She was around 80 years old (in dog years) and the best dog EVER.
To read the story about the hole in the fence, click here .
Showing posts with label Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Life. Show all posts
Friday, July 13, 2012
Thursday, March 8, 2012
The Cost of Raising a Child
Chase is dating a girl with an adorable 18 month old baby and it has been a real eye opener for him. While shopping at Wal-Mart last night, he text me. Here is what was said...
Chase- : D Having a kid is expensive. (as if I didn't already know)
Me- Try having four.
Chase- No thanks!
Our short conversation brought to memory a Court of Honor that I attended, where the Boy Scout's father read the following thought provoking piece:
The Cost of Raising a Child
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 price shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition. But $160,140.00 isn't so bad if you break it down..
It translates into:
$8,896.66 a year,
$741.38 a month,
$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; "Don't have children if you want to be 'rich'."
Actually, it is just the opposite.
What do you get for your $160,140.00?
* 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 and flying kites.
* Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.
For $160,140.00, you never have to grow up. You get to:
* finger-paint,
* carve pumpkins,
* play hide-and-seek,
* catch lightning bugs,
* 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 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 a mere $24.24 a day, 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 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 in history to witness the:
* First step
* First word
* First joke
* First date
* 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 and great 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 under God. You have all 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 one day they will, like you, love without counting the cost. That is quite a deal for the price!
Love and enjoy your children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
It's the best investment you'll ever make.
If anyone knows who the author is, please let me know. I would like to give credit where it is due.
Chase- : D Having a kid is expensive. (as if I didn't already know)
Me- Try having four.
Chase- No thanks!
Our short conversation brought to memory a Court of Honor that I attended, where the Boy Scout's father read the following thought provoking piece:
The Cost of Raising a Child
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 price shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition. But $160,140.00 isn't so bad if you break it down..
It translates into:
$8,896.66 a year,
$741.38 a month,
$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; "Don't have children if you want to be 'rich'."
Actually, it is just the opposite.
What do you get for your $160,140.00?
* 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 and flying kites.
* Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.
For $160,140.00, you never have to grow up. You get to:
* finger-paint,
* carve pumpkins,
* play hide-and-seek,
* catch lightning bugs,
* 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 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 a mere $24.24 a day, 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 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 in history to witness the:
* First step
* First word
* First joke
* First date
* 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 and great 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 under God. You have all 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 one day they will, like you, love without counting the cost. That is quite a deal for the price!
Love and enjoy your children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
It's the best investment you'll ever make.
If anyone knows who the author is, please let me know. I would like to give credit where it is due.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Thursday, August 11, 2011
11 Things I Know For Sure
11) Swedish massages are delightful.
10) Tomatoes taste better straight from the garden.
9) The playground phrase, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me" is not true. Words can hurt.
8) Funerals suck.
7) Glitter and confetti are only fun if you're partying at somebody else's house.
6) If someone offers you a stick of gum, take it. It may be their way of saying your breath stinks.
5) Some people just shouldn't have children.
4) It is perfectly O.K. to say "No" sometimes.
3) The quote "When mom's not happy, nobody's happy." is spot on.
2) Enjoy every phase of your life. There is truth to the Trace Atkins song Your Gonna Miss This.
and most importantly...
1) Having a child in the family with special needs is a blessing, not a curse.
10) Tomatoes taste better straight from the garden.
9) The playground phrase, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me" is not true. Words can hurt.
8) Funerals suck.
7) Glitter and confetti are only fun if you're partying at somebody else's house.
6) If someone offers you a stick of gum, take it. It may be their way of saying your breath stinks.
5) Some people just shouldn't have children.
4) It is perfectly O.K. to say "No" sometimes.
3) The quote "When mom's not happy, nobody's happy." is spot on.
2) Enjoy every phase of your life. There is truth to the Trace Atkins song Your Gonna Miss This.
and most importantly...
1) Having a child in the family with special needs is a blessing, not a curse.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Beatitudes for Disabled People
Blessed are you that never bids us "hurry up" and more blessed are you that do not snatch our tasks from our hands to do them for us, for often we need time rather than help.
Blessed are you who take time to listen to defective speech, for you help us to know that if we persevere, we can be understood.
Blessed are you who walk with us in public places and ignore the stares of strangers, for in your companionship we find havens of relaxation.
Blessed are you who stand beside us as we enter new ventures, for our failures will be outweighed by times we surprise ourselves and you.
Blessed are you who ask for our help, for our greatest need is to be needed.
Blessed are you when by all these things you assure us that the thing that makes us individuals is not our peculiar muscles, nor our wounded nervous system, but is the God-given self that no infirmity can confine.
Blessed are those who realize that I am human and don't expect me to be saintly just because I am disabled.
Blessed are those who pick things up without being asked.
Blessed are those who understand that sometimes I am weak and not just lazy.
Blessed are those who forget my disability of the body and see the shape of my soul.
Blessed are those who see me as a whole person, unique and complete, and not as a "half" and one of God's mistakes.
Blessed are those who love me just as I am without wondering what I might have been like.
Blessed are my friends on whom I depend, for they are the substance and joy of my life!
by Marjorie Chappel
Blessed are you who take time to listen to defective speech, for you help us to know that if we persevere, we can be understood.
Blessed are you who walk with us in public places and ignore the stares of strangers, for in your companionship we find havens of relaxation.
Blessed are you who stand beside us as we enter new ventures, for our failures will be outweighed by times we surprise ourselves and you.
Blessed are you who ask for our help, for our greatest need is to be needed.
Blessed are you when by all these things you assure us that the thing that makes us individuals is not our peculiar muscles, nor our wounded nervous system, but is the God-given self that no infirmity can confine.
Blessed are those who realize that I am human and don't expect me to be saintly just because I am disabled.
Blessed are those who pick things up without being asked.
Blessed are those who understand that sometimes I am weak and not just lazy.
Blessed are those who forget my disability of the body and see the shape of my soul.
Blessed are those who see me as a whole person, unique and complete, and not as a "half" and one of God's mistakes.
Blessed are those who love me just as I am without wondering what I might have been like.
Blessed are my friends on whom I depend, for they are the substance and joy of my life!
by Marjorie Chappel
Sunday, October 31, 2010
You Get What You Get, So Don't Throw a Fit
Lately my spouse's attitude is, "I've worked hard my entire married life so I should be able to do what I want." I love my husband with all my heart and he HAS worked hard our entire married life, but so have I.
I found the following song on You Tube. It is about motherhood. On top of raising "normal" children, add taking care of a son with disabilities 24/7 and working part-time out of the home and you've described my life.
My intent is not to whine, humiliate or complain, just prove a point. I liken life to what I tell the Kindergarten kids when handing out treats, "You get what you get, so don't throw a fit."
Enjoy the video!
I found the following song on You Tube. It is about motherhood. On top of raising "normal" children, add taking care of a son with disabilities 24/7 and working part-time out of the home and you've described my life.
My intent is not to whine, humiliate or complain, just prove a point. I liken life to what I tell the Kindergarten kids when handing out treats, "You get what you get, so don't throw a fit."
Enjoy the video!
Sunday, August 15, 2010
The Paradox of Time
Food for thought...
Are you treating the present moment as a means to an end (never fully here because you are always trying to get elsewhere), an obstacle to overcome (you see life as a problem to be solved before you can be happy), or an enemy (you hate what you are doing, complain about your surroundings, blame, accuse, etc.)?
In Echart Tolle's book, A New Earth Awakening to Your Life's Purpose, he says the following:
"Life is always in the now. Your entire life unfolds in this constant Now. Even past or future moments only exist when you remember or anticipate them, and you do so by thinking about them in the only moment there is: this one."
"There is a paradox here. On one hand, how can we deny the reality of time? You need it to go from here to there, to prepare a meal, build a house, read a book. You need time to grow up, to learn new things. Whatever you do seems to take time. Everything is subject to it, yet it all happens in the Now. That is the paradox."
Tolle's words have made me realize that I have been treating the Now as a means to an end; always thinking ahead. I am going to work on appreciating the present moment.
What are your thoughts on Time?
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