Maternity Leave is Winding Down

My speaking engagement calendar was kicked back into gear Sunday when I had the opportunity to speak to the Meadville United Methodist Church (I had put the speaking engagements on hold during my maternity leave). It was a special Sunday for that church as they recognized their senior citizens, aka the "Jolly Elders". Each one played a part in the service and I had the distinct honor of being the church's guest speaker. I also got to meet blog readers Pat & Barbara. Their pictures are posted below. Thanks, girls!

The Meadville UMC was so warm and inviting. I couldn't have asked for a better group to spend a Sunday morning with. They were such a blessing!

Meantime, my maternity leave is winding down. This Friday I will return to WLBT. I've been flooded with emails over the last couple of weeks from viewers. Much to my surprise, they have all been "nice" emails!

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Please tell us where you are. Last time we saw you was at the Pantene hair cutoff.
When will you be back? Signed, Anonymous

Barbie ,when are you coming back to WLBT weather? Our weather just ain’t the same without you. Signed, Bob Bacher in McComb

When are you coming back to work? We miss you!!! Signed, Shana McLaurin

Hi Barbie, We have missed seeing you on Channel 3 weather for a couple of weeks now. Hope you are coming back to us soon. The weather just isn't the same. Plus we want to see your new hair cut. From one of your Raymond fans, Karen L. Vaught.

Where are you? We miss seeing you and no one says anything about where you are. Signed, Anonymous

Barbie, we miss you. When are you coming back? Signed, Jack & Katherine Scott

We miss you doing the weather every night. When will you be back doing the weather?
Please hurry back to doing the weather, we miss you a lot. You met my wife at South Shady Grove Church of God when you can to speak to the ladies. Thanks, Paul and Teresa Mason

Was just wondering why you haven’t been on the weather lately? We miss you. Thanks, Jerry & Mary Lynch

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Sometimes, its nice to be missed. Its been even better not getting daily emails from viewers nit-picking my hair, my makeup, my clothes, and my "belly" apart. But life goes on and so do we.

So smile at me when you tune in July 4. I'll be smiling back!

Complaining in Advance

Gracie played outside with her friend, Sydney, over the weekend. Gracie adores Sydney. She is our next door neighbor and a convenient playmate. Because Sydney is a few years older than Gracie, Sydney will often say things that blows Gracie's mind. While outside playing this weekend, Sydney informed Gracie that she is a cheerleader and even showed Gracie a cartwheel or two. She went on to tell Gracie what all cheerleaders do: "they cheer, jump around, and boys pick them up and throw them into the air!" Gracie was horrified. She ran into the house crying hysterically, "I don't want boys to throw me up in the air! That's crazy! It won't happen to me! I'm just gonna tell those boys I don't want them to come near me!" I tried to calm Gracie down and tell her that's what some older cheerleaders do and she didn't need to worry about all of that right now. After all, she may not want to follow her mom's footsteps, but Gracie was still complaining about "those boys" for another hour after our conversation.

Satan wants us to negatively prophesy our future. He wants us to be critical of the situation in advance. If Satan can get us to be negative, he can provide us with negative circumstances. Many times we call for our own problems. We "call those things which be not as though they were," only we do it in the negative way.

A blender will work regardless of what is placed in it. If you put ice cream and milk in it, a milkshake is made. If you put water and dirt in it, you get mud. The blender works and is created to work. It is up to us to decide what to put in it. What we put in, we get out. The same is true with our minds and hearts and mouths. What goes in is what is going to come out--for good or for bad.

Psalm 19:14 says, "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer." Complaining or worrying in advance is a waste of time in God's eyes and shows a lack of faith.

And in the meantime, I'm going to hope and pray Gracie remembers to "tell those boys she doesn't want them to come near her"!

Going Back to Work?

I've received numerous emails lately from viewers, all asking the same question:
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Have you retired from WLBT? Have not seen you since you got your hair cut. You have fans in Natchez and we wonder what has taken place? I enjoy reading your devotion thoughts.
May this week be a good one. Signed, BJ Smith

How is the family and when are you coming back? Sure miss you and have sent many prayers. Signed, Sherry R.

Hey Barbie! We have been missing you on the weather in the afternoons here lately. Hope all is going well for you and your family. Hope you can get back to the station before too much longer. The weather just isn't the same without you!! Signed, Jennifer R.

Barbie, we miss your smiling face!! When will you be back on? Signed, C Clark

Barbie, Are you still on WLBT? I have not seen you since the Pantene hair cutting day. I hope you are coming back. You all do not realize but we get very attached to you and look forward to seeing you each day in your familiar place. You are such a wonderful person and I love watching you. I was just concerned about you and your children and do hope all is well and you will be coming back. God bless you and your precious family. You bring sunshine to my day. Signed, Connie M.
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This week is my eleventh week of maternity leave. To answer the question, yes, I still work for WLBT but I'm still on maternity leave. I worked a few half days in May and also worked last Monday for the Pantene hair cutting event. Both of these caused me to come off maternity leave. Even though I worked a few days, I had to go back on maternity leave in order to keep my FML (Family Medical Leave) in place. I will officially return to WLBT on the 4th of July.

I have never worked so hard in my whole life. Having two children was an adjustment. Three children under the age of 5 is just downright crazy (in a good way)! I am constantly doing, going, washing, cleaning, sweeping, feeding, dusting, cooking, and the list goes on. One person asked me if I was getting any "rest" while I've been on maternity leave. Rest? I'm lucky if I get a shower most days.

I had to make a Walmart run the other day and managed to get everyone loaded in their car seats. I cranked the car and realized I had left my purse inside and had forgotten to put on deoterant. I turned off the car, ran inside the house and took care of both of the issues. I could just imagine this senario in Walmart: we get to the check out line with a full shopping cart and people waiting behind me. One lady turns to the other and says, "Not only did Barbie Bassett NOT have her wallet, but she stunk to high heaven!"

With all of that said, I wouldn't trade my job as a mother for anything in the world.

Pantene's Beautiful Lengths Event

The Best Hair Cut in Town!

Monday was the finale of our Pantene Beautiful Lengths campaign and what a day it was! Mothers, daughters, grandmothers, children, men, even papaws were getting their locks shorn for people they will probably never meet on this side of heaven. The day started bright at early at 5:30am with the first hair cuts including one little girl who had never had her hair cut before. She woke up and decided she wanted to donate her hair that morning! Another lady came in to have her hair cut in honor of several family members who had battled breast cancer. In talking to her, she told us she would be entering the hospital Wednesday for a mastectomy because she now has breast cancer. Ruth knows she's probably going to lose her hair, if not her life, in this fight. But she wanted to do something for someone else before her challenge begins.

I witnessed several donors with special needs. Some were physically handicapped; others were mildly retarded. But in their own way, they knew what they were doing there...they were there to donate hair to someone else. Tears were shed by some as they remembered their loved ones and friends who had died from cancer.

When the scissors stopped last night at 7:30pm, we had just over 500 people who had donated hair. We all have new summer hair-dos and feel much lighter. But that wasn't the purpose for the day. We all knew the human hair wigs that will be made over the next few months will bring back the smile which has faded for many women. And with the staggering stastistics that 1 in 3 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, the women we hoped to help may be one of us in the future. Even if I never wear one of those wigs, I found myself praying for the woman who will wear my hair one day.

If you missed last night's final cut, you can go to http://www.wlbt.com/ and see it all.

Faith Is For the Middle

It has been interesting to read the emails many of you have sent me regarding some of my recent blog entries, in particular the "When God Brings A Change" (May 27) and "Getting Ready For the Change" (May 29) entries. Some blog readers are waiting on changes with their jobs, some are waiting on God to answer prayers with a family member, and others are just waiting on God to tell them what's next for their life. It is always exciting when God says, "Let's do a new thing". In such times, faith is required.

In Mark 4:37-38, the Bible tells how the disciples found themselves needing faith. "And a furious storm of wind arose, and the waves kept beating into the boat, so that it was already becoming filled. But He (Jesus) was in the stern of the boat, asleep on the cushion; and they awoke Him and said to Him, 'Master, do you not care that we are perishing?'" Although God often calls us to launch out to a new destination, He usually does not let us know what is going to happen on the way to it. We leave the security of where we are and start out for the blessings of the other side, but it is often in the middle where we encounter the storms. The middle is often a place of testing.

The storm was in full force and Jesus was asleep! Have you ever had times when you felt that you were sinking fast and Jesus was asleep? You prayed and prayed and heard nothing from God. You searched for an answer, but no matter how hard you struggled against the wind and waves, the storm raged on and you didn't know what to do about it!

It is times like this, when it looks like the boat is sinking with us in it, that we must "use" our faith. We can talk about it, read about it, hear sermons about it, sing songs about it, but in the storm, we must use it. It is also at such times when we discover just how much faith we really have.

Faith is like muscle. It is strengthened by using it, not by talking about it. Each storm we go through equips us to handle the next one better. Soon we become such a good navigator that the storms don't disturb us at all. We've been through it before and we already know how it will end. It will be alright.

It does not require much faith to begin something. The beginning and the end are exciting times. Yet we have to go through the middle to get to the other side.

Faith is for those times when we don't have the manifestation of the answer yet. Faith is for the middle!