Pomp and Circumstance

We just got home from a 2 day trek to Arkansas and back. It was quite an adventure. Hunter has spent around 17 of the past 36 hours in his car seat. He handled it like a champ except for that short stint when we sat on I-30 for 1 hour and moved maybe a mile. He was not a champ during that. He resembled more of a shrieking animal trapped in a cage. But, that's an entirely different blog post.

My little Court the dork graduated from college today. (I know we totally could of come up with a more creative name for our little sis, but I was in like 5th grade when we started using that. So blame it on Kate because she was in high school and should've been more creative). Here's Court and me in August 2003 when we moved her into the dorm at Harding University.

And here she is today as a college graduate.

We are so proud!

I can't believe how much has changed over these last 4 1/2 years. I feel like Courtney is a totally different person. She has blossomed into a beautiful woman of God. I am proud to call her my sister. I feel honored that I was able to watch her grow from little Court the dork into the talented, intelligent (and totally non-dorky) woman she is today.

My life is also in a totally different place than it was that August. James asked me on the drive home if I thought back when I moved Courtney to college that just 4 1/2 short years later I'd be driving to her graduation with my husband and baby. That for sure did not enter my mind at the time. I remember the weekend we moved Courtney down to Harding so clearly. James and I had been dating a little over a month, so we were doing this email thing where we'd send each other get to know you questions. I remember checking my email from the hotel and James signed his email with Philippians 1:3 for the first time. I had to go up to look at the hotel Bible to see what the verse said. He continued to sign all of his emails that way, and the day we got married, he saw that I had engraved it inside his wedding band.

I love when God drops us little reminders of how great our life is. I feel so blessed to have James as a husband. This weekend was a reminder to me of what an amazing husband I have. When I think back to the man he was when he was courting me, I see the same man before me today. He continues to serve me and surprise me and chase after my heart. He's given me the greatest happiness I could ever ask for.

I love you babe.