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Our Story...
On September 2, 2002, life as we knew it changed.
That night I prayed like I’ve never prayed before that God would not take my husband from me. You see, we had been married for twenty six years. We were like most married couples. We both had our careers in full swing, working sixty-five to eighty hours a week, making five-figure salaries. We put off going to church on Sundays because that was the only day we didn’t have to be anywhere and could sleep in. Our two children had both gotten married to their high school sweethearts and both had their first child. Andy, our son gave us Andrew Lee Lewis the fourth (Drew) and Melissa, our daughter gave us our first granddaughter, Ally.
My husband, Andy, had not been feeling well for about three months. He didn’t want to worry me, so he didn’t say anything except an occasional comment about an upset stomach or being tired. I started noticing that he was losing weight (thirty-three pounds in ninety days) and regardless of what I cooked it never was pleasing to him. It was too salty, too greasy, too spicy, etc., and he always said the portions I was giving him were too large. (I’m a chef and he always enjoyed my meals prior to getting sick.)
It was a normal Thursday afternoon, I was at work, and I got a call from our son. I could tell by his voice that something was terribly wrong. He said, “Mom, Dad doesn’t want you to know, but he’s been really sick for the past couple of months. Today he almost fell off a ladder and I’ve brought him to the hospital. Mom, I’m really worried about him.”
After testing him for everything except cancer, they released him for follow up with our family doctor. That’s when they ordered a CAT scan and found that he had a very large mass in his abdominal area that measured twenty-one centimeters long, nineteen centimeters wide and seven and a half centimeters thick. It was causing complete blockage to his intestines and stomach. When they did the biopsy they told us that Andy had Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma at stage four.
It’s funny how everything in your life can come to a complete stop. That happened when they told me my husband had a very small chance of even surviving through the night. They gave us the choice of trying an experimental drug regime that was a twice daily, eight hours per day, and repeated every twenty-one days for seven rounds. They said that might save his life, but they couldn’t promise me. But they also said he would die if we didn’t do anything, and at least this would give him a chance.
We went through the one hundred forty seven days of Chemo and then twenty-four rounds of Radiation, and praise God that got him into remission and he’s been in remission ever since.
It was the night they told me he might not make it through the night that I tried to make a deal with God. If He would not take Andy away from me I’d get my spiritual life in check and I promised I’d be a better Christian wife, mother and grandmother. It’s funny that it took Andy getting sick for me to change my priorities.
After Andy started feeling better we took a month off and did some traveling. We went to a dude ranch in Arizona, and on the way back home Andy told me he wanted me to have my dream of having a Bed and Breakfast before his cancer returned. (We’d been told that it would come back, but they just didn’t know when or where it would show up again in our lives)
We started looking for a business to buy. In 2004 we purchased the ranch, which was called “Tickled Pink Ranch” at that time. But it didn’t take us long to realize that we needed to change the name. So we decided on: A to Z Guest Ranch. (A to Z: Andy (being the first letter of the alphabet) and of course Z for Zondra, being the last letter of the alphabet. Moving to Oklahoma meant that we were going to be leaving adult married children and grandchildren in Kansas City, but knew that God had a master plan for our lives and that this was part of it. We are proud to be Christian’s and knew one thing for sure, that what ever business we were going to purchase had to be or be able to turn it into a “family friendly” place not only for our guests to enjoy but also for our grandchildren to be able to come and stay with as during the summers, holidays and school breaks. We are pleased to say that we have a place that families can come to and Mom and Dad don’t have to worry about what their children might see or hear while playing around camp. There is no better sound to your ears then sitting out on the pavilion in the evening and hearing children laughing and playing in the background while also hearing other guests talking, laughing, playing a guitar and signing songs together around their bonfires. We’ve even had husbands call and thank us for having a “safe” place for their wife’s coming and stay a week with a group of their girl friends.
Then in 2008 God opened up another door of opportunity for us, which was to have a ministry just for couples. We purchased our second business, which is only located five miles from our ranch. Eagle Creek Estates is a community with luxury cabins for couples only. We purchased five cabins, which are each located on an acre of land per cabin. All the cabins have double Jacuzzi bath tubs, two person hot tubs on the porch, fireplaces, king size beds wrapped in luxury linens, flat screen TV with over 150 channels including movie channels and fully equipped kitchens. They are set up with everything you’d need to just walk in with your suit cases and make yourselves right at home. The campus sits high above Eagle Creek over looking the Kiamichi Mountains. It also hosts a private stocked lake in the middle of the property. We also purchased a large beautiful log home that is called the Lodge. The Lodge hosts a dining room that also over looks the Mountains and Creek. (This property is a Chef Dream come true for me. I love to wine and dine my guests daily with home-cooked breakfast each morning and Candle-lit Dinners every evening of the week except for Sundays. I know with out a shadow of a doubt that God brought us to this second business so that we could ministry to other couples so that they don’t have to go through cancer to stop and appreciate what God has given them, which is a mate.
I hope our story has spoken to your hearts and will hopefully make a difference in the way you treat one other.
God Bless you and yours, Zondra Lewis, Andy’s wife of thirty six years and counting….
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