Inquiring Minds Want To Know

We are still in Italy and will probably need a vacation to recover from this one - but we have seen more sights, walked more miles, and eaten more gelato and pizza than I imagined possible.  We are thoroughly enjoying our time both as a family and getting to know our new friends.  We cannot wait to show them Spain. 

We do not speak Italian, but I am amazed at the amount we can understand based on our Spanish. Of course, we probably understand just enough to get us in trouble.  We have also run into many Spanish speaking people and have been able to keep practicing our language.

It has been a while since I have written about how our financial support works and we have been asked about how this vacation was funded, so thought I would take a moment out and do a Partnership Refresher.

The financial partnerships we receive each month or year go straight to SEND (this makes them tax deductible and gives us greater accountability and stretches the dollar).  The partnerships are used to fund a variety of things, including our monthly salary - but NOT vacations.  Just like the rest of the working world, we have to budget and save and plan for our personal monthly expenses (food, clothing, utilities, gas, medical, taxes, ......) and big expenditures, such as a vacation to Italy. 

We began to plan for this trip about a year ago - although at that point we thought we were saving for a trip to France.  We cashed in credit card rewards (which we pay off each month), said no to a lot of other frills, and were faithful to set aside money each month. 

Next major savings item - Hannah's plane ticket home for Christmas (that is another personal expense, our partners do not pay for this either).

We are incredibly blessed by our financial partners and could not continue to be here without them!