Really Bad News

Dear friends,

There’s no good way to say this, so I will simply say it.

There is no money for our project.

This is a result of a mistake on my part. I’ll explain what happened and then propose some possible ways we can choose to deal with it.

Last February, Jamie Smith wrote me and asked what I wanted to do with the $1600 follow-up money that came with each seminar grant. At the time, he gave me the choice between doing a follow-up project of some kind or giving each of you a $100 voucher (effectively) to buy books. I chose the voucher, wanting to spare you the book expenses as much as possible.

When you were all here, Jamie asked again what I wanted to do with my $1600. He had apparently forgotten that he had given me a choice, and I had completely forgotten that I had already made a choice back in February somewhere in California. So I merrily proposed the question to you all, we came up with our fabulous project, and you know all about that part.

Then, last week, when I requested that the Seminars office cut some checks for you, Alysha figured it out: we had already spent all the money.

I am so sorry. I am embarrassed and ashamed and very very sorry.

So what do we do now?

Well, there are several options that I can think of. Perhaps you can think of more.

1) We forget the project. We chalk it up to a fantastic idea that ran into an obstacle and we move on with our other projects. This will involve some grief, but it has the obvious benefit of resulting in one less thing to do.

2) We seek funding from some other source. If we could think of a good source quickly, this might work. Any ideas?

3) We go ahead with the project, but use our own money. I was thinking I could sell my son’s old quarter-size violin for about $100. I could use that money. Or we could use our own money but make it a smaller amount. In this scenario, our efforts to scramble together some money could become part of what we write about, part of the interest of the project.

I am honestly not at all sure which option I personally favor. I am hoping to listen to our collective wisdom.

Please think about this, pray some, and post your suggestions.

Many thanks for your good graces, in which I still hope I am…

Debra