A Plain, Old, Boring, Ordinary Update on Our Lives

The pediatrician called me on Thursday night to tell us that (you guessed it) Ashtyn is healthy. She doesn't have mono. She's never had mono. Her thyroid level is .42 (normal is .5), but that is not low enough to require medication. Her blood count is normal. He doesn't think her symptoms warrant a visit to the neurologist or the rheumatologist. She must have a virus.

Shocker.

In the meantime, Ashtyn is still wiped out. The nausea seems to have passed, but she is tired all. the. time. She is frustrated and sick and tired and just not herself. And there's not one darn thing we can do about it.

And then my sister lovingly reminded me that miracles happen and we should hold a family fast. We did that today, and we ended our fast at 5:00 p.m. with many of Spencer's family here at our home. I made a couple of large pots of soup. We prayed to end our fast, and then just enjoyed each other and the food.

All of that said (and not to minimize our frustration and Ashtyn's illness)... The son of one of the ladies Briana and I visit teach took his own life on Thursday night. I called and left a love message on Friday. Then on Saturday morning Bri and I went to their home. We laughed a little, shed many tears, shared lots of hugs, and tried to figure out what we might be able to do to help. Geri's wonderful friends have taken beautiful care of them--she and Ray are incredibly blessed to be surrounded by people who love them. But they did let us do a little shopping for them (they needed a mattress pad) and we took dinner in tonight.

Ray and Geri were Landon's Primary teachers two years ago, and they both have a real soft spot for him. So he went with me and Briana to take their dinner tonight. Ray was adorable as he shared his love for Landon TO Landon. And he reminded Landon that he should never do anything without thinking about whether Jesus would do that. Landon shed some tears and shared some hugs.

Breezy and I also went visiting teaching this morning. One of our other sisters had a brother who took his own life when he was a teenager, and her feelings right now are very tender. Don't worry. I cried with her, too.

On a very happy note, we attended Sunday services in our former ward in Magna today. Immediately after the block of meetings, Lucas was ordained a deacon. It is a sweet experience to have friends who--in spite of not seeing one another for weeks or months at a time--are simply part of our family. They participated in our fast with us. We were unable to stay for their family meal, and they were unable to come for our family meal. But we are going to get together next week to break our fast (next Sunday is fast Sunday because the following week is General Conference).

It was fun to be in the 5th ward today. We were greeted warmly by many sweet friends there. There is a woman there who is a very different lady. I was her visiting teacher for a while, and she always throws her arms around me for a hug. There is another woman who has just become active (with her family) in the past few years; but when I lived there we were visiting teaching companions. Today she recognized me, and we had a sweet conversation about the changes in their lives and ours. We feel incredibly loved, of course, by the Bezzants. The Hulls, the Tarrants, the Maughans, the Burbidges, and many, many others acted so very happy to see us.

Emily, we saw Cameron's fiancee--she's lovely! We're very happy for them.

We had a TON of taco soup left over tonight, so we took some to our neighbors. As we walked out of their home, we were met from the north by the Voglers walking their two dogs and from the south by the Ulches walking their two dogs. Bella was whining from our living room window--"No fair!" (Yes, I speak Bella.) Spencer asked Bob to help him give Ash a blessing, so he came right in. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful friends!

Spencer and I played a few rounds of Clue with our boys. I read that my friends, Scott and Lorisa, are expecting.

Also, I got a massage from Briana at Eagle Gate's clinic on Friday night. It was fantastic! I highly recommend that you get a massage. It is a little piece of heaven. It's good for your body. It's good for your mind. It's good for your spirit. It makes it possible to face another day.

Here comes another day!