Late night Bloggin'

I cannot believe it has been a week!
Since I updated last I...


-Ran 9 miles straight for the first time in my life.
My proof:

I wish I could say that this great achievement is the product of my desire to increase my cardiac strength, prolong my endurance, become more physically fit, or remain healthy... I can assure you that this is not the case. As I was channel surfing I came upon a Disney show called Good Luck Charlie. I watched one episode during the first 30 minutes of the run and was surprisingly entertained. I then stayed for a second episode which ended at a cliff hanger. To my elation, I then realized that part two was coming on following only a short commercial interruption. This cycle continued for...well... 9 miles, I suppose. I did not have enough time to dash back home before the end of the commercial breaks... If I left, I wouldn't find out if Teddy was going to get back with Spencer even after he cheated on her... or if she would find her true love on a family ski trip to the mountains during winter vacation. What was going to happen when all the kids found out their parents aren't technically married by mistake? Were PJ and Gabe going to win the $500 ice skating contest reward and be able to pay off the debt they acquired ordering room service they presumed to be free? These were questions I needed answered before I slid off the treadmill and hobbled my way home to take a large dose of Ibuprofen and elevate my legs.

-Next. I worked two 12 hour shifts at my practicum site. I have been having some great experiences there and am loving it. Did I mention the reason I chose the hospital that I am at? Most people had great experiences over the first year and a half of nursing school and, because of this, chose their site of preference. Some agreed strongly with the mission statement of their hospital of choice. Some wisely selected the hospital that they desire to work for in the future so as to get " a foot in the door," if you will... As for me... I love Jesus and I like good food. This hospital has the COOLEST prayer chapel I've ever been in. It has a two story window as the entire east wall, art, a lake view, and it even has those super-convenient kneeling benches. Also, this hospital has the best food of any hospital I've worked at in Orlando. Needless to say...I was sold. I am thoroughly enjoying my time there :)

Case in point: Arroz con gandules. Estilo auténtico, bebé. 

-Also: I have been working at the Veteran's hospital for my externship. I have been doing cool stuff like preping pre-op patients, starting IVs, talking with patients and their families, monitoring post-op patients, teaching the discharge plans, loving on people, etc. I am so thankful for this opportunity to work. God truly provides.

- I have been working in the community teaching nutrition at a community center here in town. I teach a couple times a week and am loving it. It has been great. I am working with Kidergaten through fifth graders. I love nursing so much. You truly can do anything. I have been teaching about a woman named Auntie-Oxidant and her ability to kick out the nasty free radicals trying to wreak havoc in her house!! We have been learning about cholesterol, vitamins, bacteria, hand-washing, fruits, veggies, and we even get to cook healthy foods. We've made pizzas and smoothies so far. The population is mostly hispanic. I took a picture of the stickers we get to hand out. Fight Bacteria!

- In addition to all of the previously-mentioned activities, I have been studying, doing assignments, reading, attending classes, and getting my picture taken for the UCF nursing magazine (I'll post the article once its out to print). I lined up a photoshoot with a good friend of mine, Michael Harrison, to send all of you guys a photo and some info about the Guatemala trip. It would be SUPER helpful if you're reading this, and you want me to send you my picture and Guatemala info, to shoot me an e-mail with your home address. Everything will be sent out in early March. Let me know it's something you're interested in :) Hudgens.CodyN@gmail.com

- I was told by my professsor that I will be graduating with honors...that's the Lord's doing and He gets all of the credit for that. I have no idea how that happened, but God is good.

- Saturday I spent the day getting ACLS (advanced cardiac life support) certified. I spent all day doing chest compressions,watching videos, listening to lectures, studying cardiac drugs, reading heart monitors, taking quizzes, writing out code scenario algorithms, etc. It was quite fun. 

The best part of the day was by FAR when we broke for lunch. The others left to eat for lunch, but I had packed a lunch. We met at a church for the class, so I figured I'd be able to find a microwave somewhere around the facility...I looked around, and found the kitchen/ fellowship hall. To my surprise, it was full of people. Not just any people, but Haitian Christians. I eased my way in and asked if I could please use the microwave. I used what little French skills I had and told them that my name was Cody. I was greeted so LOVINGLY you wouldn't believe it. I told them that I loved their culture and thought their language was absolutely beautiful. [Side note: My strong desire once I have a better grip on Spanish is to learn French. Rosettastoneville, here I come!] Can I please say that I was fed the most AMAZING food I have had in a long, long time. Rice and beans, stew, and fried cornbread. They sat me down, made me a plate, offered me drink, and insisted I eat. This is why I love the Caribbean. I asked them how to say "God bless you" in Creole. I butchered the pronunciation, but I was able to express to them my gratitude for their kindness. I saw the Lord in their hospitality. I was encouraged. I cannot begin to express how much I love individuals from different cultures, countries, and customs. The Lord has given me a heart that quickens at the thought of foreign nations and tongues.

- Please be praying for consistency in my walk with the Lord. I need the strength and determination to get up each morning and spend time with the Lord through prayer and reading His Word. This is not for the sake of religion, nor for the sake of task completion. When my day is started with the Lord, and I feed myself through His Word, I am prepared to face the day. My reactions to day's events are quite different than the days I simply slip out of bed an hour after I should and rush out the door. It makes a difference. He makes a difference. He deserves the first fruits of our time, money, and affection. 

[Genesis 4]"Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time, Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD, and Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering."

You know you are low on dishes when...

you have to use your "call your mother" coffee mug and a plastic measuring spoon in order to eat your tomato soup in a civilized manner... Just saying...

The Xtras:

[Extras] Photos I have been collecting:

These are my new boots. I have worn them almost every day since I got them whether they match my outfit or not :)

This is deeeeeeeelicious VEGAN pasta that I made with spicy basil and sun-dried tomato tofu "sausage", whole grain noodles, and chunky portobello sauce(I added sauteed mushroom caps, garlic, zucchini, onions, and broccoli). Yes, yes, yes! Oh, also I added soy mozzarella cheese to top it off :)

This is Christine. This foto was taken at our study session tonight. Spending over 6 hours in the student union and coming down off of a sugar crash from mellow yellow will do this to you. Haaa!

This is my friend Aharon. Christine and I went to his house last night for snacks, board games, and a movie. We met Jenn, Brandon, and Troy there. His cat's name is Sunflower. It was a great time. I haven't stayed out past 2 am in a very, very long time (grandmother status, I know). The night was VERY needed. I am blessed with some pretty awesome friends here in Orlando.

This was the magnet on his refrigerator: He is a vegan. He is no activist, this was mostly a joke.

Sabado

I wish I could express how good the Lord is in writing. I have so much to say. My prayer is that you can learn something through my trials.


I don't have much time to get my thoughts together today, but will post asap about what the Lord is teaching me and what He's doing.
This post will serve to quickly update everyone on what is going on, share some prayer requests, and then I'm off to study with Christine for the rest of the day.


This is me :)

I just came from outside playing the guitar. The weather is AWESOME. 58 degrees (my fingers are only a little frozen)! Some say that's too cold, but as most of you know, that's right up my alley. The song "Closer" by Charlie Hall was one that I couldn't get out of my mind. I played it as the wind was blowing. My face was warm from the sun. The pond water seemed as if it was chasing something the way the waves were shifting as the wind changed direction. It was beautiful. No phone. No internet. No noise. Just Him.


School update: 

I started practicum last week. 12 hour shifts 2 -3 times a week. YIKES! With four classes, church, and my externship, this is proving to be quite a trial. I need prayer in this area. The worst thing I can do at this point is allow this "busyness" to take over the time I need to spend with the Lord. Starving myself spiritually never got me anywhere in the past, and my bets are it will never do anything for me in the future. I am taking action.

I do have a little bit of a funny story. On my first day of practicum, I was one of the only Spanish speaking individuals available to translate for a patient we had. She was...a little upset... and talking to the nurses who could not understand her. I can't delve into details for privacy reasons, but if you see me in person, please feel free to ask me about this story. Either way, what the woman was saying was so vulgar that my cheeks were turning red, and, on top of that, I was being asked to translate what she was saying into ENGLISH. Let's just say I've never said words like that in my entire life, and I am praying I won't ever have to again. That was a site to see.

Some requests:

Please be praying for my dad. He is no longer incarcerated and is living in Pensacola at this time. He is waiting "impatiently"( as he puts it, haha) for a job and is very ready to work. I have been praying for a while that he receives a job, and I am asking you guys to join along with me.

Please be praying for my mom. Her last day of work was last week. She will no longer be cutting hair and is currently receiving disability. This is a HUGE lifestyle change for her and she needs as much love and support as humanly possible. If you want her contact info or more information about what is going on with her and her health, shoot me an e-mail and I will gladly respond.

I have many, many more requests, but these I will put these up for now. Thank you so much for joining alongside me. Prayer works. Simple as that.

Blessed...

are the pure in heart for they will see God. Matthew 5:8


Who wants to see God?


*Raises Hand*

Old Hymn, Always Applicable:
"O' to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above."

Ps: Guess whooooooo

Pardon my shameless plug...

but one of my dearest friends Julie Esnovol works here in Orlando as a hair stylist. She is one of the most amazing people I know, loves the Lord, is full of joy, loves to listen, and can cut all types of hair. She is T.A.L.E.N.T.E.D.  She graduated from Aveda in September and now has her OWN booth at a salon called the the Awesome Blossom Beauty Salon in downtown Orlando. 


If you live in the area, male or female, can you call and make an appointment with her and help her build up her clientele? She will love you and I know you will love her.


She cut my hair this weekend and.....vioula

Contact Info

Call: (407) 284-1186 or (407) 484-9908

Make an appointment with: Julie E.

Awesome Blossom Beauty Salon

107 Gatlin Avenue

Orlando, FL 32806

The Salon's Website 

Well, guys, I just finished the interview and...

I AM MOVING TO GUATEMALA!
Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
I will tell you guys about the interview and what kinds of things I'll be doing as soon as I have time to sit down and collect thoughts.


Matthew 7:7 
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."
Jeremiah 29:13
" You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."


My future home

Me...

Awaiting the interview.
T- 3 minutes.

Interview today

at 4pm (correction:) 5pm Central Time.
(6pm Orlando time)


I'll have my phone on me, so textouragement (yes, I just said that) would be gladly welcomed.


Everyone pray when you are able. 


I will update everyone as soon as I know.

Clive Staples Lewis

Tell me I don't love Christine for buying me "The Four Loves" for Christmas. I have GOT to share a quote that I just read with ya'll.


"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken.If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket — safe, dark, motionless, airless — it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside of Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell."
              -CSL


[May we stop insulating our hearts. To love is to be vulnerable. To be vulnerable is to risk the occurrence of unspeakable pain. The second we start locking the doors to those deep parts of ourselves in fear or mistrust is the moment we cease to feel alive. We lose ourselves. I am sure that most can attest to the fact that there is not much worse than a truly broken heart. I am conjecturing that there is, in fact, something worse than one broken...one unbreakable.]


                 For God's sake. Let it go.

Did I mention...

that I'm gauging my ears?


As of now = 8
The goal = 0

I'll be posting pictures periodically as I step up. I want these in for at least a couple weeks before I get to the sixes :)

One Saturday Morning

Just admit it...You want me to be your nurse :)


(Please note: my awesome I <3 Jesus pin) I don't believe I'm allowed to wear "Religious Paraphernelia" to a government job...Jenn told me that I should simply explain that my boyfriend's name is Jesús...Which, for me, would kind of be believable. We'll see if anything happens. 


 I took this yesterday right before church. I haven't worn my scrubs to church before. It was funny because after the sermon, we listened to music over the sound system. I then proceeded to do the chicken dance, electric slide,the Charlie Brown, the Cha Cha  slide ( I lika do de cha cha...to understand this reference please consider visiting this website and watching this video. You will laugh. Click here!). I also did that move where you grab your foot behind you, put your hand on your head, then wave your knee around like you just don't care. I wish I knew what it was called. Either way... I suddenly thought to myself that I will be a Bachelor's prepared Registered Nurse in less than 4 months (God willing). I wonder what the world would think if they saw the future of the medical profession doing the Charlie Brown on stage in scrubs. It was a site.


[After church I went on a midnight vegan picnic. I'll post pictures later...]


Now it is Saturday morning and I am sitting in my REBOLU( big 'ole mess) of a room. The sun is nice outside. We're gonna reach the 60's today and I am so glad. The weather has been amazing.
I mostly wanted to talk about the Lord in this post. I got a little distracted.


The Lord is working.
Some of you know about the events in my life this semester that have been trying. My father was released from prison, my grandmother went through a very difficult season, my mother's health began declining, my grades plummeted,finances were nil, my career plans changed, and then everything culminated with my one-year relationship coming to a close. PHEW!


Suffice it to say that the theme of this semester is long-suffering (definition: Patiently enduring difficulties. Patient endurance.) In Jeremiah 33:3 it says "Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." Let me say that I have been calling on the Lord more often than ever. He is my sanity and my way of processing such trials. My life is truly out of control. I am seeing the repercussions of disobedience, of making quick decisions, of starving myself spiritually, of letting the way I feel be my compass through trial. I am learning that there is so much that I simply do not know, and that the Lord has my very BEST in mind. Already He is working. In light of his omniscience, it only makes sense that I turn to Him when I need direction. I am being reminded that nothing, save for the Lord, is permanent. No relationship, no feeling, no emotion, no friend, no family member, no time of joy, and (Praise Jesus) no time of suffering will endure forever.


God is mending my terribly broken and messy heart. I am becoming a woman. Not just a girl who tucks her head down during trial and simply survives. I am standing up, facing my many giants, and learning about myself and the Lord in the process. I do not want to delay the work the Lord wants to do in my by reverting to survival mode. If I try to insulate myself from the pain of this semester, I will come out as immature as I started. I'm ready for some growing up. I'm ready to see what the Lord has for me, and I will fight discouragement, depression, and loneliness along the way.


PS- Look at the last post if you haven't read my update. There's some important news there.

Update on Life

-I will be graduating on May 6, 2011 (PROOF that God began a work in me, and He is seeing it through to COMPLETEION!)

-This semester is a little out of control. I have 12-hour shifts weekly for practicum, an externship, 3 classes, projects, interviews, homework, reading, limited funds, church, and the list could go on. The Lord will carry me through this last stent of time in Orlando. I am praying for peace of mind for the meantime.

-I am single and not looking (this may be new news to some folks). Everything is alright. Both Jose and I love the Lord with all we have inside of us. We care for each other’s best interest above our own and for this reason we parted. I think the world of that man so no speaking nasty about him when I’m around. The Lord is carrying us both. This was not a surprise to Him. He has a plan (Jer. 29:11).

-I have an interview THIS Monday the 17th with an organization called el Proyecto de Sauld y Paz. If the interview goes well I will be MOVING to Guatemala and working as an RN/BSN this June. I’ll keep everyone posted on what happens. In the meantime, pray please! I am praying for God’s will and nothing less. IF you’re interested, you should definitely look this place up:  http://saludypaz.org/

This song is basically my life at the moment.

You guys can keep me accountable. I am going to learn this song on the guitar and consider posting proof of such behavior.

A Punch to the Spiritual Face

The Witness of the Spirit

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit … —Romans 8:16

We are in danger of getting into a bargaining spirit with God when we come to Him—we want the witness of the Spirit before we have done what God tells us to do.

Why doesn’t God reveal Himself to you? He cannot. It is not that He will not, but He cannot, because you are in the way as long as you won’t abandon yourself to Him in total surrender. Yet once you do, immediately God witnesses to Himself—He cannot witness to you, but He instantly witnesses to His own nature in you. If you received the witness of the Spirit before the reality and truth that comes from obedience, it would simply result in sentimental emotion. But when you act on the basis of redemption, and stop the disrespectfulness of debating with God, He immediately gives His witness. As soon as you abandon your own reasoning and arguing, God witnesses to what He has done, and you are amazed at your total disrespect in having kept Him waiting. If you are debating as to whether or not God can deliver from sin, then either let Him do it or tell Him that He cannot. Do not quote this or that person to Him. Simply obey Matthew 11:28, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden … .” Come, if you are weary, and ask, if you know you are evil (see Luke 11:9-13).

The Spirit of God witnesses to the redemption of our Lord, and to nothing else. He cannot witness to our reason. We are inclined to mistake the simplicity that comes from our natural commonsense decisions for the witness of the Spirit, but the Spirit witnesses only to His own nature, and to the work of redemption, never to our reason. If we are trying to make Him witness to our reason, it is no wonder that we are in darkness and uncertainty. Throw it all overboard, trust in Him, and He will give you the witness of the Spirit.
                                     -Oswald Chambers

Some of the most fantastic girls I know.

An excerpt from my previous blog...

Reality Check.

I am quite a trip. I tend to start things and never finish them. I have a hard time trusting any individual. I am terribly lusty. I don’t do the things I want to do. I end up doing the very things I set out not to do. I find myself in situations I swore I would never be in, nor return to. I do not keep my word. I do things in secret that I would never do in the light. I am bad at communication. I can rationalize myself out of any disagreement. I argue when I know I’m wrong. I am deceitful in many ways. I do not speak up when I know the truth. I do speak up when I know I should stay quite. When I am sad, I hide it. When I am angry, I wish I hid it. I say too much too soon and end up regretting the words spoken. My desire to pacify my pride is often stronger than the desire to practice humility. I give advice that I do not follow. I am lazy with schoolwork. I procrastinate. I lack motivation. I see the sins of others and rarely face my own. I look out for myself under the mask of selflessness, and if others are benefited, that’s great…if not, that’s fine too. I often put my trust in money. I hold records of wrongs. I am bitter at times. I sometimes cannot find the strength to let. things. go. I remember the past and it heavily affects my present. I am a liar. A thief. I am broken in so many ways.


This is all covered by the grace of God, and HE is working to make me more and more like Christ each day.

Name Explanation.

THE GREAT EXCHANGE...
“This is that mystery which is rich in divine grace to sinners: wherein by a wonderful exchange our sins are no longer ours but Christ’s, and the righteousness of Christ not Christ’s but ours. He has emptied himself of his righteousness that he might clothe us with it and fill us with it; and he has taken our evils upon himself that he might deliver us from them.”    –Martin Luther