The Price of Children

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.
* 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 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 children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, and communications 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 & enjoy your children & grandchildren & great-grandchildren...

It's the best investment you'll ever make!
· Psalms 127:3
Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him.

Kindergarten Graduation

Camille and Mommy

Camille & Father Joe

Camille & her teacher, Mrs. Love

Camille receives her diploma from Fr. Joe.

Camille & Ian give their speaking parts durinf the ceremony.

The graduation march... so proud!

Camille's friend Hannah also graduated from Kindergarten (at another school) this year. We took these photos for fun... we thought they would be fun to have when the girls graduate from High School in 2022! :)

This is our new son, Jon Paul. He is blind and resides in foster care in China. We are currently working to bring him home. Here's how you can help!

Here's how YOU can help bring home Jon Paul!

Click on this link for Kingdom Kids

At the top of the page click on Donations then select Family Grant Donations

Fill out the information and in the box that says designation, fill in our names, Mike & Faye Corman. That way you'll be sure you're donation will go to help fund Jon Paul's adoption.

If you would rather send a check, please mail it to:

Kingdom Kids Adoption Ministry
8625 N Whitehouse Drive
Spokane, WA 99208
USA

Please include a note with the check that the donation is for Jon Paul Corman's adoption fund, but DO NOT include our name on the check!

Kingdom Kids Adoption Ministries is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. All donations are tax-deductible in accordance with IRS regulations.

Thank you for your support! Any questions, please feel free to contact Kingdom Kids!

A shout out for dads

Happy Father's Day... to my father, David, of course. Without him, I would just be a soul... He's a fantastic man... he taught me, and continues to teach me, so much.

Happy Father's Day to a wonderful Dad and Husband, Michael. As these photos can attest, his little girl has him wrapped around her finger!

And Happy Father's Day to Jon Paul's foster Dad, Mike. We really appreciate all that you do and how much love you are showing our son! Thank you, Mike... you're a special man...

Conclusion

Tomorrow is the last day of a year-long celebration in the Catholic church. The Year of the Priest. Beyond today and beyond tomorrow, please pray for our priests.

One Month Mark!

We've reached the one month mark. Mike leaves for the Seeing Eye in just one month! His class begins July 17th...

Kindergarten Grad!

I met a woman in the park shortly after we adopted Camille. We talked for a bit. She had older boys and a little girl from China. She was a great encouragement, sharing honestly of the struggles of adoption... many of which we were also going through. As we said goodbye she told me the kids would grow up all too fast. She looked at Camille, still so young, and then glanced over to her own boys...moving too fast toward adulthood; and said to me, "they'll grow up too fast... don't blink or you'll miss it" I thought for a while, watching them walk away... and as we waved goodbye she yelled again... "Don't Blink"

And here's what happened, in the blink of an eye...

Congratulations Camille! We love you and we're SO PROUD of all you accomplished this year!

Michael received his commitment letter yesterday. He signed it and we faxed back. Mike goes to the Seeing Eye in just 5 weeks! He is very excited. We're all pretty excited about it, actually. We know this will affect our whole family, hopefully in a very positive way.

More photos of Jon Paul

Nancy never ceases to amaze me! These photos were in my email this morning... I absolutely adore them! New photos of Jon Paul playing with his foster father, Mike! What a special guy Mike is... we love you, Mike!

You never know...

You never know what you'll find on the internet! Here's a terrific article about Jon Paul's foster home... recognize anyone in the photo? :)

ARTICLE

Signed up.

Camille is officially signed up for 6 weeks of summer camp! Yay! She'll be attending Friends Summer Camp again this year at the Friends School located just around the corner from where I work. The commute is a killer, but she had such a great time there last year and the price is hard to beat for the excellent program! We don't have much of choice, since Mike will be away at the Seeing Eye for a month this summer, she has to go somewhere while I'm at work! I was getting worried that we were going to be too late signing her up, but I got the confirmation email today... she's in.

New photos of Jon Paul

Jon Paul is 2 1/2 now. I can not believe how much he's grown, and how much he's starting to look like a little boy, rather than a baby...

I will never give up on my dream... little boy, you are my dream...

Kindergarten Class Trip!

Yesterday, Camille and her classmates went on a school trip to the Adventure Aquarium
Everyone had a terrific time!

Discovering the ocean creatures!

I Heart Faces - Yellow

A favorite photo for this week's I < 3 Faces contest... Yellow.

Rough-housing and Tender moments

Boys will be boys... and oh boy, what we have to look forward to!

Snuggles from Sarah...

Thank again, to Nancy for another batch of new photos... we are one day closer...

Be still

This week a family that I only know through blogging was 4 weeks away from going to China to bring home their 2 year old daughter McKenna when they got the news that she died. Please keep McKenna's family in your prayers tonight.

Seminarian

Friends of ours from church have a son who was a transitional deacon. He was ordained into the priesthood last weekend, by the Archbishop of Philadelphia. He attended St. Charles Borreomeo Seminary for many years. According to his parents, it was not an easy road (8 years of difficulty) but his ordination ceremony was beautiful and now he can go out in the world and do his work. We will certainly keep him, and all of the newly ordained priests, in our prayers.

I realize that Catholicism is not the only religion. It's not the only church, but I believe it is the one true church of Christ. Peter was, in fact, the first pope and all priests and bishops are ordained by someone who was ordained by someone... (you get where I am going with this) and can be traced back to the original 12 apostles. The Catholic church is the one holy apostolic church. (This is also the reason that priests are not allowed to be female or marry, but that's a different topic.)

So I think seminarians should be held in high regards. It's almost more difficult for a young man to be come a Catholic priest than about anything else these days and and as far as sacrafice whoa baby! You know what they have to sacrafice!

While I realize the word "seminarian" simply refers to a person who is enrolled in a theological college, I wish there were another word to distinguish men who are true seminarians (Catholics on their way to becoming priests) verses lay people who are taking religious classes to become Christian preachers. There's nothing wrong with it, it just makes me skin crawl when I hear a woman say, "I am a seminarian." Just an opinion.

Two Month mark

We've reached the two month mark. Mike goes to the Seeing Eye in 2 months! He is very excited.

Easter Photos

Nancy just sent some new photos of Jon Paul from Easter. Looks like the foster home had lots of visitors! Our guy is sure getting big!

And he likes to hang upside-down!

Family

A new family portrait, including Jon Paul. We hope to have you home soon, baby boy!