Fall, 2001

THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY: A Parent's Guide to HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE HOLLYWOOD, CA (ANS) -- Warner Bros. is about to release the first in a series of movies based on the popular HARRY POTTER books. This movie will have an occult, New Age worldview that subtly encourages children to dabble in witchcraft and sorcery. Although the Bible condemns such concepts in no uncertain terms, many parents will still allow their children to see this movie or read the book on which it's based, if they haven't done so already. MOVIEGUIDE®: A Family Guide to Movies and Entertainment has developed a parent's guide to this phenomenon. Instead of simply bashing the movie, we will provide parents with a positive approach to the topic that will provide their children with the tools they need to become media-wise, literate moviegoers, readers and television viewers. Please call today at 1-800-599-6684 or (805) 383-2000 for your copy of THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY: A Parent's Guide to HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE. A staff is also available for phone consultations and even speaking engagements, seminars, workshops, and training sessions, so don't delay, CALL TODAY! Note to Press: Dr. Ted Baehr, is available for interviews on this issue. An experienced scholar and television/radio personality with more than 20 years of knowledge and experience in the field of media literacy and theology, he can give your readers, viewers and listeners an intelligent, provocative perspective from a Christian point of view. Call (770) 825-0084 to set up an interview or for more details.

THE COST OF KIDS
Submitted by Carole Holmes

I have seen repeatedly 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 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
$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 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 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 jam.
A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites, building sandcastles, 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 movies, 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 baseball 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 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.

ENJOY YOUR KIDS AND GRANDKIDS.

Teaching Kindness, Learning Love
By Gayle Wilson

The second half of my childhood was spent on a 'leisure' or 'gentleman's' farm. We had *every* type of livestock, but only one or two of many; one of our five acres always boasted a garden resplendent with every vegetable one could imagine. But the animals were strictly pets, and the vegetables only fed our family and friends and neighbors. Ours was never a farm for profit.

Word got out shortly after we moved to the farm: our family adored animals. Some day I'll share more, but today we are speaking of cats. We brought two cats with us from San Pedro, a male and a female. Before long, they were seven. Four of the five kittens were female, and we could not afford to have them spayed. Litter after litter of baby kitties joined us, and we normally found homes for all but one or two. It was then the drop-offs began appearing.

Normally in the mid of night we'd hear a car pull into the driveway, and, on the following morn, we would find new additions to our cat population. At the beginning, we were given cats with physical problems. Poor babies we three legs, kitties born without a nose or who were blind all showed up at our back door. Some were wild; some hungry for affection.

Now my Mom is the kind of person who *hates* cobwebs, but would never smash a spider with her tennis shoe. Instead, she lures them onto a paper towel and escorts them through the house and out into the garden. She could *never* neglect a kitten, especially one with what some would call a 'defect'. She taught us how to nurse them back to health, or how to win over the cats who'd been mistreated. The same was true of those who were wild, and had been lured in by the smell of food and cries of fellow felines.

Ahem. Before long we found ourselves in trouble. Feeding the cats was taking too much money out of our grocery bill. We could not open the back door without tripping over an entourage of mewling, demanding voices attached to voracious appetites with claws. When the count grew past sixty, Mom knew something had to be done. She placed an ad in the local paper which read something like this:

_FREE...To GOOD homes ONLY. Cats and kittens, of various ages and breeds. Each comes complete with a bag of food, canned food, litter box and litter, flea collar, food and water dishes, brush and reward of $5.00 for providing a wonderful new home filled with love. Call 555-1717 for Adoption Interview._

Now, that was almost thirty years ago. Five dollars was worth quite a bit more and, as you can imagine, we had our share of loonies, just wanting the money and the goodies, but Mom was GREAT. She was able to weed out most by phone and those who made it to her back porch on pretensions left empty-handed and a little chagrined for trying to lie to such a nice lady.

As kids, we were taught many lessons via this experience, but above all, I believe we were enabled to see our mother through the eyes of strangers. We saw how *awesome* she really was. I can't tell you how many people stopped and told me what a good lady she must be. Children with mile-wide smiles left our house with their new family members and many of the mothers cried as they hugged my mom when they left.

I could continue to write on this subject for hours, but the point I want to make today is this: Sheri, if people are dumping cats at your home, I can't help but think it's because people in your community have discovered that you, too, are an awesome lady like my mother. If nothing else, take comfort in the fact that other people believe they can turn to your compassion in their time of need. There is a spark of decency in the person who places the animal they can no longer care for in the care of someone they believe they can trust. Said person *could* have dumped them out in the country where no houses existed, but they cared enough to seek you out. They know you. They may never have met you, but they know of your decency. Your kids will see this too, and that is a mega-plus!!! It's a pretty nice legacy, and it's living proof that God is there in our every moment of life!!!

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