This is a remarkable story about impossible things becoming possible through love, perseverance, and the strength of community.”
~ Eliud Kipchoge
Marathon World Record Holder and Olympic Gold Medalist
“Juli’s story reminds me that God will and does choose the most unlikely people and places to show up through. It inspires me to see and remember the impact, power, and necessity of not doing life alone!
“From Beyond the Skies dives deep into the suffering and fear Juli and her family went through during one of the hardest, scariest seasons of their lives; it dives even deeper into the healing, transformative power of having a community knit together by love, intentionality, and openness around you.
“Reading Juli’s book reminds me how different life can look when you’re surrounded by people who care. I needed that reminder.
“If you’re seeking community and need to believe in the goodness of your fellow man again because you can’t quite see it lately, grab this book.”
~ Albert Tate
Co-Founder and Lead Pastor, Fellowship Church, Monrovia, California
“In From Beyond the Skies, Juli Boit describes far more than the harrowing struggles her family endured prior to triumphant bone marrow transplants for her two Kenyan sons facing pain and early death from sickle cell disease. Hers is the story of how a life grounded in love can dare to be vulnerable to the unexpected as an essential path toward wholeness for herself, her family, and the community of support that surrounds her. We all need to face the unknown empowered by her invitation to the wonder of love.”
~ Dr. Joe Mamlin and Sarah Ellen Mamlin
AMPATH Kenya
“For years, I’ve had the grand privilege to watch God call Juli Boit to just take the next step in Love. And I have seen her, as well as Titus, do just that. Jesus once said, ‘In this world you will have trouble, but take heart for I have overcome the world.’ This true story of faith, hope, and love is one that shows as real as our troubles may be, they are not the end of the story. Your challenges may not be the exact same as Juli’s remarkable story, but I trust through this you will be strengthened to take God’s next step for you in Love.”
~ Tom Hughes
Co-Lead Pastor, Christian Assembly Church, Los Angeles, California
Author: Down to Earth: How Jesus’ Stories Can Change Your Everyday Life
“Juli’s story is a gift to all who read it. It’s a story of the brutality of love; how it is a mess and a burden and a great invitation, all in one. Juli’s story is a reminder that love looks like saying “yes” when it is scary, saying “yes” when it’s shrouded with uncertainty. Love is being interruptible, as Juli and her husband demonstrate when they said yes to bringing a premature baby boy into the fold of their family. As Juli said, ‘We had a choice, and it wasn’t necessarily that there was a right or wrong way. But there was a yes and a no. There was a stopping to pay attention, interrupting our plans and the way we imagined our family would grow, as we chose to affirm Ryan’s worth, to discern and discover—one day at a time—what it meant to love.’ Love is a privilege that is both hard and holy. As you read her story, Juli’s grief will become yours. You will find yourself in tears at times as she shares her pain and her questions in their rawest state. You will likewise share in her joy as you see God and others show up in her story to embrace her in the love and support her story is defined by.”
~ Blythe Hill
CEO/Founder, Dressember Foundation
★ 2021-07-28
A memoir about fighting AIDS and finding love in Kenya.
In her nonfiction debut, Boit recounts her experiences working at a care center in western Kenya. The shift—she’d gone there after working as a nurse on an HIV unit in Los Angeles—is more than just moving from a developed to a developing country. It also involves a drastic shift in cultural attitudes. As Boit mentions, in the U.S. in 2004, HIV was mostly treated as a chronic disease rather than a death sentence. In Kipkaren River Village where she takes up residence, however, not only are the circumstances very different (no electricity, no running water, no indoor plumbing, and so on), but so were the attitudes toward the disease itself. She met dedicated doctors who very much wanted to change that, and she also met a man named Titus, whom she married. They had a child, Ella, but the real focus of the narrative is on a premature baby named Ryan, whom Boit took into her home. Soon after, she and Titus agreed to adopt Ryan. The story expands to include their adoption of two more children. Throughout the tale, Boit maintains a glowingly optimistic, companionable tone. She never makes the foremost mistake of so many memoirists—thinking the mere details of her story will in and of themselves interest readers. Instead, she consistently ties her memories to broader insights about love and about her own personal Christian faith. “Over the years,” she writes, “as I stepped closer to those in their suffering, I came to recognize the nearness of God—present in the hard places and the pain, in the spaces where death and destruction always wanted to win.” Boit has worked in those hard places, and her memoir illuminates them.
A heroic, uplifting account of easing others’ suffering and building a family.
