When Juli was six years old, I had a terrible scare! I came much too close to losing her. I was at a beach with my three little ones, and watching them very carefully as they played, because the waves were pretty wild. All of a sudden she saw a pop can bobbing on top of the waves, and she took off running straight for it. I saw her run, so I saw where she disappeared. This water got deep immediately! I ran after her, in my long dress and sandals, and fished down in the water where I had seen her disappear. I grabbed and caught her floating clothes. That water must have been three or four feet deep already. I jerked her up out of the water, my heart going a million beats a second, or so it seemed. My baby girl, water streaming down her face, opened her mouth and breathed, looking at me quite peacefully! It was as though she had absolute faith that I would save her, and never even felt fear. She had held her breath. I was so glad I had taken her for swimming lessons when she was two, even though all she learned was to hold her breath under water. That was all she really needed!

   Another time, the same summer, I took them to visit a park with lots of little waterfalls. I was sitting at the foot on one of these waterfalls, which ended in a small, shallow pool, and I was cooling my feet in this water, sitting on the edge with my children. I was watching all three children, and suddenly one was gone. It was Juli. Before I could even jump to my feet, I saw her floating underwater at my feet, face up, going round and round in the current, in this pool which could not have been more than a foot deep. Again, when I jerked her out, and lifted her up, she had been holding her breath. She wasn't scared that time either. Needless to say, I have been very paranoid when with my daughter Juli, around water ever since!

   Once I lost her in a mall. She was seven, and knew to stay by me, but I got to looking at a book, and suddenly she was gone. As I dashed through the aisles, calling her name, I heard a man on the loudspeaker over my head. "Could the mother of a little blonde girl named Juli please come to the front desk?" There she was, peaceful as can be! She had wandered into the next store, and been brought back because someone had seen her in the store I was in. Oh, how embarrassed I was! How scared I had been! I was certain that she was likely to be kidnapped any second, she was so beautiful. However, she was not disturbed. To her, she had not been lost, I had! Well, I never forgot that. That was when I learned to make her hang onto the stroller handle at all times.

   When Juli was seven years old, I adopted a baby girl I named Skyla. Again, Juli was eager to help me. She not only wanted to change diapers this time, but help dress her baby sister! I never saw anything like the way she was fascinated with helping with babies. She reminded me of myself this way.

   And when Juli was eight years old, she was finally freed for adoption, and I was able to adopt her. At last, my first child was TRULY my own. That was an experience I will never forget. I had loved her with all my heart before, but when my mother and I walked out of the courtroom, with Juli, I looked down at my oldest daughter, and felt a great new surge of love I had never felt before. It was safe now, to give her every scrap of love in me! I had not known I was holding anything back before. Only that moment, I realized. And that love has only grown deeper, ever since.

   I taught Juli about Jesus, and how much he loves her. I told her we will go live with him in Heaven some day. I taught her to talk to him, and her prayers were very solemn and earnest. She wasn't very good at speaking, but she certainly knew how to pray. She understood far more than she could express. I think she was twelve, when she prayed with me to become a Christian. She knew right from wrong very well, and when she asked Jesus to forgive her sins, and come into her heart, she meant it. She is definitely saved. Years later, she accepted deaths without much trouble at all, because it is a very clear reality in her mind, that our little ones are with Jesus. And we will be with them again, and they will all be running, and laughing, and talking, and it will be so much more fun for them, than life here was!

   Juli was my partner in adopting, as the years went by. She loved going to the airport with me, and welcoming a new brother or sister into our family. Years later, she especially enjoyed my "nursery babies" as I called the children who could not move around by themselves, and needed extra tender loving care. Juli would call them "her" babies, and she puttered around them, tending to their every need. It was just amazing. And they all responded to Juli, and her kind and gentle hands. When she came around, the little faces of my helpless children lit up with joy. God blessed them with such a loving big sister.

   Juli has very little imagination. She enjoys real-life experiences best. She's a down-to-earth person. She very much enjoys some TV programs like the Waltons, and Little House, some movies, like "Sarah, Plain and Tall." I encourage her to do as wide a variety of fun things as possible. And she does. She's a real home-body, like her mom. She likes to help me cook. She loves to fry hamburger, but the other day when I asked her if she'd like to help me bake some bread, she shook her head, "no, I'll just have a tortilla!" She enjoys having a dad now, and when he teases her, she teases him right back! He finds this very endearing. Sometimes she is not in the mood to give him a hug, and walks on past him, saying "oh, dad!" dismissing him in a mature, even condescending tone; and he has all the patience in the world with her, which is wonderful. She enjoys living on our farm, and is mildly interested in the animals. But the times she expresses the most unsullied joy is still when she helps me in the nursery. I change Caressa, and she changes Cassie, and both girls smile at Juli in adoration! She pats them, calls them her babies, talks to them, scratches their backs, (and mine), and in general, makes those around her feel happy.

   Needless to say, we try our best to keep Juli happy too. She is a gift of love, and I praise God for her.

   I wish she could read this, but I'll read it to her. I love you, my darling daughter! You may scratch my back anytime! You're the best!