Loves like a hurricane

(How He Loves - David Crowder Band)

And He is jealous for me, 

Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree

Bending beneath the wind of His weight and mercy

When all of the sudden I am unaware 

Of these afflictions eclipsed by glory 

And I realize just how beautiful You are

And how great Your affections are for me

And oh, how He loves us, oh

Oh, how He loves, how He loves us all

We are His portion and He is our prize

Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes

If grace is an ocean, we're all sinking

And heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss

And my heart turns violently inside of my chest

I don't have time to maintain these regrets

When I think about the way

Yeah, He loves us, oh, how He loves us

Oh, how He loves us, oh how He loves

If you haven't heard this song, go download it on itunes now.  With music it's even more powerful.

This song isn't new, but when we sang it in church last week it really jumped out at me.  I've been meditating on the lyrics since then and I am overwhelmed by God's love to the point I can't comprehend it all.

I want to be that tree, bending in whatever direction He takes me.

Going home

Home is a tricky word when you've grown up between several states.  I never know how to answer that question when people ask me where i'm from.  The way I try to think about it is that I get to have "homes" and people I love all over the country.  One of my homes is North Carolina.  It's where my parents (and most of my other relatives) live.  I have spent a lot of July 4ths, birthdays, and Thanksgivings there.  It's where I have all memories of my Grandma and our farm house by the river.  And to top it off, it looks like this.

Last weekend we had the Welborn family reunion, and we got just about everyone there.

Our part of the clan.

 

We also had a memorial service celebrating the life of my beautiful Aunt Christa. 

 

The rest of the weekend was filled with food (SO much food!), relaxing, golf (for David and the guys), and just catching up with each other.  I always love this home.

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.