HOCKEY; noun (hah-kee)...a sport with two teams in which each team tries to drive a puck into the other's goal using stick. SEE ALSO HUDNALL BOYS!!!!

9/24/07...Well, the season has officially begun for us here in Tennessee. Last night the boys kicked off (or should I say pucked off) their first hockey games at the Cordova Skating Center. Bryson is playing on the Hurricanes and their first game last night was a success. They won 7-0 and Bryson had 2 goals and 2 assists which was a great night for him. He worked really hard and had a great time. I don't think that he was out of the game very much so I know that he was worn out when it was over!!! Austin's is playing on the Irishmen (can you guess who his coach is????) and although they played very well and had a great game they lost their season opener 4-3. Austin did score one goal and Jamie...you will be pleased to know that your nephew is keeping in the tradition of his penalty habit. He had two 2 minute penalties for tripping. And to be quite honest I think that those were two out of three penalties in the entire game. That's our boy! :0) He had a great game though and like Bryson he played very hard and a very long game so I know he too was worn out at the end of the game. Even though it wears them out, they enjoy doing it just the same.

We love our hockey and we love to watch our boys play it. They seem to have made some nice friends on their hockey teams. You know us, we may move away from home and live in a new house....but we are going to find hockey somewhere!!!

Love to you all and til next time-

PRETTY IN PINK

....and a beautiful face to match!!!

I thought that since taking the opportunity to introduce you all to our newest great nephew Jack I would also use this blog to show off our beautiful great niece, born May 24th at 1145 pm to Josh and Jennifer, Halle. She weighed 7 pounds and 15 ounces and she is absolutely gorgeous. They are both embracing parenting very well, we have heard, and I don't think that Halle will ever have to go a minute without love in her heart. She probably already has Daddy wrapped around her little finger and already tugging at Mommy's heart strings.

Enjoy these times for it seems that you blink and your babies are teenagers. There is nothing as wonderful, or as challenging, as being a parent but the rewards far outnumber the obstacles that you will encounter-

Love to you all and til next time-

Snips and snails and puppy dog's tails.....

...that's what LITTLE BOYS are made of. We are so excited to announce the birth of Lauren and Derrick's son, Jack Michael, born Sunday 9/10/07 at 259pm. He weighed 7 pounds and 5 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long. We hear that Mom, Dad and baby are all doing well. And what a wonderful gift for all the grandparents to have received ON Grandparent's Day. Chad and I hate that we can't be there to see sweet Jack but enjoy these pictures and know that he is being loved and cared for by LOTS of people that love him very much. A baby/child coming into your life is such a wonderful, albeit life changing, event and another one of those times when you just have to sit back and remember that we don't control this world and all the rotten things that happen in it....but we have reminders everyday that there is good and beauty still left in this world and God is alive and well and amongst us everyday. He blesses our lives with children, whether by them being our own or by some other avenue, as a reminder of the innocence of the world and the need and responsibility he placed on us as HIS children to raise them up in the way of the Word so that one day we will all live eternally together in Heaven.

God bless Lauren, Derrick and Jack as they enter this wonderful new phase in their life and we wish them many beautiful years of creating memories to cherish for a lifetime.

"To see a newborn is to forget our own egos, to realize how little we do to affect the mystery of creation."

-Samuels

Down's Syndrome Awareness

Saturday 9/8/07 was the annual Down's Syndrome Awareness picnic in Tennessee and we (Austin, Bryson, Bryson's friend Bennett and I) decided to head over to Goodman Road and join the festivities. The picnic was from 11am from 3pm and thankfully it was a little overcast otherwise it would have beed DREADFULLY hot. It was bad enough with the sun coming in and out of the clouds but without the little relief that we did have, we would have all been miserable. We enjoyed a nice meal, some great singing,and the kids were able to play in the moon jump(and YES I did get in it and YES Kelsey did beat me up!!!!) as well as play on the playground. They could also get tatoos and face painting. There was a police sheriff there providing free child fingerprinting...which was way cool because the last ones that I have were when the boys were really little. And there was a fire truck there that all the kids piled in front of for a photo for the newpaper. Austin and Kelsey got their picture taken several times for the newspaper so when it comes out...if they are in there, I will try to get copies to send home to everyone. It was a wonderful day and a great time to spend with the family and to support a wonderful cause and an even more wonderful niece. God loves ALL his children and we need to always remember that he doesn't make ANY mistakes, but everyday he continues to make miracles. I sure saw alot of them that day!

HUMPTY DUMPTY HAD A GREAT FALL....

"...all the kings horses and all the kings men, couldn't put Humpty together again."

There are NO pictures of the incident which you are going to read about BUT this picture is so special to me and makes me cackle every time I see it and remember the day. I thought it would be GREAT to include with this blog because Jennifer was trying to get Bryson to enjoy the slip and slide and took a fall of her own. I don't think that she has still recovered from that day but once we knew everyone was ok, we all enjoyed a HUGE laugh. After all a picture is worth a thousand words (sorry Jennifer) and how great was it to be able to capture this one!

I know there are many of you who will get a kick out of this entry and then there will be those who will say, "well that is Jodi we are talking about!".

As kids growing up, Saturday was cleaning day. We each had our "chore" (although J1, J2 and J3 seem to agree that Mom didn't give me any chores...) and before we did anything that we wanted to do, we completed our chore and helped with house cleaning. It wasn't ever much because Mom did the majority of it...even though we all thought we were slaves and she was the slave driver! :0) I decided that since moving here, and Chad affording me the ability to work only part time, I wanted to institute Saturday morning cleanings in my home so that my days off during the week I could volunteer at the schools, have lunch with Chad, stamp and scrapbook and run errands that I needed to do before the boys came home from school. When I finally got out of bed yesterday morning I took a few minutes to wake up, showered and then started my day of cleaning. I had it all planned out. I would start upstairs with those rooms and work my way down. All was going great. I finished upstairs and started to collect my cleaning supplies to head downstairs to begin. Well...low and behold did I make it down in record time.

I lost my footing (although I want to blame it on MS, exhaustion from cleaning, anything except the fact that it was pure clumsiness...) and down the stairts I slid and landed smack down on my tailbone with my upper body coming down on impact like an accordian. I laid there thinking (1) it really didn't happen and (2) maybe no one would have noticed but in record time Chad and Austin were at the steps and my tears started flowing. I really for a brief time couldn't move and thought that I had broken my tailbone.

Well, all is well in the end. (No pun intended). With the exception of feeling like I did the morning after I flipped my car..which Dad, I do have some peanut butter and chocolate Baskin Robbins in the freezer THIS time...I am fine. I am bruised a little and cut a little but other than the HUGE bruise on my ego, Humpty is fine and was put back together again in this fairy tale. Needless to say my Saturday cleaning was over for the day, but there is always next week....

Love to you all and til next time-

Home is where the heart is....

"Home is where friendships are formed and families are grown; where joy is shared and true love is known; where memories are made and seeds of life are sown...."

If you had ever told me that I wouldn't live ALL my life, raise my family and grow old in KENTUCKY I would have been quick to tell you that you were crazy. I knew that I would live in Kentucky after all, that is all that I have ever known and really didn't need to know any different. I guess that tossing the idea around of "moving away" and living somewhere different always was ok because, well, I knew that it wouldn't happen and that I would still be living in and complaining about things in Kentucky-

Well, as you know from my previous posts, I was wrong. We did move away from Kentucky and really not to a "prime location" as I think Chad and I would consider when moving. What I mean there is we would probably think out West or somewhere walm and balmy all the time. But then, we really aren't in control. God is. And he knows what is best for us all the time even when we want to stomp our foot and disagree. Ultimately he is the one that makes the choices for us in our life, we just are the ones who chose whether to follow his choices or not. I think besides the initial fear, anxiety and sadness of leaving home has continued to lessen each day I learned a very valuable lesson. It doesn't matter what state I live in, what house I live in or for that matter how many times that I have to relocate ( but listen God...that isn't something that I am wishing for). Being with my family in a house is truly where my HOME is. It isn't the structure or the location but rather my family and knowing we are together, healthy and happy and knowing that through Christ all things are possible and you can embrace those opportunities as growing experiences that he affords you. You can live with them and learn from them BUT I have also learned that you can be an influence on new people too.

Now don't get me wrong, leaving Kentucky was not easy on any of us. But we are embracing it as we know that it was God's purpose for our family to be here. We have each other, we have a nice and comfortable home but more importantly...we always have God-

Love to you all and til next time-