Julie Gumm - Author

Ethiopia Necklace Giveaway

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I have a friend who has entered a photo contest sponsored by Sigma and is hoping to win some great camera gear from them. Josh is passionate about using his skills as a photographer and videographer to help non-profit ministries like World Orphans and so I would love to see him win this contest. So much so that I’m offering a cool giveaway if you will help me spread the word.

He’s entered in 3 different categories and you can vote for each photo.

It’s a 2 step process.

1) Go here and click the button under one of the photos.

2) You have to enter your e-mail address and then click VOTE

3) Check your email for a confirmation message and click the link. You ONLY have to do this on the 1st photo.

4) Now you can vote for the other two photos.

You won’t get spammed, they are just validating you’re a real person.

THE GIVEAWAY

To encourage some voting I will be giving away one of the beautiful necklaces that Mark brought home from Ethiopia (read more about the ministry they came from).

You will get one entry for each of the following things that you do.

1) Vote for all 3 photos

2) Post a link to this blog post (here’s the URL: http://juliegumm.com/?p=2099) on Facebook so your friends will vote.

3) Tweet about the contest and link this post

4) Blog about Josh’s entries and encourage people to VOTE.

Leave me a comment for each of the above actions you take.

IMPORTANT: You need to make a comment on this blog post for EACH thing that you do. I will use a random number generator to pick the winning comment so if you do all 4 you need to make 4 separate comments to increase your chances of winning. Just a quick “voted”, “facebooked”, “tweeted”, “blogged” will do.

I’m going to run the contest for a week and draw names at the end of the day on Thursday, September 8th.

The winner will receive this gorgeous silver and coffee bean necklace…

Paying the blessing forward

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UPDATE: Friday 7:44 a.m. DONE!! You guys rock!

UPDATE 10:41 p.m. We are $173 from reaching our goal of sending 20 Ugandan kids to school. That means if we can get $86.50 in donations  and add our match, we will meet the goal! Would be SOOO cool to do it in one day!!!

Two years ago we decided to start sending the kids to Christian school. It was actually the year that Beza and Luke would be coming home (mid-school year) and we felt the smaller classroom and biblical-based curriculum would ease the transition and give them the Godly foundation for their life in our family.

Last year we struggled with the decision of re-enrolling the four kids – torn by the cost and whether we should be spending that money on a Christian education when it could go so far to help those in need across the world. It’s that continual balance we fight to find between our needs and wants (and what we feel is important for our kids) and helping others.

Well, two weeks after school started last fall we found out that Luke and Beza qualified for a $6,000 scholarship, reducing our total tuition by half. We were also blessed with friends who used the Arizona Christian School Tuition tax credit which further reduced our costs.

God knew the desire of our hearts (Christian education AND helping others) and provided.

While we originally thought the scholarship was a one year only thing we have been blessed to apply for and receive the scholarship for this year as well.

Because of God’s blessing we want to pay it forward and one of the ways we’re doing that is to help these beautiful kids at one of World Orphans projects in Uganda go to school. Education is a VITAL piece in breaking the cycle of orphaning and abandonment.

There are 20 kids. School fees are $62 each.

So here’s the challenge…

You pay half, we pay half!

We’ll match every dollar you guys donate on our campaign page
until we reach the goal ($1193) and all these kids school fees are paid.

If you donate $36, we’ll donate $36 and that’s one child educated.

We’ll match any amount $1, $5, $100.

Because no challenge is any fun without a deadline we’re going to give you ONE WEEK!

How to Give:

  1. Go to our campaign page.
  2. There’s buttons for $5 and $40 donations or you can click “other” and enter any amount you want.
  3. You can pay by debit, credit or echeck.

Jewelry Surprises

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On Mark’s last trip to Ethiopia in April he discovered a wonderful ministry run by the Beza Church. The work within the community of HIV+ women who live on the base of Mount Entoto. Their ministry started with food and blankets and soon transformed into teaching these women how to make jewelry to help support their families.

The ministry has a gift shop in Addis Ababa near the National Museum. On Mark’s April trip he brought back 15 beautiful necklaces. I kept several, and we gave most of the rest of them away as gifts.

This time I sent him back with a laundry list of things to look for and a wad of cash. It’s pretty easy to convince him to let me spend the money when it’s helping such beautiful women. Most of the pieces range from $10-15 USD.

This is my favorite set from this trip.

The bracelet also matches another piece that he brought back.

If your headed to Ethiopia, let me know and we’ll get you information so that you can go visit them.