Greetings again from the Treasurer's office. I am in a cheerier than normal frame of mind as I write this month's update, partly because of our current financial picture, but also partly because of the birth of twin grandchildren Feb. 23. I'll give you an update about the twins at the end of this article, but first, here is a financial update.
As the figures and graph show, our daily average mail income for February was $144,357, with the daily average for the year moving up to $134,371. This is a bit higher than our projected income of $122,000 per day.
Even though income seems to be more or less stable and above projections, our projection for 1997--and our actual income so far- -is nonetheless lower than last year's daily average mail income of about $156,000 per day. So, while we feel good about income holding at this level, it is still a level below last year.
Our projected income is more or less an educated guess, of course, and this means we guessed correctly when we assumed income for this year may be less than last year. So, the good news is that our projections seem accurate, but the bad news is that we projected lower income for 1997 than 1996 and we appear so far to be correct.
Nonetheless, I wish to thank everyone for their prayers and for their financial support. Both appear to be reflected in the income numbers so far this year, and I pray the trend will continue.
Before leaving the issue of income and expenses, please notice that while income is down almost 17 percent, expenses are down even more to a minus 35.1 percent.
This reflects two realities. One is that income is higher than our projections by a little bit, and the other is that expenses a year ago were running higher than income by quite a bit. This is because our income dropped too quickly to match it with equivalent expense cuts (which, by their nature, take time to implement and thus lag a bit).
Although I cannot know for sure, it is my current opinion that the stability of the income is a direct result of the pledge program. Instead of running a question and answer column with this report this time, I have instead written a separate update on the pledge program (see below).
On the personal note I mentioned above, my wife, Arlene, and I were blessed with our first grandchildren in February. My daughter and her husband, Crystal and Dan Resler of Madison, Wisconsin, together (Dan was in the delivery room) bore us twin grandchildren at about 1:15 a.m., Sunday, Feb. 23.
First to be born was the boy, Clinton Daniel Resler, weighing six pounds eight ounces. Second, but not to be outdone, was the girl, Heather Lynn Resler, weighing six pounds 14 ounces.
One great blessing, both for us and for my daughter and her husband, is that my wife's health had improved enough for her to be with the Reslers to help them during the early, sleepless days and nights after the birth.
My wife had prayed and prayed that she would feel up to being there to help out, and God answered her prayers. I know many of you have been praying for her as well, so let me also thank you. Arlene is not quite 100 percent well yet, but she seems to be in the 90 percent range, and we are hoping for a complete recovery over time.
Before closing, I need to add one more thought. It seems that for some reason God has chosen to give my grandchildren all the remaining cuteness in the world, thus leaving none for any of you and your grandchildren.
Although we can only speculate why this is so, we all know that God works his mysterious wonders in many ways and that he wants the best for everyone in the end.
Therefore, I suggest that we do the Christian thing and accept this as it is in the faith that God knows best.
Thanks again for your prayers and support.
March 18, 1997, WN page 15
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