Day 12 - Someone You Miss

I miss our neighbors, the Bausums. They lived next to us for the first 15 years of my life.

The Bausum kids(who are not kids any more) baby sat us and played with us and took us on golf cart rides every day after we finished our school work. Sarah taught me ballet classes and one night when she babysat us I was scared and couldn't go to sleep so she told me God's angels were around the house with bazooka guns and that I didn't have to be afraid.(For some reason that has always stuck in my head.) Joy taught me a song so I would know all the continents. And when she wasn't on a mission trip we would go on walks and scrap book and make cards together. She introduced me to Overland Missions. (I just went on a mission trip with Overland this past May.) Rachel and Charity taught me how to do my make up and tweeze my eyebrows .(They were all like the big sisters I never had.) And Mrs. Patty taught me all kinds of things. She always tells me she loves me as one of her own. (I kinda hung out at their house a lot.) All of them have sown into my life spiritually. And I am forever thankful for that.

By 2010 some of the Bausums had been married and moved to different states. Sarah got married behind our house in our field.

It took me a while to warm up to Matthew(Sarah's husband) because I knew he was going to marry my Sarah and whisk her away to NC where I would never see her again. But we are cool now. We talked about it and now Matthew lets me crash at their house every once in a while so I can visit with Sarah.

By Summer 2010 Mr. Danny and Mrs. Patty Bausum moved from their home I had always known them in to a home in North Carolina. Sometimes I cry because I miss them. It took a lot of getting used to not having them a skip and a jump through the woods. But it's not so bad. North Carolina is not that far away. So I can just drive on up to see them when I am desperate for some Bausum quality time. In August 2010 Joy was on a mission trip when she fell ill and on August 18th she passed away. She was 27 years old. That was much harder to adjust to. Because you can't exactly drive to heaven when ever you miss some one really bad. Sometimes I think about how I will never see her again.I cry often. But then God always whispers to me "You do not grieve as one who has no hope." Joy was one of my best friends. (However I think a lot of people feel that she was their best friend because she was just that kind of person.) She always made me feel valued. Memories are a precious thing. I did a lot of things with Joy and I treasure those memories.

Joy always loved birthdays! For my sweet 16 birthday she along with her cousin, my BFF Mary, had a surprise party for me.

Her focus was Jesus. Her Passion was to reach people with the life changing message of Jesus Christ. Her life verse was James 1:27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." In her 27 years she made it to 26 countries with that message.

I miss the Bausums. I miss Joy. I look forward to the day when we will all be together rejoicing in heaven!