Julie Gumm - Author

When Excess Brings Chaos

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We, as Americans, live in a world of excess. The amounts of excess vary from person to person. We may not think we have excess but usually because that’s because we’re looking at what the next door neighbor has. Or the guy in the office across the hall. Or that really popular couple at church.

In the last few years, because of the places we’ve traveled and the experiences we’ve had I, more often than not, find myself thinking of the truly needy in this world.

Growing up I’m sure my mom thought I was a lost cause in the “excess” department. I was the collector – knick knack, clothes, books. But some how when I went away to college it’s like a switched flip. Suddenly on my own, in charge of my own space, I became a model organizer and a regular purger of unnecessary stuff.

I’m not claiming that I am perfect, that I don’t collect anything – just look at my collection of scrapbooking stuff (currently collecting dust in the corner of my bedroom).  But I purge often, and sometimes with reckless abandon. I have probably swung even further to the other side to compensate for my dear, sweet husbands um, well, non-purging tendencies.

This weekend was the semi-annual switching out of the seasonal clothes. We’ve had gorgeous sunny weather with highs in the 70s and it was time to get out the summer wear. For 3 days my living room looked like a textile factory that exploded. As I pulled out the 2 bins of girls clothes and begin to separate them into piles I was struck by the excess.

We do laundry every weekend, at the longest going 8 days in between laundry washing. I counted up Natalie’s shirts – some that fit her from last summer and some that Beza no longer fit in that got added to her pile.

27 shirts…for a 7 year old. One that comes downstairs in mismatched colors half the time.

Noah’s shorts were almost as bad.

As I was pulling the winter shirts off of hangers I realized there were shirts that went unworn the entire season.

So I declared war on the excess clothing and set out to whittle their clothes down to a respectable amount. We found 10 pairs of shorts, 10 matching shirts. We went through the winter stuff and, before we put it away, pulled out the too scratchy, too tight and “ugly” shirts that apparently were NEVER going to get worn.

I ended up with 2 bags of hand me downs for a friend. 2 bags for Goodwill and 1 bin for my nephews.

I supposed I need to tackle my closet next?

Christmas Recap

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I spent most of December reflecting on “What was I doing this day last year?” and thinking back on our trip to Ethiopia – meeting the kids at Hope for the Hopeless, falling in love with sweet Mary (whom we now sponsor), and bringing Wen & Beza home. In fact last Friday night I sat in the Denver airport and realized that the last time I was there I had two very tired and very overwhelmed children with me.

This year we had so much to be thankful for.

It was so wonderful to celebrate Christmas with the whole family together this year and have Beza and Wen experience all the Gumm family traditions – decorating the tree, making sugar cookies, opening gifts and eating Cornish pasties (they got a thumbs up from Beza, a so-so from Wen). We tried to spend some time in the weeks leading up to Christmas preparing them for what the day would be like – who would be there, what order we do stuff in etc. We also had to explain the whole concept of gift equality (one child might get one more expensive gift while others get 2 or 3 smaller gifts). I think it was really helpful and we survived the day without any major meltdowns.

I was especially thrilled to get to spend some time with our new niece Julia – brought home from China by my brother and his wife in October. It warmed my heart when I heard that precious little girl call my big brother “Papa”- something he has waited a long, long time to be. He and Trish are amazing parents and Julia, well, she is just a hoot and a half. She’s the most darling little thing – you could just eat her up. I had her calling me Auntie by the end of Christmas day and made sure to reinforce it the rest of the week. I’m sure she probably thought I was completely daft because I kept asking her “What’s my name?” a gazillion times. But hearing her say “Auntie” was just too irresistible.

My other brother Brad and his family were here too and stayed at our house for part of the trip. Grace is just 6 weeks younger than Natalie and they have a fantastic time together. We had one or two “third wheel” issues which is almost inevitable when you have an odd number of girls but in all they did great together.

I stopped to remember also that this time last year my mom was nearly bedridden with crippling back pain and muscle spasms and spent her Christmas in a care facility. She missed out on so many celebrations that year – Thanksgiving, Christmas, the kids homecoming, birthdays. We are so grateful to God that her surgery last May was successful and she has come so far in her recovery. She’s now walking without any assistance and was able to participate Noah and Natalie’s birthday this fall as well as Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The day after Christmas we took advantage of the fact that all my siblings were here to get some family pictures done. I have to give props to Kim who came out the day after Christmas, 8 months pregnant, and got soaking wet in the fountain to get some great family shots of our crazy crowd of 14.

And so ends my “sabbatical”

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Apparently God thought that a two month sabbatical was sufficient for me. I’ve been enjoying my time off and tackling some projects I’ve been meaning to get to, and some that just seemed to appear (like a book). While I had looked through the job ads shortly after leaving my last job, I had not touched them since. I had a flow of freelance work coming in and with the holidays I figured there wasn’t much point.

When Mark and I had talked about our next steps, I told him that if I wasn’t making enough freelance that I either wanted to do something easy (like work at a coffee shop or wait tables) or do something that I was REALLY passionate about. The thought of finding a job in corporate America just to pay the bills was pretty depressing. I know, probably sounds spoiled huh! But I figured that all our hard work paying off our debt had to have some benefits right – like being able to do something you love.

Then out of the blue last week I received a call from Paul, the president of World Orphans – the organization that Mark has been in ministry with for the last year.  We’ve been talking back and forth over the last week and yesterday they offered me the role of Director of Communications for World Orphans.

I continue to be amazed at how God orchestrates the big and small details of our lives. He has never failed us. Every time we step out in faith, he provides the next rock for us to stand on. I know it really shouldn’t surprise me anymore, and maybe “surprise” isn’t the right word. But it definitely fills me with awe.

I’m ecstatic to join with World Orphans because I wholeheartedly believe in the work they are doing to prevent, rescue and care for orphans through indigenous churches all over the world. They have amazing church partners in Kenya, Ethiopia, Iraq, China, Darfur, Moldovia, India, Uganda…the list goes on. These churches are the hands and feet of  Jesus, serving not just the orphans but also their communities. And I get to share their stories and inspire others to get involved. How cool is that???

I get to continue to work from home and it’s exciting for me to be able to join Mark in ministry and be a team.

So, I have a couple more weeks “off” before I officially begin my new position in January. I’m grateful for the down time I’ve had, but excited to embark on this next grand adventure.