Please read, I know it's long but please read this.

Okay, this is going to be a serious one, but we just felt that right now we really need our families prayers.

As you all know, Clay has been struggling with a horrible joint disorder for a few years now. He is in pain all the time and his doctor has resorted to just rotating through medications to make him feel better, and hasn't really kept trying to find out what exactly this problem is. Clay started some new medications, causing him to take a paticular medication he'd previously been taking, that can cause internal bleeding, at night. We weren't aware that he wasn't supposed to take this pill at night before bed, and therefore, his started bleeding internally. He has been seeing BYU-Idaho doctors which he hadn't been seeing before, and have been a little encouraged by their enthusiasm. First of all, he has been seeing them because his stomach has been in horrendous pain. They realized TODAY that he has an ulcer. It isn't anything too serious though, he will heal soon enough, but he will still be in pain for a few days. Anyway, the doctors mentioned a doctor who does newer technological tests at the University of Washington, and how they've referred students there before. They told us to seriously think about it. Well, we are seriously thinking about it! I am kind of going all over the place here, sorry- he's just been seeing the doctor a lot lately. So anyway, Sunday, before we found out he had an ulcer, he couldn't go to church again because he was in so much pain so I asked our home teachers to come give him a blessing (I can't tell you what a testimony I have of visiting and home teachers right now) and they did, and it was interesting because it wasn't so much a temporal blessing of comfort as we expected, it was more of a blessing that Clay's physicians would be guided and have the Lord's help when seeing him and things like that.

WELL- an odd thing happened just hours later. This same night. Clay's Mission President from New Jersey called. They caught up on some things, and while they were talking he asked Clay how his joints were doing. He told him what was going on and then he asked, "Have they tested you for lyme disease?" Clay wasn't sure, but assumed they had because it seems like he's been tested for everything. WELL, today at the doctor he mentioned it and they said that he better call his past doctors. He called his past doctors and NO he hasn't been tested for lyme disease. The thing about lyme disease is we read about it, feel free to look it up online- all these symptoms, Clay has had. It said that in the early stages, specific joints inflame. This happened. Later stages, it can cause abnormalities in joints, nerves, and more. It can cause people to think they have rheumitoid arthritis. All of these things are what it seems like Clay has, but he doesn't. Well- basically he got tested for it but we wont get the results back for a WEEK. Ugh. It is one of those things where we don't want to get our hopes up, but it is so hard because all the symptoms point to him possibly having that, and it is curable. Isn't it a little silly that we are basically praying that Clay has Lyme Disease? Well...it would be a blessing in our eyes.

So all in all, we have been going through many emotional, and severe physical on Clay's part, issues this past month. We aren't asking for your sympathies, even though I know we will get them, we are asking for your thoughts and prayers. I know it is probably bad to ask heavenly father specifically that it be lyme disease, so I wont ask you to do that, but please just pray that our doctors will be guided, that we will be comforted, and that all will happen as it should. Even if the test comes back and he doesn't have it, he is in a lot of pain at the moment and we are really thinking a lot more proactively lately with this and could really use our family and friends support and prayers.

I love you all so much!!! Thank you for all that you do for us and for all the love we know we have from all of you.