Mike sent this home.....obviously it doesn't all fit...but it is cool. I have repeatedly seen the breakdown of the cost of raising a child,
but this is the first time I have seen the rewards listed this way.
It's nice.

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 to be $160,140 for a middle income family.

Talk about sticker shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition.
But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down.
It translates into: * $8,896.66 a year, or
* $741.38 a month, or
* $171.08 a week.
* That's a mere $24.24 a day!
* Just over a dollar an hour.

Still, you might think the best financial advice is "if you want to be 'rich', don't have children.

Actually, it is just the opposite.

What do you get for your $160,140?
* Naming rights. First, middle, and last!
* Glimpses of God every day.
* Giggles under the covers every night.
* More love than your heart can hold.
* Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
* Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
* A hand to hold, usually covered with jelly or chocolate.
* A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites
* Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the boss said or
how your stocks performed that day.

For $160,140, you never have to grow up.
You get to: * finger-paint,
* carve pumpkins,
* play hide-and-seek,
* catch lightning bugs, and
* never stop believing in Santa Claus.

You have an excuse to:
* keep reading "The Adventures of Piglet and Pooh" ,
* watch Saturday morning cartoons,
* go to Disney movies, and
* wish upon a star.

You also get to:
* frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets,
and collect:
* spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas,
* hand prints set in clay or Mother's Day, and
* cards with backward letters for Father's Day.

For $160,140, there is no bigger bang for your buck.

You get to be a hero just for:
* retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof,
* taking the training wheels off a bike,
* removing a splinter,
* filling a wading pool,
* coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and
* coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.

You get a front row seat to history to witness history:
* her first step,
* his first word,
* her first bra,
* his first date, and
* their first time behind the wheel.

You get to be immortal.
You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky,
a long list of limbs called grandchildren and great grandchildrenin your obituary .

You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and
human sexuality that no college can match. In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there under God.

You have the power to:
* heal a boo-boo,
* scare away the monsters under the bed,
* patch a broken heart,
* police a slumber party,
* ground them forever, and
* love them without limits...

so that one day they, like you, will love without counting the cost.

That is quite a deal for the price!!!!!!!
Love & enjoy your children & grandchildren!!!!!!!

Sunday Recap

After our leisurely start to the day we decided to buy a few things we needed. It turns out that one store would have it all….we bought milk, an owl to keep birds out of the back yard, a light for Josiah’s bike and a bike computer for my bike.

While we ran those errands Josiah made ice cream.

Then we headed for lunch at “la Ci-Ci’s” This is a pizza buffet. Pizza continues to be the bane to this new lifestyle I try so hard to create.

We set out to find ducks and didn’t. Hmmmm….we couldn’t find the bats and now we couldn’t find the ducks…is this a trend?

We got a load of rocks for a landscaping project that Mike has been hatching. He’s had me checking out how I’d like it to look. He’s going to build a fountain/pond in the front yard. Of course we all immediately had our ideas….the boys envisioning a fishing pond, my envisioning lots of water lily’s and such… We adjusted our expectations to Mike’s vision and I think we are set. Now to find the time to make it happen.

We went to church. We are enjoying this contemporary service….it’s more like a Gen X or whatever this generation of 18 – 22 yos are called service. There were two families there last night (us and another) but other than that it is students. It’s a fun service. I love the worship and the children do too. We’ll be doing this through the summer. This gives time for our new chaplain to arrive and for Mike to figure out assignments for next year. Frankly, Mike will be the only chaplain here for most of July so we’ll be doing both services. I’m not sure what will happen in the fall.

We dropped off some TOG and 3 weeks of books to Adrienne and family as they begin a new school year – I guess.

AND late at night I got an email from my SIL (Heather – not to be confused with produce, recipe provider, local Heather) that told us how well they think the girls are doing. The girls were down in Eugene for Memorial Day weekend. THEN I got a phone call from Julie, a friend from AK. She and her family stopped and saw the girls in Spokane and took them out for dinner. She also had things parent dreams of hearing to say about the girls. It appears that they are blossoming and doing well. She mentioned confidence and love for God.

We did hear over the weekend that both girls are accepted to the second year of Master’s Commission. They graduate from year 1 on 6 August.

Fitness goals for the week:
I will get that ticker for bike riding up to 200 miles by Sat. evening.

I will continue with 8 minutes in the a.m. and add weights as needed.

I will continue to eat food that enshrines the temple rather than vandalizes the temple. {G}

I will hopefully see the weight loss ticker move up to 20 lbs by weigh in next Tuesday. I doubt anything good happened this week as I only made it out for one bike ride this past week. Everyone seems to be doing well this week.

Education Goals for the week:
Move to summer schedule with Nolan, Arielle and Jared. This means that I will begin more concentrated phonics and speech with Nolan. I will make sure that Arielle continues with her language arts programs.

We’ll do some family math at least twice this week.

I’ll read *Toothpaste Millionaire* to Nolan and Arielle.

We’ll continue reading *The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe* to all the children/young adults.

I’ll make sure that Jared and Jamin have time to WRITE on their books.

Josiah and Jamin have 1 or 2 more weeks to wrap up their school year. They’ve been keeping things all year for their portfolios and I’ll begin making sure all is recorded to send to North Atlantic Regional Schools.

I’ll make myself read the pile of rough drafts on my night stand so that the boys can begin polishing them for a final grade.

Gatekeeper goals for the week:
We’ll continue to rework “Our Family’s 24 Ways”. This continues to bless our family. We have the old classic flip chart….I may need to spend some time investigating the NEW children’s coloring book…since Nolan and Arielle have been making notebooks…that might be less mess if I order 3 of them (Zander too); the older ones don’t mind the refresher course but have no desire to make a family way notebook. {G}

I’ll be on the lookout for teachable moments for both the children and myself.

I’ll pray for and with each child, daily.

I’ll look for meaningful ways (to THEM) to enter my children’s lives. (Don’t laugh this is a challenge with 5 young men in the home. I’m now lifting weights, riding bikes, discussing economics, trying to learn about channel catfish, trying to work up to being able to ride my bike to ABILENE, playing dinosaurs, playing :::shudder::: board games and playing killer whale at the pool. It was much easier to do lunch and shopping with the girls. {bg}.)

I’ll continue to offer healthy food choices and not freak when the children choose to live on toast, apples and carrot sticks. I won’t take the jokes about “dog treats” and “honey flavored cardboard” personally. They know not what they do.

I’ll be sure to take time each day to help Mike unwind from his busy schedule.

I’ll pay the bills and send off some offerings this week so that the heart of my husband can continue to trust in me.

I’ll bake “cookie dough” cookies and “skedaddle” (fiddle faddle) sometime this week.

I’ll dehydrate nectarines.

I’ll dehydrate more apples for the office.

I’ll give the house a good “weekly cleaning” and begin “deep cleaning” one room a week next week. I will NOT sign up for fly lady – she irritates me.

I’ll continue my private Bible study…realizing that God called me to THAT before any other study and quit putting it on the back burner for group studies I’m involved in. This ministry down time should not be squandered. God told me to study through the whole Bible and that needs to be my priority. But why can’t God set weekly assignment guidelines like groups do. {bg}

I’ll continue to lovingly and consistently deal with Stacia’s new temper tantrums.

I’ll be diligent in watching Zander’s food intake and lovingly and consistently training his strong will as well.

OK, I will lovingly and consistently DISCIPLE all my children this week (but those two have specific needs I’ve noted – not that I’m going to be the mama from h*ll to the other children).

MISC Goals – what are these anyway???
I’ll get the van in to Robert Lee (45 min) for them to see if they can figure out why it continues to die. Our dodge had 160K miles on it and didn’t die. Why does the new Ford die all the time? Mike suspects they need to replace the computer that controls the whole thing….

I’ll get my produce co-op order in to Heather.

I’ll get the SAGE June Splits email out.

I’ll get the SAGE newsletter out.

I’ll pick up the renewal for my thyroid meds from the clinic. It works best if you do that.

PLAYING GOALS:
How sad am I that I have to write play down…..

We’ll make it to the pool at least three times this week.

We’ll try to have a play date with at least one group of family friends if we don’t make it to the park.

I’ll be sure to have some cool movie here that all the kids will enjoy for Friday night.

I’ll continue to read during my down time.

I’ll make one phone call to an out of town friend….see I always MEAN to call all my friends and forget the time changes and don’t do it – but it is so refreshing to catch up on each other. Surely, I can get ONE in this week.

And they say that these are the “lazy days of summer”????? I guess I better make some daily goals but I plan to simply post this list on the fridge and cross one or two things from each category off each day. That should work.