Catherine: Loved, Loved, and Loved Again

On our recent trip to Northern Ireland, I was struck by something ... that something kind of has to do with Catherine but really, it has to do with something much greater.

You see, when we arrived at the airport, and these two fellows saw Catherine, they almost devoured her with their love. (Calum is sandwiched in between the Builder and Catherine in this photo!)

The photo captures something of the love by which Catherine was surrounded the whole time we were there.

She loves the Builder, and it shows.

He loves Catherine, and it shows.

Wouldn't y'all say?

There's her father, and her brother ...

...and her husband.

Everywhere, she was enveloped with the love of these three men folk in her life, and I couldn't but think of the beauty of the relationships God has given us in this world. A Father to protect her and care for her and love her unconditionally and lavish all good gifts on her. A brother to come alongside her and adore her. A husband who will love with an incomparable love.

All three of these precious relationships are pictures of the infinitely more precious relationships we can have in Christ.

When we are in Christ, we can say the words, 'Our Father in heaven', and know that our God truly is our Father. How unspeakably precious to have the Lord of Heaven and earth, the One who rules and over rules, who loves us and is able to supply all our needs in Christ Jesus ... as our Father! What a privilege and a joy to be a child of this Father! Much as Catherine delights in being the daughter of the Builder, that pales into insignificance compared with her being a daughter of our Heavenly Father.

"Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the children of God" 1 John 3:1


 Our Saviour also calls His people His brothers, and after He rose from the dead, He told the women at the graveside: "Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me." (Matthew 28:10)

The disciples had forsaken Him in His time of greatest need, yet He calls them His brothers. What an infinitely kind and loving older brother we have in Christ. Catherine delights in the love of her brothers, but how much more can we delight in the love of our older Brother.


And then, there's Christ as our Husband. 

There is no relationship on earth to compare with marriage, and no relationship at all - on earth or in heaven - to compare with our being the bride of Christ. We adore Him, we see glimpses of His beauty and we are overcome with love. We can absolutely say: "His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend" (Song of Solomon 5:16).

But most amazing of all is that Christ looks at us - at His bride, presented to Him in eternity, before the world was ever created - and He delights in us! What love He has to look on us sinners and, instead of ugliness, He sees us through the eyes of His eternal and infinite love and He delights in us. He adores us! 

Our Father. Our Brother. Our Husband.

Catherine is hugely blessed to have these three relationships here on earth. But her greatest blessing by far is that she has these three relationships with the Lord our God. 

The first three relationships, good as they are, are imperfect. But our relationships with our Lord are perfect, because they are covenantal, and are of Him. 

The first three relationships will all come to an end. But our spiritual relationships will never end. Indeed, they will come to their greatest fruition when all the others are ended, and when we behold the face of our Beloved, when we sees Him face to face, and we shall "know even as also I am known" (1 Corinthians 13:12)

What a thought!

Wedding Day, Part I

I don't have any 'proper' photos, so I've nicked some of the ones my Facebook friends have posted and will give you a wee glimpse into our day.

This was the moment the Builder first saw Catherine in her wedding dress. At this point, all my morning's emotion was bubbling very, very close to the surface. Dangerously close. 

As he moved forward, himself with tears in his eyes, he hugged her in a way that said, 'I am holding you lightly because of your veil and hair and dress. But my desire is actually to hold you so tightly and never let you go.'

At this point, my heart truly felt painful. I had to keep my emotion in check. I cannot do an elegant tear rolling down my cheek. If I allowed my emotion to seep through at all, the floodgates would have burst open. It simply couldn't happen.

The Builder then prayed with us. I am turned away from him and Catherine at this point. I'm sorry, I really don't want to sound dramatic, but this was agony. 

(Yes, I'm thankful, as is Catherine's dad, that she is marrying in the Lord. What could be better? Yes, we are sharing her joy that she is marrying the man she loves and that God took into her life. Yes, I am thankful that her leaving home is in the best possible way, and for the best possible reason. But I repeat: it was painful. It is painful.)

Okay, I'm going to move on from the Builder and myself, and focus on the beautiful bride ....

...and her beautiful bridesmaid. 

This has got to be Katie's best selfie ever. I simply love it!

Here I am standing outside the church with John's mum. At this point, the day was dull but dry. We were all at the church on time. My emotions were doing just fine. And all was going swimmingly.

I'm not sure who was still around at this point ... whose photo this is ... but here is the Builder, ready to walk into church with his daughter on his arm. Ready to give her away.

And here he is a few seconds from answering the question, 'Who gives this woman away?' with the two simple words, 'I do'.

And that was it. She was then placed in the hands of the man who will take care of her for the rest of his or her life. She is his until separated by death.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

John and Catherine's Engagement Photos

John and Catherine had some official engagement photos taken recently. They were taken by Graham, of Graham Braid Photography, at Nairn beach, and I reckoned I'd be as well showing them off before the actual wedding photos are taken. Nothing like being on time and organised, eh?

I love the natural-ness of these photos, and how relaxed the two of them are together. Considering that Catherine isn't overly comfortable in front of a camera, I reckon some credit must go to Graham for making for a relaxed photo shoot.

Apart from a couple of photos on which I wish to comment (you'll see my comments when you reach the photos), I'll simply leave you to enjoy the photos.

Even though the photos weren't taken on one of our Ness beaches, it would seem that the urge to jump dunes is never too far away from Catherine...

It is, however, rather clear that only one person in this pair grew up dune-jumping!

Happy New Year ... while it's still January :)

Happy New Year, y'all! New Year's Day is, of course, so long in the past that nobody thinks of wishing anyone a Happy New Year now. But, as I've been AWOL, and silent on my without-leave-absence, I shall take this opportunity to say it. And to mean it.

We had such a lovely time over the Christmas and New Year holiday. I absolutely love this time of year! I love that the Builder has two weeks off work, and there is so little outside work to be done. I love that Katie had two whole weeks off, and Catherine had about ten days off. All this time off, all these short days and long nights, all this cold, dreich weather ... all these mean a whole lot of time spent in the house, with no need to go anywhere, and with the whole family.

Bliss, I tell ya. Bliss.

What I especially loved about these holidays was that, in addition to me going nowhere, others came to our house. 

My Mum and Dad were with us for a couple of days of Christmas. There is nothing - nothing! - they love more than to be surrounded by their children and grandchildren. For these few days, they were especially privileged to have time with us, and not their other children.

After all, would you choose to spend time with Marina or with Neil, when you could spend it with ME?

Yeah, well.... whatever. By the way, 'Whatever' has become one of our favourite words, since the Builder - yes, you read that correctly - the BUILDER - began doing his hilarious version of "Whatevah". He is, of course, far too dignified to ever been seen or heard doing the whole Whatevah-thing ... except within these walls.

Sometimes I think the guy ought to be on stage.

Back to Granny and Grandpa

Granny gave me a row for taking photos and not reminding her that her glasses were around her neck. And also that I took a photo of her talking.

Erm .... it's either that, Mum, or I take a photo of you asleep!

As we were opening our presents on Christmas Eve, I was struck by just how much I had to be thankful for. All of the gifts, beautifully wrapped and kindly given, were a cause of thanksgiving. Yes, even stuff is important, when it's been given in love. But giving my heart much more joy were some of the blessings that surrounded me that couldn't be wrapped up in paper. The blessing of love, of health, of joy, of being surrounded by family, of security.

How full my cup is of measurable blessings and of immeasurable ones.

But even those - the very best of temporal blessings - are surpassed by the gift of Christ Jesus Himself. To have been given this gift is beyond words. That He came and lived and died so that sinners such as I could be saved ... What love. What mercy. What a gift!

Yes, we really did have a lovely time over Christmas.

Others then came for an evening of fun and food, of laughter and blethering:

This is the Builder's side of the family, and we normally get together on Boxing Day for a chilled-out, fun time. This year all the siblings, all the spouses, and all the kids were there. 

Fabulous.

The Builder's family: what a fine looking bunch they are. If they all gave me just a centimetre of their height, I could be almost normal. But no, they keep it all to themselves.

When the next generation (our kids and their cousins) are reaching the stages of life at which they are, us parents become more and more aware of how precious these opportunities are when all the family can get together. It's likely that very soon, some of the young 'uns will be living their own lives, and may not be able to join us for our Boxing Day get-together.

But for now, we will savour every happy minute of it.

We do love having some of the younger folks around too. These guys went for a couple of hours of Ten-pin Bowling at our local Sports Centre, and then came back here for some food, some blethering, and some Articulate.

Do y'all play Articulate? It is so much fun!

And finally, talking of people who came to visit, we had some very special visitors during the holiday.

Do y'all remember this fella?

No, not the Wee Guy. I know y'all remember him!

John is from Northern Ireland, and when he came to visit with us in summer, and be here for DR's 21st, we were pretty sure it wasn't DR's birthday, or the view, or even the Builder's winsome personality that had taken him to the wilds of Ness. We reckoned even the Wee Guy wasn't the reason he'd come. Nope, it would seem like someone had his heart. And that someone was is Catherine.

This past holiday, he came back to see us all Catherine. This time he brought his brother - we love you, Matthew!, and his parents. He also had a question to ask.....

A question to which the Builder said 'yes', and a question to which Catherine said YES!

Yes, our beloved daughter, Catherine, is now engaged to her beloved John.

The Builder is taking it, erm ... well, as fathers-of-brides do. 

He is thankful, but it's his daughter!

He is glad John chose her, and that she chose John, but this is his daughter!

He sees the whole thing as being from the Lord ... but even then, this. is. his. daughter.

And daddies and daughters  - well, what can I say.

No doubt, y'all will be hearing a fair bit more about an upcoming wedding in the weeks and months ahead.

And so, that was my Christmas and New Year holiday. I hope y'all had a great time too.