3x24

Hey all!!
Earlier in the week I was thinking about writing this and planning out what I was gonna to say... But I didn't write any if it down so I have no idea any of what I was going to say!
So! All if this is completely whatever comes to my mins to write down right now. Could be anything! Who knows! :)

Well, first of all, I was going to make this blog post on June 24th, but since I will be in Chi Alpha tour up in Pittsburgh that day (and actually we're making a road trip on the 24th to Cleveland, Ohio), I won't really have a chance to write anything or post.

The reason why June 24th is such a bu day for me is because... On that day, exactly three years ago (THREE!!), I pulled away from my house in Ohio and we moved to Virginia.
If you know me, you know my story.
I can't believe so much time has passed. I really don't understand it.
When I got here, I would tell myself almost ever day, "okay, I only have three years. Of this. That's all. I can do this," in attempt to kinda encourage myself.
Wow how the time flew,
And oh, how things have changed!
I went from dreading everything here, from not having a house, to now having a HOME!
Now don't get me wrong, Ohio still is and forever will me home to me.
It's where I grew up, from 3 to almost 15.
It's where I learned music, learned that it's what I love, learned as much as I could about it. I spent my middle school years in all the bands I could be in and that didn't change freshman year. I took years and years and years of piano lessons and a summer of vocal lessons and a year of guitar lessons before we moved. It's where I learned to love music.
And, of course, I have, throughout my twelve years there, had the most amazing, special, wonderful, friends any girl could ask for. Some have come and gone, but they will always be so dear in my heart. And the ones who stayed mean more to me than I could ever express. Every time I think about all of them (which is every single day without fail by the way) I still have this pain inside of me because of how much I miss them. Like a little hold in me. I miss my best friends, these girls I love so much. The few short visits I have had to see then isn't enough. I get to see them all grow up and change form 600 miles away, but at least I have that, and I love it.
Ohio is also where I had my future already planned out for me. The university half and hour down the road, and the perfect plan I could follow.
That is probably the biggest change...
My future now waits in Lynchburg at Liberty University, and I couldn't couldn't be happier or more excited! In now less than two months. I will be among the college campus on one of the biggest adventures of my life (up there with The Big Move).
I am completely trusting God and letting Him lead me wherever I am supposed to go, to Lynchburg and beyond.
Not to mention, it's a big plus that I will be with some of my very best friends in the world!
I have made lifelong friends during my time in Virginia and I pray we never ever ever grow apart! They're always there for me, no matter what, and I have so much trust in all of them. I truly am blessed with all I have. I really could keep rambling in and on about how wonderful they all are.

Oh! And I remembered something else I was going to talk about!
Guess who is done with high school?! This girl!!
High school graduate right here!
On Friday, June 13, I graduated class of 2014.
High school had it's ups and downs... But quite honestly I cannot believe it's over.

2 states
2 high schools
2 churchs
31 teachers
29 classes
20+ nicknames
4 phones
1 piano
2 keyboards
1 fish
15 sock monkeys
1 glorious Savior
Countless friends
Countless tears
Countless priceless memories
I have traveled to:
Florida
Norfolk/Virginia beach/etc, Virginia
New York City, New York
Buffalo/Orchard Park, New York
Dayton/ Kettering/etc, Ohio
New Orleans, Louisiana
Nassau, Bahamas
Nashville, Tennessee
Outer banks, North Carolina
Indiana
Cleveland, Tennessee
Lynchburg, Virginia
Gatlinburg, Tennessee
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (leaving tomorrow)
Cleveland, Ohio (24th)
Myrtle beach (this summer)
Texas (someday)

My point with all this is... It's bee a great few years and I don't know that I could ask for better.
The amount of support and love I've gotten here in Virginia is simply overwhelming.
I love it here so much.
Virginia is my home.

My current favorite verse that I wish I could have know. Back when I was 14 and going through the moving process is Romans 8:38-39.

"And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death not life, demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow- not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love."

Personal shout out to everyone in my life this far. I could never have done it without you. I love you all!

Letter To My Hero

It's amazing how much influence one person can have on your life.

When people ask me who that person is in my life,
Hero, I always think of you immediately.
When people ask me how I figured out what I want to do with my life,
Hero, your name always comes to my head immediately.

When I met you for the first time,
I never realized the impact you would make on me.

I was a kid in the church's kids choir.
Third grade, and carefree.

You came in as the worship college intern.
You worked with the kids choir,
taught us songs,
taught us dances,
taught us about Jesus.

I saw you on stage on Sundays,
saw you at choir on Wednesdays.
Looking back, it's weird to think of a time when you weren't there.

I remember how fast I grew to love you,
to love seeing you around.

I remember the day you announced it was your last time with us.
You were only an intern, after all.

But then, there you were, again and again.
They had hired you as the worship pastor.
Of course.
Who wouldn't? ;)

I looked up to you, that's for sure.
Throughout the years you became my role model.

I remember the time in fifth grade when we were preparing for our kids choir performances.
You asked my two [new] best friends to do a skit or an act to say during the whole show.
I didn't get a part :(

I remember I got an extra copy of the lines and I memorized the whole thing.
I even added in my own lines that I could say if you wanted to add me in.
(I never told you about that part lol!)

One time after practice you were talking to my friends about how it was going memorizing the lines.
It was them two, you, and I standing by the piano.
I remember this moment so well, and I don't know why.

After us talking for a minute or two, I remember you saying to me,
"Bridget you used to be the quiet one!
Now you're friends with these two and now I can't get you to stop talking!"
I laughed and smiled, and decided it didn't matter if I had an acting part in the show.

The next year, starting my sixth grade year, you started a middle school praise team.
I signed up to be a singer.
For the first half of the year, I sang.
I had absolutely no intentions to do anything else.
Not piano.
You couldn't make me.
Besides, I didn't know exactly how to read chords.

Well I started messing around with it at home.
My dad was away on a trip and I taught myself how to do it.
When he came home, he showed me more into it.

A few weeks later and we were with the praise team and that particular day there wasn't a keyboardist there.
I don't quite remember who told me to go up there to the keyboard, but there I ended up.
I don't remember the whole set list, but I know Indescribable was one of the songs.

I struggled some; playing chords was new to me.
But it didn't matter. It was a one time thing.
I would go back to singing only the next time.
Except that's not how it worked out.

You and the other leader kept pushing me.
I didn't want to do it; I'll be honest. I didn't.

Over the next little bit, you taught me how to play.
I watched you play your keyboard.
I listened.
I soaked it all in.
I got better.

I remember specifically one time when you were playing along on your keyboard during practice.
You had stopped, but I kept going.
When we reached the end of the song, the other adult leader looked at me and said words I won't ever forget.
He said, "I was facing the other way listening and I was about to turn around and tell him to stop playing.
But when I turned around, he wasn't playing. It was you."
And he complimented me.

I had come so far.
From not being able to read chords, to being able to play like you could.
I felt so much success in that moment.

That was the turning point, I think.
The point where I no longer wanted to be just a singer.
I was stuck on being behind the Esoniq KT-88 keyboard.

The rest of middle school, it was all I wanted to do.
You put me in charge of a small band in eighth grade, and I loved every second of it.
All the while, I kept watching you to see what else I could pick up.
You were my role model, my inspiration.

The summer that my dad deployed, I thought of you as a second dad to me.
Idon't know if I ever told you (or many people) that.
But it's true.

You were always always there for me no matter what.
Musically, spiritually, whatever.
All of it.

I remember when we found out we were moving.
You said it wasn't fair.
I couldn't imagine going anywhere without you there.

I remember the night before the day we drove away from Ohio.
I laid in a sleeping bag on the floor.
Sobbing.
I couldn't do it.

I had finally stopped crying and calmed down enough to go to sleep.
And then your face came into my head and instantly I started sobbing again.

Just a few weeks earlier, I wanna say after playing at my last Elevate, we passed in the gym.
You said, "Bridget is my hero!"
I said back, "Mr. Andrew is my hero!"
Of course, that made both of us crack up.
Why in the world did I say Mr??
That was only for the kids choir, and I hadn't said it since.

Right then and there in that moment, I didn't realize how true my statement was.
But then I thought on it, and it's 100% accurate.
You are my hero, in every sense of the word.
You have made such an impact on my life.
A huge, huge impact.

I grimmance when I think about where I would be musically without you.
You taught me pretty much everything I know when it comes to playing chords and playing with a band.
I don't even know if I would still be doing piano if it weren't for you.

Some people have asked me how I know that I want to be a worship pastor.
Truth is, I probably would have had no idea if it weren't for you.
I love what you do and I want to do it too.

I've looked up to you since I was a little kid.
These past few years away from you being in Virginia have been hard.

It's hard because you're not here.
It's hard because everything I worked for with you... I had to start over when I got here.

Not to mention, you've been our own personal guidance counceler as far as college goes ;)
You're the one who introduced me to Cedarville.
You told me about the worship camps, which also made a huge impact on my life.
Now though that I have narrowed it down to a few schools, you've given a ton of advice with them.

The day before I auditioned on piano for Lee University, you texted me.
(it's now saved in my phone and forever will be :) )
You told me I was in your prayers and that I needed to play with strength and confidence,
and to know that I belong in music because it's my gift given to me by God.
(that meant a ton).
"He will provide you with peace and courage.
Pursue Him and use your gift to honor Him.
Soli Deo Gloria!!"

I started crying! It meant so much to me!

That, along with the Facebook message just a month after I moved,
were some of the most meaningful words people have ever said to me.

You've done so much for me, hero.
(including shipping my Ensoniq KT-88 keyboard to me when y'all decided to get rid of it ;)

So so much.

This all just scratches the surface.

I am so so thanful for you.

And thank you for pushing me.
For helping me be the person I am today.

Even if you are 600 miles away now.
I hate that part.
You're one of the people in Ohio I miss the very most.

I miss you and your beautiful wife,
and your two little kids who I am missing growing up because they were born after we were gone.

Keep on being awesome, hero.

Never forget me, please.
No matter how old I get,
no matter where I go in this life.
I don't know when the next time I will see you will be.
Because quite honestly, I don't know when I'm coming home.
Even if its ten years from now, you better know who I am ;)

I think that's all I have to say for right now.

Thank you for all you've done in my life.

I know I'm not speaking for only myself when I say you've made a huge impact.

Love,
Bridget Colleen


Soli Deo Gloria!

loving life

hey all.

life is crazy.
dont you all agree?
I don't know who's reading this
or even if anyone is
but I think anyone would agree about life.


it's busy.
it's stressfull.
it's long.
it's boring.
it's slow.
it's fast.
it's unpredictable.
it's nothing you expect.
it's crazy.

Sometimes life explodes on you
and you don't have time to do the little things.
Like this blog.
Obviously, I've been lacking.
I haven't written in over a year.
Who knows when the last time I even thought about blogging was.
I've been so busy.
And on top of that,
who ever knows what to write??

All that said,
today I was bored and had a geneous idea.
Why don't I go to that old blog page and read some of my old stuff?

So I did.

I read my whole story
and I won't lie
I almost cried.

It took me back to the time when everything was wrong,
the time when I was still figuring things out for myself in Virginia.

But there was one thing that stuck out to me when I was reading.
It wasn't anything that I had actually published.
It was only a draft.
I don't know why I never posted it.
I probably didn't think it was good, etc etc.
But when I read it this time, it hit me in a new way.

That even back then,
when I was hurting,
when I was in pain,
I still knew the Truth.
I still knew things would be okay.

Here is what I wrote:

Hey!! :)

So if you're reading this, then you probably know who I am, and you probably know my story. You know where i'm from and you know where I am.

Well, just in case, let me refresh your memory.

My parents are from Buffalo, New York. I was born in Boston, Massachusetts. I moved to Ohio when I was three. I moved to Virginia when I was fourteen.

Now I am fifteen, just over eleven months later...and I have to say... that major move from Ohio to here.... it was a journey, let me tell you. Probably the hardest thing I have done in the course of my small life.

Why am I telling you this?

Easy.

You see that title up there, right? Big letters. Loving Life.
Now look a little bit further up. Don't Forget to Love Life.

That's why.

I made so many mistakes in that journey. I learned so many things the hard way.

Look, friend, I don't know who you are. I don't know what you are going through. I don't know who is reading this. I don't know if anyone is reading this. But I have to say one thing.

It's not over.

Yeah, that's right.

A few days before the big move, I was texting one of my closest friends. I was complaining. I was telling her about how scared I was. About how I didn't want this to happen. About how I wish I could change things. I was scared, and I didn't know what was going to happen. You know, she texted me one thing, and it's stayed in my brain ever since. It was simple, just a few lines of typing, but it meant so much. It was a Bible verse.
You know which one?

1 Peter 5:7
Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you.
(NLT)

I don't know if that was the same version. I don't know what version she sent it to me in. But you know what? It's all the same. Means the same thing.

God cares for you. And me.
Woah.
Do you know what that means?

It's not over.

Even when you feel like your life is crashing down around you, even when you feel like you can't go on... He's always there for you. He will never leave you. No matter what.

It doesn't matter where you've been.
It doesn't matter what you've done.
It doesn't matter how many times you've succeeded, how many times you've failed, how many times you've just plain given up.

It's not over, and God is still with you.

Always.

All the way, through this whole move, I was so determined to be miserable.
I was so determined to have an awful time and have no fun.

I don't know what I thought I would prove.

But it took me forever to realize that life isn't over, God's still with me, and it's not the end.

Don't forget to love this life you're in because it's the only one you have and it isn't over yet.

25 and beyond

In my last post, I began to tell my story. Here I am now to finish it as best as I can.

For the next two or three weeks, we spent our time in a hotel and our camper, because we had no house here. Finally, we found a house, and started to move in. It took us only a day or two to unpack everything, and I got started right away at unpacking my boxes and getting things organized in this new room of mine.
Despite the pain.
Despite the gut feeling that this wasn't right.
It wasn't home.

For three or four weeks we went to a church called Northside.
We stopped going there when I heard a guy talking about me right behind my back.
The first night I was there, he was all nice to me and tried to make me feel welcome.
Well, let me just say I felt so discouraged right then, that I decided to tell my parents not to go back to that church.
I remember his name was Josh.
I remember he told me he lived in Running Man, which made me want to stay completely away from that neighborhood as much as I could and at all costs.
I remember he told me he just graduated from Tabb High School, which made me not want to go to that school and to avoid it at all costs. (and then we found out we had picked a house that went to that school o.O)
It just was not a good experience for me.

And also, I remember at that church, the first week we went there, it was the day after we had arrived in Virginia, and we didn't have a house.
I had to fill out one of those vistor cards, you know?

But there was a problem.

I didn't have an address.
I didn't have a home phone number.
I didn't have a school.
I didn't have a neighborhood.

All I really had was a name and my dad's work place.

You get what I mean? How I had a problem?
Yeah.
It was so depressing.

We tried out another church, but I didn't like this one any better.

Megan came down to Virginia Beach, and along the way, she visited me.
We had a blast, going to the park and took a bunch of pictures, sitting aorund and talking, and simply just being together like old(ish) times.

Also, I met a girl who lived down the street from us. We started hanging out, and I got a really good feeling inside of me like it was God giving me this girl to be friends with. It was the first feeling of hope that I had had inside of me for a long time.

A week or two later, we went to Liberty Baptist Church, for the grand opening of the new worship center. It was HUGE. And I mean huge. Somewhere around 7,000 people.

That Wednesday, I went to Tabb to register and sign up for everything.
They told me that if I wanted to be in band class, then I would have to be in marching band. At first I thought I could get out of it, since they had just started that day, but no, they said I would have to start the very next day. I started crying right there in the school office.
Later that awful day, I had to go to the doctor. My brother was planning on getting shots, and I was just tagging along because the doctor had to sign some thing of mine that I was up to date with all of my shots.
Well apparently he couldn't sign it, because I needed three.

Guess who also got three shots that day.
Wipee.
Guess who also cried like a little baby and had to be held down for them to get that needle even close to me.
Yup.
I don't do well with needles. At all.

So arms hurting and all, that night, I went to Liberty youth group to check it out and see the youth praise team and see if it was anything that I would like to be a part of.
Well, needless to say... they were really good and I loved it.
I met a few people and followed them around all night.
And I also shut down. I didn't talk, except when spoken to.
I guess I just kinda figured it was just another church and why bother getting to know everyone and opening up when we would just be switching churches again anyway.

Well anyways, the very next day, I showed up at Tabb High School for my first day of marching band. It was awful. I walked into the tiny band room and immediately felt totally overwhelmed and like I was going to cry. I knew no one. Not a single person. But really, how could I have?
Somehow, I managed to get by, but it was the worst week of learning how to march of my entire life. (the only one too, but it was terrible anyway.)

At the end of the month, there was a hurricane and everyone freaked out and evacuated, but turns out the damage where we had gone too was worse than it was back at the house. And the wind storm in 7th grade was way worse than that thing too.

On my birthday, we went to beach, just cause we could. Without driving hours and hours and hours.

A few days later, we started school. Again, somehow I made it through. I met people here and there, and recognized a few from marching band. I don't know how, but I got through it. Despite the hurt and the pain.

I made it through marching band, and even started enjoying it right at the end. I made some friends that I still have to this day and I'm so glad that I did.

We stayed at Liberty, and I joined the high school chior called Chi Alpha. The week after school let out, we went on tour in New Orleans. Sometime I'll write some about it. It was incredible.

On the 24th of June, we had our homecoming concert. It was a very hard day for me, since it was exactly a year since we had left Ohio.

And you know what?
I could have been sitting at home completely alone, crying on my bed.
But I wasn't
Instead, I was with all of my friends, celebrating life in Christ, and worshipping Him like there was no tomorrow.
I'd say that's a pretty good substitute, wouldn't you? :)

Love, Bridget Colleen <3

24

Hello all!

I don't know who is reading this. I don't know if anyone is reading this.
But I just want to write about what I'm thinking about right now... because honestly it's been on my mind for a while now.

Today's date.
June 24th.

For some of you... the number has no significance whatsoever.
For others... you know right off hand what I'm talking about when I say this is the most depressing day in the year.

On exactly June 24th, 2011, I pulled away from my home in Ohio and drove all the way here- Hampton Virginia.

I remember everything like it just happened yesterday.
It so doesn't feel like a whole entire year has passed.

I remember the 21st; it felt like it was my last free night in a long time. My family and I went to the Shouster Center to see the Broadway Musical, Lion King. It was so amazing. I don't even have words to explain it.

I remember the 22nd, too. The moving truck was in front of our house, and everything inside the house was in boxes. So many boxes.
Bright and early in the morning, my family and I got up and started putting some of the things into the truck.
A few hours later, some of my friends came over and helped loaded and soaked up every second with me that they could. It was Nell, Erin, and Alyssa.
Megan, Maddie, and Sophie couldn't come.
I remember exactly which ones came over and which ones said that they couldn't come, and I cried and cried over them, thinking how I didn't know when I would see them next.
I remember enjoying every second with my friends, even ignoring the prolonging sadness that sat behind us.
We tried to pretend it wasn't there, but it was and we couldn't deny it in the end.
They gave me a scrapbook of so many pictures of me and them. Also, each one wrote a little note or a song or a poem or drew a picture for me. I remember sitting around in my empty living room going through it, page by page, reading every little thing, and the tears that were free falling across everyone's faces.

I remember we were taking a break and sitting on the sidewalk eating pizza and drinking pop.
We saw a spider.
We freaked out.
Erin poured 7-Up, Coke, and water on it, but it would not die!!!
Eventually, we lost track of it and went back inside.

Later that night, all of my friends left except for Nell. It was planned for her to stay with me and spend the night for what we knew would be our last sleepover in a long long time.
We stayed up so so late, long past the rest of my family.
In fact, I remember when we were just starting to settle down on my floor in our sleeping bags. I had my ipod plugged into my dock, and I had just set it onto a slow acoustic song to get us tired and go to sleep.
Something on my wall caught my eyes, and my head jerked up.

It was a spider.
On my wall.

For those of you who know me, I don't do well (at all) with spiders.

I stared at it wide eyes for a few seconds (even though it felt so much longer than that).
I screamed and jumped out of the room and to the bathroom and grabbed some toilet paper to kill the thing (yes, I was being very very brave, I know.)

As I tried to catch it, I tripped over the cord for my ipod dock. It tipped over, my ipod fell out, causing it so shuffle, and it started blasting a song.
Smooth, I know.

My mom showed up at my door and half asleep she asked what was going on.
I tried to explain to her that we had just settled down to sleep with an acoustic song on, when I saw a spider.
She only told us to go to sleep.

We laid there in the dark for quite some time, cracking up about what had just happened.
She later told me that she had thought my loft bed (which had not been taken out of my room yet) was about to fall or there was a giant crack in my wall or something. That's how much I freaked her out over that spider.

What was it with us and spiders?

I remember the next day, June 23rd.
I woke up with Nell the next morning on the floor of my almost empty room. And besides a closet full of clothes, a suitcase, my guitar, my loft, and the scrapbook, it was empty.
Jessica came over and helped move some more into the truck. So did some of my mom's friends.
I remember we would just sit on the back of the truck when we weren't doing anything, and we would take pictures or talk about the guy that was walking down the street.
I remember when Jessica had to leave first.
It was so hard. Just like it was saying goodbye to Erin and Alyssa the day before.

I kept telling her, it's not goodbye, it’s not goodbye.

I hate that word.
Goodbye.
Just say "See you soon," or "See ya!" or something like that.
That's what I always do now, and personally, I think it’s a good habit to be in.
I just hate the word goodbye.

But anyway, finally her mom pulled us apart and said, "It's not gonna get any easier. We should go."
And I remember that moment so clearly in my brain.
It's etched in there pretty good.
The words.
The surrounding.
The people.
The pain.

What surprised me though... I didn't cry. Not once did I shed a tear. It hurt so badly, but I didn't cry. Despite being the crier that I am.

Then it was just me and Nell. There was nothing left to do though. We had put all my stuff in the truck, even my loft. All that was left in my room was my guitar and my suitcase I finally packed, and my ipod with the dock.
That's all we did for the longest time. Sat around and listened to Taylor Swift while I played along a little bit.

All of the sudden Erin and Alyssa burst into my room to say their final goodbyes. They were heading off to the Greene and stopped by on their way over. There were so many tears, but still, none by me.
The pain still hurt so bad.

The very last one to leave was Nell. Her brother came and picked her up, and I remember walking her out to her car. We gave one final big hug and almost didn't let go. It was too hard.
But she got into the car and they drove off.

I started to walk back up to the house, calmly and secure.
But that didn't last long. I ended up running up the sidewalk so I could get into the house and into my room before the tears began to waterfall.

It was as if I could hold all my tears, until the last friend was gone.
And it really did feel as if they were gone.
As if I would never ever see them again.

I sat there in a corner in my empty room and wrote and wrote and wrote in my journal. I listened to my ipod, even though all it did was torture me, with songs like When She Cries and Don't Forget to Remember Me and I Will Always Return and Just Cry.
Songs like that.
Song after song after song.
I remember crying in there and writing and texting my friends... and everything was echoing and it was driving me insane. I was in my room. In my home. A home wasn't supposed to echo, to feel so empty.
It was one of the worst nights of my life.

After what felt like an eternity later, even though it was only a few hours, we finally settled down for the night.
Even though I was far from settled.
I was in my room, sleeping on the ground.
In a sleeping bag.

In a sleeping bag!!!!

It just wasn't right!
To be in my own house... in a sleeping bag. No bed, nothing.

I listened to my ipod and I can still remember what songs I was listening to.
I listened over and over to a band called Heartsong. The most played song was Give Me a Love.
I cried and cried and cried, for so many reasons.
One of the reasons was that I was listening to Heartsong, and I would never see them again and that I would be missing Cedarville  in 2012. It hurt so bad.
All the other reasons... well I think it’s kinda obvious.
The next morning I would be getting in the car and driving to Virginia.

Sure enough, June 24th, we did just that. It seemed like I sat in my room forever, though, just waiting to get it over with and just to leave if it was absolutely  no option to stay. Which it wasn't.
My cat, Torrie, was in her little carrier and was sat on my lap as we drove away and got the last glimpse of our Ohio home.
We had to take Torrie to a shelter, since no one wanted to adopt her that we knew, and we couldn't take her with us.
That was another reason for more tears.

I remember we were driving to the shelter where Nell volunteers at, and all the while I was texting her to take care of my baby, since she would be seeing her every now and then.

But then something amazing happened.

Well, we got there and there was a sign on the door to not bring in animals until you signed them in and paid at the front desk. So me and my brother stood outside with my cat in her carrier while mom and dad did that. While we were standing there, a guy walked out of the shelter doors and turned and looked at us.
"You givin' that cat up?" he asked.
I nodded.
He looked in her cage. "You wanna make sure she gets a good home?"
I nodded again.
He said, "I'll take her."
My parents walked out then and they talked it over for a second.
But get this- the guy had a buffalo bills shirt on and a navy hat on. So he's from Buffalo and he is in the navy and he used to be in the air force. So we let him have our precious cat.
He took my mom's phone number and promised to give updates and pictures and whatnot from time to time, and so far has been doing just that. :)

It was a gift from God, that man, and I know that. I told all my friends, and all was well.

Then, we stopped at Panera and had something to eat before starting our long journey to Virginia.
It was me and my dad in his car, and my brother and my mom in her car.
It was honestly the longest car ride of my life.

I remember we drove past some guys from my school, including one my friend had the biggest crush on.
I cried because there would be no more talking and joking and 'stalking' him anymore.
I remember we drove past our bus route and a pond where we had seen some hilarious ducks (you had to be there- it’s not even funny when I try to explain).
I cried because there would be no more laughing at the ducks.
I remember we drove past the Greene.
I cried because there would be no more good times there.
I remember when we started driving out of familiar territory.
I cried because that would be becoming the norm for us.

June 24th, 2011 was probably the worst day of my life.
The pain hurt so bad.
I was leaving the only life I had ever known behind.
I was leaving into a life that I knew nothing about. I knew absolutely nothing about what was ahead.
I just had to trust that it was in God's hands. And even that became a real struggle for me.
It was too hard, and there were way too many times where I felt like I just couldn't handle it anymore.

But since then, as much as I would have hated to admit it, I've been meeting people, making friends, and making myself a life right here in Virginia.
It took me forever, and unfortunately I had to learn it the hard way, but you know what I realized?

That it's not over.
That God was always with me, and He always will be with me.
Incredible, huh?
That the maker of the universe will never leave any of us.

Leaving Ohio is still a painful subject for me, but I've been growing to Virginia a whole lot lately, too.
There's still healing to have, but God is working on that in me as I type this.

Thank you Lord for everything You have done for me.
You are always there, and I know. It took me forever to learn, but I got it now.
I love You.
Thank You so much.

Thanks for reading. :) I know it was long haha. I pasted it into a Word document for spell check.... and this was over 6 pages. And I had deleted half of it already to write in another entry later on because I decided this was getting way too long.
Thanks so much. :)


Love,
Bridget Colleen <3

day 3 :)

So I just said on my last post that I was going to do two days of my challenge thing, and then I never did the third day. So here we go! :)

Day 3 – your favorite television program

T.V.? Honestly, to tell the complete total truth, I don't watch a lot of T.V.

Sometimes if I'm bored to tears I will turn it on and just watch whatever comes up. But for most cases, I just find something better to do with my time.

Now this doesn't mean that there are not any shows that I keep up with.

For the most part, I watch American Idol and America's Got Talent and some of the other singing shows. And even though it's not really on anymore and they stopped making new ones, I still watch Monk whenever it happens to come on.

Oh, and, of course, I do regularly watch NCIS and NCIS LA.

I love crime shows like that, even though I do have a weak stomach. When it comes to the blood and gore and when the doctor is digging through the dead body, I always turn my head. I get insanely grossed out by that sort of thing, even thought I love the rest of the show. It's just those little parts that I can't watch.

I don't know why I'm like that. I get so shaky and almost faint when it comes to things like blood or needles.

The other day, they were doing a blood drive at my school, during the school day. It was in the auditorium, on the stage, so I figured I wouldn't have anything to do with it, and all would be okay.

Little did I know.
I was walking to band class, but we all soon figured out that there were SOL retakes in the room right across from the band room. In other words, we weren't allowed to go into that hallway, let alone go into the band room and play our insturments. As a wonderful solution, our teacher told us to go into the auditorium and sit around in there for the whole period.
Does anyone else see my delima???
It was awful. I couldn't look at the stage. I made the mistake of accidently taking a peek once.... and it was a good thing I was already sitting down, let me tell you.

Well, anyways. I have absolutely no idea what that has to do with my favorite TV shows.
Thats just the effect of me talking my brain.

That's all for now, thanks! :)

more favorites :)

Okay, I know I haven't written in like a whole month. So today I'm going to knock out two days of my blog challenge thing.

Day 2 – your favorite movie

Favorite movie.
Hmm. that's another hard one.

I don't really watch very many of those. But maybe I'll try to think up something.

Hmmm....

I can't decide.
I like too many of the ones that I've seen.

Well, I love all the old kid movies like Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc, and Spirit. I've seen al three of those so many times that I wouldn't be able to count them.

Then, of course, I have a thing for romantic comedies or the sappy love stories like The Last Song and  Letters to Julliet.

There are so many more but I can't think of any right this minute to write. I love all kinds of movies :)

What are your favorite movies?

I just texted a few of my friends to take a poll about what theirs are.
Here are my responses:

Friend numbero uno: A Walk to Remember

Friend numero dos: Monte Carlo

Friend numero tres: The Princess Bride tied with Forrest Gump

Friend numero cuatro:

Well there you go! :)