Graduation Day!

As I mentioned in the last post, Drew graduated from UAB School of Medicine on May 20, 2012, and it was such an exciting day!  These past few years, I have seen the Lord work more than ever before....I have always trusted Him and His plan, but this is a time in our lives that I know I will always go back to as a reminder that His plan always prevails and He ALWAYS knows best.  He has carried both of us through this and guided us every single step of the way.  While I am not at all surprised, I know that we must continuously give Him every bit of the glory.  That being said, I do have an amazing husband who has given everything he has these past four years and who has allowed the Lord to be in control through it all.  I will never forget the night (about 6 years ago), when Drew and I were laying in bed, and he said "I really think I want to do this".  I was so proud of him....that he was willing to take this big step.  He immediately started studying for the MCAT....he would go study during his lunch break everyday at work, while keeping quiet about it all so that he didn't lose his job before he had to quit.  Then, I will never forget the day that he took the MCAT, and the day that he got his scores back and we were so excited at how well he did!  I will never forget telling our families about this plan and how incredibly supportive they were as they always are in everything.  And then, I will never forget the day that he got his acceptance letter from UAB...we were soooo excited!  I will not forget the day that he had to tell his boss he was leaving...it was a hard thing for him to do, but again, God prevailed, and they were so nice and understanding.  I will not forget his first day of medical school when he locked his keys in his car :) (I felt so bad for him, but it is fun to laugh about!)  I will never forget the day that he took his first set of boards (the Saturday before Chase was born on Monday).  He just knew that he did awful on them and we went and shot basketballs at the church (our last activity as just Drew and Katie).  I will never forget the day that he found out that he actually did really well on his boards.  I will not forget all of the interviews for residency and talking through each one after he finished (which is when our sweet Hank entered the world).  I will not forget the day he interviewed at UAB for residency, and Match Day....when God once again gave us exactly what we asked for.  I remember Drew saying "I wonder if I will get into med school?"..."I wonder what field of medicine I will go into?", "I wonder if we will get to stay here for residency?"....God gave us what we wanted each time.  It has been a long ride and I could not be more proud of him!  People often talk about how hard medical school is and how I should be congratulated too for helping him through it, but honestly, Drew has made these last four years so easy on me.  He has treated it just like a job, and he has been so happy...loving what he is doing!  I could not feel more blessed and I know that my husband is going to be an incredible doctor...and I KNOW that God has so many more exciting things in store for us. 

Our family, waiting for graduation to start....

Chase with his Peg-P....

Hank with his Mama Zo and then his Pops...

Hank with Drew's Nana and Granny....Drew was so blessed to have both of his grandmothers at his graduation...

Chase with Uncle Wes..watching for his Daddy to walk in....

Drew walking in with the rest of his class...

Hank passed out pretty quickly and slept about the whole time...

Chase did not :)

After consuming about 10 packs of fruit chews (or as Chase calls them, "gumbies"), some crackers, and some chips, Chase spent most of his time with Uncle Wes walking around.....but he did stop to see his Daddy graduate! 

 

Drew getting his hood.....

Drew getting his diploma....

Drew signing his name as Michael A. Cochran, M.D.

Drew with his parents and Nana and Granny after the graduation...

Drew with his parents....

Drew with Wes... (Clay and Julie were there too, but had to leave before the end)

Here we are with my parents and Hunter (we were sad Anna and Alex couldn't come, but glad that Hunter got to!)

Here we are with Drew's parents and Wes...

Chase went out on Hunter's shoulders...

Congratulations Dr. Cochran...we are soooo proud of you!!!!

Congratulations Dr. Cochran!

On Sunday, May 20, Drew Graduated from medical school.....we are so so proud of him!  The day before his graduation, we had a party for him at our house.  It was so much fun and we had a great time celebrating with family and friends!  Drew insisted that everyone bring their kids....so we all had fun playing outside and eating great food.  It was the perfect way to start this long-awaited weekend!

Here is Drew and Hank celebrating.....

Chase playing in the sandbox with friends....

 I am pretty certain that food is the only thing that can get Chase out of his sandbox.....actually, food can get him out of just about anything!

Our little family.....it is hard to believe that four years ago, when Drew started Medical school, it was just the two of us and Ruby.  Our sweet boys are such a blessing and it feels like they have been here all along...

Drew and Pops with our boys....

Hunter and Chase on what may have been Chase's third piece of cookie cake!

Some of our friends were so nice to bring their jump jump over for the kids to play on....the kids LOVED it and it was a big hit!

Hank with his Gran after the celebration was over....

Chase and Alex ended the night in the tub, which is a familiar scene.  Chase loves taking baths with Alex and I know Hank will be so excited when he is big enough to jump in too!

Mother's Day

We had a great Mother's Day and we are so thankful to have such wonderful mothers and grandmothers!  First, we had lunch with the Cochrans at their house.  Chase, George, and Hank had a great time playing on their bed and wrestling with Wes and Clay!

Chase had fun helping Mama Zo open her presents...

Hank enjoyed sitting with Pops...

We also had the awards ceremony for our March Madness brackets.  Chase and Hank enjoyed their prizes with Uncle Clay...

After that we went to my parents' house to have dinner with my family.  Here is Peg-P with her three grandsons....

Hank getting a kick out of Hunter!

Chase sitting with his Gran...

My birthday ended up being the Friday before Mother's Day, so it was a great weekend!  I love my sweet boys and I never knew how much fun and how wonderful being a mom would be!  These two sweet little boys make my day everyday and I cannot imagine my life without them!  I don't know what I did to deserve the two most wonderful little boys and the best husband in the world!!!

Trip to Jackson

My dad is from Jackson, Alabama and we have been wanting to go visit my great aunt and uncle who live there for quite a while.  So, we were all able to go Mother's Day weekend for one night, and we had a great time!  We were sad that Anna had to work and was not able to go, though.  My grandmother used to live in Jackson as well as many of my great aunts and uncles.  I have so many special memories of time spent there that I will always cherish.  Drew has been there before, but it was great to also get to see Chase and Hank enjoy it.  We started our first night there at Overstreets Catfish House.  My grandmother was an incredible cook, so we rarely went out to eat when we visited her, however, this is the place where we would always go.  We had catfish and it was delicious!

 

After dinner, we headed to the hotel...they now have a Hampton Inn in Jackson, and it was very nice!  Hank immediately passed out on the bed with Gran while Alex and Chase took a bath. 

 Chase and Alex had fun wrestling with Gran and Hunter! ( I thought I got more pictures of the wrestling, but I think I was videoing instead)

                                 
 The next day we went to the cemetery to see my grandparents' graves as well as great grandparents and great aunts and uncles.  Here are Chase and Alex with Gran in front of my Memaw and Paw Paw's graves.....I hate that they did not get to know Alex, Chase, and Hank- I know that they would have both loved each other so much! 

 I hope this doesn't offend anyone reading this blog, but it was hilarious!  Hunter and Dad were talking to some people in the cemetery and Mom, Drew, and I were supposed to be watching Alex, Chase, and Hank.  Well, we hadn't been watching Alex too closely and this is where we found him.  He was as serious as he could be....he just needed to rest a bit!

 
After that we went to visit one of my Dad's cousins and her kids...I hate that I didn't get any pictures there, but I did want to mention it.  Then, we went to Billy's to get a steak sandwich....it has been there for a long time and my Memaw loved their steak sandwiches!  We were actually right down the street from her old house.  They were delicious!

 After the steak sandwiches, we went to visit my Uncle Junior and Aunt Tommie.  Uncle Junior is my Memaw's oldest brother....in fact, he was the oldest of all 9 children and he is one of four who is still living- pretty amazing!  They are such sweet people and I have such wonderful memories of them.  I am so glad that Chase and Hank got to meet them.
Here is Chase and Uncle Junior... (Hank slept through this whole visit)

Here is Alex and Uncle Junior...

Uncle Luke is another one of my Memaw's brothers....he is actually the youngest of all of the siblings.  He and his wife, Aunt Jane, live in Auburn, but he just happened to be in Jackson that weekend too.  We love him so much too!  I was so glad that Chase and Hank also got to meet him!