Jillian Lacy, Morning Scripture Study

My goal for February was to revamp my scripture study. For several years, I have been listening to the scriptures with headphones in bed while I play a game on my phone.  I am sure some of you think that sounds bad, but it really worked for me.  I have always been a person who has to have 2 things going on at once or my mind wanders and I miss half of the info. At least that's how it was before this last year.  I am not sure what caused the change. Maybe my 4th kid or getting older, but I now find myself listening to an entire conference talk or several chapters of the scriptures and realizing that I didn't hear a single word. I have known that I needed to change my methods for awhile, but it is hard to break a habit.

I started the month getting up when my husband did and grabbing my scriptures and reading in bed while he got ready. I liked that I didn't have to get out of bed so it made it easier to not talk myself out of it.  Our kids were still in bed so it was distraction free and I felt like a got a lot out of reading.  I mostly read the Sunday school lesson for the week.  I tried to take it slow and really think about what I was reading.  It made a big difference.  I felt like a learned things from stories that I had heard a dozen times.

About half way through the month, my daughter got really ill and it kind of put scripture study on the back burner.  It shouldn't have, but it did.  Instead of giving up completely, I tried to modify my previous habit.  When I found myself in bed at night and realized that I hadn't read yet, I got out my phone and read the scriptures instead of listening.  I tried to make sure and ponder what I was reading.  It wasn't quite as good, but was still better than what I was doing previous to this challenge.  Overall, I think the goal was a success.  It wasn't what I was hoping for, but I did have to teach a lesson in Relief Society in February and I felt like it was one of my best lessons because each night I took the time to read and really ponder instead of just listening to the lesson over and over.

For the curious minds, I thought I would put up a description of what has been going on at our house. Feel free to skip if you don't care. :)  3 weeks ago, my oldest daughter Raylee was complaining that her feet really hurt.  We didn't think too much of it. We figured that she had jumped off of something on the playground and bruised her feet.  She started walking really funny the next day and then she complained that her knees were hurting as well. My husband looked her over and decided that her knees must hurt because she was walking so funny so we told her to try her best to walk normal.

The next day, Raylee played in her Jr. Jazz basketball game. She was a bit slower than normal, but she did pretty well.  When we came home, she was really sore but she could still walk.  It was a Saturday and my husband and I went out on a dinner date that night.  When we came home, Raylee was crying and said that she couldn't walk at all.  My husband looked her over and found that she had these red spots all over the back of her knees.  They looked like broken blood vessels.  It was really scary!

We took her to the instacare and they had no idea what was wrong with her.  The PA on duty was calling his friends and asking for advice.  One of his friends told him to swab her for strep.  Her throat didn't hurt, but he gave it a try.  The test came back positive for strep.  We thought it was weird, but we were grateful that there was an answer.  We got her some amoxicillin and took her home.

The whole week following the instacare was AWFUL!! Raylee couldn't walk. She couldn't keep down food. She woke up in the morning, came upstairs and sat on the couch and didn't move the entire day until it was time for bed.  She lost lots of weight and got super dehydrated.  By Friday, I was so fed up.  I had called her pediatrician several times, but he didn't seem to think it was a big deal.  We finally took her to Lakeview hospital.

Lakeview put an IV in and took lots of blood.  After tons of tests, they gave us a tenative diagnosis, but they were afraid to say it was actually that so they made us ride in an ambulance to Primary Children's hospital where we waited several hours to find out that yes, she did have what is called Henoch Schonlein Purpura. Basically, Raylee's body started to attack itself.  No one is sure why, but it typically happens after an illness like strep.  The symptoms include arthritis, leaky blood vessels, and swollen joints.  It is not fun!! The good news is that it will go away and she will make a full recovery. The bad news is that she has one of the more sever cases and so it will probably take at least 6 weeks for her to get better.

Yesterday marked 3 full weeks so hopefully, we are halfway there! She is still in a bit of pain and has tons of spots, but she did go to a full day of school today for the first time in 3 weeks.  Considering that up until today, she hasn't been able to walk more than 50 feet without stiffening up so bad that she has to be carried, that is a HUGE improvement!!!

Ankles toward the end of the day

Legs all the time

For a couple of days, the bridge of her nose
and eyes got really swollen.  It was so sad!

This is how swollen her ankles get at night.