The House of 1000 Plagues

This is the term our dear friend, Mark Fenton, recently coined for the Lewis home. Why, you ask? Let me throw out a few stats for you...6 trips to the doctor, 4 trips to the pharmacy, 7 prescriptions, and countless tears from sick little children. Are these numbers from all of 2008 so far? No, no...they are from the past two weeks!! The Lewis's are not big "medicine-takers", but this week, all five of us have been on antibiotics for one or more of the following: strep throat, single ear infection, bilateral ear infections, and an eye infection. Let me add to that that Jack has the flu, and Abigail recently recovered from pneumonia!! Would anyone like to come over for a visit?!? :-)

This has been a rough road for our family, but there have definitely been some highlights. One of the things I have enjoyed most recently has come during the middle of many sleep-deprived nights...it has been so sweet to hold each of our children during the quiet of the night and pray for them. I have thanked God countless times for the blessing each of them is to us as I have prayed for His protection and healing of their little bodies. What a special time! And since we haven't been allowed to enter civilization with the rest of Birmingham, we have been forced to look for creative ways to keep each other entertained. We had a blast over the weekend walking through the homes being built in a new neighborhood near our house. Abigail always asks to ride through and look at the new houses, so she thought it was a big treat to get to go inside several of them. (On a side note, if anyone wants to contribute $400,000 to the "Help-the-Lewis-Family-Buy-One-of-These-Houses" Fund, please contact me immediately!) Another fun activity we did was going through a drive-thru and picking up dinner for a picnic at the park. Of course, we had told Abigail and Jack that they weren't going to be able to play on the playground because they "had germs", and all was well until we drove up and two of Abigail's favorite little buddies were there playing on the slides. EEK! She was a trooper, though, and we enjoyed some family time away from all the other people...far away from the other people...very, very far away from the other people!

I hope that each of you is doing well (or at least better than us!) I'm attaching a few pictures from a recent "vintage shoot" I did with Jack. Enjoy!

Happy Easter!!

How do you explain the concept of Jesus' death and resurrection to a three-year-old? That was the question Josh and I were faced with as we celebrated Easter this weekend. We began by reminding Abigail what Christmas was all about...it was the day that Baby Jesus was born. Then the conversation went a little like this:

Mommy: "Easter is a fun time to get dressed up, hide and hunt eggs, and eat a little candy (emphasis on "little"!), but more importantly, Jesus died and Easter is the day that He came alive again."

Abigail: "Why?" (that was a shocker!)

Mommy: "Jesus came alive again because God told him to." (I know, I know...but it was the best I could do.)

Abigail: "Well, I hope he obeyed the first time!"

Can you tell what we're working on at our house? :-)

My new toy

Josh gathered several family members together to pitch in for my 30th birthday gift in October. I was beyond ecstatic when I opened my surprise and saw a new digital camera that I had been eyeing for ages now!! I had a perfectly good "point-and-shoot" digital camera (and by perfectly good, I mean a couple of the buttons had fallen off, and the battery compartment was duct-taped shut!) I was so excited to take a few steps up in the world of cameras!!

I have always dabbled a little in photography, and when I got the new camera, I thought this would be the perfect time to actually try to do something with it. I LOVE taking pictures of babies, children, and families, but because I'm always behind the camera, I don't usually make the shot. Mommy gets left out!! So one day during Jack and Abby's nap, I set up a makeshift studio and started to work. I absolutely adore the infant stage of having children, so I wanted to capture Isabel on film before that stage was gone. Here are a few of my favorites...

The Jack Attack

I've come to find that there are certain times in our lives when we realize exactly what we've got going for us. I had one of those moments this past week. Jack (not quite talking yet) came to me while holding this pink guitar, held it up, and said, "Uh!" For those of you not up to speed on Jackanese, that clearly translates to, "Dad, help me make this thing rock!" What could I possibly say when my boy came to me with such a request other than, "Dude, you're on...you take lead and I'll rock the air drums!!!" And so there he was realizing the greatness that comes from owning a stage and realizing a dream. This is just the beginning, folks. Jack came to play, and he brought his big sister's killer pink guitar to the party!

It's a girl!!!

Isabel Mary Lewis arrived on Tuesday morning, January 8. After a surprisingly long labor, Isabel was born at 12:39 am weighing 8 pounds, 3 ounces, and she was 20 inches long. Her bilirubin was a little high when we left the hospital, and she ended up having to go on the bili-bed the day after we arrived home. She stayed on just short of 48 hours and has been the picture of health ever since. We are so thankful for our new gift from God!!


One of the most common questions we got prior to Isabel's arrival was "How do you think Abigail and Jack will respond?" Assuming she would do at least as well as she did when Jack was born, we weren't worried about Abigail at all. She is incredibly loving and nurturing, so we haven't been at all surprised at how well she has done with a new baby sister. She absolutely adores holding and "petting" Isabel, and it really brings tears to my eyes to see the relationship forming between them.



Now we expected quite a different reaction from Jack! Considering he is still very much a baby (he's only 15 months old), we were fully prepared for some jealousy and difficult times when his new baby came home. It is a tremendous blessing to say, though, that we couldn't have been more wrong!!! Jack isn't always what I would call "gentle", but he is definitely loving and affectionate towards Isabel. He constantly comes up to her and lays his head against her (that's a hug) or puts a big open mouth against her head or face (that's a kiss). My heart is overjoyed to watch these three precious children develop loving relationships with each other!!

We're still here...

I know, I know...it's been weeks since we posted anything on here. For those of you that we've talked to recently, you already know why that is. For everyone else, here's a brief rundown. These past few weeks have been a terribly trying time for the Lewis family. We thank God that there have been no major tragedies to deal with, but we have been faced with what seems like countless "bumps in the road" that have kept us busy, weary and in debt to the medical community (both in gratitude and in finances)! We have had several trips to the ER (Abigail made her first trip the night before her 3rd birthday party), but Jack started much earlier and has already outnumbered his sister's visits! We have battled severe croup, fevers of 105 degrees, gaping facial wounds, and various other illnesses and conditions. Josh has struggled with decisions related to his career, and I have struggled with the seemingly 50-pound "basketball" that is my tummy and the intense bouts of insomnia that have accompanied it. We have prayed diligently for healing, protection, and rest, and I am thrilled to say that things seem to be taking a turn in the right direction. Today is the first day in weeks and weeks (literally!) that every member of our family is healthy and rested. What a blessing! Because I am so far behind on updating the blog, I'm going to do one big "picture-fest" of some of the happy events that have been going on recently. I hope you enjoy!

Trick-or-Treat!!

Last night we had several friends from church over for a little Halloween party. We ate pizza then headed outside (there were people EVERYWHERE!) to let the kids visit some of our neighbors for candy. Abigail didn't get it at first, but by the time we hit our third or fourth house, she was a pro at saying "Trick or Treat," thanking them for the candy, and then running towards us squealing about her new candy. She always has fun when she's with her buddies, but last night had a little extra kick to it...I think it was the sugar!! Jack wasn't quite as thrilled with the whole ordeal, though, because at his one-year checkup yesterday morning, the pediatrician told me he had a raging ear infection. Who knew?!? He's on a 10-day round of antibiotics, so he'll be back in the saddle soon.