Something To Get Excited About!!

Today I am super duper excited to tell all of my married readers about a book I've been reading....

31 Days to Great Sex is an ebook written by Sheila Gregoire. Sheila has a passion for healthy sex within marriages. Check out what she has to say about the book below:

"Last year I published The Good Girl's Guide to Great Sex, and leading up to its release I wrote the 29 Days to Great Sex in February as a blog series. That was so successful, and garnered me tens of thousands of new readers. And so I've finally put it in an ebook, thoroughly rewritten for couples rather than just for women.
Here's why I'm passionate about sex (if you're allowed to say that): God created sex to unite us on three levels--physical, spiritual, and emotional. When we feel truly intimate on those three levels, our marriages soar. And that's when we're able to impact our churches and communities for Him.
But if we're not connecting in our marriages, we lose out on a great strength that God gave us in this life. And we threaten our families and our children's future.
The church doesn't like to talk about sex, and so we leave it to our culture. And our culture has turned it into something perverse and disgusting. I'm not willing to stand for that anymore. I think the church needs to step up and fight back and start redeeming sex.
And that's what this ebook does. It takes couples through exercises about improving their communication, their friendship, their outlook on sex, and yes, even the mechanics of sex, so that their marriage can rock!"

I totally agree with Sheila's statement: the church mostly does not like to address the subject of sex. We tend to keep silent on something so "personal" and this has resulted in Christian couples getting their view of what a healthy sex life should look like from our culture. And our culture definitely does not reflect sex in the way that God created it. 

I remember earlier this year when one of my friends pulled me off to the side about a week before her wedding. "How often do you and Roman have sex??", she asked. "I just want to know what normal is, and you guys seem to have a good marriage." She and her future husband had already gone through pre-marital counseling with the pastor of their church, but he did not even address sex at all in any of their sessions. She had a ton of questions, and didn't know who to turn to for answers. 

This should not be so! We need to stand up as Christians and start living a life of passion with our spouse like God created us to. And we should be encouraging and teaching newlyweds how to live that life as well. Can you imagine how different things would be in our churches and our families if we stopped letting our culture tell us what marriage and passion should look like?

So if you are married and feel like intimacy is lacking with your spouse, you have a negative outlook on sex, or would just like to improve on something that is already great, I encourage you to check out 31 Days to Great Sex. No matter how lacking or how wonderful your physical relationship is with your spouse, this book is for you! After all, what do you have to lose? 

I also encourage you to check out Sheila's blog: To Love Honor and Vacuum. I have religiously checked her blog every morning for over a year now, and her insight has made such a huge impact on me and Roman's marriage. ;)

I have two links over on the right side of my blog:

If you click the cover photo for 31 Days to Great Sex, it will take you to Sheila's site so you can purchase the book. You can download it in your eReader or as a .pdf file. Now wouldn't that make an interesting Christmas present for you and your spouse? ;)

I also have a link to Sheila's blog. Just click "To Love Honor and Vacuum" and it will take you to her blog where you can read all sorts of marriage and parenting advice. (I also have links to all of the other blogs I follow....some are marriage related, and others are not.)

Get a copy of 31 Days to Great Sex today and start reconnecting with your spouse in a way that would make honeymooners jealous! ;)

"Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth— for your love is more delightful than wine. Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes; your name is like perfume poured out. No wonder the young women love you! Take me away with you—let us hurry! Let the king bring me into his chambers." ~Song of Solomon 1:2-4

PS: For the folks in the back, I am an affiliate through the 31 Days to Great Sex affiliate program. This post is to promote the book, but the opinions written are all mine.

Puppy Love

Around this time exactly one year ago today, Roman and I were at the Humane Society to adopt a puppy. We found “Jabo” online and thought he was about the cutest puppy in the whole entire world. After calling the humane society and them telling us “yes, we still have him…but you’re the third person who’s called to ask about him today”, Roman waited for me in the parking lot until I got off work and then we drove way faster than what is legally permitted, prepared to get in a fight over a cute puppy.

Thankfully, “Jabo” was still there and we were the only ones in the shelter…so no fights ensued following our arrival. They brought him out into the lobby for us to see him, and our hearts immediately melted. They told us we could take him outside for a walk if we wanted to. Just as soon as we got outside, he got so excited that he plopped down onto his belly and scooted around using his back legs while his stubby tail wagged as fast as it could. Roman looked at me and said “yup, I want him.” And I quickly responded, “yup….he’s ours.”

Just twenty minutes later we had filled out the paperwork, paid the $80, gotten the shots and jumped in the car with our new family member. Cue the endless amount of pictures we’ve taken since then. Haha.

Jabo got renamed Duke, and then Duke acquired ten zillion nicknames….Dukey-face….Dukey-butt….waggy face….waggy butt….silly puppy….all of which he responds to. I also wrote him a song. I can’t sing it to you because, you know, this is just a blog post and not a web conference, but it goes like this:

I HAS A PUPPY DOG AND HIS NAME IS DUKE. AND HIS NAME IS DUKE. AND HIS NAME IS DUKE. I HAS A PUPPY DOG AND HIS NAME IS DUKE. AND HIS NAME IS DUUUUUUUUKE. HIS NAME IS DUUUUKE. HIS NAME IS DUUUUKE. HIS NAME IS DUKEY-DUKEY-DUKEY-DUKEY-DUKE.

I put that in all caps because it is required that you yell that song as loud as possible while scratching his butt. And no, that was not a joke. Every time I start to sing that song to him, he picks up a toy and runs to me, shoves his body between my legs and stands there while I scratch the top of his tail. Then he goes running through the house like a crazy person, ahem….dog. And it’s only truly effective if I sing it. If Roman sings it, Duke just looks around for me because he knows that it’s our song. And Roman just doesn’t get excited enough when he sings it. You have to be really super excited….

Yes, I am one of those crazy people who loves her dog way beyond what psychologists would probably accept as “normal”. Although I don’t dress him up and he doesn’t have his own room, so maybe I’m not THAT bad. (Right? RIGHT??!!!??)

Anyways….when he was exactly three months old, we adopted Duke. He has eaten at least eight pillows since then and still chases Ralph down the hallway every single day. He likes to chew on empty plastic bottles and is strong enough to pull your arm out of socket while playing tug-of-war. I know this because he’s almost done it to me…thankfully I let go in time. He’s my running buddy, he hates it when me and Roman hug, and he steals the covers off of me every. stinking. night. He goes with us to church and pretty much anywhere else he can. Shoot….if they let us we probably would have taken him on our cruise this past May. (And yes, I did cry when we left him to go on the cruise, in case you were wondering.) He loves to chase flies (or any living creature, for that matter) and can’t stand it when we play any sort of musical instrument. And he loves every type of “people” food in the whole entire universe….unless there’s a pill wrapped up inside. Then he hates all food. Then we shove the pill down his throat and he gets mad at us. So we give him some of our food as an apology. Ahem.  

Today marks exactly one year that Roman and I took home a “shelter puppy”. He was the best $80 we’ve ever spent. I truly believe God sent that dog to be a part of me and Roman’s lives…..to bring a smile to our faces when we’re in the middle of an argument…..to be a comfort when we’re feeling down…..to have a friend with unconditional love that will never betray you (although he will eat your cookie if you’re not looking).

I could continue my love-fest of my dog….but I’m pretty sure you people get the point by now. But if you’re thinking of getting a pet, I greatly encourage you to consider adopting from a local shelter. It’s much cheaper than buying a pure-bred animal, and I promise you that “mixed breeds” certainly don’t decrease the amount of affection you get in return.

Okay….I’m going home now. I miss my dog. And he wants me to sing to him.

“God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock, and small animals, each able to produce offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good.”                      ~Genesis 1:25

Beware the Mop Eating Alligator

I have been sick all week. Like really sick. And with not even a full day’s sick leave, that means I have had to go to work this week as well….while sick. Hopefully my coworkers don’t think I look this bad all the time, but since no one has said “dang girl, you look like you don’t feel good” that means one of two things: 1) I am awesome at make-up and should quit my day job and become a make-up artist. Seriously, if I can make myself look un-sick when I feel this bad, then I’ve got some potential. Right??!?? 2) I need to step up my game in the make-myself-look-presentable-for-work department. Because if I look as bad as I feel right now, and no one is taking notice, then does that mean I always look this bad??? ……yowzers. So if anyone wants to volunteer to buy me some new outfits and give me a make-over, I’d be 100% okay with it. And apparently my co-workers would be totally cool with it as well….

In other news….. I really hate alligators. They scare the bejeezers out of me. I think out of all of God’s creation, I am most afraid of alligators. Pretty sure. Last night I dreamed about an alligator in my house trying to eat me and my dog. It all started when I was trying to build a barricade in my house, because suddenly my living room had turned into a swamp and the laundry room/guest bathroom/ guest bedroom  area had turned into an ocean. So I felt like building a wall out of a mop, some suitcases, a chair, and some old purses was the right thing to do to protect me and Duke from this new burst of wildlife. No idea where Roman was. Or Ralph. Or Lauren. Suddenly, a huge alligator came up out of the swamp and bit off the mop part of my mop.

Dude. I needed that to clean. What were you thinking?

Then he started burrowing under the chair and totally made it past my awesome barricade in about 2.7 seconds. At first he just sat there sniffing Duke, while I stood in the sink and freaked out. Then he headed towards me! I started screaming for Dad but he couldn’t hear me because he was scuba diving in my house-ocean, looking for a giant octopus.

Then I woke up. The end.

Thankfully my living room was not a swamp when I opened my bedroom door, there was not a crazy mop-eating alligator in my kitchen and my dad was not in the guest bedroom scuba diving for a monster octopus.

I wish I could tell you that my dream was a result of the antibiotics I’m taking right now, or extreme mental and physical exhaustion, or that I watched a wildlife show last night, but that is unfortunately not the case. That dream is actually normal compared to some other things my sleeping self has come up with.

Also, me and Roman may be buying a new couch tomorrow. At the very least, we are going on a couch hunting expedition. Which is totally not the same thing as hunting for an octopus…but equally as exciting and much less dangerous.

Would it be lame to end this post with “See ya later alligators!” Yes? Good. Some days I strive to be as lame as humanly possible. Ask Roman, he can verify this claim. Anyways……see ya later alligators! Shablam.

“Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.”                                                                                   ~Proverbs 29:18