Okay, so I know this is rather unusual, but get over it! I’m here, and I have lots to tell!
Since the last time we spoke, a lot has happened. Let’s begin with ‘Life’. I moved in to my new apartment, rubbed elbows with my new roommate, continued learning at my new job and I am a ripe new age of 27 years old! The first few weeks post-move were very quiet. My roommate works at our church and was very involved in the VBS program. God bless her. She put in some long hours. I look back on it and am very greatful for the time I had to settle in and make the place (half) my own. The next week, I left for Detroit Lakes in northern Minnesota for the week-long Young Life trip known as . This was such an amazing and eye-opening experience! I, along with two other Young Life leaders, lead High School students in their walks with Christ. It was 7 days full of sailing, rock climbing, sand volleyball, banana boating, para sailing, worshiping, talent shows, funny skits and quiet times with the Lord. It was absolutely incredible seeing how God moved through these young men and women in such a short time. Their personalities came bursting through like water through a fire hose. As a leader, I did not come away unchanged. I am more sure now than ever that He has great plans for me to do His will, share the joy of His love and grace with the younger generation and embrace nature as much as possible! My continued prayer is I look to Him for direction and stay confident in the steps I take now that they will bring me to the place of His salvation. Whew! Y’all got me going to church nah! : ) I’m very excited to see what God has in store for me in the next few years of being involved with Young Life, and you can be sure I will keep you updated.
Moving on….work is good. I continue to meet more and more people that share my strong faith and love of life! I am learning more and more every day and hope to gain even more responsibility in the near future. I was given the task of scoring myself in a ‘self evaluation’ last week. This is basically a self review of my work, ethic and attitude. No one enjoys evaluating themselves, and I found it to be a lot harder than I originally thought. So after multiple re-writes, a deep breath and a few prayers, I sent it to my boss for her final approval. What happens next is she compares my ‘scores’ to hers and then we have a pleasant little sit down to discuss if we are on the same page. I feel good about it. Because I am still so new to the roll, I have many things working in my favor. I am still learning the system and my roll, so of course I wouldn’t be an absolute expert on each bullet of my job description. So, ‘room to grow and needs development’ were used about every other section. Time will tell! I am very blessed to have this full-time position during the tough economy and hope to continue to climb that corporate ladder straight to the top of my dream job!

Next on the list: 27. I turned 27. In years prior, I thought 27 was going to be one of the hardest. It’s four syllables for goodness sake! Twen-ty-se-ven! Twenty-seven!!! haha…However, I have found this year to be nothing short of awesome! By the end of the year, I will have traveled to LA (more to come on that later), Minnesota, Las Vegas, Chicago and Michigan! And that is just summer through winter! Who knows what next Spring and Summer will bring! Since all I can think about now is my Memorial Day trip to LA, we might as well dive in! My uncle Tim has lived there for about 7 years, and was desperate to have me come visit. We had wanted to do it years ago, but it just wasn’t in the cards. So this year was our year! I left on a Friday morning and returned the following Monday. It was an absolute trip of a lifetime! The first night, we went out to a nice dinner, met some celebrities and hit up ‘The Hangover II’. (hilarious, if you haven’t seen it; which you should) The next few days were full of great food, shopping, site seeing, and ..wait for it…AN HOUR LONG HELICOPTER TOUR OF THE CITY!!! Go back and re-read that last part if you need to. You heard me! I knew he had planned some sort of surprise for me, but had no idea it would something so extreme! He had wanted to do it ever since he’d moved out there, but had never taken the time. Let me tell you, this is an experience I will never forget. We decided to take the last day to relax and be pampered at the spa. Oh, and that night I participated in my very first drag queen Bingo night at Hamburger Mary’s. (awesome) It was a great trip, and my uncle and I definitely became a lot closer. I know now that God had a plan years ago, and I have no doubt I appreciated everything much more than I would have even a few, short years ago.

Last, but definitely not least, family matters. As some of you may already know, my mom had surgery three weeks ago. She was having some pain on her left side when she would sleep, so when she knew it was something more than a cramp, she went to get it checked out. The doctors ended up finding a rather large mass on her left ovary with a smaller one on her right. After a few more consultations, they decided to schedule a full hysterectomy. Who knew this was such a major surgery?! Not me; that’s for sure. It ended up being a 4.5 hour long ordeal, and I left work early the day of to be by her side. I was greeted by my dad and sister as I walked into the waiting room. The surgeon had just closed up, and we were just waiting for them to move her to her own room for recovery. After about an hour had passed, we were able to see her. Let me tell you, this was one of the hardest things I have ever been through. I knew she had just had surgery and probably wouldn’t look the greatest, but nothing can prepare you to see the woman who gave you life suffering on a gurney, white as a ghost and absolutely swollen from all the drugs in her system. She was in quite a bit of pain for a good week afterward. I knew my mom was a strong woman, but this has proven ten times over that she is quite frankly my hero. There is no better way to describe her. The great news is the surgery was a success. However, we were still awaiting test results on the mass along with a tiny, walnut-sized portion that was found inside the larger mass. After about 5 days, we were informed the mass did not contain any cancer cells, but the walnut-size portion did. Even though it was contained, the doctors wanted to be 100% there was no trace of cancer left in her system. So, as a precautionary measure, they decided to give her chemotherapy treatments, once a month for six months. She started her first round last Friday. I took a half day off work, so I could be with her and my dad at the hospital. This was definitely a less-severe ‘surgery’, but they had to place a port under the skin of her shoulder. This is where they connect the IV for her chemo to travel through. It is quite amazing how far the world of medicine has come. This first round they do over about 16 hours in order for the body to react at a slower (and safer) rate. The final 5 treatments will be finished in a matter of 4-5 hours. Hearing the nurse describe all the side effects of the chemo was almost unbearable. As she continued to go through the list, I could see tears forming in her eyes. I could tell my mom was taking multiple deep breaths and probably was the cause of these fresh tears. God bless everyone in the medical field. They definitely have some of the toughest jobs out there. I was very glad I was there with my mom, and I can only pray I am such an awe-inspiring example for my son/daughter some day. She has embraced this new way of life with a new-found hope and strength I don’t believe she even knew she had. It is chemotherapy. It is scary. But, it is only six months. Considering the alternative, she is very, very lucky. There will be good days, and there will be bad. We will get through them all together and with the love and support of our family and friends.

I know this wasn’t a typical blog post, but I do appreciate you listening. These last few weeks have been quite a struggle, but I can’t tell you how much my entire family appreciates all the thoughts, prayers and well wishes. They do not go unnoticed. I look forward to keeping you updated on mom’s progress and pray that God continues to bless you in your walk. Talk soon; God Bless.
B

Okay, okay…I know. I could bore you with a laundry list of lame excuses as to why I haven’t graced the blogosphere in months, but I won’t. The truth is I just didn’t take the time. Now you’re probably thinking to yourself, ‘Bridget, it literally takes 5-10 minutes to type out a few paragraphs’. You are right. And now we are to the point in the story where I would normally write out an elaborate promise to blog more. However, I will not waste any more of your time or mine for that matter! Let’s get on with the show, shall we?

(deep breath) Well, the last time I graced your desktops I was unveiling Bridget Purdy Photography. Since then business has continued to boom and grow. Thank you to all my friends, family and new fans for all your support and prayers. They have not gone unnoticed.

As many of you know, the company I was a part of for close to three years was bought out in early January of this year. It was a crazy turn of events, but to be very honest with you, it couldn’t have happened at a better time. Yes, it was a huge shock, but I hit the ground running, revamped my now award-winning resume, met with multiple recruiters, applied and interviewed at various companies in and around the Des Moines/West Des Moines area and as of May 9th, all this hard work paid off. I am now the new Product Development Coordinator for ITAGroup. After four months of unemployment, this was welcomed with open arms. I had my ups and downs with interviews, mediocre meet and greets, even had a few offers I declined (they just weren’t a good fit), so when I received the call from ITA, I had to force myself not to jump up and down. (Okay, maybe I did just a little bit.) God has not only blessed me with this new and exciting career opportunity, but He has sweetened the deal by surrounding me with a number of Christ-centered individuals and even some I already knew from attending Lutheran Church of Hope. I even met a girl that after chatting with her for about 10 minutes realized our parents rode the country school bus together when they were younger. Crazy; right?! So, God continues to be good, and I continue to praise Him even on the days when I can barely get out of bed. I am blessed to have such a fun job and be surrounded by people who love the Lord and have a passion for what they do day in and day out.

In other news, I am in the process of moving into a new apartment! I am very excited about yet another ‘new thing’ in my life. Lindsey and I have been roomies now for three years, and we just can’t take it much longer. Haha!! Just kidding! The true and less interesting story is our lease is up. It is definitely bitter sweet. We have been through a lot the last few years, and I know there is no way I would have gotten through most of it without her love and support. I will miss our nights in front of the tv, making fun of contestants on Wheel of Fortune, making the most ridiculous noises and laughing until our eyes water, making impromptu Dairy Queen runs, creating new and heath conscious meals for one another….the list goes on and on. I’m excited for the new paths we are both taking, and I’m already looking forward to hearing about all the luxuries of loft-living downtown.

http://desmoinesregister.upickem.net/engine/Details.aspx?p=V&c=15819&s=3634769&i=1&m=X#SD

B

Here is a short synopsis of what’s been happening:

• I’m still working full time at GeoLearning and loving it. Just received a small raise before the new year and am currently working on an ongoing Marketing/Sales project with a few of company executives.
• I am also working part-time at Lutheran Church of Hope’s nursery. I do that about two to three nights a week depending upon how crazy my schedule is. I absolutely love working with the kids, and I figured I was already at the church most of the time, why not get paid for it? And who doesn’t love to color and watch Toy Story?
• I’m singing at Hope on a more regular basis now, which is amazing! I was a part of my first Christmas Eve service this past December, and wow….live animals mixed with the famous, Simon Estes? Pretty much awesome! I honestly don’t know what I would do without my church and the amazing friendships I have found while being a part of it. I am very blessed.
• My nieces and nephew are growing older by the second, and I’m not sure how I feel about that quite yet. Gwen is now 9, Brooke is 5, Sydney is soon to be 3 and Zachary just turned 1 a couple weeks ago! My sister and Chip are doing an amazing job raising them into young ladies and now one gentleman. : )
• In romance news:  The whole online dating scene has definitely been an interesting rollarcoaster ride to say the least. From severe mama’s boys with movie posters they claim to have in their bedrooms to absolute idiots that expect me to jump into bed with them simply because they drop their pants in my livingroom! I’m sorry, but I’m making breakfast, and The Office is on…..I’m busy. (You know I can’t make this stuff up.) However, this long journey if far from over…….

2010 have proved to be a great year thus far, and I pray it will only get better. I’m hoping to organize some photography porfolios and create a Facebook fanpage in the next year. Then, in 2011, I hope to have my own, personal photography website up and running. I’ve been doing more and more with weddings and other family photos, so that’s also kept me very busy.

That’s pretty much it for now. And again, I promise to be more frequent with my updates starting…right meow! Hope this finds you all well and embracing this new year with everything you’ve got! Until next time….

Love always,
bpurdy

So, I have been trying, as of late, to make up my own personal life goals in order to make the most of the time I am given. This is something that is still in the works, but I will keep you updated.

On a totally different note, I have taken the plunge and having begun the risky, yet sometimes very worth while journey of online dating. Yes, I too got sucked into all the hype. However, I have heard more than enough success stories, that I decided to personally be my own judge. I have been introduced to quite a few interesting people so far, and even have a couple dates lined up. Again, time will tell, and I will of course keep you up to speed on that.

Work continues to be good. I am making my way up that corporate ladder slowly, but surely. I work with great people, and just thank God at this stage in my life I have a full time job to call my very own. It has been quite the struggle, but I now can say I have over a year experience under my belt!

I have also been spending a lot of time with my nieces and new nephew. My oldest niece, Gwen just celebrated her first communion. Next in line is Brooke with her tumbling meets and Pre-school graduation. Sydney is just adorable as always, and Zachary has definitely started breaking out the personality and charm.

In closing, I will share some rather exciting news. About a week ago I was offered the opportunity to do some voice recording for my church’s VBS kids week. This was probably one of the best experiences of my entire life. I loved being in the studio and creating new music along with others currently on the track. I had been thinking of doing some of my own song writing, but this sealed the deal. I sat down with a friend that very night, and began the step-by-step process creating music all my own. I am a little nervous, but moreso excited about this new turn, and hopefully, with God’s help, it will be something I excell at and can share for years to come. I have also been doing a lot of photography lately. I’ve done some promotional work for a friend who’s singing career is about to launch, I’m shotting his concert at the beginning of June and even performing with him a few months down the road and then I have a wedding I am capturing in October. It is a costume/Halloween theme, so it should be a great time! 

I hope this finds you all well; until next time…..