The News....

Many of you know I took the NCLEX-RN to become a registered nurse on Tuesday. The results are in and....

                           I passed. [Glory to God!]

                                         You are now looking at Cody N. Hudgens, RN, BSN.

Also, I must mention that...

I mean...in about 9 hours...

I will be posting as soon as I can find internet in Guatemala to let you guys know I made it safely.

My flight leaves Panama City at 5:30 am. I then go to Atlanta, then to Guatemala City. I arrive in GC at 11:30 am. I'll be spending the night there, then heading to Quetzaltenango for language school. I'll meet my home stay family, find out my volunteer assignment, and start classes on the 2nd.

The Lord has blessed me with this trip out of His GOOD grace. I am going to take as much advantage of it as possible.

I love you guys. Be praying.

Cody

PS- I found these pics on my iTouch. Figured I'd share while I still have a connection.

Princess Khloe :) 

This is from Nashville. Kyle REALLY loves Greek food lol.

Where have I been lately, you ask?

Pretty cool post coming soon.

Stay tuned if you'd like.

I love you guys, and enjoy your Tuesdays!

Meme...

I just came home from Mrs. Crute's house for breakfast (post coming). As soon as I came in, I  played two hands of cards with my Meme. She beat me both times. In fact, I haven't beat her in anything in a very long time.

I figured I would share the quote she so lovingly communicated.

After I lost the second game, she looked at me and said "You got some reading to do?" (By reading, she means studying, referring to the fact that I've been studying a lot lately) I said "Yeah...?" She said, "Good. You're much better at reading than you are at playing cards...."

Meme- 1, Cody- 0

A little update...

Sorry it's been scarce around here, folks.

I have been studying rigorously for my state boards (NCLEX-RN). By rigorously, I mean I'm averaging between 8-10 hours daily.

This is kind of a haphazard way to update everyone, but I'm going bullet form! Forgive me for my lack of eloquence.

-My licensure test is on June 28th in Gainesville, Florida. If you're the praying type, please pray. If you're not the praying type, please start. It works.

-I move to Guatemala in 11 days. I have 1.3 BILLION things to do before that time. If I think about, I get a little freaked out, so I'm taking things one day at a time. I imagine I may be posting more frequently upon arrival to my new home. I fly out of Panama City on July 1st for those of you who are curious.

- I went deep sea fishing for the first time in my life last week. I caught a pretty nice sized snapper that my family ended up eating for father's day. It was AWESOME. I went with my mom, aunt, uncle, cousin, and her boyfriend, Jason (who reminds me so much of José, it is absolutely crazy...he's even allergic to cats!! Weird...). As I was sitting on the front of the boat as we headed out towards the horizon,  I couldn't help but think that the ocean is one of the most amazing things on earth. It is so vast. I am so small. It is so deep. I am so shallow (haha, jk). But really. The ocean to me is incomprehensible, which makes it a little frightening when I think about it too long... I was in awe and couldn't help but stare. My mom, on the other hand, couldn't help but stare as well... but not at the ocean. She stared at another one of God's creations...our late twenties, tanned, tattooed, shirtless, southern cowboy of deck hand who she so endearingly ended up calling her "eye candy." She made sure to tell him that he was so towards the end of the trip. Things are always interesting with my mom on board! You may not know this about me, but it is a big DREAM of mine to own my own boat one day. I would love to fish, and snorkel, and take people out, and explore... You never know. A girl can dream.

- In other news, I have had an extra joy in my life lately. My MEME (88 year old great great aunt) has been living with me for a while. She will be staying at the house here with me and my mom for another week or so. It is AWESOME. I watch the movies/TV that she likes to watch (i.e. movies that involve some sort of dog as the main character, and tv shows like Little House on the Prairie or Days of our Lives). She goes to the grocery store with me. I get to cook for her. She picks up my room when I'm not looking. We eat three meals a day together . She even plays cards with me on my study breaks. I am soaking up every second of it. I love this lady. She was a huge part in my raising...but that's a long story! Either way, I am absolutely loving this.

Not much else as has been going on. I am enjoying time with family and staying very low key.

-Tomorrow I am heading to Pensacola to eat dinner with my dad. My sister may or may not be able to come along. I suppose it would be a good idea to call and ask her... I didn't realize how late it was! I'm excited to to be able to take him to dinner for a late Dad's day celebration and get to say "Nos vemos!" to him before I head to Central America.

-Tuesday morning I get to eat breakfast with a DEAR lady from my church, Mrs. Crute. I cannot wait to see what happens with that. I will make sure to post about what I learn and what happened over breakfast. This is a wise woman, people!

Be looking out for the post, if you'd like:

If you are reading this, then you are loved by God. Also, it is most likely that I love you as well. Really.

Things are kind of contolled chaos on this end, but the Lord is carrying me. 

The more I am learning, the more I realize that I barely know anything...and that's ok.

My Grandmother...

The Setting:
I am sitting at my desk at my mom's house working on thank you letters.
The phone rings and I pick up...


The Conversation:
Mema: "Hello, my sweet darling!"
Me: "Hey, Mema. What are you up to?"
Mema: "Not much, I wanted to tell you a nurse story!"
Me: Oh no, this is never good..."Alright, Mema, fire away."
Mema: "So your Meme woke up today with a terrible rash. It was all over her chest and back."
Me: "Oh my goodness, Mema, what did it look like? Do you have some hydrocoristone cream at the house?"
Mema: "Will you let me finish?"
Me: "..."
Mema: "Anyways, I got to thinking that I had some spray for allergic rashes left over from Riley's last doctor visit."
Me: " Well, Mema, I would be really careful. There are lots of types of rashes. Using someone else's prescription may actually hurt Meme."
Mema: " I know, but..."
Me: Interrupting "Wait!!! Mema....are you talking about Riley as in your CAT RILEY????"


 Long story short my grandmother used her cat's allergy spray to clear up a rash on my 87 year old Meme... the rash was gone by the next day...


The things my grandmother comes up with never cease to amaze me...

My Weekend...

What do you get when you put two pregnant ladies, a mysterious unknown female, a criminal, a cop, two children under 4, a banker, and a nurse sleeping in the same house...


My weekend!


Here we goooooooo!

So...I have a new camera...

and today I took a couple of shots outside to see if I could get the hang of this thing. I still have no idea how to work it, nor the time to really hunker down and read the manual, but my day will come. I'm no nature photographer, but I am limited in subjects for now. I'll be posting stuff periodically. I was blessed with this gift by my family, so I plan to make good use of it. For some reason all of these photos say something to me about Jesus and the reality that there IS a God, and there IS hope. The first one reminds me of the promise of new life. The second reminds me that God can make something alive and beautiful even from the most gloomy of situations. The third reminds me that God has made his children beautiful and we are without lack. The verse I am referring to comes from Matthew chapter 6 where Jesus says,"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these."

New Life

He'll Make a Way

We Lack Nothing

Honesty Hour

     
       Right now I am in Orlando house/cat sitting for a friend of mine from my previous work place. I am sitting on the couch, drinking an iced grande soy latte with two pumps of white chocolate syrup. I just finished watching Spongebob Squarepants in HD and transferring my laundry for the week from the washer to the dryer.


     I am at a very peculiar time in my life. I am a devout Bible-believing Christian. I am 21 years old. I am single. I have a million hopes and dreams. I am out of college. I am a medical professional. I am not working or acquiring an income. I am making new friends, grieving the loss of old ones, and trying to enjoy my current ones. I am moving out of the country in less than one month.


I am in limbo.

     As for now, it's just me and my studies for state boards, and, honestly, I'm not adjusting well. I've made residence in five different houses in the last two months. I've been traveling from city to city. I feel like I'm in a whirlwind. I have so many things that I could do in life. There are so many options and avenues and choices and people and decisions and factors and plans. Things running through my mind..to study for my state boards, to apply to a residency program in Tennessee, to go grad school, to move home and take care of my family, to continue serving in Guatemala, to buckle down and have a family, to let a man love me without finding an excuse for running away, to stay single, to do mission work....  My only job for the next three weeks is to study for the NCLEX (state boards for nursing licensure), but I find my self severely lacking in motivation.


     I am in need of prayer in this area.


The LORD is a strong tower. A refuge in whom I will take comfort.
Psalm 51
¹⁰ Create in me a pure heart, O God,
   and renew a steadfast spirit within me. ¹¹ Do not cast me from your presence
   or take your Holy Spirit from me. ¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation
   and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.


Surrender.
–verb (used without object)

to give oneself up, as into the power of another; submit or yield.

My prayer is this:

God, I surrender.

I surrender my hopes.

My plans.

My body.

My time.

My health.

My dreams.

My affections.

My desire for marriage.

My insecurities.

My thoughts.

My doubts.

My career.

My family.

My future.

My fears.

My everything.

Please, take it all.

It's only through Jesus' name I am able to pray.

Amen.

Sushi Night

I actually made this roll. It was my first one in a while so it looks a little questionable. It was shrimp tempura, avocado, mango, and cucumber!

Christine has sushi for eyes...

Jenn looking pretty as ever.

Julie Amor!

Then there was me...

I wish I knew exactly what was going on here...

Me and Troy! Many people ask us if we are siblings. I don't mind :)

BB looking debonair.

Troyyyy F.

The Host!

Me and Sam!

Teen made a roll as well!

So. Much. Sushi.

Doing my thing!

Usssss

Una Noche con Miguel!

This is me from last night. I found a PERFECT flower for my hair. It wasn't wilty, excessively juicy, it didn't make me itch, and didn't have any bugs hiding inside! I wish every flower was so cooperative!

Last night was absolutely wonderful! Michael came over to my house and picked me up for dinner. We walked around downtown a while and finally found a restaurant that was open late enough to feed us. We ended up going to a Tandoor place called Heat (Trendy, I know!). We ate some awesome Indian food ( Chicken Takora, Beef Samosas, Curry Corn Chowder, and Roasted Pork). We had some drinkskis and stayed up until about 3 am. It has been a while since I went out just for the sake of enjoyment. Last night was a perfect way to celebrate the almost 10 hours of studying I had done that day.

There are certainly no friends like the old ones...

I will bless you guys with two Michael quotes from the night.  They are humorous enough to go without contextual cues...

#1: "I'll Guat your Mala..." ( I still do not understand where he was going with that.)

#2: " But girls with British accents are so...Tavern Wenchy." ( Yep, that's Michael!)

Ok. I'm off to start the coffee, get into the Word, and study my life away.

By the way, Michael blogs now. He is a super talented artist/photographer. It would be wonderful if you'd head to his blog and check his stuff out. Here's the LINK!

Love,

Cody

Mrs. Moyer

A HUGE thanks to Mrs. Moyer from Pennsylvania for reading my blog and taking the time look through my Guatemala wish list. Although I have never met her, she decided to supply me with the backpack of my dreams! A Kipling brand, expandable hiking backpack. The Lord has certainly used her to bless my life. I am SO very thankful for the body of Christ.