Julie Gumm - Author

The Holidays are Hard (30 Things I Know About Adoption)

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The Holidays are Hard (30 Things I Know About Adoption)Part of the series “30 Things I Know About Adoption.”

Christmas is 2 days away so this is my reminder to parents of adoptive kids.

Holidays are hard!

It seems weird, I know. It’s gifts and food and fun family time. What should be so hard about it?

  1. But it is. And we may never understand all the reasons.
  2. Are they remembering family they have left behind?
  3. Are they thinking of past Christmases that were either good or bad?
  4. Are they on sensory overload with the lights, food, activities?
  5. Does all this “family” time make them feel still like an outsider?

For us, I always wonder if it conjures up specific memories of when we got them in Ethiopia. We met and brought the kids back to our hotel on Dec. 22nd. Spent Christmas day in Ethiopia and flew home on the 27th.

Regardless, it is what it is. I try to be understanding of the melt downs or grumpiness. Realize that their expectations might be set very high based on what they think Christmas should look like.

You may find it necessary to pull back on all the festivities and keep your Christmas more simple – everything from the decorations to the gifts.

But my best advice? Keep YOUR expectations low. Don’t try to make it a picture perfect holiday, just make it the best that it can be.

P.S. This applies to birthdays, mother’s day, father’s day and generally every other big holiday as well. I think mother’s and father’s day are even harder.

The Envelope Adoption Fundraiser with a Christmas Twist

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Adoption Ornament FundraiserAlthough I don’t think I’ve blogged about it, several families have mentioned using the “Envelope Fundraiser” for their adoptions and having good success. It’s a very easy fundraiser that can yield big results.

Basically you select a number of envelopes to offer (100, 150 or 200). And you number them 1-whatever. If you have someplace that you can display them (like a church lobby), simply pin them to a large bulletin board. Of course you can get really creative and fun with the outside of the envelopes by decorating them, etc. Inside each envelope print simple instructions and maybe even a little note about your family’s adoption (including pictures of your future child if you have it and can share).

A person selects an envelope, puts the corresponding dollar amount in and returns the envelope to you. So if they pick 37, they donate $37. (If people are writing checks, you may want to have them make them payable directly to your agency as this assures them the money is going straight to your adoption fees.)

This blog shows how one youth group used the fundraiser and has a great image of the Wall O Envelopes.

Fundraising Potential:

  • 100 envelopes = $5,050
  • 150 envelopes = Over $11,000

Now, if you don’t have a public wall to display your envelopes, you can still do an “online version.”

Create the envelopes and stick them up on a wall in your house. Take a photo so you can clearly see all the envelope numbers. Post to your blog, Facebook, etc. and then keep it updated as people “speak” for an envelope (take that envelope down and take a new photo).

Now, here comes the Christmas twist. Allison and Bill decided to make ornaments numbered 1-150 and people are “buying” different ornaments from their “Love Tree.” To date they’ve sold 67 ornaments and raised over $3,800.

They chose simple, but fun handmade yarn ornaments to make and give to their sponsors (either delivering in person or via mail). One type they found directions for here. (My suggestion is to head to Pinterest and search “handmade Christmas ornaments.” For example, I used this idea to make some cute ornaments for teachers.)

Adoption Fundraiser Spotlight – Alexander Family

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FundraiserSpotlightBanner-Alexander

We are the Alexander family, and we are thrilled to share our adoption story with you!  Ryan (dad) is a Pastor, Sarah (mom) works part time from home for a child sponsorship ministry, and we have 4 grade school-aged biological children.  We are adopting a little girl from Ghana, through Generations Adoptions.  We plan to adopt a healthy girl, or a girl with mild/moderate special needs.  We have 3 boys and 1 girl, and they are all thrilled to be adding another sister to our family!  We are hoping and praying to take our children with us when we travel to Africa to meet our little girl, so we’re working to raise enough funds for us all to travel!

Our adoption journey began in September 2011 (at a women’s conference), as Sarah began feeling God lead us to open our family up even more, to actually live out his gospel of adoption.  Over the next year, God began working in Ryan’s heart as well, as he slowly warmed to the idea of adoption.  We have both always had a heart for all nations, traveling many times to various countries, spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ.  We really began to develop a love for orphans, and now have both embraced the idea of adopting a child that simply needs a family.  Our motivation is simple:  God has put us in a place to be a family for a child that needs nothing more than a family, a child that needs nothing more than love. That is something we can do. God has adopted each one of us as His child. We are His heirs, His chosen children. What better way can we spread the gospel of Jesus Christ, than to model, in our own family, what he did for each us individually?

We have done extensive research into the global orphan crisis, and adoption in general, and although we cannot solve this crisis on our own, we feel like God has called each of us to do our part.  The Bible clearly states that it is our responsibility to care for orphans and widows.  God has called our family to be part of the solution for one orphan, to bring one home to her forever family. James 2:17 states that faith without action is dead.  We want to live out what we believe , and be an example of what God did for each of us through His adoption of us.

spotlight-alexanderFrom the very beginning, Sarah felt led to adopt a little girl from Africa, and God confirmed that through our biological children.  Even before we officially decided to pursue adoption, our children asked if we could adopt a sister from an orphanage (totally out of the blue!).  That’s just one of the many ways that God was working behind the scenes to prepare our family for adoption.  As we researched different countries in Africa, Ghana turned out to be the perfect fit for our family.
As parents, we strive to teach our children what it means and what it looks like to love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.  Our greatest desire for our children is for them to grow up to love God most of all, and to serve Him wholeheartedly.  We’re doing our very best to model Christ-like behavior to our children, so they, in turn, can model it to others.

We have made a commitment to complete this adoption without added debt due to adoption expenses, so we have worked very diligently from the very beginning to raise funds for our adoption.  We started with a Tupperware and an Avon fundraiser, and we have our own storefront with Just Love Coffee ($385).  We have also partnered with Compelled Designs Jewelry (over $1100), Apparent Project ($292), have sold African items that we purchased while on a mission trip ($340), and have designed tees.  We have recently completed a Both Hands ($3700) project as well.  We also held a garage sale where we raised just over $2000, and will have another sale in a couple of weeks (because we had so many leftover donations!).  Our newest fundraiser is an auction of two quilts that my mother has made for us.  They are beautiful handmade quilts, and have been made with TONS of Grammy’s love!

You can see all our fundraising items, including the quilts, on our facebook page: www.facebook.com/AlexandersAdopt  You can also leave your bids on our facebook page.  We will close the auction in time for Christmas shipping.