One year ago

Today marks my first wedding anniversary with David, the big 0-1.  And man, what a busy, crazy, loving, wonderful year it has been!

We decided to do the traditional wedding gift this year, which happens to be paper.  My gift to him was a painting I made of our wedding vows.  The background doesn't really come through in the photo, but you get the idea.

His gift to me took a lot more time and effort.  Up to this point, we had never gotten an album made of our wedding photos.  We wanted to, but weren't sure exactly what to get and how much to spend, etc.  David worked together with our photographer to make a leather-bound book of our wedding photos.  It turned out so great!  I really love it.

One year ago, I had the best day of my life. 
One year ago, I made a commitment before God and loved ones to my best friend. 
One year ago, I married a good looking, hard working, Jesus loving, dish washing man (jackpot!).

As we placed the rings on each other's finger, these are the vows we wrote and made together:
You are my joy, the love of my life, who God set apart for me.
I will pursue God above all else, and lead you in your faith.
You are my beacon and my haven.  I have eyes only for you.
I promise to trust you, respect you, and laugh with you, all the days of my life.
As Christ loves the church, so is my love for you.

Happy anniversary, David.  I'm glad you asked me to marry you :)

Beach, Birthday, and Boxes

(Warning: lengthy)

Hello from the Cathcarts on eastern standard time!  I'm glad to report that the move went super smoothly (thanks Dad!), and we are happy and healthy over here in Georgia.  Things have been so great for us here thus far, and I will elaborate on that more another time.  An update on the day to day:  After the big move, we took a mini vacation to Hilton Head Island.  Being within a short drive from our new location, we thought this would be the perfect choice. Y'all, it was so fantastic, exactly what we needed.  Moving can be so stressful, I recommend everyone do this afterward.

We did a lot of this. Relaxing at its finest.

Our second day there we did a kayak tour through the ocean-fed creeks and salt marshes.  The best part was that there were dolphins swimming all through the creek and around us.  IT WAS AMAZING.  Sadly, our camera we brought wasn't working so i have no cute dolphin pictures to share *huge sad sigh*.   That night we discovered that celebrity chef and Food Network star, Robert Irvine, has a restaurant on HHI.  So we went and ate our hearts out and it was delicious!

Thanks for such a good time Hilton Head, we'll be back!

On to the next event.  Right after our trip we moved from the storage unit into our house.  We absolutely love our new place.  God really put it into our laps.  Perfect location, perfect size, and we feel at home.

I think my favorite part of the house is the screened-in porch out back.  This means bug-free, cool air dining.  Amen!  As you can see there is no grass, but that's due to our yard being 95% shaded with the big trees...and that's okay with me.

The inside still kinda looks like this.  Slowly but surely we're unpacking.

Lastly, after all that, we celebrated David's birthday the next day!  I usually buy flowers for special occasions, but I feel weird doing that for a guy.  Instead, I put this in the vase.  He appreciated the gesture.

The only thing David asked for was a dinner of his choosing.  Easy for me.  He requested pork chops and Italian creme cake, and ohhh that's what he got.  They were both HUGE and tasty.

Recipe I used here.

Recipe I used here.

Whew! It's definitely been a whirlwind, but i'm loving every day of it.

Graduation and Goodbye

I don't even know where to start.  May has been the busiest month for us...ever.  No time to seriously recap, but basically we've just been finishing up work, taking shorts trips, saying our goodbyes, packing, etc.  The most exciting thing though is that, after 6 years,  David graduated!!!! Praise the Lord!  He now has his doctorate of pharmacy from one of the best schools in the nation.  You can call him Dr. David now ;-)  Here are a few pics from graduation weekend.

Me and my handsome man.

One of my best friends, Tiffany, also graduated from pharmacy school with David.  You can tell it's a good hug when you're faces squish together.

The In-Laws.

With Bevo himself!

Fireworks at commencement.

On the next note, this is my last post from Texas.  We are moving TOMORROW MORNING for Georgia.  It's so surreal.  To all our Texas friends and family, you will be so very missed!  Please don't hesitate to ever come visit us!  We love y'all.  With moving and everything, i'm not sure when the next post will be, but talk to y'all next time from the other side of the country.

To the cross I cling

I'm going to jump right in being blunt, that this past week was a hard one.  There was a very sudden, unexpected death that happened in my family.  It really shook me and had me thinking a lot about suffering and salvation.

About a year and a half ago, our pastor had a seizure and was then diagnosed with stage 3 malignant brain cancer that had a low survival rate.  He made this video right after he found out about all this.   He has such a great, Godly perspective on suffering that has really encouraged me. 

It can be so easy to put your identity in the things around you: your family, your money, your job.  But when suffering happens, all of that can fall apart.  If your hope is in anything apart from God, it can all be taken away with this world.   I can't imagine what it would be like to go through the valleys of life and not have God to carry me through it.  It breaks my heart.

Being Easter weekend, I'm especially thankful that Jesus is alive.  Death and pain still happen, but He is bigger than that.  Jesus died for me, knowing my sinful heart at its worst.  I'm forever grateful for his mercies, and that He has counted me worthy to glorify God in the good AND in the bad.

Recycle Life

I just want to let everyone know that April is donate life month!  My family is all about swappin' organs.

My Mom's life was saved because my Aunt Kathy gave her a kidney.  (This was snapped at my wedding, aren't they cute? Sisters are great)

My Dad gave a kidney to save my Uncle Raleigh's life.  (Sorry, could only find an older picture here)

We are so blessed that our family was able to be living donors for each other.  But there are still hundreds of thousands of people who are still waiting for a transplant.  If you aren't an organ donor on your driver's license, I strongly urge you to change that.  You never know when you could save someone's life!  Someone like my family.