what can you get for 160,140.00? (cute)

[novaalison23]

Cost of Kids

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,
really nice!

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from
birth to
18 and came up with $160,140.00 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 a
year, $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 says don't have
children if
you want to be "rich." It is just the opposite.

What do your get for your $160,140?


Naming rights,--- First, middle, and last!
Glimpses of God everyday.
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 jam.

A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites, building sand castles,
and
skipping down the sidewalk in the pouring rain.

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,
watching Saturday morning cartoons, going to Disney Land, and wishing
on
stars.

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

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

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

You get a front row seat to history to witness the first step, first
word, first bra, first date, and 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 in your obituary called grandchildren.

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 with God.

You have all the power to heal a booboo, scare away the monsters under
the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them
forever,
and love them without limits, so one day they will, like you, love
without
counting the cost.


ENJOY YOUR KIDS AND GRANDKIDS ......

[CSchmidt]

Folks,

Being honored to be a dad of 2 wonderful daughters has been the best thing that ever happened to me. This email went around a while ago and is one of my favorites.

Chuck



Subject: Kids are priceless Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once
talked about a contest he was
asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring
child. The winner was afour-year-old child whose next door neighbor
was an
elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the
man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed
onto
his lap, and just sat there. When his mother asked him what he had
said
to the neighbor, the little boy said, "Nothing, I just helped him
cry,"
************************************************************
Teacher Debbie Moon's first graders were discussing a picture of a
family. One little boy in the picture had a different color hair
than the other family members. One child suggested that he was
adopted and a little girl said, "I know all about adoptions because
I
was
adopted."
"What does it mean to be adopted?" asked another child.
"It means," said the girl, "that you grew in your mommy's heart
instead of her tummy".
****************************************************************
A
four-year-old was at the pediatrician for a her years check up. As the
doctor looked down with an otoscope, he asked,
"Do you think I'll find Big Bird in here?"
The little girl stayed silent. Next, the doctor took a tongue
depressor and looked down her throat. He asked, "Do you think I'll
find

the
Cookie down there?"
Again, the little girl was silent. Then the doctor put a stethoscope
to her chest. As he listened to her heartbeat, he asked, "Do you
I'll
hear Barney in there?"
"Oh, no!" the little girl replied, "Jesus is in my heart. Barney's on
my
underpants"
****************************************************************
As
I was driving home from work one day, I stopped to watch a local
Little League baseball game that was being played in a park near my
home. As I sat down behind the bench on the first-base line, I asked
one of the boys what the score was. We're behind 14 to nothing, he
answered with a smile. "Really" I said. "I have to say you don't look
very
discouraged."
"Discouraged?" the boy asked with a puzzled look on his face. "Why
should we be discouraged? We haven't been up to bat yet"
***************************************************************
Whenever I'm disappointed with my spot in my life, I stop and think
about little Jamie Scott. Jamie was trying out for a part in a
school play.
His mother told me that he'd set his heart on being in it, though
she feared he would not be chosen. On the day the parts were
awarded, I went with her to collect him after school. Jamie rushed
up to her, eyes shining with pride and excitement. "Guess what Mom,"
he shouted, and then said those words that will remain a lesson to
me:
"I've been chosen to clap and cheer."
****************************************************************
An
Eye Witness Account from New York City on a cold day in December:
A little boy about 10 years old was standing before a shoe store on
the roadway, barefooted, peering through the window, and shivering
with
cold. A lady approached the boy and said, "My little fellow, why are
you
looking so earnestly in that window?"
"I was asking God to give me a pair of shoes," was the boy's reply.
The

lady took him by the hand and went into the store and asked the clerk
to

get half a dozen pairs of socks for the boy. She then asked if he
could
give
her a basin of water and a towel.
He quickly brought them to her. She took the little fellow to the
back part of the store and, removing her gloves, knelt down,
washed his little feet, and dried them with a towel. By this time
the clerk had returned with the socks. Placing a pair upon the boy's
feet, she purchased him a pair of shoes. She tied up the remaining
pairs of socks and gave them to him.
She patted him on the head and said, "No doubt, my little fellow, you
feel more comfortable now?" As she turned to go, the astonished
lad caught her by the hand, and looking up in her face, with tears
in his eyes, answered the question with these words:
"Are you God's Wife?"
****************************************************************
There is nothing more to add after that last one.....