Accountability and an Awkward Topic

Since you were all a huge part in getting us through this last year, I think it's important that Terry and I stay accountable to you.

We are very transparent about finances. That's partly because of our "chatty" generation, and partly because of Dave Ramsey's influence. We haven't been shy in admitting our early financial mistakes and our attempts in the last few years to get things in order.

Before I was diagnosed this year, we paid off our car, were no longer paying credit card debt, and for the first time in a while, had a savings account that was growing. We had mastered Dave Ramsey's envelope system and we were, for the first time in years, not stressing about money.

But since we had just barely righted ourselves, this illness was all it took to send us back in this area. We were at the store the day before my mastectomy and I got a call from the hospital letting us know what our part of the cost of the surgery would be. I was mentally and physically exhausted, and the number the woman gave us felt so high. I ended up sitting on the floor of the store with my head in my hands, thinking, "How can I pay for this?"

Before we left the store Terry and I had prayed and left it up to God.

And as an answer to our prayers, so many of you were there for us financially. You sent checks and giftcards, sometimes with explicit instructions on what to spend money on, and sometimes not.

And even though we're far from perfect, we tried to use your gifts the best way we knew how. And oddly enough, the last two non-fiction books I've read have been about money within God's kingdom and Terry and I are excited about what God's teaching us about it.

And so, since so many of you have blessed us (and we pray you're blessed a hundred times over for it!) we wanted to take a moment to let you know that, yes, we are going to Disney World. But no, we are not paying for it.

You may think it's silly for me to address this topic, but I wanted to be very clear that we haven't taken any monetary gifts and shoved them into a vacation fund! We are blessed that my Dad and Step-Mom offered to fly all four of us to Orlando and they're treating us to a stay in a beautiful condo and four days at the parks. We don't deserve a trip, but we're so very grateful for it.

And I wanted to be accountable to you. You've prayed for us, served us, and sacrificed for us. This wasn't just my journey, but all of your's too. Terry and I will be accountable to you, not just financially, but spiritually as well. We want to use what we've learned the best we can so that all of your hard work and prayers are honored.