Alabama family's baby girl only lived 176 days, but their response to her death will impact lives for eternity

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Sadly, Ava Lewis, an unexpected adopted child born with extreme brain abnormalities, passed away this week. But it is her parents’ reaction that has people really turning their heads.

“We can remember when we were engaged or early married and we said, ‘We’ll have two, maybe three kids,’” Allison laughs. “Maybe, maybe!” Josh chimes in.

“But here we are, seven kids later — four biological, three adopted,” said Allison. “The Lord had a different plan for us.”

Part of that “different” plan unfolded as the couple was on their way to North Carolina for the birth of a baby boy they were preparing to adopt. Their adoption attorney called with a stunning surprise. The mother of the baby boy was not having just one baby, she was having two. And while the shock was still setting in, they received a second phone call that turned their nervous excitement into concern.

The doctor informed them that the second baby — a little girl — would be born with “gross abnormalities in her brain, and they didn’t know if she would survive.” “She said, ‘What makes a person a person is not there,’” Allison recalls. The couple was determined to adopt both babies, and the smaller girl, Ava, not only survived birth.

“The Lord created her life and the fact that she wasn’t born the way we would have chosen or what we would have wanted in an ideal world didn’t change that she needed a family.”

When Ava passed, the Lewis’ friends and family gathered for the funeral to be officiated by a good family friend named JT. He drew his message from the popular chapter of Psalm 23. Particularly, JT dwelt on verse four of that famous passage.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

The message moved Allison, and she wanted to help make sense of the situation for her young son, Sam.

“I gathered the strength to take Sam into my arms then knelt beside his baby sister’s grave and whispered over and over, ‘she’s with Jesus. I know you don’t understand this now but we’ll tell you this story over and over until you do,’” She wrote on her blog.

“I imagine reading this, it sounds like this story has all the makings of a tragedy,” she continued. “Loss, separation, sickness, death…there doesn’t seem to be even a hint of joy to be found. Oh, but friends, if you could have just heard the Lord speak through JT on that gorgeous Saturday afternoon.”

Somehow, Allison and her family were able to find peace in their devastating circumstance. In her powerful blog post, she shared her hope in Jesus with the world.

JT reminded us as we stood there beside the graves of my grandparents and our beloved baby girl…wherever there’s a shadow, there is also a light.

And while the grief may seek to destroy me and the darkness threatens to consume me, my hope lies somewhere else than what I’ve witnessed over these past few days. A peace finds its way into my heart as I rest in the assurance that Ava – that delight whom we loved on earth for 176 days – has new eyes that are open to see something far greater than my mind can even comprehend.

Ava Leigh Lewis is beholding The Light.

Allison Lewis’ full blog post about her daughter’s funeral can be read on her page here. A video about their adoption surprise can be found below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hN-1O_nVZzY