I am Jamie Lynne Grumet: a follower of Jesus, a wife, a mother, and president of Raise It Up a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to growing healthy communities one garden at a time.

My son Aram was born in June 2008.

My son Samuel was born December 2006 and was adopted in November of 2010 from Ethiopia.

We currently live in Los Angeles and practice homeschooling/travelschooling with our children.

My blog, I Am Not The Babysitter,  originally started as a way to keep our family informed through the adoption process. It then turned in to a way to connect with other adoptive parents and breastfeeding moms. In all of those relationships formed, each one of us was looking for support.

When Samuel was adopted into our family, I started getting mistaken for the babysitter of both of my children. Although never malicious, racism has a part in why people automatically assume to know our family dynamic (or lack thereof). We took on the name “I Am Not the Babysitter” as a joke and a gentle reminder that assumptions are often incorrect.  I hope that, with this blog, people will get a chance to see a family that may look a little different, but is as close and loving as a family that meets the stereotypical ideal. It is time to break barriers, stop making assumptions, and realize that families come in all different shapes and sizes and still define the term.

I will only write about what I know.

On this blog, I write about our experiences with adoption, attachment parenting, travel, marriage, and the global community our family has decided actively to take part in.

I want to celebrate the balance of life and family.

I have three purposes for this blog. The first is to inspire other women to make the healthiest choices for their families (parenting for each individual child’s needs rather than society’s wants).

The second is to encourage other women to have their own identity apart from their children.

The third and possibly most important part of what we are doing here I only realized in the last six months. This hobby started becoming more serious when I realized how powerful community can be. Through the support of this readership, we were able to bring national coverage and assistance to an HIV/AIDS children’s center in Awassa, Ethiopia, give 20,000 people (and counting) clean water, and provided an entire village in Ethiopia cloth diapers.

We’ve now expanded and are currently working on clean water and nutritional aid projects in South Africa.

That is why all of the proceeds from this blog go directly to supporting our projects in South Africa and Ethiopia.

Come join the fun, support the cause, and feel empowered to make the decisions that are right for your family!