Say a little prayer for me....

Those of you who know me know that I LOVE BEING A NURSE. Ever since I was I little girl it was all that I ever dreamed of wanting to be and just knew that when I grew up that I would one day be a nurse. I never was one of those kids who went from being a artist, then to an zoo keeper, then to being a dentist then being a teacher. Nope not me. From day one....Jodi was going to be a nurse. Maybe it was because I spent SO MUCH time on the other side of that bed, being so sick as an infant and a child, that it compelled me to want to be a nurse, and get to see what it was actually like to get to do some of the work from the other side. Who knows what it was but my mind was set. And I went right out of High School into College and worked very hard to earn my nursing license and have been practicing as a registered nurse currently for almost 20 years. WOW!!!! And it is something that I love. It is my life's work and I enjoy it so much....that i enjoy it almost to a fault. Now....we all have our faults mind you and we are all people persons (well there are some of us that are NOT) to a degree but I am most certainly a people person to a F-A-U-L-T!!!!! Especially when they are my patients and they demand my care and attention. They get it. Well, the bad thing is that once they leave my care, that is where the fault comes in. That is when I sometimes have the hard time letting go. Especially when I see a potential need or a situation when my "nursing" needs to continue. :0)
For those of you who don't know what I am doing, I am currently working in a recovery room/ICU and not only do we recovery surgery patient and take care of ICU patients, we also recover Mom's who have just had C-sections (well, because they have just had a surgery per se). On this particular day I was working on C-sections and I got this mother who happened to be 17 years old. As a was getting ready to get her the OR nurse runs in and tells me that her baby is being shipped to LeBonhuer because his rectal open didn't form and the mom doesn't know and I can't say anything. They will be down to tell her soon. I get her in and from the instant I get her we bond. She is not only a sweetheart but she is YEARS beyond her age in maturity and intellect and already "knows" something is up with her baby because no-one in her family is around and no one has told her anything. Here I am trying to play everything off and distract her. An hour and a half passes and still no word from anyone. I am trying to call and get information with no luck. Finally within 15 minutes a nurse from our NICU comes in with papers for her to sign for the transfer. I informed her that no one has spoken to her about the situation and someone needs to before she signs papers. I get "deer in the headlight looks" and told her to stay outside the room and let me talk to Mom for a couple minutes. I went in and explained the babies situation and what was about to take place. I told her that I didn't want to lie to her that was why I wasn't telling her anything, because I didn't know. We cried together, we prayed together, then the nurse came in and got the appropriate papers signed. Then the LeBonheur flight team (which I can't say ENOUGH about) brought the baby down to see Mom before taking him to the hospital.
Well, I am happy to say that as three days ago, Baby Travis is now home. He is now about three months old and weighs about 9 1/2 pounds. But he and his Mom need alot of prayers. He has a colostomy but they have found some other medical issues with him as well. He has some bladder issues, a VSD (which is a small hole in his heart), a spinal cord issue (which affects some growth plates) and a hypospadius. Please, please remember them in your prayers. THis little family is very special to me and I think that God placed her in my care that night for a reason. He doesn't make mistakes and maybe it was because he just knew that I was a nurse "to a fault"!!!!
Love to you all and til next time-

You say its my birthday?????

July 7th-

So..the other day, a couple days before my birthday, Austin and I were sitting in the family room watching television and he looks over at me and the conversation goes something like this:
A: "Mom are you nervous about turning 40?"

Me "Not really. Why?"

A:" I was just wondering if you were nervous about getting old?"

Me "Well, I hadn't really thought about it being old but thanks for making me think that way son."

A "You welcome. Love you"
and with that, he ran upstairs and started to play his XBox. But I just kind of laughed our conversation off. But then later that afternoon I got to thinking about some things. Not that I was getting "old" per se, but thinking that when I was Austin's age that people 40, 50, 60 WERE old (you know half way to dead ) and that I was invincible. But now that I have gotten closer to those ages, they don't seem that old AT ALL and even 60, 70 and 80 don't seem that old to me any more and really age isn't all that relavent it is really just a number. I guess it is really how a person sees their life and how they live it that counts more than the number of years that they live. I would much rather live a high quality/fewer number of years than poor quality/extended age years. That would just seem a miserable life to me. You know I have heard people say to me so many times...."Oh things fall apart after you turn 30...", "Oh, just wait til you turn 40...you think your health was bad at 30...girl!!!!!". I want to look at them and say, "You haven't lived until you started you downhill at the age of newborn....I can't imagine what my downhills are going to look like if I have to compare them to all the surgeries and downslides that I have already been through at the age of 39!!!!!" But like I said-I have decided that age is just a number and my life is being based on moments that are LIVED not years that are passed. I want to experience everything that I can in whatever time that I have with everyone that I have and try not to take them for granted. That doesn't mean that I won't-but I don't intend to. I want to love everyone each day as I haven't loved them before and show them how greatful that I am for the opportunity to have them in my life. Show my parents how greatful that I am for all that they did for me as a child growing up and for instilling in me all the discipline, morals and christian beliefs that I have as an adult today. Thank my sisters, all of them, for being the best friends-back then and still today-that a girl could EVER have. Thank my sons for showing me each day that God loved me enough to bless me with the hardest job in my life but the one that has the greatest rewards around. And for loving me unconditionally just because I am their mom but moreso because they love me and finally to my WONDERFUL husband Chad for being my very best friend, confidant and lifelong partner, for supporting me through some terrible times, some terrible health issues, some miserable personal issue and just loving me for me. I know we have a fairy tale and I can't wait to spend my happily ever after with him. So to all of my friends, family and everyone reading this...age is just a number. Birthdays will come and go regardless of how we feel about them. And so, embrace them. Love life and live each day to the fullest. Love your family and tell them so each day. Each day you wake is a gift from God so treat it as so....
"A life is not important except in the impact that it has on other's lives."

-Jackie Robinson

Love to you all and til next time

4th of July

Happy Fourth Of July
Well-
For those who know me, you know that I LOVE the 4th of July because I love cookouts, being with friends and family AND......it of course, means that my birthday is only a few days a way. Of course, the older I get it just doesn't seems as much fun to anticipate the upcoming addition of another birthday but since I can't avoid them, I may as well embrace them RIGHT???

Anyhow, this year for the 4th we were invited to a cookout to some wonderful friends home, the Norsworthy's. It was supposed to be a little overcast with the potential of some showers, so we were a little concerned with what the outcome of the day was going to be. Well, lo and behold....Mother Nature held out and we had a WONDERFUL day of friendship, fellowship, food and fireworks!!!! It was a great day spent with great people. I was unable to attend the Memorial Day cookout at their home, because I was working, so I met alot of new faces and people that I hope to be able to spend alot of time with in the future. We spent alot of time sitting by the pool watching the kids "master" their front flips and other various jumps off of the diving board, ate wonderful burgers, hotdogs and other dishes brought over by each family in attendance, had a ping pong tournament (which I can't remember who won it all but sad to say that I was eliminated in the first round by Shaun BUT happy to say that I feel that I really gave him a run for his money....at least I would like to think so!!!), and then ended the evening with a woderful firework display down in the cove before cleaning up, calling it an evening and heading home for the evening. My head barely hit the pillow before I was sound asleep from all the days activites but it was a wonderful day and wonderful new friends were made. Another successful 4th of July for the Hudnalls!!!

Love to you all and till next time-

The 10 year old Birthday stretch.....

June 26th through July 6th

It is really hard to believe that my baby has turned 10 years old. 10. It just seems like yesterday that I was in the hospital delivering him and here is now among the ranks of the "double digits" ages and just continues to mature and amaze Chad and I with all of the intelligent and quirky things that have always been just Bryson. From day one Bryson has had a personality all his own and has had a heart bigger than life itself. He could charm you with his big smile, bright eyes and his sweet tenderness but he definately had his own mind about him and things would be done in his way, in his timing or you would get to see a little of the tempramental side to him as well. Bryson never liked to see anyone hurt, whether he knew you or not, and that is a trait that he still carries to this day. He wants everyone to be happy and having a good time. He is so good working with smaller children and the elderly. I remember when we would go over to Grandpa James' and he would help out with the other tenants there at the assisted living to make sure that they all had what they needed. And then one Halloween he was dressed up as a cowboy and he went door to door and played a guitar for them, and he didn't even know how to play the guitar, but did it just for them to have some entertainment for the evening. Such a doll.....

So for his 10th birthday we decided that we would do a bowling birthday the following weekend. Yippee!!!! But on the actual day of his birthday Daddy, Frances and Kelsey wanted to come into town and take us to lunch. So we headed to O'Charley's for an early lunch because we were going to go to the pool and then to a late afternoon movie. Lunch was delicious and we enjoyed the company of everyone. Kelsey joined us at the pool and we went and picked up Bryson's friend, Chase-who spent the night as well, and headed to the pool for a few hours. After that we went home, cleaned up and went to see Get Smart at the movies (which was a very good movie if anyone needed the Jodi Hudnall movie review thank you very much!!!). And then we met Chad at home, got back in the cars AGAIN and headed to dinner at....drum roll please...Osaka's for a dinner of Sushi and Hibachi. Yummy, Yummy. We came home and Bryson opened gifts and then the rest of the night the boys played the Wii that B got and Chad and I retired for the night because we knew that we wouldn't hear from the boys with a new game station to play with! :0)

The next day we headed back to the pool and just hung around the house. Bryson had continued to get gift cards and money in the mail so he wanted to go and get some Wii games so we went to Target later in the day.

Sunday, July 6th, we headed to FunQuest Bowling Lanes for the "official" birthday party and had pizza, sodas, cake, icecream, presents bowling and most of all lots of fun and lots of fellowship. The kids all seemed to have lots of fun together and the adults that were there were able to sit back, relax, and just enjoy themselves for the time that we were there.

love to you all and till next time-