Born in Lexington, Kentucky, the fifth of seven children of Ruth and Charles Shaw, Deborah Shaw Lewis grew up in Georgia. She attended <a title="Asbury_University" href="http://asbury.edu" target="_blank">Asbury College</a> where she met her husband <a title="Gregg_Lewis_books" href="http://gregglewisbooks.com" target="_blank">Gregg</a>. She taught preschool, wrote preschool curriculum for <a title="David_C_Cook" href="http://www.davidccook.com/" target="_blank">David C. Cook Publishing,</a> directed a daycare center, Winkie Bear Child Development Center, and taught child care courses at <a title="Triton_College_River_Grove_Illinois" href="http://www.triton.edu/cgi-bin/r.cgi/index.html" target="_blank">Triton College</a> in River Grove, Illinois.

Two fertility specialists told Debi and Gregg that they would not be able to have children. Their first child Andrew (now 32) was declared a "miracle." Then he was followed by <a title="Matthew_blog" href="http://alethinologia.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Matthew</a> (now 30 and married to <a title="Emily_Brown_Lewis_blog" href="http://greensandjeans.com/" target="_blank">Emily</a>), then Lisette (now 28), then Benjamin (now 27), then Jonathan (now 23 and married to Jessica).  They are ALL miracles.

Debi earned her master's degree from the <a href="http://www.erikson.edu/" target="_blank">Erikson Institute</a> in Chicago. She is currently the director of <a title="PALS_at_Trinity" href="http://www.trinityumcrome.org/content/what-makes-pals-unique" target="_blank">PALS</a>, the mothers' morning out program at <a title="Trinity_United_Methodist__Church_Rome_Georgia" href="http://trinityumcrome.org/" target="_blank">Trinity United Methodist Church</a> in Rome, Georgia. She loves to speak to groups of mothers and to tell stories to young children.