ever before. I knew my kiddos were really excited, so I decided to go with it. This morning, because they showed good character the kids got to participate in Halloween themed lessons. The day was off to a great start. We were all having a great time, myself included...until we went to the book fair. Today was our turn the browse our school book fair and make wish lists of the books we'd like to purchase. The kids had a blast looking at all the new books. I loved seeing them so excited about reading! 

Directly after leaving the book fair, I noticed one of my girls had very full pockets...pockets full of erasers. Not just your normal, run of the mill, pink erasers, but the special ones sold only at the book fair. You know, the ones shaped like candy, dollar bills, and ipods. None of my students had money with them today, so I knew immediately she had stolen them. She is normally a very sweet, well behaved little girl. I never have behavior problems with her, so needless to say I was shocked and upset with her choice. After dropping the rest of my class off at lunch we returned to the book fair to give the erasers back and apologize to the wonderful moms who were volunteering. 

After lunch I had to take my little one to the office to meet with the principal. He and I had already talked and decided a fitting punishment would be to help clean my classroom library and miss out on our Halloween Math Games. Now, up until this point I was disappointed and frustrated with her. I mean, she's in the 2nd grade, she should know better! However, just as she started back down our hallway I peaked out the door to look for her. I saw her slowly walking, head down, with tear stained cheeks. When she looked up and saw me all I could do was open up my arms and embrace her as she started to cry again. In that moment I was so overcome with the power of God's grace and forgiveness. Even though I had been so mad before, all I could to was hug her. 

How often do I need God;s grace and forgiveness? Daily. How many times has He lovingly wrapped me in his arms? More than I can count. God used this little girl today to show me a clear vision of his love. I will never forget the empathy I felt for her in that moment. Yes, I still followed through with the punishment, I explained to her that because I love her I had to, but that I forgave her. As she was cleaning she looked up at me and said, "Wow, this is really hard work." But when she was done the smile returned to her face as she showed me how nice the library looked. I was clear she knew it was finished. 

Tomorrow is a new day, a clean slate, a fresh start. God's grace erases our sins. God's grace is sufficient for 7 year olds, it's sufficient for me, and its sufficient for you too. 

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.  -Hebrews 4:16

3 Years Later...

"Are you driving?" Mom asked. "Yes" I answered. She knew I always called her on my way home from work. "Can you pull over?" was her next question. I immediately knew something was wrong. As I quickly pulled into a parking lot my mind raced to the worst possible outcomes.

"What's wrong?" I asked. "It's your dad," mom replied. I felt my heart fall to my feet as my mom spent the next few minutes explaining to me, through her tears the events of the prior 24 hours. My dad had been arrested for purchasing pain pills illegally. He had spent the night in jail, and after my grandparents and my uncle bailed him out he was now at home experiencing horrendous withdrawals.

In one short phone call my life was flipped upside down. I have a great family. We aren’t perfect, but we are the Bass Family, known for our Christian views and scripture board in our restaurant. And now my dad, my wonderful, amazingly loving father was going to rehab?  I couldn’t wrap my mind around this. I do have to add that my dad suffers from chronic back pain. He’s had pain ever since I can remember. He started taking pain medicine years ago, and like any addict, he needed more and more over time. Like I said, we own a restaurant, so he’s worked on his feet for 25 years. With the chronic back aches, he took more medicine to work through the pain and provide for our family.

The following 3 days were filled with a tidal wave of emotion. After calling my boss and explaining the situation I took off work and headed home. (I was living in Nashville at the time working as a nanny).  I recently found this old facebook post describing my feelings from those few days.

I was right. The roller coaster did have it’s ups and downs. We celebrated our family Thanksgiving at rehab that year, our family received hate mail (my dad is a local politician and known for being very conservative), we watched our dad’s arrest story on the news, and we all had to give more than ever before. But God never left us and our friends and family rallied around my family like never before. 

The Monday after the arrest, mom and I picked dad up from a detox center and took him to rehab. That day dad and I shared a very special moment that I will never forget. My dad has the greatest heart of anyone I know. Seriously he would give up everything he has to help someone in need. And as news of his arrest spread lots of people started sharing stories of his compassion with us. My favorite was from a man who we went to church with. He told me about the time he saw my dad buying girl scout cookies. As this man was trying to sneak past them without being asked to buy some, he saw my dad hand back the box he had just purchased and heard him say, “Why don’t you girls keep this box and use it for free samples. I think you would sell more if you had samples.” As mom, dad, and I were sitting Crackle Barrel in Sullivan Missouri I started telling him these stories. I remember telling him how much I love him and that I had never been more proud to be his daughter. He stood up right there, reached across his pancakes, and hugged me while we both cried.

I am sharing all of this now because of God’s grace. God has taken a situation that was intended for destruction and used it for His glory. Tomorrow marks the 3 year anniversary of these events. My amazing father has not only been free of his addiction for 3 years, but he is allowing God to use him and his story. Dad has always been somewhat of a minister. He ministers to people in our restaurant everyday. He feeds people who are hungry and prays with anyone that needs prayer. But through rehab and celebrate recovery he is reaching a whole different crowd. He has a  new understanding of others, addictions, and the healing power God brings. 

God is faithful. He loves us enough to break our addictions, heal our hearts, and make us whole in Him. He meets us right where we are, pulls us out of the mud, cleans us off, and rebuilds us. I’m so thankful for my dad. I couldn't ask for a better father or example of Christ’s love. 

Zephaniah 3:17 – The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.  

Dad, My niece Ruth, and me. -This is one of my all time favorite pictures. 

Year 3

Life is going at full speed! I can't believe first quarter and parent teacher conferences are already over. My class this year is so wonderful! They are sweet, eager to please, and love to learn. Now, they are not perfect, there is no such thing. But I tell them all the time how easy they make my job, and it's true. They are the first class that can handle how fun I am! Haha, they get my jokes too :)

Last week we studied how to expand our writing to make it more interesting. On Wednesday I put 4 boring sentences on the board and had my students chose two to expand. I told them to add details and exciting words and then draw a picture to go with the sentence. Here are a few of my favorites!

These were the boring sentences:

The student's like their teacher.
Then I ate pizza.
The girl sang a song.
The boy walked.

This one is sweet.

This one is really nice too, I just hope my hair doesn't really look like that...

And this one is so funny! One of my sweet, quiet little girls wrote this. I was so shocked!













Also, this week is Red Ribbon Week! Today was, "I mustache you not to do drugs". It was hilarious seeing all the kids with mustaches on! I bought temporary finger stash tattoos to make sure all of mine got one, so fun!

Overall the year is off to a great start! I'm not sure if it's this group of kids or if I'm finally feeling confident in myself as a teacher...probably a little bit of both. Either way, I'll take it!

Haitian Love

Wow. What a difference one week can make. It's funny, I went to Haiti praying that my heart wouldn't be completely broken. I was afraid that I would go, see the poverty, feel so sad for the Haitians, and come home feeling helpless. That is so far from what really happened...


The Haitians taught me so much about true contentment in the Lord. Compared to even the poorest Americans they have nothing. They live in make shift huts, mostly constructed out of tarps and pieces of tin. They have no running water and no electricity in most places. They kids don't have any toys, except for maybe an old wheel or piece of rope. And many people are thankful to get one meal a day. Despite all this, they are so happy. Happier than most Americans I know. Their joy is real. It's real because it is not found in material possessions but truly in the Lord. The Haitian people are materially poor, but spiritually blessed. 


I did come home with a heavy heart, but not for my Haitians brothers and sisters, for Americans. Because we are so distracted with all our stuff we are spiritually poor. We don't rely on God for our every NEED, and therefore our trust in Him is weak. 


I can sum up the biggest lesson I learned in one word, less. Less of me, less material possessions, less worry. And in place of these, more Jesus, more loving people, more giving, and more trust in the Lord.  


Haiti has forever left a hand print on my heart. When I think of Haiti I will no longer of a country in despair. I will think of the smiles on their faces, the beautiful little children, the openness of their hearts, and the contentment in the Lord. 


As content as the Haitian are, they are still in great need of so many basics like food and clean water. 1 John 3:17-18 says, "If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them,how can the love of God be in that person?  Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth." It is our job to love our brothers and sisters and provide for their need. The bible tells us over and over again to love one another. It's so easy to get caught up in our own lives and forget about the rest of the world. But this is what being a Christian means to the core. Love God, Love People. How do you show God love? By loving His people. I pray that we as American Christians can start to truly live out our faith in "actions and truth". I also pray that God will show me areas of my life where I can give more. And I pray that God will continue to bless Haiti for their love and faithfulness. 

Me with the Principal/Pastors daughter, so sweet. 

Getting her first ever school picture taken. 

Sisters in Christ. 

Best Birthday Present

This morning, thanks to my roommate, I got to go visit one of my students out at K1. She is such a sweet and kind hearted little girl, not to mention adorable! This is her very first year at Kanakuk and today is also her birthday. She is the first student I've shared a birthday (we were both pretty excited about it when we found out) so I really wanted to give her a big hug and tell her Happy Birthday.

Lucky for me, Chelsea has connections! She works for Kanakuk and took me over to kamp to make my birthday wish come true. My student was so surprised and excited to see me. As we stood there talking and hugging I asked her what her favorite part of kamp was so far. She looked up and me and said, "Well I don't really know...but I accepted Jesus in my heart last night." I melted in a little puddled and tried to hold back my tears. I gave her another huge hug and told her how proud I am of her. What more could I possibly want for my birthday? She now has Jesus in her heart. Truly the greatest gift EVER!

Forever Changed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgEl9LkejD0 

      I listened to this song for the first time last week while I was driving home from Nashville. As I listened and soaked in all the lyrics I began to cry, and not just a few tears...full on weeping. Why? Because I was reminded so much of my beautiful mother and how blessed I am to have her in my life. And thankfully we won't be to verse 3 of this song for a while (she's still so young). As I listened, I started thinking of all the ways I'm changed because of her love. She is amazing. She has taught me so many lessons from how to put on make-up, how to clean the bathroom, how to treat others, and so much more. Her strength and knowledge inspire me. She is the one who makes our family operate. Without her we would be a complete mess. I often tell people she is Super Woman. And I really do wonder sometimes if she has super powers. I am forever changed because of her love for me and my family. And I hope one day I can be like her.

I love you mom. Thank you for always loving and caring for me.