The price of parenting

I think this has been around before but a friend just emailed it to me again so I wanted to share it.

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $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:
a.. $8,896.66 a year,
b.. $741.38 a month, or
c.. $171.08 a week.
d.. That's a mere $24.24 a day!
e.. 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?
a.. Naming rights. First, middle, and last!
b.. Glimpses of God every day.
c.. Giggles under the covers every night.
d.. More love than your heart can hold.
e.. Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
f.. Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
g.. A hand to hold, usually covered with jelly or chocolate.
h.. A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites
i.. 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:
a..finger-paint,
b..carve pumpkins,
c.. play hide-and-seek,
d.. catch lightning bugs, and
e.. never stop believing in Santa Claus.

You have an excuse to:
a.. keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh,
b.. watching Saturday morning cartoons,
c.. going to Disney movies, and
d.. 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:
a.. retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof,
b.. taking the training wheels off a bike,
c.. removing a splinter,> d.. filling a wading pool
e.. 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 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!!!!!!! (Even with the added $20,000+ for adopting parents!)

Love & enjoy your children & grandchildren!!!!!!!

Nothing to report

It seems that time is standing still now that we are officially waiting and no longer have any control in the process. There is talk of a batch of referrals coming next week for families that were logged in May 13, 2005 through maybe early June. The next batch may come late March and have matches for families that were logged in the rest of June. And so the process goes. You can see how this process can become exponentially longer with each passing month if the CCAA can't catch up and make more matches each month. I think most parents that are waiting like us have faith that the CCAA is doing the best they can but it is a little disheartening to wait longer and longer. We don't even have our log in date (LID) yet but I'm sure we will soon. We may already be logged in but won't receive notice of the actual date for awhile longer.

I caved-I made a purchase

I don't know when I thought I would start shopping but it definately wasn't going to be until "later." Well I guess "later" is here because I made my first purchase. I had to do something to celebrate being DTC so this weekend I bought my daughter a blanket and socks from Gymboree's popular ladybug line. I can't believe I'm shopping for girl stuff!!

I don't know if I've mentioned it in previous entries or not, but ladybugs seem to be a symbol of Chinese adoption among Americans. There's a superstition that ladybug sightings are linked to referrals being on the way. We have had some ladybug moments along the way like on October 31st 2005 we encountered a swarm of them outside Andrew's pediatrician's office. We were taking him for a physical for our home study and we thought it was interesting to be doing something adoption related and to encounter literally hundreds of ladybugs!

I'm pretty superstitious so I think maybe our daughter was born on that day. It's possible. I think it would be fun to have a birthday on Halloween! We'll see. When we get closer to referral maybe I'll start a pool for guessing her birthday. I'm sticking with Oct 31st or maybe Feb 8th (no ladybug sighting, just a feeling).

The news we have been waiting for!

Our dossier specialist from Holt called this afternoon to say our dossier looks great and it's going to China tomorrow!!! So our DTC date is 2/10/06. WooHoo-we're getting in line now!!!

Doing the happy dance!!

Update

Hi everyone! I emailed our dossier specialist at our agency yesterday to check on our status and she said she was hoping to review it by Friday. She didn't specify if she hopes she can review it time to be sent to China this Friday or if she just thought she would get to it on Friday. I didn't want to email her back to have her clarify so I'll just have to see. She said she would call and let me know how the review went. I'm still crossing my fingers that there are no errors or other problems.
Wish us luck!

Poem

Here's a beautiful poem for waiting parents...

I HAVE A PICTURE FRAME (author unknown)

I have a picture frame
on my dresser to hold
your little face
awaiting there for you.

I have a picture frame
on my table top
reminding me you are waiting too
just how long I know not.

I have a picture frame
by my kitchen sink
my daily chores I faithfully work
and often of you think.

Daddy has a picture frame
in his heart you see
daughters have daddy's love
their blessing they will be.

Grandma has a picture frame
beside her other ones
reserved for you amonst them all
a granddaughter she'll have won.

I have a picture frame
on a chain of gold
to remind me that you are there
waiting for my arms to hold.