Julie Gumm of Siloam Springs wanted to show people there are ways to pay for adoption without going into debt.
The John Brown University graduate decided to write a book about it after returning from Ethiopia with her children in 2008.
In May 2011, the Arizona native self-published the first book about her adoption experience and how she paid for it.
"Adopting without going into debt is possible," Gumm wrote. "It will take work, and it will take sacrifice. But it is possible."
Her creative ways to avoid debt and her adoption story captured the attention of The Dave Ramsey Show.
In June 2012, Dave Ramsey interviewed her on his radio show. Its 4.5 million listeners heard the nine-minute phone interview.
"It was a total dream," Gumm said. "He gave me an endorsement."
Ramsey has recommended her book on his show and mentioned it in his book, "Smart Money Smart Kids," she said. "You can't buy that kind of PR."
After the interview, her book went to No. 1 on Amazon in the family category.
Gumm sold 3,000 copies of her first book, mostly on Amazon.
This book hasn't been available since the new version of the book was released in January 2015.
"You Can Adopt Without Debt, Creative Ways to Cover the Cost of Adoption" was published by Abingdon Press and is twice as long as the original at 50,000 words.
The new version still includes her adoption story, but it also includes many success stories of others who have tried creative ways to raise money for adoption.
The book is one of three finalists in the relationships category of the Christian Retailing's Best awards. Winners were announced on June 28 at the International Christian Retail Show 2016 in Cincinnati.
Life in Arizona
Gumm and her husband, Mark, were born and raised in Arizona. They came to Siloam Springs to attend John Brown University.
After graduating with a bachelor's degree in journalism in 1995, she recruited for John Brown University in Phoenix.
They lived in Phoenix because of family, but the desert wasn't for her. "It doesn't feed my soul," she said.
She wanted to live where everything is green. "That fills me up," she said.
Sometime in 2013, she told Lucas Roebuck, with whom she attended college, that if there ever was a job opening at John Brown University, she would be interested.
She and her husband had considered moving, possibly to Germany, when a position became available at JBU. She applied for it and got the job.
They moved to Siloam Springs in June 2014.
She started as a staff writer and handled social media.
She's now director of marketing communications, and this past semester, was an adjunct professor. She taught advertising and plans to teach magazine writing next semester.
"This has been my first semester adjuncting," she said. "It's a lot of work." But she enjoys interacting with the students.
Happy Family
She and her husband have four children, Luke, 16, Noah, 16, Beza, 15 and Natalie, 13.
"They are all great kids, so smart," Gumm said. They receive mostly A's and B's in school.
Luke and Beza were adopted from Ethiopia in 2008.
Luke is athletic and outgoing. He plays football and soccer.
Noah is more introverted and a homebody.
Beza is very athletic and plays volleyball. She's artistic, and like Noah, needs her alone time.
Natalie plays drums and is a peacemaker. She's always happy.
About a year before adopting in 2008, Gumm and her husband had $10,000 in the bank and had just paid off their house.
"We kind of just jumped in," she said.
With no mortgage, it saved them about $2,200 per month. But when her husband left his job, things became a little more interesting.
"Our family still found ways to save money by cutting back more on entertainment and eating out," Gumm wrote. "Whenever I felt tempted to pick up some new item or clothing or DVD, those two beautiful faces would flash before my eyes, and the item would go back on the shelf. Every penny counted."
Gumm accepted freelance work as a graphics designer and sold items on the internet and at garage sales.
Over the year-long process, adoption bills came in large chunks. But the family never went into debt to pay for the $28,000 adoption.
They had prayed a lot about the decision to adopt. In her book, she wrote about when God spoke to her about adopting.
"I felt the Holy Spirit talk to me," she said. "That has been my reassurance. God had a plan."
Back To Ethiopia
In 2015, the family returned to Ethiopia over spring break.
"It was emotional," she said.
Luke and Beza remembered living in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.
"My kids were in heaven with all the Ethiopian food," she said.
They visited their grandmother and the place where their parents had worked before they passed away. Their father was a civil engineer and their mother worked where he did.
"There is no better way to understand your adoptive child's culture and homeland than to experience it yourself," Gumm wrote. "You will likely find yourself falling in love with the country. Both Mark and I have a deep love for Ethiopia, one that has led Mark to work full-time to promote orphan care in the country of our children's birth. To us, it feels like a second home."
In Ethiopia, adopting isn't something the people think about. But Gumm and her husband have been changing this. They have worked for international orphan organizations to encourage in-country orphan care.
"That's where our heart and passion lies," she said.
Ideally, the best place to raise children is in their own culture, she said. However, if they can't be raised by their family and end up in an orphanage, adoption is a solution.
"Adoption is all about loss," she said. "It's beautiful in some ways." While the children gain a new family, they also leave behind family and culture.
Would they adopt again?
"Never say never," she said. But it's not in the plans.
Community on 06/29/2016