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"About four years ago, I started making travel dolls. Travel dolls have been around since Victorian times. Each comes with a trunk and a travel book. A girl would take her travel doll with her whenever she went away. She'd make a special dress for the doll to represent where they had been and write about the trip in her book. The doll became autobiographical. It told the story of her life."

Many Lawton Doll collectors now carry those dolls with them on their journeys.

Over two decades, Wendy has made more than 300 dolls. Typically, she reads a piece of literature or researches a country's customs, and is inspired to create a doll.

"In the quiet, solitary act of reading," Wendy explains, "the story begins to come alive. The tale becomes so real, I can't bear to let it go. The doll that I create is my expression of this longing to make the story my own." Wendy admits that her favorite doll over the years is her depiction of Anne of Green Gables because she loved the character so much.

Wendy's initial sculpt—the actual modeling of the doll's features—is followed by a 12-hour design session in San Francisco (a two-hour drive) with the dressmakers she has worked with for 20 years—Betty Rodriguez and Mary Martin.

Once the clothes and accessories are designed, the doll goes into production at the Turlock factory in the skillful hands of 13 employees, all of whom have worked for the company for at least eight years.

Wendy likes to refer to herself as an illustrator whose love of words and life adds meaning to her creations.

"I illustrate the things we love—the seasons, music, childhood literature, life's circumstances, things that link us together," she says.

"My dolls are subtle. I like my faith to be subtle, too. To be salt and light means connecting and building relationships."

Wendy's journey of faith began when she was 7 years old at her mother's church. One morning during children's church, the leader gave a straightforward invitation to accept Jesus. Wendy decided that's what she wanted to do. Not long after, her father who was Jewish did the same. The whole family became active in church.

Today at Hilmar Covenant Church, Wendy teaches the senior high Sunday school class. With others at church, Wendy has also developed a personal ministry of keeping current with persecuted Christians worldwide and writing letters on behalf of imprisoned and suffering Christians abroad.

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