Amazing June 29th for the Graubards

Today is Jesse's 7th birthday - although I'm not sure he knows it as like his Momma we've been celebrating for the last two weeks and will continue into July w/ a big birthday party.

But that is not the only reason June 29th is special to us. God has made June 29th special yet again as today he dropped Lilly into Scott's arm in a hotel in Nanchang, China. Isn't the Lord so very cool. He took an already special day and made it that much more special to us.

How is Jesse about sharing his big day? Well, there are still cupcakes involved, right? So he's good w/ it. He's been awaiting this moment for so long I'm sure he would even share a little bit of his cupcake as long as she doesn't push it.

The last week our house has emptied slightly. I was already missing Josh and his silliness as Scott had flown w/ him to Miami a week ago for a summer away. Then Friday we dropped Scott off at the airport for his trip to China. So I proclaimed my homesickness for Daddy to Jesse . And w/ all the compassion he could come up with he said - "Mom, he's bringing home my baby sister." As if - get over this - it's for a good cause. My heart melted.

We knew Lilly would be in Scott's arms in the next few days - but what we didn't know was that it would be on Jesse's birthday! Scott sent me a text message last night (Sunday) at 2:00 a.m. which was already 3:00 p.m. for him on Sunday.

And he said, "Lilly will be with me from 4:30 June 29. That is special." Indeed it is. Or as my Mom reminded me in a text this morning:

"This is the day the Lord has made and what a beautiful day it is." Amen. :)

So here are the first text messages I awakened to in the order he sent them:

"Lilly says hi mommy and Jesse"

"She cried for an hour and a half nonstop. Then I sang to her and she would stop for awhile."

"She stared. She is is very curious and I think very smart."

"Then she laughed. You can't imagine how beautiful that little laugh is."

"Am in love with this little angel."

In that it is 9 a.m. Cayman time (8 a.m. US time), it must be 8 p.m. Nanchang, China time, so I would be surprised if both baby & daddy are not already sound asleep as they both had exhausting days.

God is good! So very good. Can I get a Praise God?!

Love & blessings,

Julie who loves June 29th for so many reasons

The journey to get Lilly

I'm sitting here at my computer at 12:10 a.m. Sunday just wondering if Scott has arrived in Nanchang, China. For Scott it is actually around 12:10 p.m. Sunday. Last he text messaged me it was to tell me he was in Hong Kong awaiting his flight to Nanchang where he will be for the next few days. He said he was tired, but doing ok.

Yesterday when I left Scott at the airport I had an overwhelming feeling of homesickness for him. I was dealing w/ very real fear. Fear of his being on the other side of the world so far away from us. Fear that I would get sick while he was away with an infection if my white blood count got too low from chemo. And most of all fear of being a mother again and the idea that Lilly might not love me, that we might not bond, that I'm out of shape at being a Mommy of a baby. Total fear. So I did the kind of thing I always do - I got in the car and took Jesse to the movies. We went to see Wall-E. Now looking back - how appropriate as we enter this world that is so alien to us.

It's so surreal. I mean, little Lilly, we've talked about her so long. And now Scott's actually in China getting ready to meet her. I've heard it said that a birth child grows in your belly, while an adopted child grows in your heart. That's so true. I may not have carried Lilly inside of me, but God certainly grew her in both Scott's & my hearts. On Friday when Scott was sitting in the Grand Cayman airport awaiting his flight to New York he called me and he told me something I had not thought of. When I was pregnant w/ Jesse, we prayed for Jesse every day. Scott always prayed Psalm 15 over him as he'd talk to my belly. And I would be silly and talk back as if it was Jesse talking. So the night before Scott left for New York he had a hard time getting to sleep and he thought about how we used to pray for Jesse and that's when it came to him - we've been praying for Lilly for such a long time. Over 3 years now - which means we were praying for Lilly before she was even conceived. Yes, I do believe God placed Lilly in our hearts long ago and that He always meant for her to be a gift to us. I am forever grateful to her birth mother who gave her life so that we can be her family.

This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. - Psalm 118:24

Truly we are blessed.

As they say in Cayman even when they great you in the early evening . . . Good Night,

Mom to David, Megan, Josh, Jesse & Lilly

About the Julie Mango

My friend, Sherry, was asking me about the Julie mango, so I decided to look it up. It made me laugh to see how much I am actually like the Julie Mango these days in light of the whole breast cancer extravaganza we're currently working our way through. So read on. My comments are in parenthesis.

Julie' is the main mango exported from the West Indies to Europe. The fruit is somewhat flattened on one side (ironic), of medium size (nice I guess); the flesh is not completely fiberless but is of good flavor. It came to Florida from Trinidad (or perhaps from Ohio) but has long been popular in Jamaica. The tree is somewhat dwarf (of course, height is mentioned), has 30% to 50% hermaphrodite flowers; bears well and regularly. It is adaptable to humid environments and disease-resistant (I like this one) and the fruit is resistant to the fruit fly. 'Julie' has been grown in Ghana since the early 1920's. From 'Julie', the well-known mango breeder, Lawrence Zill, developed 'Carrie', but 'Julie' has not been planted in Florida for many years (or at least not in this last year since she's gone Caribbean for about a year now).

There you have it.

On a whole other note - keep Scott in prayer as he heads to China today to pick up our dear sweet Lilly. He will bring her home to Momma on July 10th.

Have a mango today on me.

Be blessed,

Julie

Why Julie Mango?

So not that anyone cares - but I thought I'd fill you in on why I'm Julie Mango.

Now lest you think I've quit being The Princess - as they say on the Island - no worries, mon. I will always be The Princess. But when I first arrived on the Island - I decided I needed to reach out and make friends, thus I started going to a Mom's prayer group at my church.

So these woman who were somewhat familiar w/ the little white girl from the US were so very kind to me and took me right under their wings. Especially Sister Janet, the wife of the elder of the church. Sister Janet is a British woman who is one of my favorite people on the entire Island. It was she who for memory sake decided to give me what she calls a "pet name."

Turns out there is a type of mango called the Julie Mango. Thus, my pet name. Apparently the Julie Mango is quite sweet. This I like. It's also shaped funny, as all mangoes are - I choose to believe that has nothing to do w/ why it reminds Sister Janet of me. Although, that said - funny thing about living in the Caribbean. I live in a place which is a mixture of so many different cultures - some of which have no problem mentioning it to you when you gain weight. Yay me! Like the other day when I took off my sunglasses to say hello to my friend who works at the pharmacy at the hospital. She was looking at me like she didn't recognize me, so I started to say, "I know - it's the blonde wig (chemo patient)." I said that at the same time she was saying, "You're face - it's so round, I didn't recognize you." Speechless. Which you will learn if you don't know it already - I am not.

Back to the topic at hand. So right after my new friends named me Julie Mango - I'm outside w/ my husband, Scott, and my son, Jesse, and someone rides by in her car, reaches her arm out the window and waves and yelled, "Helllllllooooooo, Julie Mango!" My husband smiled and looked at me for explanation, but recognized my happy face knowing I had friends in this new place and might stop the crying.

Probably the day I decided - I'm home. Yes, definitely the day this became home.

Julie Mango

I'm blogging!

So I've never blogged - well unless you count that time I tried it out on My Space and then never tried again. My friend, Sue, told me I should blog - so here goes. :) I'm finding myself speechless at the moment - but never fear - I'll get my thoughts back once I get over the very idea of little old just learned to text this year Julie has a blog now. Funny.