I’m lucky. God gave me a nearly perfect husband, it’s true. He washes dishes, takes care of the kids (and never calls it baby-sitting), and makes humungo batches of pancakes on the  weekends to freeze so the kids can eat his home-made whole-wheat goodness all week. Not everyone can be absolutely perfect though, right?

(Why yes, that is his laundry and I aboslutely am not taking it to the laundry room on purpose. I am just dying of curiousity to see how high the pile will get before he does it!)

My husband is taking the capstone to his major, Political Science, this coming semester. The professor that is teaching this particular class apparently believes that class starts in July.  It was back at the beginning of July that we received the first e-mail from him, saying the names of the books that were to be read this class and also to “…start reading them now! I expect this from you.” So I went online and found the books for my husband and purchased them.

Most of the books look rather boring and unappealing. This coming from a person that generally does not like to read anything that is longer than 25 pages that doesn’t have the letters N-O-V-E-L in it. That being said, I do love current events, politics, and anything like that. Just generally in smaller portion sizes or in conversational form. However, this particular book caught my eye. Perhaps it was the clean cover design, or the title it’s self: The Myth of American Exceptionalism. But I picked up the book and I started to read. And I’m hooked. Granted, I’ve had to use a dictionary at least three times to figure out the meaning of some of the words (anachronistic being one of them) but I’m getting it.

The author, Godfrey Hodgson, is not an American but professes his intrigue and respect for the country in the book’s preface. He has the unique vantage point of someone who is close enough to America to see her faults, spending years working as a political journalist in Washington D.C. but not having the fierce loyalty to stick up for her when she is wrong. He takes you clear back to the days of the early republic and brings you to current day, analyzing where exceptionalism began and when it started to go corrupt.

I am intrigued by the book because I believe our country is broken and neither ’side’ can fix it. We are too corrupt, too beholden to parties to make real and lasting change. This book is wonderful because the author takes a very unbiased view, blaming not one specific person but a chain of bad decisions and corrupt powers that have created disastrous foreign policy which has in turned mucked our reputation globally.

I am only 1/4 of the way through the book and while it is not easy reading, it is good reading. It really makes you open up your eyes and think about the world behind you. It makes you want to be more fiercelypassionate about fixing this great land we live in and removing the complacency that allowed us to create the mess we are in. If you get a chance to purchase it, I highly recommend it. Check out buy.com — they have low prices (often sales) on books and other things.

Forest has been very excited about building things lately. He’s making paper creations, wooden creations, lego creations, etc. He names them. Like prototype 37-c. Tonight he very proudly built a shadow box out of wood. He can’t wait to set it up in his room. I love watching my children be creative. I love seeing their minds going.

This week, my husband and I are helping out with VBS at our church. We are the lucky ones who get to teach the children who have just graduated Kindergarten. However, we also have a few that haven’t attended Kindergarten yet (but are too mature for the pre-school class). We have had about 20 kids every day. It’s fun. It’s exciting. But boy, is it tiring! Those children never lose a bit of their energy but we sure do. They make your mind run and your feet run. Hey, no colon cleanse reviews for a diet needed her. Just chase those kids all day and you’ll lose 5 pounds per week!

All is quiet at my house. Or at least it should be. We are all tired out. The boys are asleep. Fancy is still wide awake and talking but she shouldn’t be. It’s VBS week here. I am teaching Kindergarteners. A ton of them. My husband is assisting me. The kids are loving it. We are actually loving it, but tired. I should be asleep but I am checking my daily websites. I have my routine you know. It includes pretty much everything except www.gettingridofblackheads.net/.