"Take My Life" - message written by Devin

"Take my life, Take my mind,
Take my soul, Take my will,
I am yours now, and I give it all to You"
(Take My Life - Jeremy Camp)

So simple of words. So easily said. So hard to truly do.

How often do we want this? How often do we tell God that we are ready to give it all up? How often are we truly ready?

We sing this song time after time after time. Sometimes we sing just to sing. Sometimes we mean it. But how do we truly mean it? We long for it...yes. But we know it is so hard to truly give up something. We're human...we LOVE control...heck we long for it. We set our whole lives up in order to obtain control of something. But to not only say, but to take the action of giving up TOTAL control in and of our lives by faith... wow.

We all have our little secrets. Things we don't show the rest of the world. But that doesn't mean they're not there. God knows it. ,God knows us. These secrets... we hate them from the bottom of our hearts and our souls... we want them gone because we know they are wrong.. but we will grasp onto them for dear life when they may be taken away. We don't have the will power to give them up. But we need to. Not only for our sake, but by holding onto these things we are giving the devil a foothold and not bringing glory to God.

And there is our answer. God. Only with God can we give these things up. We cannot want to give them up to better ourselves for our own selfish reasons, but only in the realization that this is not bringing glory to God and is in fact bringing poisonous sin upon our lives that gets stronger every day that we are reluctant to release our secrets. Our lives. Our everything.

We need Him. He does not need us. By giving up our lives to him and letting down our guard in order to let Him come into our lives and make a difference, we are as good as dead.

Take my life. It was never our own to begin with. He gave it to us. He gave us the free will to do what we want, thus causing the problems we see in our personal lives and in our society. We can only help ourselves by offering our life to him.

Take my mind. The mind is always flooded with thoughts and images from our environment urging us to sin. We offer our mind up...we offer our sin up. We can be graced to know and embrace the Truth and the peace that comes with it

Take my soul, take my will. Lord save us, save our souls from the eternal hell we are sentenced to because of our sin that only accepting your son, Jesus, can wash away from us. Lord take our will, we are not strong enough on our own...only your strength and grace can lead us the right way and glorify You.

We are yours now. We have always been yours. We will be yours forever.

We give it up to you.

(posted with Devin's permission... he says "I wrote it to be read"...)

Good Advice For All Hubbies To Follow...

And The Wait Continues...

Look at this sweet face... so full of smiles! Little does she know how worried she has her parents right now!!!

We took her to her appointment this morning. We didn't get the resolution we had hoped for... instead we learned we will have to wait some more.

The good news... the nodules don't appear to be growing. They are posterior to where the cervical lymph nodes (located in the rear part of the neck on each side). It is possible that her lymph nodes simply lay slightly farther back than most. That then raises the question of 'why are they so large, and why haven't they started to get smaller yet?'.

But new problem #2 has them thrown...

We learned today that her white blood cell count is too low. Pediatric normal range is 5.0 to 10.0. Above 10 indicates infection is present in the body. Below 5.0 can mean many things... but above all it means that she is at greater risk of infection and her white blood cells aren't producing the way they should. It can also be auto-immune related... hmmm... I've heard that word before with her big brother Chase and all his stuff!

The doctors decided that they will do no biopsy, removal, or anything of the such until she's seen by a hematology. I'm sure I turned 10 shades of gray when they said that word... 'hematology'.... just sounds scary! They did reassure me that hematology is the best place for her to go to be properly diagnosed. They treat blood related illnesses as well as lymph related illnesses, and that yes, they can be related.

Another plus... we were told again today that they still feel it is "more than likely benign despite the low blood count." That's what we're holding on to!

So, we are now waiting for her referral to hematology to find out what's next.

I May Need a New Place to Stay...

Paige has, again, been begging for a haircut. It's been about a year, and her hair was clear down her back again! While Daddy was busy outside, Mommy got out the scissors and she went from this...

To this...

She wanted it not only cut short, but with bangs!! So - I did my best at giving her just a few. I think it turned out super cute! Especially after her bath & having it dried when you could really see how grown up it makes her look!

So... Daddy handled it fairly well... he did agree to let me stay!

Splish Splash'n Around...

So what do you do when it's 90 degrees and the compressor goes out on the central air unit? You go and buy the kids a pool!

Paige and Chase were super excited... So was Andy! As we started the water he just stood there... waiting to see if we'd look away so he could jump right in! He was too funny licking it and watching it fill!

Once it was all set up and had water going this afternoon, Paige got right in! First thing out of her mouth... "ok, this is really really cold!". Bet it beats 90 degree heat though! Chase was in and out a few times, but not long enough for a picture!

The air compressor will be replaced by the end of the week... The rest of us will just have to sit near them and be splashed to cool off!

Small Group Fellowship Day...

A small group fellowship cookout was a great way to end the winter small-group Bible study. The Lester's (our leaders) hosted. It was +90 degrees... but the kids didn't seem to mind! Lesters were prepared with a triple slip & slide, a whale pool, and another small pool! Fun stuff watching them play all day!

Thank you Sara & Moose!!!

Quick Trip To Winnemucca...

According to our bank account, Mike made a quick trip to the Valu-Inn Motel in Winnemucca, NV yesterday afternoon... a small gambling town known for it's BROTHELS!!

Oh... and the accomodations at the Valu-Inn Motel... well...here's a few reviews I found on Hotel Guide's website:

"Waaay Bad"
"Horrible Experience"
"No Good"

Fortunately for Mike he has a fool-proof alibi... ME! He was with me yesterday afternoon... right here in Lewisville, NC...

After a few phone calls to the bank the charges are being reversed. They've cancelled Mike's visa debit card and will reissue him a new one in the next 7-10 days and until then it's an all cash operation in the Lyons household.

We were lucky... we check our online bank statements daily so we caught it right away. The lady at the bank told us that this is becoming more and more common and many people would avoid thousands of lost dollars if they'd do what we did.

So... go check your accounts and make sure you didn't accompany Mike in Nevada!

Kayleigh's Stage Debut...

Mike and I attended Reagan High School's very first ever musical, Babes in Arms tonight.... Kayleigh played "Darla"... an apprentice. It was fun to watch her on stage!! Here's a short video clip of her dancing... she's in the coral colored shirt.

Enjoy!

Some Lab Results Are In...

Just a quick note... Paige's doctor called early this morning to tell us her white blood cell count is normal. This is good in the manner that it means that the nodules are not infection and she has no signs of having infection in her body. On the flip side, it also means that they don't know what they are and that the nodules will need come out. We have our first consult with the pediatric surgeon on April 28th at 9:45am.

Our Little Gymnast!

With the craziness of today we needed something fun! Paige LOVES her gymnastics class on Monday nights! She's getting pretty strong as is evidenced by her rope climbing tonight! Mr. Tom was quite pleased!! She worked so hard on it she rushed over to me saying "drink now please!". I think even SHE was shocked at how high she went!

A Quick Update...

We spent almost an hour and a half at the doctor's office with Paige! Thursday night, Mike and I noticed a knot on her neck. By Friday it was clear she had a few of them on the right side, then by last night we felt them on both sides. Today - the doctor's found 5 "nodules" on the right side of her neck, and 3 on the left. They are near her lymph system and are all abnormally large. A few of them are QUITE large (one was 2+ cm, another she felt was 1-2 cm).

There is no sign of infection anywhere that's obvious... no runny nose, no fluid in the ears, not coughing, nothing like that and she hasn't been sick in a month. Her being on Singulair for asthma already tells them it's not allergen related. And, there is no pain with the nodules. Dr. Marlette did a strep test in hopes that it would come back positive as a carrier or something like that... but no such luck. She felt that if it was a virus coming, we would have seen it start by now since the nodules were first spotted at the end of last week.

Dr. Marlette is concerned and as we expected, she is sending Paige for further evaluation. They drew a BUNCH of blood to get a good look at her WBCs as well as some other things that I didn't understand. They are referring her to a surgeon at Brenner's to take it from here and all her labs will be read by him. She wouldn't 'get into specifics but by the time we left 3 of the doctors there had been called in to look at her. Dr. Marlette did check all other lymph areas (arm pits, groin, etc.) and they are all clear. We are to check them nightly and call with any changes.

That's really all we know right now.

Another Year Goes By...

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Six years ago today I lost my best friend, my teacher, my hero.... my Mom. Not a day goes by that I don't think about her, not a week goes by that I don't shed a tear at least once, not a month goes by that I don't pick up the phone to call her at least once. I don't think it will ever change... I don't think it SHOULD ever change.

Mom, you are forever loved and missed by all of us and we will meet again in the glorious Heavens.

Please Say a Prayer

We really don't want to post too many details. But - if you would please, say a prayer for Paige. She will be seeing her doctor in the morning and we are expecting some further evaluation and testing to be done over the coming days before we get any answers.

As always, Mike is my rock and says "it'll all be fine...". I am always the worry wart and then the big-bad internet really makes it worse.

Thank you!

Happy Easter!

What a great Easter Sunday!

Devin got up and attended the 6am Sunrise Service at Potter's House in Winston-Salem today!! He said it was great and plans to go next year as well. From there, he met us at ROCC for 9am Easter Service: He Is Risen Indeed.

After church, the Hobecks joined us at our house for an Easter cook-out and egg hunt for the kids. Mr. Easter Bunny hid 43 eggs in our backyard while we were at church today... we still have 3 to find!!! What a sneaky bunny he is! Paige, Chase, Jake, and Juli spent over an hour hunting before giving up and heading to play.

We enjoyed a fabulous service followed by a fun afternoon of friends!

We miss our family and want to tell everyone we didn't get to see or talk to today - HAPPY EASTER!!!

A ROCC'in Egg Hunt!

Our church held an Easter Egg Hunt Saturday afternoon. It was a great opportunity to get Jake and Juli and out of the house while their parents got some things organized in the house, and our kids have been looking forward to it all week. So, off we went...

We started in the ROCC (River Oaks Community Church) Gym listening to fun praise music, while the high school youth hid all the eggs. Paige wasn't being too very patient... go figure!

The church drama ministry also did a short musical called "Charity Church Mouse" that they kids really enjoyed! After the end of the show, Paige got to talk to one of the "mice".

The kids all collected eggs and turned them in for goody bags at the end of the afternoon. Believe it or not, Paige ended up with one of the "prize" eggs and got a special treat... despite the look on her face! I was holding her up from hunting the eggs to get a picture, she was NONE too thrilled!

Kudos to Tiffany Singer and all the Youth Leaders at ROCC for organizing a fun afternoon!

The Hobecks Are Officially HERE!

On Thursday afternoon, this big ol' moving truck arrived carrying all of the Hobeck's belongings...


After 4 hours the truck was empty, but the house was jam packed with boxes and you could hardly walk through! I'm pretty sure this is supposed to be a dining room someday...


And the kitchen... well.... we hope it's functional soon because Jen LOVES to cook and bake!!!


But, the Hobecks are here, safe and sound. There's hours of work ahead of them to get organized and unpacked... but the smiles say it all!

We are so very grateful for the doors that have been opened for them and look forward to all that is to come their way!

Welcome to North Carolina Hobecks!

Photography By Kayleigh...

I wanted to share some of the photos Kayleigh has taken over the last few days... they are beautiful!!!

We're Still Here...

Really... we are still here! Been busy helping Jim and Jenni get moved. Lots to update you on, but it's late tonight! I promise I'll post lots tomorrow, with lots of pictures!

Happy Easter!

Do We Ever Get a Break!?!

Paige ran into the house this afternoon to get to the potty too quickly and hit her head on a shelf in our entry way. I cleaned it up good, saw that it was pretty deep, but thought I could get away with steri-strips... this is what it looked like after about 45 minutes STILL bleeding THROUGH the steri-strips:

So off we went to Urgent Care here in Winston. They were FABULOUS! Took her straight back (I think a 6 year old with a bloody head wound scared them). The doctor came in and had me nervous we were heading to the E.R. - as she started looking at it she said that they couldn't sedate her for stitches there, only numb her and because she was so upset they'd prefer we go there.

After getting it all cleaned up, they were able to GLUE it!! So cool! It really is like super glue and she should have less of a scar. She was NOT thrilled about the whole process though. Big sister Kayleigh tried to keep her smiling...


Some betadyne, a little bit of superglue, one big bandage and she was all set to go in less than 45 minutes! She's already back outside playing!

Photoshoot By Kayleigh...

Kayleigh had a fun afternoon taking snapshots of the backyard and of Chase & Paige. I wanted to share a few of my favorites...