...is not even a TV show. It is the Marching Illini Assembly Hall Concert. Every year the Marching Illini put on a spectacular performance for the Champaign-Urbana community, and most of you reading this have never been. This was the second year for our family to attend (last year James attended in utero) and the band didn't cease to amaze with their spectacular performance!

This is not only the best opportunity to get close up to your very own Marching Illini, but it is really great entertainment. Where else are you going to hear a saxophone section play "Bicycle Race" by Queen while the band director jumps on a bicycle and races a band member riding a tricycle? What other venue offers trumpets playing a James Bond medley, including a re-enactment of the movies by a student using a trumpet as a gun? How can you not feel awe-inspired by a drumline that is so pleasing to the ear and the eye? People wearing orange, singing "Hail to the Orange," the lights show, a marching band playing Barenaked Ladies' songs...what's not to love?

Next year: Be there, or be square.

My sister-in-law once had an acquaintance tell her how lucky she is because she is a Stay At Home Mom. The acquaintance said this while holding a Coach diaper bag. Hmmm, is it just luck that some of us are SAHMs and unlucky that others aren't?

I believe it is just good, old-fashioned sacrifice that allows moms to be with their children, whether that means cutting down to working part-time or not working at all. How does this hit home? Just a few months before giving birth to James, I interviewed for a full-time (dream) job that was just perfect for me--it involved using my degree and working with kids in just the way I wanted to. And the best part? It almost DOUBLED our household income. The employer told me I had the job if I wanted it.

As much as the money would mean to our budget and lifestyle, and as much as I would thoroughly enjoy having a career and feeling accomplished, I realized that it isn't worth it. To take this job would mean putting my son (and potentially my future children) in daycare. I'll never get back this opportunity to nurture and teach my own child(ren) during the most formative years. When James grows up into a young man, will I be wishing I had spent less time with him?

What this means right now, though, is that we can't have cable TV. Or new clothes. Or expensive food. We won't be able to give pricey Christmas gifts, throw extravagant parties or do much traveling. In the long run, Toby may not be able to retire early and our kids may not have their college tuition paid for.

But we feel that this is a sacrifice worth making, one that will build up our childrens' character. I do work part-time these days: 20 hours a week babysitting (so James gets to come with me). Please don't feel that I think poorly of you if you work(ed) while your kids are young. But please, don't call me "lucky" to be a SAHM. It's insulting. Instead, understand that I'm having to give up some things that I don't particularly like giving up. Which, I believe, is character-building for me, too.

Reading the Bible has been an inconsistent struggle for me. If something isn't in my face constantly with a big flashing sign that reads "URGENT!" then it doesn't get done. I love to read, and I have many Bibles--I even keep one in James' diaper bag. So why is it so hard to remember to read every day?

Faithfully I attend to reading my blogs every day via Google Reader. Each time someone makes a new post it waits for me on my home page until I read it, which is a bit like checking it off a list. Yay for lists! Abraham Piper posted a fantastic link to subscribe to reading the Bible every day through an RSS Feed (ie Google Reader). So this morning my blog reading time included 3 chapters of Isaiah and 1 chapter of Ephesians. If this continues every day, I will make it through the Bible in one year. Technology can be harnessed for good, yes?

Yesterday I babysat my neighbor's kids who are 5 and 7 years old. We had a very political conversation, mostly about the upcoming election. I asked them who they were voting for this year, and very seriously (without hesitation) the 7 year old replied "John Adams!" Soon afterward the 5 year old said "I'm voting for George Washington."

Now it's making me want to change my vote to Abraham Lincoln.

Which historical president would YOU vote for this year?