I Am a Pencil : A Teacher, His Kids, and Their World of Stories by Sam Swope

I read this in January 2006.





I LOVED, Love, loved this book!
If you are a home schooler, teacher, writer, lover of books...you should read this book! Inspiring!


Really, that's enough said. If you fit any of the above criteria, just read it!

Feminine Appeal by Carolyn Mahoney

The basis of this book is the Bible; plain and simple.


Carolyn leads readers through chapters based on the following topics:


1 The Delight of Loving my Husband
2 The Blessings of Loving my Children
3 The Safety of Self-Control
4 The Pleasure of Purity
5 The Rewards of Kindness
6 The Beauty of Submission


Such books often seem to be written in a loftier-than-thou format which can be off-putting. Mrs. Mahoney, however, expresses her own disappointment in er own ability to live up to what she feels are worthy goals. Readers will be encouraged rather than discouraged.


In, fact, I should attempt to be as honest as Carolyn, is...
I think this is the book that I shared with some moms in one of our previous homeschool groups. It caused some conflict. The other mom took issue with something in the book. If I am not mistaken about which book it was, Carolyn mentioned something to the affect that sex was created for pleasure. The other mom argued that the express reason behind the creation of sex was procreation, only.


The King James Bible states: 
Genesis 2:18a
"¹⁸And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper meet for him."


Webster defines a help meet or helpmate as:
 one who is a companion and helper; especially : wife


Genesis 2:22-25

²²And the rib which the LORD God had taken from man, made He a woman and brought her unto the man.
     ²³And Adam said, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man."
     ²⁴Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh.
     ²⁵And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.


I believe that God created woman for man because man was lonely. Adam hadn't even realized that yet. God knew. Adam needed a companion; someone to be a soul-mate. Someone with whom he could share his body, mind, and soul. Intimacy. 


I believe God created woman for man so that they could share sexual intimacy...and procreate. 


Can you even imagine procreation...the creation of lots of offspring...without the anticipated emotional support of a helper? I know, today many people choose to go it alone. Personally, I feel that's a really hard road to choose and it isn't the one I chose.
I can support others who do and I know it isn't easy an easy path. 
Heck, parenting isn't easy even with a devoted spouse!


I am thankful for the man in my life; David. He is a God-given treasure. Our marriage is a blessing to me. We still treasure moments of intimacy and I believe that is just one of the threads that holds us firmly together in God's hands.
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This is an expansion on my marriage and intimacy blog series:
My Favorite Books on Marriage and Intimacy Are...