He Makes My Home Heaven on Earth

I was through with guys for quite some time, at least I thought so. Little did I know the man of my dreams, the man that I never thought I could get, would come along during a deep valley in my life and literally sweep me off me feet. No, he did not buy me a huge diamond. I don't drive an SUV. I don't get the latest fashions or live in a condo on the beach. Instead, I had a man pursue me with all that was in him. He never gave up on trying to win my heart. And he succeeded. Today, I live a home where I am loved and even adored. This love and admiration I know I do not deserve, yet Terry looks past my faults and sees the good. He is a wonderful picture of Christ. Christ loved me in spite of my faults. Christ loved me so much that He gave me a home in heaven someday, and a home that is heaven on Earth today. Terry is the reason for my heavenly abode!

I have a husband who is honest with me about myself. Yes, this sometimes hurts. But sometimes, love hurts. He is loving. He is thoughtful. He is hard working. He is wise beyond his years. He is faithful to the Lord first, to me second, our kids third, his parents fourth and to our church family fifth. He has his priorities in order. He fixes brakes for our church people for free. He takes me on dates to the Olive Garden!! (YES!) He takes the kids fishing. He cleans my Mom's gutters. He works on her car, in the hot sun. He bathes the kids when I am running late, or just to give me a break. He babysits our church kids so the ladies can attend our ladies fellowships or the Bible Study.

Terry doesn't go out and shake hands with the Mayor or the Chief of Police. He isn't trying to get in good with big name preachers. He isn't wanting a full page story in the newspaper. He is content with serving, working and loving behind the scenes.

Someday, I'll tell you all just how wonderful he is. I'll tell you how we met at 14 and couldn't stand each other!! I'll tell you about how his life took a detour from the Lord, and how the Lord righted his vessel. I'll tell you how he finally convinced me, and my Dad, to give him a chance. I'll tell you how he's weathered betrayal, disappointment, and even threats on his life for the cause of Christ. For now, I'll just tell you that I am so unworthy to be loved by such a wonderful man. He often tells me how he "married above himself in the caste system". The truth is, I'm the pauper in this relationship. I'm the beggar who married a prince.

Happy birthday, Terry.

I love you.

Happy Birthday To a Great Gal in Illinois

Misty, left, with her friend Melissa. I got this photo from her blog!!

Terry's cousin, (and my friend for many years prior to our marriage), Misty, had a birthday yesterday!! I'm still in Arkansas, and felt terrible yesterday when I remembered it was her birthday. I couldn't get on the computer to wish her a happy birthday then, so here is a belated birthday wish.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISTY! So sorry I missed you yesterday. I hope you had a wonderful day. I hope you got to watch the fights, eat cake and ice cream, and get waited on hand and foot!!
Thanks for keeping in touch with me through the Internet and thanks for being a great cousin to all of us! I only wish we were closer to you so we could celebrate together!!!
We miss you!

Love from the whole gang:
Terry, Valerie, Lauren, Mitchell, Leslie and Laci

A Sister Is Forever ~

Happy Birthday, Melanie!!

Walter, Melanie, Stephen and me

Many friends may come and go, but a sister is forever. In honor of my sister's birthday today, I'd like to tell you a little about her. I often tell people that my sister is extremely good. And that defines her perfectly. I often desire to please myself, Melanie desires to please others. I often seek my own benefit along the way of life, Melanie seeks the benefit of others. If you need a babysitter, you can call upon her (but please don't...she's really busy these days). If someone is ill and needs a meal, she will be there. She sews. She cooks well. She sings. She plays the piano. She will gladly help you prepare a meal, or clean up after a meal. She will volunteer to pick up the dry cleaning or go to Wal-Mart for the one ingredient that you forgot to buy for supper. She homeschools, she is a soul winner, she teaches Sunday school, she is the mother to three active boys, she works in 4H, she's on her homeschool co-op board. Oh! She also recently organized the Master Club regional competition for her church, Gospel Light Baptist Church. That was no easy task. Her church runs around 3,000 people. She is amazing.
Somehow in the midst of this busy schedule, she still finds time to talk on the phone - for an hour or more at a time - to her sister in Texas. (That would be me! ;])

Besides "good", another word to describe her would be "Christlike". Yes, that's the right word. Melanie tries very hard to be like Christ.

Melanie, you have always been able to love everyone. It seems to come naturally to you, whereas I have to work so hard at loving people. I hope that today you will be the one who gets waited on hand and foot. I hope you can relax and enjoy today. It is your day.

Thank you for being the world's best sister. You have been, and still are, a wonderful example of Christ for me to follow.

I love you.

Turning 30, Spring Fever, and A Few Other Things...

These are the beautiful flowers that my Mom sent me. The card said "From someone who is praying for you", but was unsigned. I knew who had sent them. She is so thoughtful. They were delivered to our church during our Bible Study. It started my 30th year off in a wonderful way, and it only got better!

To all of you wonderful people who e-mailed me, sent me a card or commented here to wish me a happy birthday, I want to say thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you! You all are the best friends a girl could ask for. I do not deserve or merit your friendship in any way. I hope you all know how much I love and appreciate each of you.
My husband gave me quite a happy surprise by posting on my blog.We have no secrets, therefore, he knows my username and password to get on here.However, I was still shocked that he did what he did! He posted while I was down at church for our Ladies Bible Study. When I arrived home, he couldn't wait to say "You should go read your blog." I was so touched. I don't deserve him either!

If you are wondering about his reference to "Strunk" in his post, please see the section on this blog entitled "Books I've Read This Year". Recently, he was teasing me about reading an English grammar book before bed. He said "How weird and how boring." Well, maybe. But if you get The Elements of Style from your local library, you will not be weird or bored. For a book on English grammar and writing style, it is one good read. Mr. Strunk and Mr. White are hilarious. You will love it. And, at only 85 pages long, it's a quick read. I enjoyed it, but then again, maybe I am weird.

The best birthday gift I've received is having a week off from home schooling! You home school Moms will understand. Sometimes you just gotta have a break!Spring fever definitely took a hold of me. Once I started working I couldn't stop. I began on Friday (no, I don't waste time, well I try not to waste time) by cleaning out my closet. The shelf in my closet used to have my shoes and exercise equipment on it. I had decided to create my own "book nook" to keep my two marauders, Leslie and Laci, out of my dear books. They could reach them when they were on the old shelf and they would bend and tear them. This bothered me. So, I emptied the shelf in my living room and moved them to my bedroom closet:

Valerie's Book Nook! I'm so proud of it! The little stuffed animal is the Shamu that my Dad bought me when we all visited Sea World together in April of '04. That was three months before he went home to Heaven.

I put my I Love Lucy and Andy Griffith DVD collections in a safe place too!

Here is the shelf where the books used to be.

I moved it into our school room (Terry screwed it to the wall for me because it was a little unsteady) and filled it with the books from our home school closet. Doing that led me to go ahead and clean it out too! Organizing is definitely a domino effect! :o)

TADA! I'm so proud of this, too! It's amazing how during the school day, things tend to naturally go toward chaos. I don't have a "before" photo, but take my word for it, it was cluttered! Leslie and Laci, aka the un-masked marauders, also loved ransacking my jewelry box. I moved it into a cabinet in my bathroom (which I also organized) and Terry made me this handy-dandy necklace hanger! My necklaces no longer get tangled and will never be jumbled my the grubby (but still sweet) little hands of the Marauders! Yay!Once things were in their rightful places, I began to clean!! (I LOVE to clean and organize!) I bought myself an early birthday gift. It's the Swiffer duster. It's great. It has an extendable handle and these disposable cloths that hold on to the dust.

The handle extends out, and then the brush end bends to either side and out straight.Isn't this great? Aren't we having fun!! It even reaches my ceiling fan with no chair!! I have FIVE ceiling fans to clean. I was having to get a bucket of soapy water, a chair and stand (precariously, I might add) to clean them. I always feared losing my balance and breaking my left arm. No more!! By the way, I like my left arm. I'm left-handed!YUCK!!!

I also organized my other utensil drawer in the kitchen. I have a divider for my main silverware drawer, but this one had everything just thrown in. I love doing this...

Two Mops Are Better Than One...

While I was doing all of this cleaning and organizing, I noticed a huge puddle of water on the kitchen floor. My dishwasher had leaked! Terry was out soul winning, so I was alone. I'm so glad I had two mops! I used them both! I'm also thankful that my little marauders were asleep during this. They would have had a hay-day in all that water. I would have had a bad hair day trying to keep them out.When Terry got home, he looked at our faithful little kitchen helper and said it was gone. We all had a moment of silence for our dearly departed dishwasher...and then I got online to see how much a new one would cost. We had the new one installed that evening. Praise the Lord for tax refunds, and a very handy hubby! (I do not know where that gift wrap bow came from. Must be part of the fall out from my cleaning rampage.)

On Monday we (okay, Terry did it all, I just cheered him on!) got busy on another little nagging project. The photos below are of my bedroom. My closet is to the left, the master bath is to the right. In between them is this little, I don't know, retreat or alcove, something. When we moved in 2 1/2 years ago, there was no carpeting here. We found some carpet scraps that almost fit, but we never tacked them down or anything.They just lay there, scooting around periodically and thereby having to be tugged back into position. We bought some sticky tile for our bathroom about a year ago and then decided to choose another pattern. The problem was that we couldn't return the first tiles we selected because they were special ordered. So, for a year we've had this tile lying around. Finally, (DUH!) we realized we could put it on the bare spot in our bedroom and closet! (I know, at times we amaze even ourselves with our stupidity.)

Before...

After...

I love this, and so does Terry. He's so happy that I nagged him into doing this! ;o)

The Man God Used

Walter, Melanie, Stephen and Me in Florida, April 2004. The last time we'd all be together before Dad died. What a gift that trip was!

Today is my brother-in-law, Walter's, birthday. I will never forget the way he came to our rescue several years ago. My Dad had just gone to Heaven on July 29, 2004. Then, my husband's grandfather died August 28, 2004. Terry missed some days of work because my Dad's death, and then we missed another whole week when his Grandfather died. We were broke. The money for the trips to the funerals, the missed work...it wasn't looking good for us financially. We were two months behind on our rent. I had mentioned to my sister, Melanie, about our woes and no one else.
Walter is very good with money. He is a wise steward of what God has given him, and God has blessed him. We were praying - and we were scared. Our landlord had already stopped by our duplex and said we had ten days to pay, or he would have to very kindly "kick us out". I was expecting our third baby. In my mind, I could see us bringing her home to our "cardboard box"! However, my Savior intervened! Walter is the man God used to keep us from eviction.Walter mailed us a check for $400 during that time in our lives. No words could ever sufficiently thank him enough for what he did for us. He doesn't casually give money away. I am so honored - and blessed - that he was willing to do that for us.

Walter, I will never forget your kindness to us during one of our darkest hours.
May God bless you richly on this day and throughout the year.

Happy Birthday!

~Terry, Valerie, Lauren, Mitchell, Leslie & Laci

Happy Birthday To You...

I'd like to wish my sweet nephew, Andrew, a Happy 8th Birthday!
He lives aaallll the way in North Carolina, so I do not get to see him very much. I hope you can feel my love across the miles today, Andrew!!!! I'm so sorry that your card is late...you should get it on Tuesday, if the post office doesn't let me down! :o)

Have a wonderful day!!

Love,

Aunt Valerie

Happy Birthday to a Very Special Person!

Dixie with her family: Brice, Courtney, Carrie, Bret and her hubby, Brian.

I just want to wish my best friend, Dixie, a wonderful birthday today. I met her for the first time when I was four years old when my family was living in Hot Springs. Then, I moved to Benton, and we didn't see each other again until I was about 11. From that time until today she has been a faithful friend to me. She has listened to me, shared her heart with me, prayed for me, encouraged me, helped me, believed in me when no one else did, and most of all, loved me in spite of all my faults and failings.

Dixie,I could never thank you enough for all the joy you have added to my life. Thank you for being my best friend! I hope you have a blessed day and a wonderful year! I miss you, and I love you.

It's a Special Day in the Basham Family!

One year ago today, the Lord blessed our home with our precious Laci Elizabeth! I am so thankful for you, sweetie! I pray that the Lord gives me wisdom as I raise you for Him. I pray you will trust Him at a young age, and live your life to please Him.
You bring great joy to me and your Daddy and your brother and sisters.
We love you so much!!

Laci is all smiles!

I'm one, I'm one! It's so much fun!

Laci asleep on our way home from ArkansasLaci about 7 months

Laci after a bath: clean and happy!

Laci is a happy baby! She is always smiling, laughing or babbling trying to tell us something important! We are a blessed family to have four precious bundles of joy!