Another Reason to Love Books

Random snippet from the scenes of my life:

SAM had a hankering for lima beans last night. I hate lima beans, and they weren’t even on my menu for Thursday. However, he likes them, he wanted them, and he’s the man of the house. So we ate lima beans.

Because we don’t want our kids to have a built-in aversion to certain foods, when I cook something that SAM likes and I don’t or vice versa, we each make a point of eating at lest one bite.

I was anticipating the little ones resistance to the lima beans and Sweetie Pie (3) did not disappoint. She took one bite and said she didn’t like them. I requested that she eat two fork fulls to be sure. She was sure.

Lil’ Princess (5) on the other hand looked at the plate and said, “Are these lima beans? I love lima beans, just like Camilla Cream in A Bad Case of Stripes!” She ate them all.

For those unfamiliar with this story, it’s about a little girl who like lima beans but hides that fact because all of her friends think lima beans are disgusting. Her attempts to fit in at all cost are internalized, and manifest outwardly as she gets a mysterious illness called “stripes.” Chaos (and hilarity) ensues.

It’s a good book. Any story that can get a five year old to eat lima beans (yuck!) is well worth the read.

Y’all have a great weekend!

Book Review: End the Fed

I recently finished reading Ron Paul’s End the Fed, which details the legal and political reasons why the congressman think we should end the Federal Reserve system.

It was an interesting and informative little book. Paul confirmed what most astute observers have long known: that the economy we Americans frequently describe as a “free market economy” is anything but and hasn’t been for quite some time. The unfunny joke of course, is that those most likely to benefit from this current “free market” system know full well that it isn’t.

We have a system in place where interest rates are manipulated, money is inflated

Paul spends lots of time explaining why Austrian economics is superior to the Keynesian model.  I am still in the elementary stages of my study of economics and monetary policy,  but the bit I do understand makes it difficult for me to see how writing checks from a bank account that is already in the red can produce prosperity.

Paul looks at the case for dismantling the Federal Reserve System from four vantage points. He makes a philosophical case or ending the Fed, followed by a Constitutional case, economic case, and libertarian case.

This quote from his chapter on the philosophical case resonated because this is ultimately a problem not just of the politicians and of the Fed, but of the people:

The moral argument against the Fed should be simple, and it would be in a moral society. (p.149)

Congress though, is a reflection of the people. If the problem were seen as a moral problem and people were to demand morality in money from their representatives in government, the process would end. But the people endorse the system because they have requested and expect government to provide benefits that can’t be provided any other way. (p.150)

When times are good and the benefits are being enjoyed, no one is much interested in breaking up the party or worrying about morality in money. The Fed encourages irresponsible accumulation of personal debt. People live beyond their means with the help of an expansionist monetary policy. They trade their futures for the present, neglecting the need to save in order to spend more and more. In this sense the Fed is the ultimate promoter of consumerism and living for the present. This amounts to a terrible cultural distortion in which short-term thinking wins out over long-term planing. (p. 151)

There were sections of the book that I found cumbersome, such as the word for word exchanges when Paul goes head to head with various Fed chairmen down through the years. It was one of the few times that I saw Paul as a typical politician; using 100 words to ask a question that could be asked in 10.

Even then however, Paul’s argument for the ending of the Fed becomes stronger.

For the Ron Paul fan, and I am one, this is a good book for enjoying a detailed and in-depth look at Paul’s stance on economic policy and how he arrived as his conclusions. He outlines the economists who influenced him as well as the history of his quest to understand the principles of sound money.

I give it a B-.

Children’s Books We Love

I’m always on the lookout for great children’s books for little one’s in the age range of Lil’ Princess and Sweetie Pie. Here are a few (a couple are even modern!) that both the kids and I like.

• The Berenstain Bears Love Their Neighbors, by Jan Berenstain: This one is a retelling of the parable of The Good Samaritan, from a civilized bear family’s perspective, of course. Great lesson here, and I have always enjoyed the Berenstain Bears.
• The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin: What’s not to love about this engaging tale from Beatrix Potter about the impertinent little squirrel named Nutkin?  It’s one of Lil’ Princess’ favorites.
• The Tale of Peter Rabbit: Another Beatrix Potter classic that my kids love to have read to them. Peter’s adventures in Mr. McGregor’s garden never gets old.
• Blueberries for Sal, by Robert McCloskey: Even though we’ve read this one numerous times before, Sweetie Pie grabbed it during our trip to the library this week. I like it, too.
• When I Grow Up, by Al Yankovic: Yes, that Al Yankovic. I stumbled upon this one recently and just thought it was really funny. I’ve always like Weird Al Yankovic’s humor, which might explain why I liked this book.
• Brer Rabbit Tales: My girls really enjoy hearing the stories that tell of the escalating rivalry between Brer’ Rabbit and Brer’ Fox.
• The Big, Green Pocketbook, by Candace Ransom. This story about a young girl’s trip into town with her mother is one my girls loved instantly.
• Alphabet City,  Stephen T. Johnson, illustrator. Using NYC as inspiration, this author captured each letter of the alphabet as it occurs naturally in city surroundings.

Those are just a few of my little ones’ favorite books. But the whole point of this exercise is to pick your brain.

What great children’s books do you suggest for kids aged 3 to 5?

In case you’re curious about what I am currently reading, I’m reading End the Fed, by Ron Paul. I’m also reading Jane Austen’s  Mansfield Park.

Y’all have a great weekend!

Book Review: For the Children’s Sake

Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life.

This was Charlotte Mason’s philosophy of education and it’s the central theme of Susan Schaeffer Macaulay’s book, For the Children’s Sake: Foundations of Education for Home and School.

I enjoyed this book because it presents an educational philosophy built on the premise of educating the whole child. A philosophy which appreciates that there is more to education than the three R’s. Of course, most homeschoolers know this instinctively, which is why they have chosen to homeschool.

For someone like me, who has been steeped in 13 years of an educational model built largely on the ever-looming standardized test, a mental shift was required when considering the true meaning of education. This is particularly true since we decided to opt out the system for our younger children because of our dissatisfaction with the level of academic instruction. This, despite the fact that our children are all honors/AP students.

It wasn’t until I began doing my research that I began to get a greater understanding of the importance of creating an atmosphere conducive to learning rather than depending on an artificial learning environment. For The Children’s Sake does an excellent job of taking the ideas of Charlotte Mason and condensing them into a book that touches on all of the important aspects of educating the whole person.

Helping children to become lifelong lovers of learning, giving them the tools to teach themselves the things that interest them as they become old enough to do so, and not neglecting the importance of playtime and exposure to the classroom of nature were all themes that resonated with me. Most of all, the book frames its discussion of education from a Christian perspective:

“Education is a life. That life is sustained on ideas. Ideas are of spiritual origin, and God has made us so that we get them chiefly as we convey them to one another, whether by word of mouth, written page, Scripture word, musical symphony; but we must sustain a child’s inner life with ideas as we sustain his body with food.”

I enjoyed this book a great deal and appreciated that it offers a picture of education that is radically different than the traditional model our society has come to accept as the only “right way” to educate. A “right way” which incidentally, is being exposed more and more as a dismal failure by people of all educational persuasions.

I give For The Children’s Sake a grade of A-. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a book that succinctly captures the spirit of a Charlotte Mason education.

Book Review: My Grandfather’s Son

The memoir of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, My Grandfather’s Son is an engaging book. While most Americans associate Justice Thomas with Anita Hill and the scandalous nature of his Senate confirmation hearings, there is much more to his story than that unfortunate saga. In fact, the story of his growing up years was so compelling that I almost forgot that it was the Anita Hill fiasco that made him a household name to begin with.

The book’s title references Thomas’ maternal grandfather, who took him and his brother in when their divorced single mother couldn’t give them the life she thought they needed to be successful. Justice Thomas makes it clear that in all the ways that matter, he is indeed his grandfather’s son. His grandfather taught the boys about life, work, manhood, and how to rise above their circumstances growing up in the Jim Crow south.

I always found it a bit odd that Clarence Thomas was painted by the media and the left as a man disconnected and unconcerned with the plight of the people he “left behind” in the black community. I found this odd despite the fact that I was a faithful, idealistic, 20-year-old card-carrying Democrat at the time of his contentious and tawdry confirmation fight. I was interested in politics even then because my parents were interested in politics. I was aware of what was happening and I wondered: How could a  man born and raised in 1950′s Georgia be indifferent to the plight of the people who shaped him into the man he was?

Of course, I learned later and his memoir confirmed that he was far from indifferent. The problem was that as a thinking person rather than a blind  follower he concluded that the politically correct, liberal, state-centered solutions being offered were not in the best interest of anyone, least of all black people. That isn’t a popular position to take, and it’s even less tolerable coming from a black person as Thomas found out the hard way.

He was still quite a young man when he began to notice the propensity of the liberals in academia and government to use the policy of appease and acquiesce in response to every demand made by black “leaders” even if the demands were illogical and damaging to black people over the long-term. What’s more, he realized that the soft, paternalistic racism of the left was just as bad if not worse, than the overt, virulent racism he’d witnessed growing up. At one point he reiterates this by noting that the first time he was ever called “nigger” he was not in Georgia, but Massachusetts.

The parts of Thomas’ book where he describes his gradual awakening to the reality that liberal policies that purport to help the black community actually choke the life out of the community, destroyed the family, and discourage self-sufficiency resonated with me.

If there was one part of Thomas’ story that left me a bit saddened, it was his account of the ending of his failed first marriage. His leaving because he was simply disillusioned and unhappy signaled that he hadn’t been fully immune to the liberal line of thought that gained its foothold during his coming of age years. The fact that he and his ex-wife to her credit, understood that the task of raising their son and ushering him to manhood would be best handled by Thomas himself rather than his ex-wife was the one redeeming element of that period of his life as retold in the book.

He and his current wife took on the mantle of his grandfather, who raised Thomas and his brother, by taking in his young nephew from a troubled home and raising him as their own. Thomas clearly understands the challenge facing young black men and has put his time and money where his mouth is, unlike may of his liberal detractors.

By the time the book gets to the Anita Hill scandal, it is an afterthought. The most interesting parts of Thomas’ life story occurred long before his nomination to the Supreme Court. Of course, his version of those events are what many readers are looking for, so he told his side of the story. His retelling is fairly dispassionate, except when he describes his return to the Christian faith, guided by Senator and ordained minister John Danforth, as the entire ordeal began to wear on him and his wife.

As Thomas once again declared his innocence, I recalled the media coverage of the confirmation hearings. As I watched them I was staunchly opposed to Thomas political views.  Or so I thought, as this was before I started thinking through these issues. Even then I remember having a difficult time believing Ms. Hill’s accounting of events. I told myself that truth is often stranger than fiction so it was probably true, but I never really believed it. Though his confirmation was successful,  Thomas claims he didn’t  care if he was confirmed. That he stuck it out to clear his name and nothing else.

One of the standout passages in the book was Thomas’ recounting of a private interview he had with a senator particularly hostile to him. The only thing that mattered to anyone on the left and most people on the right was, “How’s he likely to vote on abortion cases?” There was no judicial paper trail so the senators tried to gauge his position through the way they posed their questions. Thomas’ retelling of one of these interviews was priceless:

Howard Metzenbaum was the other kind of senator, and I already knew how he felt about me. It would have been charitable to call him unlikable, though he went through the motions of civility during my visit. At one point he actually tried to lure me into a discussion of natural law, but I knew he was no philosopher, just another cynical politician looking for a chink in my armor, so all I did was ask him if he would consider having a human-being sandwich for lunch instead of say, a turkey sandwich. That’s Natural Law 101: all law is based on some sense of moral principles inherent in the nature of human beings, which explains why cannibalism, even without a written law to proscribe it, strikes every civilized person as naturally wrong. Any well-read college student would have gotten my point, but Senator Metzenbaum just stared at me awkwardly and changed the subject as fast as he could.

That was a superb response and one of the things I enjoyed most about this book. It was written by a person who has taken the time to observe and think about the world around him rather than allowing someone else to do it for him.

Overall, I give My Grandfather’s Son a B. It’s a quick and engaging read, and offers a lot of insight into the life and mind of one of the most controversial Supreme Court Justices in recent memory.

We Have A Winner

Karen, who stumbled onto my blog by happenstance, is the winner of my surplus book giveaway!

My email address is on the sideblog, Karen. Email me and we can make arrangements for me to ship your books out on Monday.

I’m hoping Fridays will be All About Books Day on the blog, as time permits. I was hoping to post a review of the first book in the series, My Grandfather’s Son by Clarence Thomas. Alas, I am “on the road” today and didn’t have time to finish it. I’m at my first homeschool convention. It’s overwhelming, but thankfully it lasts more than one day so I can take it all in!

Ya’ll have a great weekend now!

Monday’s Musings (and a Giveaway!)

It’s been a while since I’ve done this but like most Mondays my week is beginning with lots of things I could write about but not enough time to write them. So here goes:

It’s May 23 and I’m still here:

When I saw the billboards around my city saying “The Lord is Coming: May 21, 2011″ I had no idea at first that the person who paid for them was serious; until the news broke that these billboards were popping up all over the country. Apparently I,  and quite a few saints far more righteous than me are not saved at all. We missed the rapture. Judgment Day has found me not up to spiritual snuff. My pastor and friends at church did, too. I’m tempted to mock the  minister who seems to have a reading comprehension problem, but I can’t bring myself to do it.  The issue is too serious in my opinion. Many people believed this and are disillusioned this morning. But just to be on the safe side…if you thought you were in good with Jesus and got “left behind” too, I need to hear from you. You know, just so I know that I’m not the only damned Christian soul still foolish enough to be hanging around the blogosphere when I should be preparing for the Apocalypse. I just mocked him, didn’t I?

Seriously, we should be praying for these people. Their faith is undoubtedly shaken. They spent or gave away everything they owned in preparation for May 21st, thinking it was Judgment Day. My SAM pointed out that we should be living everyday as if it could be the day anyway.  True words.

My culinary adventure continues: This gluten-free living stuff is harder than I thought. Well it really isn’t, but I was initially surprised at how many foods contain gluten. Foods you never suspect, like vanilla extract or dried fruits. While I’ve tried to focus mostly on avoidance of gluten through increasing green vegetables, proteins, and legumes, I couldn’t resist trying my hand at baking a few times. The quick breads have been a rousing success. Sweetie Pie asked for chocolate chip cookies and I found the recipe for Toll House cookies in this book, even with modifications to account for ingredients I didn’t have, to be quite good. Except for the expense of Bob’s Red Mill all-purpose baking mix (and I’m taking steps to start making my own baking mixes), I’m thankful that going gluten-free need not mean going baking-free. I’ve been doing a bit of reading and am frankly shocked that wheat (even whole wheat) isn’t as healthy as we’ve always been told it is. A little research produced a great bit of enlightenment. I need to brush off my copy of Nourishing Traditions pronto.

Strange Bedfellows: This blog is an interesting place, judging from where I get the most traffic. Most people find this blog NOT from seeing me linked on other Christian  blog rolls, but from links on “manosphere”  blog rolls. For my sisters who have absolutely no idea what the manosphere is, it’s a network of blogs primarily centered on topics related to men’s rights, the gender wars, and how feminism has altered the relations between the sexes. Most of the blogs are as far from Christian as you can get, but a few are family friendly. Hawaiian Libertarian sends the most people to this blog. He’s followed closely by Elusive Wapiti. Both of them are on my blog roll.Thanks, guys.

The next group that sends referrals this way (at least over the past couple of weeks) are folks who abhor everything I have to say about, well, everything. But I suspect it’s my views on marriage and family that first got me in the cross hairs. These are the snark forums. You’ll understand if I don’t provide links.

There are a few Christian sites that send significant referrals my way, like Laura at Full of Grace, Seasoned with Salt, Sheila at To Love Honor and Vacuum and Alte at Traditional Catholicism. So thanks, ladies!

It occurred to me recently that I’ve never done a giveaway: When I have books in excellent condition that I’m ready to part with I usually take them to a local used bookstore and trade them for credit towards more books. This time I’m going to give them away to a lucky blog reader! I have three books I want to bless someone with. A Wife After God’s Own Heart, by Elizabeth George. It’s a really great (and balanced!) marriage book for wives.  The second book is Healing Is  A Choice by Steve Arterburn. I read this one as part of a book club a few years ago and it has some good godly guidance for people who are  attempting to move past life-altering hurts. The third book is C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce. I’ll announce a winner on Friday. Comments will be accepted until Thursday at noon. Good luck!

Happy Monday!

Book Review: One Thousand Gifts

I recently read Ann Voskamp’s popular book, One Thousand Gifts, A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are. Her heart of gratitude, evident on her blog which I recently began to read, inspired me to read her book when I usually run screaming from “Christian” books that make it onto the New York Times’ best seller list. I don’t do well with the most popular Christian works since the handling of Scripture often make me cringe. But this was a book about being thankful, one of my many weak areas.  I often struggle to be thankful. Even as words of thanksgiving fall from my lips in prayer, they’re uttered more from the knowledge that I have much to be thankful for than any true feelings of gratefulness in my heart.

Now I’m not much of a poet, preferring to cut to the chase while skipping around in politically incorrect minefields despite my best efforts to impart grace when I write. But I sometimes enjoy poetic language, and Ann Voskamp  definitely has a poetic way of expressing her heart.  I receive her blog updates and vicariously soak up her penchant for seeing the beauty in every little detail of her days.

Still, I questioned whether I could appreciate her flowery writing style in a book. Poetic language and extensive use of literary device is lovely in blog posts broken up by pretty photographs, but I wasn’t sure I could do 200+ pages of it! With no pictures! If that wasn’t enough, before her book reached my doorstep I stumbled onto a controversy concerning the theology within its pages. I am thankful that I embarked on a reduction of Internet time just as I began to read it because I don’t know that I could have fully appreciated it if I was still sifting through the critiques it sparked. We’ll get to my thoughts on all that in a bit, because I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t have some.

As I began to read the book,  I felt a connection to this woman. I, a city girl and fledgling gardener who kills more seedlings than I harvest every spring, who’s never even seen a snowflake, was genuinely moved by this Canadian homeschooling mother and  farmer’s wife as I read One Thousand Gifts.

Throughout my life I have come to sense people who know what it is to experience a ripping away of the veil of innocence and beauty in life at an age too tender to absorb it, all while being taught that we are being cared for by a God who is infinitely good. There are times in my life, in my Christian walk, when I’ve wondered if this would be easier had I heard the name of Jesus for the first time as an adult, from the booming voice of some random street preacher. Would the Good News have been better received by me had it not been News I’d heard preach as far back as I can remember? Would the goodness of God seem more real if it wasn’t competing with the questions that inevitably rest in the heart of every child whose life is marked by the stinging pain of loss?  I experienced more loss in my first 10 years of life than many people experience in 30, so I think about this a great deal. More importantly, I wondered if there was any other person who “gets” it. Ann Voskamp gets it:

For years of mornings, I have woken wanting to die. Life itself twists into nightmares. For years, I have pulled the covers up over my head, dreading to begin another day I’d be bound to wreck. Years, I lie listening to the taunt of names ringing off my interior walls, ones from the past that never drifted far away: Loser. Mess. Failure. They are signs nailed overhead, nailed through me, naming me.

Funny, this. Yesterday morning, the morning before, all these mornings, I wake to the discontent of life in my skin. I wake to self-hatred. To the wrestle to get t all done, the relentless anxiety that I am failing. Always,  the failing. I yell at children, fester with bitterness, forget doctor appointments, lose library books, live selfishly, skip prayer, complain, go to bed too late, neglect cleaning the toilets. I lived tired. Afraid. Anxious. Weary. Years, I feel it in the veins, the pulsing of ruptured hopes. Would I ever be enough, do enough?   (Excerpted from pages 26-27 of One Thousand Gifts)

I could’ve written those words myself. Actually, I couldn’t have written those words because I don’t write that way, but they resonate. Living every day desperately grasping for the illusion of control produced in me the very symptoms Ann penned above. Fear of being abandoned, of losing control, of what might happen if I loosen my grip even for a moment, coupled with the crushing realization that I don’t really control anything, has been a battle I’ve fought throughout my Christian walk. The battle to really and truly believe that Messiah is in control and understanding that apart from Him I can do nothing is an ongoing battle. We type A’s don’t particularly fancy the idea that we have no control over what happens to us. Despite the flowery language, I had to read on and see how Ann went from that level of dysfunction onto the NYT Bestseller list for writing a book about joyfully giving God thanks every day.

That’s what the book is; at least that’s how I read it. It is a testimony, the story of one woman’s journey from a life marred by pain and loss to a life full of gratitude for all the gifts God graciously bestows upon her each day, starting with the precious gift of His Son’s precious blood as a sacrifice for our sins. It is not an exploration of doctrinal teaching, though the gospel is woven throughout it for those who dare to look. It is not an attempt to convince any other person to see the world through the eyes of the author, although I was certainly challenged to open my eyes to the blessings I take for granted every day.  It is a testimony of Ann Voskamp’s struggle to live a life of gratitude in a world where we are constantly receiving invitations to discontent. I know I have to shrug off the whispers that invade my consciousness, tempting me to gaze at the greener grass on the other side. The other side always beckons us to neglect the abundant blessings God has given us today. This book did exactly what the subtitle says. It dared me to live fully right where I am by practicing the Scriptural command to give thanks in everything.

*Sigh*: As for the controversy concerning a particular use of terminology near the end of One Thousand Gifts: I can appreciate the discomfort some bloggers have expressed with the phraseology.  Mrs. Voskamp appears to conflate our spiritual relationship to God into what can be interpreted as a sexual relationship with expressions such as “making love to God” , “intercourse of the soul”, and “climax of joy.”  I wouldn’t have put it that way, to be sure, seeing that my perception of God tends to revolve around my relationship to Him as a beloved daughter to a merciful Father and less from the perspective of the bride of Christ. That’s because I think of the bride of Christ as the church universal rather than a personal connection between myself and God alone.

Is the intimacy Ann Voskamp referred to Scripturally sound? I’ll let the critics continue  to hash that one out. I can only speak for myself and say that I never got the impression that Mrs. Voskamp was saying that she experienced intimacy with God in a carnal way. When I put the book down after reading the last page, the thing that stayed with me was the challenge to give thanks in everything, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning us. I wasn’t so offended by the metaphors used in that particular chapter that I couldn’t appreciate the book’s central theme. Give thanks to the One Who has redeemed us from the kingdom of darkness, Whom since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power  (Romans 1). This same passage of Scripture, linked above, goes on to describe what becomes of a people who do not give thanks to the One, True, God.  I am thankful I read One Thousand Gifts if for no other reason than that.

I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to see a bowl of cheese or bubbles in dishwater the way Ann does.  I am either too “grounded” or too fearful of a theology that appears flaky to allow myself to view laundry as something to get giddy about. Life is sometimes hard, tears are warranted, and sometimes even anger is warranted. I still feel a burden to use my small platform to speak about hard things and yes, rock the boat.

However, I have begun occasionally to write the things I am grateful for at the start and close of the day. I recently took notice of the pink wildflowers growing in the median of a 6-lane highway. I’m usually too focused on where I’m going to notice things like that. I’m amazed at how little I desire as I focus on what I have. And for that I am thankful. Thankful that God used Ann Voskamp’s journey to remind me that no matter how badly I’ve been hurt or how much I’ve lost in my life, He has given me so much more.

Reading Room Update

It’s been a while since I updated my Reading Room. I’ve read a number of books in recent months, and I have a number of books I want to read in 2011. I just never took the time to post my list or my thoughts on the books I have read.

I’ll be updating the page soon but for now, a brief list of  a few books I am reading or hope to read this year:

• Radical Homemakers: Reclaiming Domesticity from a Consumer Culture, by Shannon Hayes. I’m reading this one right now, and might post a review later. Alte recently offered a review here. 
• Being the Body, by Chuck Colson. I read this book several years ago, and it blessed me tremendously. Given the state of current world events both politically and economically, I have grown rather weary of the fractured state of the American church. Our divisions seem petty and often have nothing to do with the principles of salvation.This book reminded me that we are supposed to be one, united in Christ.
• The Good Girl’s Guide to Sex, by Sheila Gregoire. This book won’t be released until later this year. I don’t need any tips that I’m aware of. Nevertheless, I’m looking forward to reading Sheila’s book because she covers this topic so well, I enjoy her blog and I want to support her efforts.
• One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are,  by Ann VosKamp. It’s Ann VosKamp, y’all. Need I say more? Of course I’m gonna read her book. And since we’ve been discussing marriage a lot lately, I want to encourage those of you who haven’t clicked on her post on my Delicious Links list to take a look at ”How to Fall in Love Again in Just 4 Minutes a Day”.
• Decision Points, by George W. Bush
• Divorce vs. Democracy, by G.K. Chesterton. I’m reading this one online.
• Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen. This is included in the book of seven novels I received last summer.
• End the Fed, by Ron Paul. I can’t believe I haven’t read this yet, but I plan to rectify that very soon.

 

Those are just a few books I’m hoping to read, though my list is always expanding. I don’t know if I’ve ever finished a planned reading list because I inevitably run into a new book, not on the list, that piques my curiosity, and pushes the others further down the list.

What’s on your reading list? Are there any must-reads you recommend?

Wifey Wednesday: I Got Nothin’

I plan to join Sheila at To Love, Honor and Vacuum  this year as she posts marriage related topics every Wednesday. I am looking forward to being a part of her efforts to help those of us who are married be better wives to our individual husbands. I know I won’t be nearly as tactful as she is, but I’ll do my best. However, this week has been busy and I haven’t had the time I need to put something together.

Since I don’t have anything of my own to post, I’ll highlight Sheila’s post this week on intimacy in marriage. She always tackles this subject with the perfect balance of discretion and frankness, so much so that she is emerging as the “sex lady” (her words, not mine) in many Christian circles.

Click over and read her post today. Stay tuned for her new book which will be published by Zondervan, The Good Girl’s Guide to Sex. If you need help immediately, I highly recommend her first book on the subject, Honey, I Don’t Have A Headache Tonight, which you can order through her website. My review of that book can be found here.

Take good care of your husbands today, ladies.

If you don’t have a husband, find someone, anyone, to be a blessing to (not just yourself)! You won’t regret it.

ETA: My riot of a readership has made me aware of the double-entendre contained in my closing remarks.  It was totally unintended. I want this site to remain family friendly, after all!