Julie Gumm - Author

My favorite thing about Christmas

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It wasn’t the gifts.

It wasn’t even all the cookies and goodies we ate.

It was family.

For the first time in 7 years ALL of Mark’s immediate family was together. That’s 8 adults and 11 kids. Plus Grandma Speer.

Then add in my parents for a Christmas-day gathering of 22.

I got to do this…

(I didn’t let her drink the soda, but the can was fun to play with.)

…and this.

Actually, quite a lot of this…

Every time my 14-month niece Rhona was sleepy, I grabbed her and put her in “Auntie Julie’s Magic Sleepy Arms”. They truly are magical.

I mean what is better than staring down at this face?

I wasn’t thinking about how hot she was making me, or all the things I could be doing if I put her down. I just sat and enjoyed the moment for as long as it lasted.

Don’t forget about the Stoves for Haiti Challenge in remembrance of the 2nd anniversary of the quake. Sponsoring a $20 charcoal-efficient stove will make a REAL difference – it saves the family money and time, it saves Haiti’s trees and it provides jobs. Not very often that $20 can make such a huge impact.

I need 2 friends. But 20 would be nice.

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Today is the 2 year anniversary of the Haiti earthquake.

It’s 2 years later and on the one hand it seems like NOTHING has changed. There are still millions living in tent cities. The cleanup continues. Rebuilding seems slow. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with the hugeness of the situation and become discouraged.

But there are incredible things happening there. Stories of organizations making a difference in small but exciting ways.

You’ve heard me talk about the Stoves for Haiti campaign from The Adventure Project (TAP). I love it because it’s such a seemingly small thing. A $20 investment that helps make a charcoal-efficient stove affordable for a family in Haiti. The stoves are healthier (no toxic open-fire fumes), take 50% less charcoal (more $$ for other things, and cook faster (more time for mom to spend w/ her family).

Five women in Haiti have the job of selling the stoves to families (at a price made affordable because of YOUR sponsorship). TAP had hoped they’d sell 2 stoves per day.

They’re selling 20!! With waiting lists.

So today TAP is asking its group of supporters to find 2 friends that will sponsor a stove (just $20) and they in turn will find 2 friends to sponsor a stove, etc.

But 2 friends? Well that seems easy.

And you know me, I like a challenge.

So I’m hoping to find 20 friends who will sponsor a stove for $20…then each of them will find 2 friends, etc.

Are you in?

SPONSOR A STOVE

 

Stuff To Read: The De-Clutter Edition

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Tying Our Hearts to the Right Things – “All while there is still some truth in that statement, over the past few years of pursuing minimalism, I have begun to notice that the inverse is also true. That my heart appears naturally drawn to the places where I have invested most – not that my investment follows my heart, but that my heart tends to follow my investment.”

Don’t Just De-Clutter, DeOwn – “Simply organizing our stuff (without removing it) is always only a temporary solution. By definition, organizing possessions is an action that must be repeated over and over and over again. At its heart, organizing is simply rearranging. And though we may find storage solutions today, we are quickly forced to find new ones as early as tomorrow.”

Living in the Land of Enough – “Because everyone there is living more authentically and simply, and because they don’t live under a burden of constant stress, they are loving. Simply put, it is easier to love more deeply when you realize you have enough.”