Today was one of the craziest days I have had in a couple weeks (yes they occur quite often compared to the average person). Really this whole weekend has been crazy. I came home Friday after class for the first time since I moved into UCF. I came home and surprised my friends then we went to the PBGS football game (we won- GO GATORS) which was a little awkward because when I went to say hi to Patricia Karrh, Lauren Thorton literally pushed me away cause I was blocking her view and sadi not to come back till half time. So I walked around with Ace, saw Ernkevious, Sam Driggers, Julia Rotandi and Kory Burns. Not many other people said hi, but I’m getting side tracked.
So after the game I brought CFA back for my mom and Suzy and went to help Laurie get ready for her grad party the next day. Ended up staying till 2AM making bee cake balls, didn’t fall asleep till 3:30 due to my moms snoring and woke up at 7:30 when she left. So mind you I’m running on 4 hours of sleep.
I get to the Saunders and start decorating then went to run the errands; balloons, ice, etc. Spring was in charge and that was a little hard to submit to but I think I did well. Everything turned out great-so over the top. It kinda made me feel stupid about my shower I just threw, it was just so over the top I felt like I hardly did anything for the shower compared to that. Visited with friends, took pictures and so forth. The party started winding down near 4, I left by 5.
When I got home to pack my things I realized I didn’t have my phone. So I packed everything up and went to the Saunders to pick it up. Said bye to everyone again, though it didn’t seem like any special occasion, I was just leaving, again. This is where the fun begins!
I pull out onto Military to get gas and a dog comes bolting out right in front of me. Only by an angels power did I miss the dog and manage to shift, make that propel , thrust, make a mass landslide of everything in my car. I’m just glad the doggie was ok.
Finally I get on the road, not too bad of traffic. I love passing people in the ‘Stang it has such power! Then I decided to put on cruise control for 75, the speed limit was 60. It’s a country road I figured it was fine. Not too long after I passed not one, not two, but three state patrols/police. Great! I couldn’t slam on the breaks fast enough to make them not notice so I just hoped they didn’t. But then I saw a light coming behind me and it must’ve been the way the glass was moving in the back but it looked like the lights were flashing. I flipped! First thought no lie, was to pull off the road behind a bush and turn off my lights. I know, so smart. But I didn’t, I stayed on the road hoping and PRAYING it wasn’t a cop. My music was off, car going under the speed limit, my mind thinking of any way I could get out of the ticket I thought I would soon surely face. To my surprise about 20 min later a gold Honda passes, dang, I was safe!!
I am a bit afraid of driving over the skyway, day or night, but I always like attempting to take pictures. So on the ascent up the bridge I was snapping away until I realized I was going to slow and should probably speed up before I started rolling back down the wrong way, Yikes!
I finally got into town after 4 hours of driving; listening to my iPod on shuffle and pouring my Arnold Palmer. I went to meet my mom and sister where our cousins were staying on the beach. They told me to look for a restaurant, Guppy’s, on the right then the condo would be on the left shortly after that. Well I was looking for Guppy’s, just a little to hard. I almost smashed into the cop in front of me TWICE because I was looking on the side of the road and not in front of me and he kept stopping. Thank goodness I didn’t hit him either. So many people were spared tonight! LOL! And now I sit on my grandmas couch typing a blog of my crazy life that should be a tv show while karisa looks over my shoulder. Ha. What a life.
Oh forgot to mention, when I got here I was dripping (literally) with sweat because my air hadn’t been cooling the whole way over. Come to find out, I had it on vent NOT a/c. I am an idiot and my life is quite entertaining, that’s about it. Until next time this is Kaylin Bassett reporting live in St. Pete, FL. Good night and good luck!
Author Archives: kaylinbassett
Real World: Kaylin Bassett
Your home is your canvas, make something of it.
What does home mean to you? I’ve never moved before until now, the big college move. I may not be far from home but 162 miles seems enough to me. I have started to think about this concept of “home” after returning for my first visit back from college. It’s bizarre to return to a place you once felt so comfortable in only to see that life has gone on with out you and you no longer particularly belong anymore. I decided to do a little research and see what other people say that home means to them.
According to Webster’s dictionary- Home is: a place of residence, a familiar or usual setting, a place of origin, relaxed and comfortable, in harmony with the surroundings, on familiar ground.
Where we love is home,
Home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.
~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
Bloom where you are planted.-Mary Engelbreit
Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to get back to. ~John Ed Pearce
One’s home is like a delicious piece of pie you order in a restaurant on a country road one cozy evening – the best piece of pie you have ever eaten in your life – and can never find again. After you leave home, you may find yourself feeling homesick, even if you have a new home that has nicer wallpaper and a more efficient dishwasher than the home in which you grew up. ~Lemony Snicket
Home is the one place in all this world where hearts are sure of each other. It is the place of confidence. It is the place where we tear off that mask of guarded and suspicious coldness which the world forces us to wear in self-defense, and where we pour out the unreserved communications of full and confiding hearts. It is the spot where expressions of tenderness gush out without any sensation of awkwardness and without any dread of ridicule. ~Frederick W. Robertson
In your life you’re going to go to some great places, and you’re going to do some wonderful things. But no matter where you go or who you become, this place will always be with you. There is only one Tree Hill. And it’s your home.-Karen, OTH.
I love the people in my hometown and I kind of have this feeling right now that I never want to leave. But at the same time I know that my place is now in Orlando and I need to make it “home” there. God help me! This will be a hard journey.
PS For those of you always wanting to leave home, don’t rush it. Once your gone I promise you will miss everything about it!
College!-SAY WHAT?!
As I am sitting on my bed my last night at home there are so many things running through my mind. First of all how the heck did I get old enough to be a college student? Where did my childhood go? Oh well guess thats what I find out next-adult life.
I am also just thinking about how many wonderful friend I have been blessed with. When you need it most, your friends are your complete support system. You may not even realize how many people care about you. Tonight I went over to my friends house expecting just her and two other friends over to say good bye to. I pulled up and not 1 not 2 not 3 but 12 people come running out from behind cars and bushes to surprise me. They all got together to say goodbye to me! It was the most touching thing ever. I love these friends so much.
I know that my life is about to change drastically and some people say you can’t take the past with you wherever you go but in this case I think I will. I want to be the girl that comes home and has so many people to catch up with there is never any down time. I have made so many friends just over this summer and I plan on keeping them whatever it takes and no matter how hard it is.
Needless to say: My friends and family are amazing. I love them.
A day in the life…
No I am not writing to share a life lesson or something so very life changing, just wanted to give a glimpse into my crazy life for a day. It started in St. Petersburg; I was up visiting my Grandma in the hospital after her stroke. When I arrived at the hospital I found my Grandma not doing so well. They had given her a pain pill that totally knocked her out. Hard to see her like that.
I decided I would still head home to work at 6:30. Had to make a stop a sbux then I was on my way. I got all the way through town and everything was fine but then I got to Bradenton and went off the first exit when I was supposed to go off the second. Of course this was an exit where you can’t just get right back on…of course. So I had to go about 20 min out of my way to get on the next exit where I usually stop at CFA.
Stopped and got a sandwich to eat on the way, couldn’t resist me some cfa. I was so trying to get home on time that I probably passes 15 cars at least on the 2 lane road. Its great fun speeding my ‘stang up to 80mph and zooming around people, but thats beside the point. So I get to Pratt and Whitney which is about 15-20 min away from home and BAM it starts POURING rain and like lightening legit right by my car. Ok not RIGHT next to me but less than a mile away. Couldn’t even see in front of me but I kept going and eventually made it through, a bit scary but I’m still alive.
I had to run to my neighbors to pick up bo bo then change clothes, run to the Saunders to pick up something I left there before it got dark then off to work in about 15 min total. Well as I’m on 95 about to merge off onto PGA a truck with a boat behind it decides it wants to be in my lane, doesn’t even look, and basically pushes me out of my lane. I couldnt react fast enough to honk but I WAS TICKED! I had to swerve back onto 95, missed my exit. I got off on PGA West, made a u-turn then guess who decided they didnt even want to get off that exit and pulled infront of me again?! YEP THE DANG TRUCK THAT CUT ME OFF! GRRR. To add to that a truck transporting a bunch of cars decided it needed to make a u-turn as well blocking about two lanes so no one could get around him, well they could but wouldnt let me over so i was the last to get around him. You better believe I revved my engine and sped around him. I was freaking livid at this point. All the odd were against me.
I finally get to work, unwind a bit then run an errand to the mall office to drop off a paper for the store. Guess who decided to be Debby Downer, DANG security guard. I’m sorry you hate your life cause your a mall cop but why take it out on me. I wasn’t sure exactly where the offices were so i stopped at security and said are they around the corner. She answer, “Yes but they close at 5 and on sat and sund.” I’m out of it, its been a long day and i didnt really hear her so i said o ok so they are closed? “Yes being that its 7 *rolls her eyes and huffs as if im the dumbest person alive*” Ok well ill just drop it off tomorrow “Its closed tomorrow too!” Ok its ok then i’ll just turn it in when they are open. LIKE REALLY LADY CHILL THE FREAK OUT!!!
OH but to end the night on a good note…I came home with a free pair of Giorgio Armani sunglasses that someone left in the store. Yay.
Really random and scattered but it was pretty much a CrAzY day like woah. Hope you enjoyed this=my life!
Your a what??
You may have never experienced this before, and though it is not a good feeling it is probably something every Christian should go through to put them in their place.
When I was at Chick-Fil-A the other night (but not working) with my friends, I saw my youth pastor and we started talking to him, exchanged hugs and so forth. Then later that night my manager comes up to me while we are sitting down and says one of my fellow employees asked, “Kaylin is a Christian?” Just seeing that I knew the pastor made him wonder that. But what upset me was, why did he even wonder? I thought it was a known fact that I was a Christian. I mean sure I don’t go around saying “Praise the Lord’ or “God is good” no phrases or conversation that would associate me with being a Christian but I just thought…
That night I RE-thought. What does being a Christian even mean? Is it not showing Gods love to others? And if so, does that mean I am not doing that? I don’t go out and party, I don’t cuss or do drugs or have sex. But does any of that make me a Christian or just a “good person.” I guess it makes me a good person because sadly I discovered that I am not living out my faith or else EVERYONE would know there was something different about me.
What do you think? How can we show the world we believe in a love greater than all the world has ever known without saying “I’m a Christian.” Because apparently living a good life does not do it.
The Monahans
At Camp Kalaqua about 6 or so years ago I met a man named Kevin Monahan. My group of 6th graders at the time, just about to move into middle school found out that we had a new pastor while we were at summer camp. After one afternoon lesson he taught us a song. He insisted that everyone stand up and say “Hold up! Wait a minute! Put a little JESUS in it!” Where we then proceeded to say “Shake what Jehovah gave ya!” To say the least we weren’t sure what to think of our new pastor. All I knew was that he was like no other pastor I had ever met.
That is still true today. Kevin Monahan has, as my pastor, had such a huge impact on my life. Not a whole bunch of people can say that about their pastor but I am delighted that God put PK in my life.
There are some things about PK that I just have not found in anyone else. He never let me just take his answers to my questions, he would always make sure I found what he said in the bible as well. There was never anyone who felt unwelcome at youth group when he was there and he knows most everyone by name (a task pretty daunting to some pastors). When I was struggling with my church and he had already moved to another church, he encouraged me not to be bitter, that maybe God was leading me elsewhere. I have so many memories from NYC to Remnant Retreat and I know there will be more to come!
And then there is his amazing family! Meghan just as sweet as ever. She is just the best wife, mommy and friend. I would love any opportunity to babysit for them, even if it took 30 minutes to drive there, just because they mean so much to me. Mostly because I enjoyed our conversations when they got home after the kids were asleep. I will always remember Jacob telling me once,”Know what my daddy tells me to talk to people about?” “What?”I asked. “The Gospel!”he told me. “Oh! And Jesus?” “Yep He’s the most important one of all!” Then there is Aidan, I remember coming out to the van at church soon after he was born to see the cutest little blonde baby boy. When Olivia arrived I was so excited to buy cutesy lace and pink flowers to deliver to Meghan at the hospital.
I was terribly sad tonight to say “goodbye” to him and Meghan but I know that people who have been such an important part of my life will not leave my life. They are stuck with me! I LOVE YOU ALL and I know God will bless each life you come in contact with in Arkansas just as much as I was!
10 Things to Always Remember
Your presence is a present to the world.
You’re truly one of a kind.
Your life can be what you want it to be.
Take the days one at a time.
Count your blessings not your troubles.
You’ll make it through whatever comes along.
Within you are so many answers.
Have courage.
Be strong.
Wish upon a star, and don’t ever forget how special you are.
-I saw this on a note pad in the store and thought it was pretty good 
Stop chasing the fishies :)
Ok so inspiration comes to me at the most random times and usually after 1AM. I was sitting here reading Approval Addiction By Joyce Meyer–which I will later be blogging on but I am only in chapter two, its one of those books you have to read the paragraph over and over till you get it!–but I was thinking about my beach day on Saturday and something I saw that inspired this blog.
As my cousin and I were swimming in the beautiful clear ocean we realized we were suddenly accompanied by some young “fishers”. Two little boys had their goggles on and were continuously diving in at any sight of the small fish swimming near us. Now my first thought was why do they keep trying they are never going to catch it. This in and of itself could be used as an analogy, childlike faith, but I want to further expand it…So I’m driving home from another beach day and those little boys just happen to come to mind yet again. So this time I was thinking, ok they keep trying to grab the fish with their bare hands, I being older than these young fishers know that is unreasonable and think why do they even try. I think, they have no chance of catching these fish in the ocean with their bare hands and besides, don’t they know its so much easier to go to the pet store and buy one?! Right then it hit me!
Why do we chase after the things of this world when what we are searching for; love, acceptance, happiness–is never going to be found. We will never catch the fishies with our bare hands! Am I such a child that I don’t understand that I can’t do this on my own? If I would only go to the pet shop there is all the fishies I could ever want! Do you see where I am going with this?
You may search high and low and try everything there is possible to make you happy here on the earth but the only way that will happen is if you go to God. Only He can truly satisfy us. Any other satisfaction is bound to slip away. Just like the little fish I keep chasing, thinking ONE DAY if I do this right, if I make new friends, once I go to college, if I could just be happier-life would be better, maybe I’ll catch the fish. And no matter how many times people tell me that happiness is not attainable on my own it takes something like this to show me. I am absolutely not saying that I will immediately stop chasing the things of this world because let’s be honest, its not easy running to God for satisfaction. But what I am saying is that I do realize that nothing on the earth will satisfy me other than Jesus Himself! So stop chasing the fishies and just go to the pet store, the fishy supply is abundant!
I know it may be a random thought or even a weird analogy but that is how my brain thinks and it just all came together so I thought maybe I’d write it down and see if it made sense to anyone else 
Make the change.
Do you ever find yourself wanting more out of life? Feeling like you are just living for the next day or living for the happy moment to come along? I have been like this way too much. I have been way to selfish lately only looking for what makes me happy and not caring how it this way of life effects the people around me. No one wants to be around someone who is always searching for happiness but missing the mark. Lately if no one has noticed I have been in quite the downer mood. Always depressed or sad or something, always creating drama. I do not like this way of life. Honestly it is quite exhausting. I am currently in the place where life is changing around me without my consent, but when does it ever ask my permission? Some friends going to college, some moving. College decisions, dual enrollment. I think this may possibly be the most stressful year of my life and it hasn’t even started yet!
So what in the world can you do when it feels like your world is crashing in? Well you could always turn to pouting around because life is not going the way you want, OR you can decide to be happy no matter what your situation. Would you rather sit around being depressed because life is uncertain and be a burden to your friends, or would you like to be the optimistic one who, although life isn’t going the way you would like, still looks for the positive in every situation?
It may not change over night but when it gets hard just remember, “Fake it till you make it!” You may not feel like being happy but if you act like you are eventually you actually will be. I am making the change, I will no longer look for the negative but instead look at how great I have it!
Savannah Clark:What I learned from her life
Ok so I think I have been avoiding this writing because I am not to good at getting my point across through words but it needs to be done
For the past seven weeks now I have seriously been thinking about life, but mostly about God in my life. For a while now I have kinda been “riding the fence” in my walk with God, really more leaning towards the world’s side than God’s. It just seemed like I had tried everything and it was too much of an effort to make when I couldn’t see the results! I didn’t stop believing that there was a God but I think I may have stopped believing IN Him, in His promises and in his love. I started to believe the devils lies; I am not good enough, I am not worthy to be called a Daughter of the most high, and no one cares about me. When I started struggling with this I had talked to my mentor about it and she told me that if I was not following God then I was following the devil because you can’t be just living for yourself and doing things on your own terms (I felt like my way was better than God’s since usually I could see a result in the way I did things whether it was good or not). This freaked me out a bit because although i wasn’t at the point that I wanted to follow God, I also did not want to follow the devil or have anything to do with him for that matter. But I still went on believing that I could just go to church and live the “Christian life” at church at least and not necessarily be too involved with God. I just gave up and in the mean while convinced myself that it was ok because I was still going to church and all. The truth is that doesn’t really work. You only cause yourself more pain by keeping God away longer.
Only recently have I discovered very relevant truth in God’s word that made me realize what was wrong with this way of life. For example when I was going through this phase of rejecting God I was also having issues with other relationships in my life. Sometimes I feel like I love people so much and would do anything for them but yet they don’t care about me at all or how their actions effect me- now just make this about your relationship between you and God. If anyone has seen Fireproof the father asks his son why he is so frustrated with his wife and he answers that she doesn’t respect him. He says, “How can I be expected to love someone over and over and over when all they do is reject me?” The father simply says to his son that this is the way God feels towards us. He loves us over and over again and is willing to forgive us every time we fall and yet we reject him every time.
Just during these past seven weeks I have been discovering God’s love for me all over again. First of all I am so thankful for the example of Christ in the life of Savannah Clark. If it weren’t for her who knows when I would have returned to Christ’s love! At her memorial service is when it really hit me. When Pastor Paul was speaking of how Savannah was such a lover of Jesus but yet she had let the back gate of her mind open to the lies of the devil it made me terribly sad and angry at the same time that the devil could attack such a beautiful and faithful one of Gods servants. I think how much she has made an impact on my life just by knowing what she was like and wonder how much more could God have done with her life? Then it made me think, I have been letting this same wretched devil put those same lies into my mind and I have the power to keep them out! I could only hope to be as great example of God’s love as Savannah was but all I know is that I will not let the devil win in my life. He did not win in Savannah’s life either. He meant this for evil but the Lord will turn it into good just as the bible tells us! Satan does not have the power to control us and we can not let him get into our heads! Like the verse the Brittany shared, Psalm 31:7-8-”I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul. You have not handed me over to the enemy but you have set me in a safe place.” God was with Savannah all along, through her pain and her trails he was right next to her hurting with her and for her. He did not turn her into the devils hand, he rescued her and put her in a safe place, heaven (which I think we all are pretty jealous and wish we could be there too =] ).
On Sunday morning Pastor Paul taught on the passage of 1 John 4:7-19 “He First Loved Us” Another point from the Fireproof movie was that you can’t give what you don’t have. A lie from the devil is that we are not loved, besides needing to give love we all need to BE LOVED. In verse 16 it says,”And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love, whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.” In a world where being skinny, popular and pretty are on the minds of every teenage girl it is hard to see, but really deep down what every girl wants is to be loved. The thing is that when we understand God’s love for us then we shouldn’t strive to find love in the world through these things. Because God’s love drives out fear, then we should not fear people and when we don’t fear them or what they think of us then there is no longer any reason for us to compete with them!
Before when I mentioned that during my time away from God I was having relationship problems it occured to me after this realization of Gods love that it is SO much easier to lover other people when you love God first. For instance when you live close to God you will find that your love for others is always increasing.In these past weeks I have found myself showing kindness to people who I could not bear to be near for more than 5 minutes! To me that shows how God’s love is working through my heart because I know I can’t love those difficult people on my own!
One of the things I questioned after Savannah’s death was how can I feel like I have a purpose if someone who was so close to Christ was in such a desperate need to get out of here? What is MY purpose in this world if she couldn’t even find purpose because I am the one who turned from God, not her! BUT God showed me that THESE are the lies of the devil…he is trying to tell me that I am WORTHLESS and NO GOOD. I can not be fixed I am a LOST CAUSE. God tells me that he has a PURPOSE for my life and although I am nothing but a filthy rag His love covers my dirt and shame and if onlly I will return to him then He will show me how much he loves me and cherishes me and does not want me to listen to the devil!
I don’t really have a final thought to end this just because I have so many thoughts on this but not enough time to write but I wanted to get this out there….so I guess I would like to end with the letter that they gave out at Savannah’s service written by Savannah. The one about God’s love!
FROM:Savannah
Isaiah 54:7-For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with great compassion I will take you back. In a moment of anger, I turned my face away for a little while, but with an everlasting love I will have compassion on you says the Lord your REDEEMER.
I know you think God left you & might have given up on you. I was there and that same thing…But I was you to know that God is calling out your name. He wants you back. He misses you. He will never give up on you and neither will I.
AND ALSO
Ephesians 3:18-And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how dee HIS love really is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
John 10:10-The thief’s purpose is to steal, kill and destroy. My purpose is to give life in all it’s fullness.
Last verse – I promise
Hosea 14:4-And my love will know no bounds!
Joel 2:12-13- Return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful, He is not easily angered. He is filled with kindness and eager not to punish you.
God loves YOU…Cry out to HIm. He hears you.
Love, Savannah
Please if you have turned and run from God come back…He is waiting with arms open wide to embrace you in His love. And though it is a rough journey back he will reveal his love to you every day!
Thank you Savannah for showing me how REAL God’s love is! I wish I could have got to know you better but I can’t wait to get to know you in Heaven!
