Lewis Family Update at last

I just realized today that it has been over 11 months since I have updated our Lewis Family Blog. So much has happened in that time span so here goes...

All of the prayer requests that I listed in our last post have been answered. We were able to get the apartment in Indiana that we really wanted, a friend paid for our entire move out of the kindness of his heart, and our move went successfully. We have lived in Indiana for 11 months today. It is amazing to me the things that have transpired since we have lived here. The day we drove our U-haul into Indiana, my little sister gave birth to my second niece Madelyn. It has been such a joy to have been here her entire life. We were able to attend our first persimmon festival as Indiana residents but that is when things really went crazy.

My mom fell at the festival and broke her hip which was about one month into our time of living in Indiana. We hadn't even unpacked our boxes yet. My mom immediately had a corrective surgery and was put into a nursing facility for rehabilitation for two months. That was a very stressful and difficult time. During her stay at the nursing facility, my sisters and I got her moved to a handicapped accessible apartment in my apartment complex. When she was released in November, we had Thanksgiving at my house and found out that my sister Hilliary was pregnant with her second child. We were so excited...another baby to spoil!

Around Christmas time, my little sister found out VERY unexpectedly that she was pregnant with her third child and we started preparing to have 5 nieces and nephews total. Technically we have 6 but my nephew Isaiah passed away in 2007. We celebrated Anthony's 31st birthday with a big birthday party at our house with some of our closest friends and my family. We celebrated Christmas by having dinner and presents at our house and watching the kids at their house open presents. It was a great Christmas back home for me!

The new year was one of changes for us as we started in February fasting and praying about having a child of our own. We decided to fast from red meat and from secular music and pray about the things that surround children for us including healing over our loss, health changes for me, and just the process of conceiving and how difficult that has been for us. This journey has been enlightening to say the very least. We both feel like we have received heart healing and peace that passes our understanding.

In May we celebrated my nephew Shawn turning 3 and started a new family business with Scentsy. That has been a great thing for us as we are making extra income but we run the business together which means we don't have more time apart. We have been very profitable with Scentsy so we were able to pay off our car which was a huge burden off of us. We are excited about paying off more debts and working toward owning a house in the next few years.

In June, our nephew Johnny was born and he is now 4 weeks old and precious as can be. Yesterday our niece, Everleigh was born and since she has only been here for a day, I don't know much but that she is perfect! My second nephew and my third niece! So exciting. We have been taking each of the older kids (Shawn & Kaylea) once every couple of weeks for dates with us and they are enjoying that personal time and we sure are too!

In a couple of days, Anthony and I will celebrate 4 years married and I will celebrate 32 years of life. We are celebrating so many other things lately too and that is special. Thanks for stopping in and I'll try to update more often.

Anthony, Erica & Nika