Five Years Ago

I wish I could remember what I was doing on this day five years ago. Whatever I was doing, I was oblivious that my baby girl was being born in China. I was dreaming about her, praying for her, hoping for a phone call. But, on this particular day, my life was changed FOREVER and I had no idea. But Providence knew.

On most days, this whole scenario doesn't enter my mind. We're doing life: learning to read, putting puzzles together, laughing, crying, taking temperatures, snuggling, kissing, pouting, correcting, singing (to which she will say, "that's ok mom, can you just let daddy sing?"). She's my baby girl who's turning five. Its not until I get the question, "why doesn't she look like you?" that I'm reminded that I didn't actually give birth to her. From day to day, I'm not really thinking about where our journey began.

But on days like today, I just need to sit and think about that day. I wasn't there for her birth, but others were. If no one else, there was one Chinese woman there. May the grace of the Lord be with her on this day. We will never know all the details of that day and the days leading up to it, but what we do know is that Jesus was there, caring, protecting, carrying out His plan for the life of this precious child, our daughter. Reflecting on this day carries me to the Cross where we see the redemption of all things. Difficult, painful circumstances become beautiful, life changing gifts. I am humbled on this day.

Marc and I want to help Sophie view all of life through the lens of God's greater story of redemption. We are a part of that story, our beginnings, our endings. Our personal histories are important but not ultimate. The ultimate story is that God's people, his creation, were lost and He found us. We were hopelessly trying to do life our own way. God, compelled by love, pursued His people- His stubborn, prideful people. He redeemed us by His own blood. He gave us a new identity, a new life. And then ultimately, "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, 'Behold, I am making all things new.'"- Revelation 21:4-5

My Love Muffin, my Princess Buttercup, my Sunshine, my Sophie Mei, she's five today and I'm so thankful for her.

Princesses and Hovercrafts.

Wow, its 2011! That sounds so weird. When I was in high school, we just knew that we would be all be driving hovercrafts by now. Where's my hovercraft? Where's the robot that's supposed to be cleaning my house? What about my personal vending machine that will prepare and cook whatever I want? We may not have these things but we have some crazy phones and electronics. My friend sent us a kindle over Christmas- amazing gift!!! We can, from the other side of the world, order a book- just about any book- and it will download to this handheld device in a matter of minutes, any time of the day. I think she meant it for me, but since Marc reads about 3x's as much as me, its usually in his possession. :-) Technology is progressing, societies are changing, some for the better, some the worse. When my heart is tempted to get overwhelmed with the spiritual condition of those around me, the poverty, the pain, the enslavement, I have to discipline myself to look to the promises of the Lord. But what I KNOW is that "the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning, new every morning. Great is your faithfulness O Lord, Great is your faithfulness." The Lord is good and with every passing year, He draws us closer and closer to Himself. "He who began a good work will carry it out to completion." - Phil. 1:6



The last couple of months have flown by! We've celebrated Thanksgiving, lots of Christmas parties, my birthday, many spiritual births, Sophie's gotcha day, Christmas, Sophie's Princess birthday and now we're girding ourselves for another busy season. We've got lots coming up on the horizon: showers and parties to celebrate Blaa and Nai's wedding (more on that later), ministry parties, a three week training project for the students, the wedding, staff training- then before we know it, the school year begins again. Whew! Lord, help us to be on your agenda and not our own.

The new marriage of a Thai Christian couple is really a huge praise! Thailand is a spiritually dark place and when two of our student come to know Christ, continue to walk with Him to a place of maturity, fall in love, and marry one another to begin a Christian family- we CELEBRATE!!!! Blaa and Nai need to be bathed in prayer. The Evil One does not like the formation of a Christian family, because its powerful. Please pray for them. Also, its a little long, but please enjoy watching their fairy tale engagement........



Until the next time I blog...... whenever that may be....... the Lord be with you.

Daisy the Dog

We now have a dog. She has been a part of our family for apx. 2 months. We had talked about getting a dog for a while. Sophie has very high social needs and seeing that she doesn't have a little brother or sister yet, we figured a dog would be the next best thing. There is a sweet missionary family in the neighborhood whose teenage daughter was moving back to the US and they were looking for a home for her dog. It seemed to be a situation we couldn't pass up. First of all, she is adorable. Secondly, she was already partially trained and very well mannered- for the most part. Her biggest weakness is the burst of high energy she gets on the arrival of anyone through the front door. She is OBSESSED with toes. She bites, nibbles, licks, sniffs- while simultaneously jumping and running circles around your feet. The sight of fresh feet (meaning new feet, not clean feet- actually, I'm pretty sure she prefers dirty feet) acts like a visual amphetamine for her. I need to figure out how to take her through detox. I know there's probably a very easy way to train your dog, but I'm challenged when it comes to training. We're still working on going potty outside- all the time. Isn't this supposed to be relatively easy when working with an intelligent dog? I believe the experts, its normally a problem with the trainer, not the trainee. I need someone to train me on how to train.

Nevertheless, we really do love her. I secretly love the fact that she usually follows me wherever I go. When I'm cooking, she always gets snuggled up in the corner beside the oven, right by my feet. When I'm having a quiet time on the couch, there she is, right at my feet. I'm trying to ignore the fact that if she doesn't get a bath every other day, then I'm constantly sneezing and my eyes are bloodshot. This too shall pass- or not.

Sophie does well, but she can't handle Daisy first thing in the morning. Sophie always stops on the second from the last step and calls me to come and get her. Daisy is especially excited to see Sophie in the morning, but Sophie needs to enjoy Daisy from a secure location- the couch or living room chair, too high for Daisy to jump on. After Daisy comes down from her high, the playing begins. Sophie loves to play with the leash. The great thing is Sophie can't clip it to her collar, rather she lets Daisy hold it in her mouth and leads her around the house. Daisy always cooperates and keeps it in her mouth, following close behind Sophie. That's a good friend.

I hope we have Daisy for a long time, I just need to get trained on how to train. It's not that much different from training a child, except I don't have to "shepherd" the dog's heart. Speaking of shepherding a heart, I need to go read that book again. I need to get trained on how to train a child too, or at least a regular refresher course.

Poor Child

Hmmm, I guess I'm not a blogger. My last entry was almost 4 months ago. The Pioneer Woman would be so disappointed. Maybe its just not in my blood. My sister finally wrote me an email and said, "Ok, enough is enough. Its Thanksgiving, write on your blog." Once I do it, blogging is really therapeutic. And I'm all about therapy.

I really can't believe its Thanksgiving already. Where does the year go? We have a big team Thanksgiving dinner. The only thing we'll be missing is turkey. Turkeys are really expensive here and to make enough to feed 40 people just seems like too much. We'll have grilled chicken instead. But we'll have everything else: pecan pie, hashbrown casserole, dressing, sweet tea, etc. The only other thing missing is weather cool enough to wear a sweater and boots. Ahhh, the joy of winter ensembles. Its so much more fun to pick out an outfit in the winter. I wear the same shorts every other day, the same 5 shirts, the same flip-flops. Though, I guess I should be be counting my blessings- clothes to wear and food to eat.

Something else that is flying by is Sophie's age! She will be 4 years old in two months!! She is getting smarter, spicier and funnier. Here are a few funny things she's said lately:

Sophie is really good at turning some of our corrections around and using them on us. Marc will periodically comment, "Sophie if you don't like Daisy trying to play with you, maybe we'll have to let her go play at someone else's house." Then the other day, Sophie said to me, after she witnessed my frustration at cleaning up after the dog, "Mommy, if you don't like Daisy tee-teeing on your floor, maybe we'll have to let her tee-tee on someone else's floor." My reply, "Well, who would like to have Daisy come tee-tee on their floor?" ...Sophie- "Hmmmmm, I'm not sure."

We were at a retreat and Sophie was really in the mood to play, she came to me and said, "Mom, I love you and everything, but where is Daddy?"

At the Fall Festival there was an ongoing game where our friend Brandon played the part of sheriff and would periodically arrest people. Brandon came to arrest Blaa and put her in jail, Sophie was standing with Blaa at the time. (Blaa is a dear friend who hangs the moon in Sophie's eyes). Sophie was taken off guard, and as Brandon pulled Blaa away by the arm Sophie aggressively pulled Blaa back by the hem of her dress. She was determined to save Blaa, it was serious business. She was utterly confused and Blaa was playing along saying, "Help, help!!! Sophie, help me!!" Finally, Sophie let go of the dress and took off running to her daddy, crying hysterically. She couldn't help Blaa. Marc kept trying to explain that they were just playing but as soon as I took Sophie in my arms, she said, "I'm never coming to church again!!!" She continued to say this on the way home, through her tears, "I'm never going to church again. Only you and Daddy. You can get me a babysitter!!" Poor child.

Until next time......

A Tribute to Sisterhood

Well, the visit by my sister and her family has come and gone. We had a great time. Their visit was short but we tried to fill our days with good time together, eating (as usual) and seeing lots of everyday Thai culture. There's never a dull moment with my brother-in-law Gary around, he never meets a stranger. They say the people who learn the language the quickest are those who aren't afraid to go out and use the vocabulary they've learned, Gary would have the language in no time. He was trying to speak Thai the minute they got off the plane.

Hailey and Emily were so sweet, just glad to be here, going wherever we took them and eating whatever I asked them to try. They colored endlessly with Sophie in all her new coloring books. They watched Pooh. Hailey even shared her i-touch with Sophie whenever she asked. They are great cousins.

Melissa, however, was such trouble, more trouble than it was worth to have her here. I hope you can hear the jest in my typing. If I could wrap her up and stick her in my pocket to have with me all the time, I would. She's adorable. She's sweet. She's as easy to talk to as the day is long. She loves her family. She can make a cheesecake better than Paula Deen and the Pioneer Woman put together. She's addicted to sugar- I mean BAD. She's got extreme maternal instincts- (she still tries to mother me and I don't mind a bit :-). She loves Jesus and loves to talk about Him. She loves to cuddle with my baby Sophie. She thinks my husband is funny. She flew 1/2 way around the world to see me. And best of all, she loves me like a big sister should. I mean she really loves me. She is at home trying to slay the jet-lag beast because she loves me so much. I absolutely, positively cannot imagine not having sisters. I'm so sorry to all of you out there who don't have them. I'm sure having a brother has its perks. Having one sister is a great thing, but having two sisters is, is... extra great. I have a friend with 3 sisters (you Lute girls are blessed) and I can't even imagine the joy and the fun. Its in the works for my oldest sister and mom to come along next time. I will have to send out warnings that the Marechale sisters are in town and in full effect. My dad has graciously declined an invitation to ever visit us in Thailand again. He says he enjoyed his trip last year but he never cares to get on a plane for 27 hours again. I don't blame him.

So, anyway, that's pretty much all I can talk about right now. I will go and make something chocolatey so that I can think about my Sissy some more. Until next time. Sawasdee Kha!

New Friends and Other "Tidbits".

Life is good here in the Lewis house. The schedule has picked up quite a bit with the arrival of our summer missions team, which has been a positive thing. Sophie and I have still been enjoying doing some school together. This girl loves cutting and gluing. I could give her a pair of scissors and a stack of scrap paper and she'll be happy for hours- ok, maybe only 45 minutes, but still. Its fun to hear the new words and expressions she picks up- from who knows where. We were walking through the grocery store, the stinky meat and fish section, when she covered her nose and said, "Mommy, something smells horrible, no actually, something smells terrible." I could only agree and laugh. Then, yesterday, while I was cooking dinner, she came to me and in her most bereft voice said, "Mommy, I don't know what to do with myself." What!? Have you ever heard me say that? I know she might get the dramatic and animated facial expressions from me, but these expressions have got to be someone else's fault. :-)

We also made some new friends this week. Sophie and our friend, Blaa, met some little girls at the neighborhood playground when Marc and I were on a date. They are several years older than Sophie and really loved playing with her. The oldest one, named Ice, asked if she could come and see Sophie again sometime. Well, Monday night Sophie and I were finishing up some coloring and about to head upstairs to bed when there was a knock on our front glass door, scared me to death. All I could see were four tiny faces pressed against the glass. The next thing I knew there were four precious neighborhood children running and playing in our living room at 7:30 pm. I let them play for about 20 minutes when I finally had to tell them it was time for Sophie to go to sleep. They, to my surprise, quickly starting neatly putting away all the toys they had played with and got on their bikes to leave. It was sweet. It was especially sweet because I was just thinking the other day that I wish there were some little kids in our neighborhood. I had never seen these children before. I knew children lived here but our street is all older, retired people and the kids on the other side of our neighborhood generally stay at school until at least 5 pm, sometimes 7-8 pm- hence the reason they were strolling in at 7:30. We were delighted to hear their voices in the carport the next evening calling Sophie's name. They came in again, played "enthusiastically", asked lots of curious questions about why my and Sophie's hair color was so different and then cleaned up all their toys at the first mention of Sophie's bed time. We're hoping they stop by again soon.

I had to stop this blog post to start dinner. Sophie came in to help. I sat her on the counter, her normal seat, and she said, "Guess what Mommy, I cut my hair and Chok Chai's hair." (Chok Chai is her stuffed horse's name) "What?!"I couldn't immediately see the missing chunk of hair but she showed me the evidence, black hair in the bathroom trashcan. Once I tried to reapply her hair in a ponytail, I could see her new and extra thick sideburn. Lovely.

So, the last exciting tidbit is that my sister and her family are coming to visit in exactly 13 days. They will be here for about the that long exactly, 13 days. I will anticipate their arrival obsessively, and savor every moment of their visit emotionally. :-) Its just the way I do things.

I didn't know it could be THIS good.

I'm so glad no one told me how incredibly fun and satisfying being Sophie's mom was going to be. If I had known this, the 2.5 year wait for her would have been so much more difficult. And she gets funner everyday. Can I say funner? I don't think I'm supposed to. :-) The above picture is Sophie driving her school bus.


Most of the time I can't wait for her to wake up in the mornings- though I also can't wait for her to go to bed at night either, b/c I'm usually falling asleep by 7:45. But seriously, can anyone love their child as much as I love her? Is this normal? It only intensifies with every day. Like my heart is going to burst. I really have to control myself so that I don't squeeze the breath out of her. She is FULL of personality. She still loves dancing and now she's singing more and more. Though, I know she loves me dearly, her daddy totally "hangs the moon". See her hanging on his arm, I can't get enough of her and she can't get enough of him- I LOVE IT!!


Sophie and I have just recently started some K-3 homeschooling. The school year in Thailand begins in May so we will follow their schedule. It's been so good, for both of us. I really thrive within structure, and so does Sophie. Our schedule is very simple but its provided us with such good quality time together. She really enjoys "school" and its showing me how eager kids are to learn when given the opportunity. All of the older missionary kids go to a school in our neighborhood which is equivalent to a homeschool co-op. All the mothers teach, with the addition of a hired teacher. Sophie goes to this school for Thai language class. She loves getting to sit with her friends, John and Becca, to color and try to learn a few Thai words with her teacher, P' Gluay Khay (which literally translates "banana egg", a type of Thai banana).


We've got a very busy few months ahead of us as a group of American college students come for their summer to help Marc and the other staff meet some of the Freshmen at NEU. Sophie and I are looking forward to exercising our gift of hospitality by having a house full of students as often as we can. We've just recently put an air-conditioner in our living room which makes having people over a lot more enjoyable. Please continue to pray for us- and come see us!!!!!