Featured Articles

The Whole World Wants a Job

09.02.2014 by juliegumm@yahoo.com //

Gallup has just published early findings from their “World Poll.” They are literally conducting a ten-year poll of what the entire world is thinking (160 countries). Here’s a snippet from their main discovery:

“What the whole world wants is a good job. That is one of the single biggest discoveries Gallup has ever made. It is as simple and as straightforward an explanation of the data as we can give. If you and I were walking down the street in Khartoum, Tehran, Berlin, Lima, Los Angeles, Baghdad, Kolkata, or Istanbul, we would discover that on most days the single most dominant thought carried around in the heads of most people you and I see is, “I want a good job.” It is the new current state of mind, and it establishes our relationship with our city, our country, and the whole world around us.

It’s the same with the 3 billion people who live on $2 a day or less — the hungry half of the world’s population. What they’re thinking is very different from what most government agencies and NGOs understand and report. While we’re rushing them food and medicine, most of them feel the only real solution is jobs.”

You know I’m passionate about adoption, but I’m even more passionate about orphan prevention. I believe the single biggest thing that can be done to prevent orphans is job creation! (Click to Tweet This.) That’s why I’ve been so passionate about The Adventure Project (TAP) since the very beginning. They are all about job creation – helping others step out of poverty with dignity, not handouts.

This weekend TAP launched a new project where you get the opportunity to tell one person #YoureHired.

When you give $30 per month for one year, your monthly donation provides one person with essential skills: job training, education, financial budgeting. After one year, that person will be thriving, and that family will be self-sustained.

We’re looking for 500 Angel Investors who will step up and say #YoureHired to either a farmer in Kenya or a health care agent in Uganda.

Will you join me? Go to http://www.theadventureproject.org/hire/

What’s new in the new version of “Adopt Without Debt”

08.08.2014 by juliegumm@yahoo.com //

Now that the new book is listed on several retail book sites (see links below) I’ve had a few people ask me what the difference is between the two books. So here’s the low down…

The first book was self-published in May 2011 and was approximately 25,000 words (152 pages)
The first book is out of print and only available from used book sellers who are charging an exorbitant amount of money. Please don’t go into debt to buy the book 🙂
The first book told our story and focused only on how to pay for adoption.
The new book is being released by a “real” publisher – Abingdon Press. (January 6, 2015)
The new book title is slightly different because the old version can never really “go away” from Amazon. It is now titled “You Can Adopt Without Debt: Creative Ways to Cover the Cost of Adoption”
Abingdon wanted the book to be a “all-encompassing” adoption book that someone at the “I’m thinking about adopting” stage could pick up and it would cover A-Z
So, the new book is over 65,000 words (approx. 225 pages)
It includes 5 new chapters in the beginning that cover the different types of adoption, pros and cons of each, overview of the process and steps of each, etc. There are a couple new chapters in the last half of the book as well.
Tons of new fundraising ideas and stories of other families who’ve adopted debt-free.
Information on the adoption tax credit.
…and lots more.

Available at these retailers:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Christian Book

Transitioning to Life in Small Town America

07.03.2014 by juliegumm@yahoo.com //

We’re here.

I haven’t written much since I posted about our impending move 3 months ago because we’ve been busy working, purging, packing, purging some more and dealing with the typical end-of-year craziness.

The boys both graduated 8th grade – Luke as valedictorian.

The very next day Mark and I headed out to Ark. because I started working in the office the following Monday. It was definitely a much quicker, quieter ride just the two of us – a throwback to our college days. We had basically 24 hours before Mark headed out for Haiti but had time to stop by the rental house for a quick inspection and selfie.

After Haiti he headed home to wrangle the kids for two more weeks before I flew home in mid June for my parents 50th wedding anniversary party and our family reunion in Payson. In that time he kept purging, packing and getting in last sleepovers and Luke’s 15th birthday party. My hero!

My parent’s party was a great success except for the fact that my mom was once again in the hospital with GI problems (no emergency but still a bummer). But she got released just in time for our family reunion. It was fun to spend several days with my parents, brothers and all my nieces and nephew. We got in some hiking, swimming, fishing and lots of eating.

Then it was time for family good-byes as we pulled away. I was fine until I hugged my mom and then I kind of lost it.

But there wasn’t too much time to dwell on it. The next morning we were up bright and early to load the ABF U-Pack trailer. Or rather we were awake to greet the company we hired to load the trailer. (Best decision EVER!). By 3 they were done, the kids were shuttled off to grandparents and we spent the next 4 hours finishing up last minute stuff. Sort of. Thankful for family and friends who stepped up to finish off some stuff for us like painting and hauling away trash.

We took one last selfie in front of the house before Mark and I checked into a nearby hotel so we could pick the dog up from the boarding place in the morning before grabbing the kids and hitting the road.

We had a great last visit with our besties – Dustin & Jen in the hotel lobby before our sad goodbyes. More tears.

The next morning with the dog and kids we hit the road. This was the first time Buddy’s made a road trip with us and he did GREAT! No whining, barking or vomiting so I call that success!

The two day trip concluded on Sunday around dinner time with a humiliating state line photo. The kids were horrified.

Them: “What if someone sees us?”
Us: “No one knows you.”
Them: “They might see and remember us when school starts.”
Me: “Then you can tell them ‘I know, my mom is soooooo lame.’ I can’t believe she made us do that.”
Them: “Really? Okay.”

After one night on air mattresses the kids were rescued by Aunt Hollie and got to stay with them until all our stuff arrived on Wednesday. Thursday after work a great community helped us unload – our landlord, the university chaplain & his son, one of my co-workers and the husband of another co-worker. That plus my two boys and a nephew and it got done in 90 minutes.

By Thursday we had everyone back under one roof. It looked like a live version of Minecraft inside but at least we had beds and a refrigerator. I’ve never been so happy to see my refrigerator in all my life!

Saturday morning we wandered downtown for the Heritage Festival – small town life. The kids were mildly amused by the shootout. But we got to meet and talk with people. Both Mark and I are loving how you run into people you know everywhere. We even met a woman who was a missionary in Ethiopia for 35 years!

We’re still unpacking and getting organized but we can sit at the dining room table, I can cook dinner and the kids have Internet. So we’re all pretty happy!

Next week is company! My friend Brandi and her 3 kids are stopping for one night en route to FL. Then Mark’s parents, his sister and my two cutie-patootie nieces get here!!! Yay for the British invasion!