The motorcycle accident was just the beginning of the craziness that hit us in 2010. In June just shortly after my mom had healed from her accident Josh started having some issues and so we scheduled him a doctors appointment. Upon is examination at the doctors office they felt best for Josh to get a CT scan. The CT Scan show possible cancer in his right testicle. They scheduled him the next day to surgery. Upon removal the said it was cancer, but felt they had got it all. They wanted to do a scan and make sure it had not traveled any where else in his body. I can not remember exactly which testicular cancer Josh had, but I do remember that it is not the same one that Lance Armstrong had. After the scan they told Josh that they had gotten all of the cancer, but the type that he had required a major surgery and only a few hospitals preformed this RPLND. MD Anderson was one of the few hospitals and so they referred him there. It was a month later when he had his first appointment at MD Anderson. They did scans from head to toe just to make sure the cancer hadn’t spread before they did the surgery. After the scans it was determined that he had stage 3 cancer; it had travel through the lymph nods to his abdomen and lungs. We were in total shock. We went to MD Anderson thinking Josh would have the surgery and then a month or so later he would be 100 percent again. Well Josh ended up having several rounds of chemotherapy. We would go to the hospital and stay for 4 days while the administered chemo and then we would get to return home for a week. I believe he had to have six rounds of chemo. After the first round they did scans again and saw that it was shrinking in the lungs. We were so excited and hopeful. There were so many adventures during Josh’s chemo treatments. One time he got really sick after and had to be put in the hospital to bring his counts back up. I remember when he started loosing his hair; he shaved his head at the time so he wasn’t worried about that, but he was really sad when he noticed his facial hair falling out. Josh never had the nausea problems, but he did not have much of an appetite. He said the only thing that really tasted good was fruit. After the chemo treatments were complete Josh had the RPLND. For those that don’t know what that is they cut from his belly button to his chest, and removed all of the lymph nods that way it could not come back or if it did it couldn’t travel anywhere else. Not to long after the surgery Josh got really sick and we ended up in the hospital at MD Anderson for a few weeks. We spent valentines day there, and he was miserable to whole time. I felt so bad for him, and so helpless. Since the surgery and after all the healing and illness Josh has been good to go. They told us that between the cancer and surgeries we would not be able to have anymore children. God had another plan!! Everything they said would make it to where we couldn’t happened after his surgery and so we had came to terms with it, plus we had two beautiful girls, so we were okay with not being able to have more. After we joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints everything changed. We literally saw everything reverse and then we were blessed with Paislee. We’re so grateful that Heavenly Father had another plan.

To say 2010 was a eventful year for the Bridges/Hall family would be an understatement, but I believe everything can have a positive outcome if we allow. I don’t remember all the days and little details, but I know months and the changes that happened in our lives. At the end of May my parents decided to take their motorcycle to Louisiana for the day. I was at work, so they stopped by to visit with me before taking off. When I got off that night I got into my car and noticed my parents helmets in the back seat of my car. This was not normal; my mom is really stern on everyone wearing a helmet when riding, so why was she…also Louisiana has a helmet law. Anyways they went to Louisiana and didn’t have any problems. We received a call at midnight and I couldn’t find the phone…I remember looking everywhere for it and hearing on the answering machine as the paramedics said my parents had been in accident and they were taking them to St. Elizabeth. I heard my moms voice in the background telling the paramedic her name. I knew that she was okay, so I was freaking out about my dad. We got the girls together and rushed to the hospital. We beat them there and they told us that my parents were headed there my dad was coming by car. I was so confused how he was on a motorcycle…he didn’t have a car…where is my mom…who’s giving him a ride, so many things running through my head. I remember seeing my dads boots come through the door as the wheeled him in…all he kept saying is it’s bad your mom..it’s bad. I was freaking out. The nurses wouldn’t let me into my mom so the man driving the ambulance with my dad in it came and told me my mom had came via life flight and had suffered some major head trauma. The let us go in with my dad and we walked passed my moms room as we went to his. I wanted so bad to just go in there anyways. A few minutes later they let me and Josh go see her and then the girls. It was a pretty scary moment and she was hurting so bad. It took a few months to heal and she’s got some pretty wicked battle scars, but she’s walking and talking just fine. My dad had a pretty bad injury to his arm and I’m pretty sure suffered some internal injuries, but he’s doing great as well. Oh yeah…you’re probably wondering how they wrecked. They hit a deer going 65 mph. Split the deer right in half. We went to the wreck site the next day to try and find my dads phone, and found my moms hair cover and it was full of deer hair. We’re guessing that’s where the head trauma came from.

Where do I even start? When Josh and I first got married we lived in an apartment in Grape Creek Texas. Josh was at a tattoo shop, because he kind of had a thing for getting tattoos. That’s where he met some of our very best friends Steve and Jessie. We found a house in Grape Creek down the street from them and moved there. Things got rough and we were young and broke, so we moved back to the beach with Josh’s mom. We lived there for a while, and then moved to Midland Texas with my cousin Paul and Sandra. We lived with them for a while and then Josh got a job in the oil field so we went to Colorado City Texas. We lived there for short time, and then we ended up back in Grape Creek. We lived in Grape Creek for almost a year and got pregnant with our middle child. We moved back to midland with my awesome cousin Sandra. Guess Sandra and I had a hard time being away from one another. Harlee came and a few months later we moved to Beaumont to be near Josh’s mom. We got an apartment in Beaumont and live there for a few months, and then Josh’s dad called and offered Josh a job in North Carolina. I was not very excited to move to North Carolina, and so as part of my rebellion I made Josh pack and move us all on his own. My theory was that since he made the decision on his own he could move on his own. Guess I’m not always the nicest person…I’ll be sure to work on that. We lived in North Carolina for a while and them work took us to San Antonio Texas. We were in San Antonio for a short time and then found a house in Sequin. Then Josh got a job offer in the Beaumont area again so we moved to Lumberton. We lived in Lumberton with Josh’s mom until we found a house in Silsbee. You may laugh but I think the house in Silsbee is the longest we stayed in one place. We lived there for 4 years, and during that time my parents had a motorcycle accident and Josh battled testicular cancer. I’ll do a blog on those trials another day. We were just renting there, but found a house for sale in Vidor so we moved there. While in Vidor we met the missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and became members. That story for another day as well. We found out the person selling us the house was only renting it and couldn’t actually sell it, so we moved closer to the church and surrounded ourselves with members. Josh’s grandmother passed away and some of her land came up for sale in Evadale, so we bought 7 1/2 acres and here we are today. I love all of the traveling, but I’m totally okay with staying in one spot for a while. Moving is EXHAUSTING!! I will say though every moved has blessed our family in one way or another. Without moving to Vidor we would not have joined the church and would not have a wonderful little girl named Paislee today. I’m grateful for each experience and how it has molded us into the people we have become.

Where do I even begin?? Josh and I…in my personal opinion…have a wonderful love story. I met Josh when I was 19; we both moved to Gilchrist (Crystal Beach) at the same time. I moved in with my cousins and he moved in with his mom. Josh likes to say he went to the beach just looking to hook up and got hooked. I moved to the beach because I needed a change. I had just had Brilee she was around 6 months old when we met Josh. Brilee took to him automatically…kind of thought it would scare him away, but nope, he embraced it! Her first words were calling him dada just a few weeks; maybe even days after we met. Really thought that would do the relationship in, but he loved her from the day he laid eyes on her. She’s a pretty awesome kids, so I get it. I like to think he actually married me for Brilee and I was the bonus instead of her :). We moved to San Angelo a month after we started dating and got engaged 3 months after dating. We married just 4 months after dating!! Best decision of my life! Back to how we came to know one another. Josh had been working with my cousin Rory and they came into the restaurant where I was a waitress. Gilchrist is a small town and I worked at the restaurant/bar. Josh and Rory were the only ones in the restaurant and I had been up all night partying with Rory previously, so I laid down on the floor to take their order…Rory is my cousin, so it makes it alright….Right. Anyways Josh said from that moment he knew he wanted to know me better. When he showed up at me house I told him my cousin wasn’t there to which he replied well that’s okay because I’m looking for you. We were inseparable from that day forward. Okay, so maybe it’s not the most amazing love story, but it’s mine and so to me it is amazing. Stay tuned tomorrow for our journey after we got married.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton