Julie Gumm - Author

Humble Beginnings

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JBUDuplex

Several weeks ago my in-laws were in Arkansas and they snapped this picture.

THIS is where we, as 20/21 year old newlyweds, made house for the very first time on the campus of John Brown University. Just for clarification, see where those two air conditioner units are? That’s were our apartment ended and another began. It was a duplex. That whole apartment could probably fit in my living room now. It had a bedroom, bathroom, family room and kitchen.

It had indoor/outdoor carpet, stained linoleum, windows that rattled and MICE. We filled it with a mish-mash of furniture from our own bedrooms and the thrift store. We bought a used refrigerator for $50. I think the only new thing in it was the couch that my parents bought for a wedding present…and all our lovely wedding presents.

We were actually fortunate that it was one of the “renovated” units. That meant a fresh coat of paint and new “carpet”. It was on the edge of campus, for which I was grateful when I stumbled home at 3 or 4 a.m. after putting the college newspaper to bed on Wednesday nights.

Best of all, it was paid for. Our academic, ROTC and newspaper editor scholarships were enough to cover the rent and electric bill as well as our tuition bill.

Times were simpler. We lived on about $450 a month – $200 a month from my part time job; $150 from Mark’s work study job and $100 from his ROTC stipend. That paid for the gas bill, groceries, car insurance, car payment, gas and whatever else we needed. Emphasis on “needed”. We lived on Hamburger Helper, grilled burgers, and Mac N Cheese. We learned to be happy with less.

We cuddled on the couch and watched Saturday Night Live. We had our first big fight because, in my effort to clean off the kitchen table piles, I threw away a catalog – THE catalog that had the boots he wanted to order on sale. It’s funny now, not so funny at the time. We learned never to walk out during a fight.

“Vacations” meant driving the 17 hours home to Arizona and crashing at the parents house. We loved being there but loved going “home” more. We learned what it meant to leave our family and become our own family.

Swimming

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A pretty constant question since the kids arrival has been “When we go swimming?” I’ve quizzed them a bit on their swimming experience which has pretty much been nil. I think Wen has been in some sort of water hole before (I can only imagine the water) but I’m pretty sure he could stand up.

I signed them up for swim lessons a couple weeks ago but they don’t start until the middle of June. I put Wen & Beza in level 1 and was told that I can move them up if I found out they know more than I think they know.

Last week we finally had the opportunity to go swimming at a friend’s house (how I long for a pool in our backyard 🙂 Noah is a decent swimmer on his own. Natty still requires floaties to be independent although she does a pretty good job at gliding short distances. I’m hoping by the end of the summer she’ll be able to be on her own.

I also bought floaties for Beza and Wen. We got in the pool (along w/ my friends 4 kids). I told Wen & Beza to stay on the steps while I was getting Natalie’s floaties on. I wasn’t sure how well the floaties would hold them up since they weigh about 10 lbs more than she does. Well before I know it Wen has stepped off and is behind me (within arms length) sputtering and flailing his arms. I quickly grabbed him and pulled him toward me. I truly think that if he had stopped flailing and relaxed he was probably in an area where he could have stood up. But he was getting mouthfuls of water from his efforts to stay afloat.

So, needless to say, he completely freaked himself out about the water. He spent the rest of the day inside the pink float ring. I took him out a couple of times to show him how to float on his back but he was so tense that he couldn’t get his body to really relax despite the fact that I was still holding on to him.

Beza did much better. After about 40 minutes she was jumping off the side, going under the water, popping back up and slowly propelling herself toward the side of the pool. She had a blast. They haven’t really gotten the kicking/arm movements down so they move pretty slow in the pool.

Now Wen keeps telling everyone “I need preschool swim lessons!”

swimming

Five Months Home

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I just about fell off the planet there didn’t I? Somehow by the end of the day I don’t have enough creative juices left for blog posting it seems.

May, as usual, has been a busy month with Mother’s Day, my birthday and end of the year festivities. The kids made me really cute cards and gifts in school and told me they were glad I was there mom. It warms my heart to hear Beza pray at night “Thank your for mom being my mom and dad being my dad.”

Natalie graduated from kindergarten. The other kids didn’t really get why she got to have a graduation and they didn’t. I’m not really sure why either but oh well.

Both the girls had tears on the night of the last day of school because they were going to miss their teachers. Natalie’s teacher is coming back and will actually move up to second grade and be Beza’s teacher. Beza’s teacher is moving to a different school. So of course Beza felt like Natalie’s tears were not warranted because Mrs. Leary would still be around. “Can I hug her every day?” Natalie asked me. I assured her that Mrs. Leary would love to get a Natalie hug in the mornings.

Wendemagegn keeps asking how long before they go back to school. If only all the kids were that dedicated right?

Last Saturday I was on my way to see my mom in the hospital when Wendemagegn called me to tell me that he had asked Jesus into his heart that morning. Oh did the tears flow, again. It is an amazing thing to see your children come to know Jesus as their Savior and watch that relationship build. Coming from an Ethiopian Orthodox background I had no idea how difficult it would be for our children to understand a different set of beliefs.

Wendemagegn’s flag football team, the Raiders, finished out their season in second place. He had a great time playing for Coach Greg and Coach Dave and really improved his skills over the 8 weeks. He loved to run straight at the defenders and then fake them out at the last minute (I’m sure there is some technical football term for that). We still need to work on the idea of going for the hole in the defenders FIRST and using his fancy footwork as a last resort.

We still have the normal kid issues – sharing, taking terms, etc. We’re also trying to come to grips with the fact that life is NOT fair and no one said it would be 🙂 The boys are both going to church camp this summer and Beza got a good pout about the fact that it wasn’t fair she couldn’t go (it’s for 3-5th grade). Life is tough, isn’t it.

The boys seem to be getting along better. Part of that is probably attributable to the fact that we adjusted Noah’s ADHD meds. We had a couple really rough months where I thought I might loose my mind. I was chalking all sorts of behaviors up to the adjustment of having two new siblings before it dawned on me that this is exactly the same pattern we go through EVERY time his meds need adjusting. Every time this happens I swear that next time I’ll remember to evaluate the meds before I go insane and every time it takes me weeks and weeks for the light bulb to go off.

We are so blessed to have flexible work schedules this summer so that we can take care of the kids. I’ve shifted my four short days to 3 long days while Dad is home with the kids (and getting some? work done from home). The other two days Mark works while I’ve got the kids. Since Mark works from home I’ve been trying to schedule activities outside the house so that he can have some quiet time. So that means the splash park, free summer movies and hopefully crashing at friend’s houses who have pools.

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