The Sweet Life of Zack and... Charly and Andrew

The past three weeks have been crazy. Zack's semester is about to come to a close and with that comes many tests and papers to write. Along with all of that, we have had 3 weekends full of fun! (If being sick is fun)...
First, we went to see some of our good friends, the McCabe's, in Norman, OK. Zack led worship at their church and then we had a good time just getting to hang out with them. Andrew and Maura had a blast playing, even though Maura didn't feel well, and we adults got to catch up on current events in life. We miss them so much!

Then, we all got sick, so we had a weekend of rest. We were supposed to be heading up to Watova, OK, for Zack's little brother, Nicky's, birthday, but we weren't up for that much travel. It was still a good weekend for us to rest. We don't get to do that much.

Andrew had to get his second flu shot last week and he weighed in at a whoppin' 20.8 pounds. Congratulations, Andrew! You finally broke the 20 mark! Along with reaching this long awaited milestone, we also had to put Andrew in a toddler bed. He had been crawling out of his crib for a few days, but I had noticed that he had it mastered... at least I thought! A week ago last Sunday night, he decided to take a dive, head first, out of his crib. Thankfully, daddy was there to catch him, but it was then that we decided not to take that chance anymore. We borrowed Andrew's friend, Sydney's, old toddler bed and put him in it that night! Oh what a challenge! The last week and a half has been battle after battle to get him to stay in his bed... or bedroom for that matter! We have tried everything! We even shut the door one night thinking that his options would be to cry at the door or go to bed. Not this child, he decided it was time to play! One night, he even came rolling out on his firetruck with a big grin on his face! We couldn't help but laugh and we usually always laugh at him and his creative ways to get out of his bed or bedroom. We will continue to fight this war until we win... and we will! Andrew has also learned how to drive his Jeep. Well, he learned how to drive it in a big circle, but he loves it! Thank you Grandma for buying this awesome toy when I was 3 months old... it's being put to good use now!

Last Friday, of course, was Halloween and we did a Trunk or Treat at our church. Andrew was a kitty cat. He LOVED going from car to car and getting candy from everyone. He kept wanting to get it himself... Mr. Independent! We also had a big inflatable slide and a bounce house for toddlers. He LOVED both of those as well. I do believe the slide was his favorite. He went up and down all by himself... and since we put on this shin dig, we got to play on the slide before and after the event. In the pictures, you see him going down with daddy, by himself, and with all of us. He did play in the bounce house with all of his friends for most of the night while I walked around making sure everyone had enough candy to hand out and Zack played with the band. By the end of the night, Andrew was pretty exhausted, but Grandma and John John came in late that night for a visit and he had enough energy to entertain them for a couple of hours before bedtime. We got up Saturday and went to the zoo... more fun times!

And now... well, Andrew and I are sitting at home while daddy is at the seminary working on a paper that is due Monday. Please pray for our family as we finish out this semester. We are so looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas and seeing all the loved ones that we miss. Oh yeah... and don't forget to vote today! Love to all... The Hudsons

God's glory...

It’s been a long time since I’ve had a big God moment like this one, so I thought I would share it with you…

This week in our bible study, Living Free, we talked about pride. Along with that, we talked about humbling ourselves before God and allowing Him to break down our pride and, through that, break down other strongholds in our life, and through that, turn it around to give God the glory. Wow! It was hard, but God REALLY worked in my heart this week.

Some of you know what my family has been going through for the past month, and some of you don’t, but that’s ok. God is allowing me (us) to get past that and has worked me, personally, through some things through this week’s study. For that, I praise God!

Let’s address pride first, and I apologize if my thoughts seem very unorganized, but I was overwhelmed with the number of things God revealed to me this week. The very first thing that stuck out to me this week was that pride is ANYTHING revolving around myself. I remembered a time when I was talking with a group of girls about our self esteem, or lack thereof, and I mentioned that I hated being around a large group of girls because it felt like anytime I entered the room or left the room, the group of girls would whisper or laugh at me, or so it seemed. It was then that one of the girls subtly said, “It’s not all about you!” That really stuck with me and the point was driven even more with this study. In Proverbs 8:13, God says, “I hate pride and arrogance.” I hate the thought of God “hating” my attitude and I want to change that even if it means that I allow God to change the lack of self esteem that I have. I am loved by God. I want to practice humility because God “respects” the humble. (Proverbs 3:34; James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5; Isaiah 57:15; Isaiah 66:2) I have to remember that humility is God-focused and not self-focused. God, help me to overcome pride.
This was a hard one for me as I was working through some things. What God is doing in our lives, the church, etc. is not about me… it’s all about Him! Who am I to make it about me, or my family? Who am I to worry about an apology from someone because they hurt me or someone that I love? That’s not what it’s about! It’s ALL ABOUT GOD’S GLORY and the work we do for Him, through Him, to expand His Kingdom.

That all led me to my next point and to me the most important:
I know that God has my family right where we are supposed to be. There are so many things that God has orchestrated in our lives. He has provided a way for our family to be taken care of financially. You see, Zack and I had prayed and decided that God wanted us to move to Texas for school by the beginning of 2007 in July of 2006. This was when we had no idea how we were going to pay for school, where we were going to live, etc. Then we found out we were going to have Andrew and even then, we were still convinced that God wanted us in Texas by January of 2007. It was a huge step of faith, but we were still committed to it. Then, Zack was called as the Children’s Minister here at First Baptist Watauga, and from there, God took care of a whole bunch of other things that I won’t get into here, but it was all for His glory. Even after some personal struggles that we have been facing, we still know that God has us here and it’s where we are supposed to be. He even provided a way for Zack to afford to go to school by giving us a place to live with little or no financial worries.
There is a lot more that God revealed to me this week and that I am very excited about. I know that God loves me and my family and I know he will always provide. I will leave you now with one last thing:
I thank God for our church family here at First Baptist Watauga. I thank them for loving on us, taking care of us, and supporting us through the hardest 2 years of our lives.

Well... look at the three of us!

I have bronchitis, Zack has a sinus infection, and Andrew... well, we'll just say his tummy hurts.





I have had this yucky cough for 4 weeks now. I thought nothing of it, except being frustrated with it, because I never felt yucky or had a fever. I guess you can have bronchitis without all of that. Zack's doctor said his probably started with allergies and just turned into an infection. Again, he never felt bad or had a fever. What is it with these bugs? They're sneaky little guys. Finally, last night, Andrew developed a little stomach bug. Its all good, tho. The two of us are on antibiotics and Andrew's will get better with time. Just thought I would let you all know how we were doing.

Andrew loves momma's hat!
Momma and Andrew on Crazy Hair Night at AWANA
The coolest guys I know!
What is that look for?
Our family and our crazy hair

"To a Child, Love is Spelled T-I-M-E"

As I was putting Andrew in bed tonight, or should I say, trying to put Andrew in bed tonight, he kept crawling up and giving me big hugs. Not just any goodnight hug, but embracing, pat on the back, hugs. I loved it, and even though I was a little frustrated, I thought to myself, "I am going to savor this." One day, I will be able to look back on this night and never regret not enjoying his big little boy hugs while they lasted. When Andrew was first born, Zack came home one day telling me about a devotional that he had read. It said that the average American dad spends 3 minutes of face-time with their child/children per day. How sad! Its even more heartbreaking now, because everyday I see Andrew's little eyes light up when daddy starts to unlock the front door and come in. He looks forward to his evening with him all day! So here's to spending time with your kids... hug them, occasionally hold them while they sleep, enjoy their hugs even when its their bedtime and you have homework to work on, or all you want is to go to bed yourself. It won't last long.

Doctor updates

Andrew's 18 month well check was yesterday... here are his stats:

19 pounds 1 ounce

30 inches long

I didn't catch his head measurement, but I know he freaked out whenever they did it... We said it was because the nurse had on Texas Longhorns scrubs.

The doctor sent him to a lab to get some blood drawn just to check for anything that might be causing him to have a hard time gaining weight. You see, he is below the fifth percentile on his weight. He is still 50th percentile with his height, but its curve made a small dip. The doctor was very impressed with his development; language skills, his ability to understand what is asked of him, etc. He didn't think anything was wrong with him, also because his head was perfectly following the curve it was supposed to. This means that his brain is growing correctly. He just wanted to make sure that it continued to do so by making sure there was nothing we needed to correct.

We got a call today from the nurse saying that all of the blood tests came back normal... Yay! Nothing to worry about...

Andrew's little buddy, Noah, came and stayed with us at the beginning of the week and we made the most of it. We took them to the Fort Worth Zoo and it was a blast! The best part was when we fed the birds! Andrew grabbed a bird and all three of us screamed... Me, Andrew, and the bird... AHHH! Andrew has been walking around asking, "where's Noma?" Poor guy, he misses his buddy.

We took him to buy shoes today and he walked into the store and started pulling the shoes off of the shelves saying, "my shoe," and trying to put them on. We bought him some ADIDAS tennis shoes just like daddy's.

We have so much fun with Andrew these days. He is such a little sponge. He says just about anything we want him to... which means you have to be careful what you say around him... :) He also does things that we ask him to. He brings us his shoes, throws his trash away, and all kinds of other cool stuff. He's so smart!

Hello all...

This blog is mostly for those of you that don't get to see us on a regular basis. Here's just a little update on our lives here in Texas.

Zack started seminary and I started teaching once again. It is the best and worst part of the year to me. I love the weather. It reminds me of when Zack and I first met and started dating... sweet memories. Believe it or not, I love spending time just me and Andrew, but for those of you who know me, you know that I hate being alone and most importantly, I LOVE spending time with Zack. I miss Zack... we still get to spend a lot more time together than most, just not as much as we were during the summer and/or before he started school. It is so important to the both of us that Andrew gets his time with both of us, so when Zack gets home from work or school, we fill Andrew's evening with fun. That leaves Zack's time to do homework for when Andrew goes to bed, which is usually me and Zack time. :( I just keep reminding myself, "this is only for a season." I believe that we have an incredible future ahead of us... one that we can't even dream of, and God is using this time to make me into the wife and mom that He needs me to be.

Andrew is growing up so fast. He is almost 18 months old... WOW! He wakes up every morning with something new. His words are getting more and more clear and as he babbles off with his full sentences, we can sometimes catch what he's talking about. So cute! He is very likely to tell us "no" quite a bit throughout the day. "Do you want to go night night?" "NO!" "Do you want to play?" "Yeeaahhh!" This are my favorite series of questions that I like to ask him. Watching his facial expressions and hearing his little boy voice is so fun to me. Zack and I always marvel at this little human that lives in our house along side of us. He is no longer the little baby that depends on us for everything. I mean, I know he still depends on us, but he wants to walk everywhere, not be carried. He wants to throw his own trash away, feed himself with his own spoon and fork, get into his highchair himself... he is becoming Mr. Independent. So sad, but I know that it is our goal in the long run; to teach him how to take care of himself and to eventually let him venture off on his own to do the Lord's work. He goes for his 18 month well-check at the end of this month. I will post some updates on his size then. He IS growing, slowly, but he is.

I have left you all with some more recent pics of our little guy! Enjoy!

Starting a new blog...

Well... all my cool friends are doing it, so I thought I would, too.

Blogs and pics for all to see: COMING SOON!

Love ya! Charly