I've always wondered whether Santa's list does our children any favors. Financial stability is absolutely outside the control of our children, but we still reinforce that "nice" children get a lot of presents while "naughty" children do not. But anyway... It sounds like your parents taught you great lessons regarding money. I think that "making money work hard for you" will be an especially valuable lesson in your leadership. I really, really appreciate your insight about approaching money as a vehicle to accomplish things and not the goal in and of itself. I know that many of the churches that I have attended would benefit from hearing a sermon on just that!