Julie Gumm - Author

Vote for your favorite adoption t-shirt design

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My awesome brother and sister-in-law are adopting their THIRD! Their first two adoptions brought Julie and Rion into the family and I can’t imagine life without them. Phil & Trish fully funded those adoptions themselves and had a savings plan in place for #3.

Only “problem” is that God brought #3 along WAY quicker than expected. So this time they’ll be doing some fundraising. Luckily, they know someone who knows a bit about that 🙂

I’ve been toying with a t-shirt design and would love your opinion.  Check them out and then vote below.

#1

LoveCrosses-China

#2
LoveCrosses-China2

#3

LoveCrosses-China3

VOTE

Speaking, Sports, Movies, Writing and Giving – March Mind Dump

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Just a little over 3 weeks until the Embracing Orphans Adoptive/Foster Mom Retreat in beautiful Estes Park, CO. Would love to see you there. You can hear me talk about all my humiliating pride and control issues…with a dose of depression confessional to go with it 🙂 It’s going to be MOST awesome! (I get a quick pop in visit with my brother and his family as a bonus.) MORE INFO

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I also just got invited to speak at a women’s event for Trinity Church in Ann Arbor, MI. Trinity and the Charis Foundation has been a World Orphans partner for years and they do an annual women’s event to raise funds. In previous years it has been a walk-a-thon. This year they’re doing an upscale boutique with all the proceeds going to WO. It’s an outreach event so I get to share our adoption story and the beautiful way it ties into Christ’s unconditional love and sacrifice.

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Family life is busy with orthodontist appointments (Noah is our first), basketball (Beza) and Luke is about to start 3-on-3 soccer. This will be his first official soccer playing since coming home 4 years ago. He’s done flag football, basketball and baseball but, for whatever reason, hasn’t played soccer. It may be his best chance at some sort of college athletic scholarship so we’ve been gently nudging him back. One of his best friends plays in this league so that should be fun for him.

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I’m almost done with my stint as the yearbook adviser at the kids school. We meet after school once a week and I have 4 girls and 3 boys helping out. We have about 3 weeks to get it done.

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I’ve been having tons of fun helping promote the movie CAMP that I reviewed last week. There have been some other bloggers giving it great reviews as well – Melanie, Jen, Jody, Mary, Christina. You can read even more at the CAMP FB page.

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I’m working on debuting two new features on the blog. One is going to be a monthly fundraiser link up for adoptive families. The second is going to be an opportunity for adoptive/foster parents to submit anonymous guest posts in a weekly feature. I know as my children get older there are often topics I want to blog about to get advice or encouragement but I have to protect my family’s privacy. The heart behind this column is not to be a pity party but to share our hearts, to give prospective parents a real and honest glimpse into adoption and to give us a place to support each other. If you want more info on posting, you can email me at julieATjuliegummDOTcom but I’ll be posting more details soon.

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Friday I had a great conversation with the COO of Pure Charity. Have you heard of it? Every year companies give away millions of dollars to philanthropic causes. Pure Charity is a tool which lets you decide where your dollars go. By installing the browser plugin and activating Pure Charity when you shop online with hundreds of stores, you can earn reward dollars to give to great causes. And, in a few weeks there’s going to be some exciting stuff that I can’t wait to share.

Why do people give toward adoption?

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Many people are hesitant to fundraise for their adoption because they wonder why on earth someone would want to help them? After all, if they made this choice, isn’t it their responsibility to cover the costs?

But, as I mentioned in this post on the pros and cons of fundraising, fundraising allows us to share our story with others. To give them the opportunity to be part of caring for an orphan. To give them the chance to experience the joy of giving.

Adoptive mom Tracie Loux enlisted the help of some of their friends to answer the question “Why I Gave a Boatload of Money to Adoption.” If you haven’t read this series of posts, you need to!

I loved this quote from Brian Beattie, who wrote Part 2.

“On the other hand, a dollar given to a family that is caring for redeemed orphans goes right to work in Kingdom purposes. It is a cup of cool water offered in kindness to allay thirst. It is clothes for the naked. It is a visit of comfort in a prison of unmet need. It is so real. It’s so now. It is 24×7 365.”

P.S. If you have a moment, say a prayer for Tracie’s son Mattie. He’s 2 and a half and was admitted to the hospital for RSV and pneumonia.