Book review: Intimacy Ignited

A number of years ago, shortly before my marriage to Daniel, I was blessed to be able to attend a great Christian conference for women, called Intimate Issues. If this conference comes to your area, I highly recommend attending!

So I was very happy to get the chance to review a book written by the women behind Intimate Issues and their husbands. This book is called Intimacy Ignited: Conversations Couple to Couple. And the heading on the cover says "Fire up your sex life with the Song of Solomon".  With all that, I had high expectations for this book, and I was not disappointed.

This book does several things (and does them well!). First of all, it's a verse-by-verse walk through the Song of Solomon.  The authors go deeply into what the meaning of the words are- explaining the poetry of the Song to us.  They also spend time explaining how some words may have double meanings and the cultural references that don't make sense to us.  I'm sure we've all read the Song of Solomon before, but there's a lot in that book of the Bible that I never understood.

Secondly, Intimacy Ignited uses the Song of Solomon to show us what God's view of sex really is (book spoiler- he's all for a great sex life in marriage!).  I really appreciated this, because I think sex has been a topic of much misunderstanding in churches for a number of years. Books like Intimacy Ignited help us realize why God gave us the incredible blessing of sex, and appreciate it as such.  As this book reminds us over and over, sex in marriage doesn't have to be something boring or routine!

Thirdly, this book offers advice on how to shift from being selfish lovers to being servant lovers. It also challenges us to really take on the 16 traits of the servant lover, and offers suggestions on how to do so.  Some of the challenges and suggestions directly deal with a couple's sex life, and others are more basic marriage builders. 

I really liked how this book is laid out. The chapters are easy to follow, but full of a lot of information and  advice. Many chapters have subsections specifically directed to the husband or wife as well as to the couple together, ways to apply the Song of Solomon in your marriage. There's also an 8-week couples Bible study at the end of the book, with study questions and application exercises.

This book is one that I would highly recommend for any married couple, newlywed or married for many decades.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from NavPress Publishers as part of their Blogger Review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Review: ThermaPAK HeatShift Laptop Cooler

Recently I had the chance to review a product that was desperately needed in my home- this pretty pink laptop cooler from ThermaPAK! We're currently a one-computer household, and all of our computing is done on our laptop. It's been a great computer, but lately we've been unable to get the fan to stop running and we've had a lot of problems with the computer getting very hot and sometimes shutting off in the middle of something.  We tried moving it off the glass table to a different surface, we made sure to put the computer to sleep every time we walked away from it, and we even tried a different type of laptop cool pad. Nothing worked well, and nothing worked for very long. The overheating was getting so bad that I actually burned my wrist one day when I was using the laptop for an extended period of time (which, let's be honest, I am most days).

So, when the nice people from ThermaPAK contacted me about hosting a giveaway for my readers, I begged to be allowed to do a review as well.  And I am so grateful to them for agreeing!  This laptop cooler has been so great for our computer. Here's some information from the ThermaPAK website on how the cooler works:

How It Works

A device that transfers heat by conduction AND convection provides the maximum amount of heat exchange. Conduction is heat transferred directly from one object to another by physically touching. Convection is heat transferred by the movement of liquid molecules from warmer areas to cooler ones. HeatShift Technology™ pads utilize both conduction and convection to cool your laptop - and your lap! For more information about the effectiveness of HeatShift Technology™, please refer to our labratory results and notebook cooler product reviews.

When a laptop cooler featuring HeatShift Technology™ is placed under any notebook computer, the crystals inside are in a solid state. As the underside of the laptop begins to warm up, this heat is transferred to the HeatShift Technology™ device. This transferral of heat gradually changes the PCM crystals into a liquid. ThermaPAK's pad grooves channel air under the laptop, and use the second law of thermodynamics (which states that heat will tend to flow from hot areas to cold ones to reach equilibrium) to draw heat from the laptop. Our lab results, as well as those of independent reviewers, have seen temperature decreases of up to 6°C (11°F). After the laptop begins to cool, the HeatShift Technology™ device changes back to a solid crystal - ready for the next use.

Since we've been using this, our computer has been cool to the touch, the fan isn't running all the time and it's stopped shutting itself down because of overheating.  I like that the laptop cooler is small and discrete- it sits nicely under my laptop without lifting it up very far. And it's easy to move around with the computer when I need to.

There was one evening last week when I was suddenly concerned that the laptop cooler wasn't performing as it had been- I was sitting on the couch and my husband was at the desk with the laptop. Suddenly I heard the fan going at its old level and I thought we had a problem again. But when I asked Daniel if he had the laptop cooler under the laptop, he didn't! I was all the way across the room and could tell the difference.

If you have a laptop, you really should consider purchasing one of these laptop coolers. They come in a variety of sizes and colors. You can also get laptop coolers for your Mac, if that's the type of computer you're using. The laptop coolers sell for $27.99-34.99, depending on size. That's a lot cheaper than investing in a new computer!

If you'd like the chance to win one of these great laptop coolers, drop by my giveaway here! The contest will close on March 25, so click on that link now!

Review and giveaway: Joanie Leeds' new CD "I'm a rock Star"

I have to admit- I feared kids' music for a long time and put off introducing it into our house for as long as I could. But my 2 1/2 year-old son has recently developed lots of opinions, including strong ones on what is playing on our radio. So I'm glad to have found some great kids' bands and singers. Including the newest addition to our collection, and already one of our favorites- "I'm a Rock Star", the new CD by Joanie Leeds.

People, this is the most amazingly eclectic CD I have ever heard in my life. It's amazing and so much fun. The CD has 13 songs and they range wildly from hip-hop to jazz to swing to a song about an imaginary elf, and much more. One of the songs was something that wouldn't sound out of place in a dance club, but the lyrics, like those to all the songs, were fun and kid-friendly.

We've pretty much had this on the CD player constantly since it arrived. The kids have been sick, so we've been cooped inside, and great music has been a lifesaver for getting the kids moving and using up some of their pent-up energy. I had mentioned how much I liked the CD to my husband, but he hadn't listened to it until today. I came home from running some errands to find both kids and Daniel dancing around the house while the CD played. Vivian can't walk yet, but she was standing up and holding on to some furniture and bouncing up and down to the music. It was so cute!


Ethan dancing (sadly, the video of both of them is too big to upload)

This is a GREAT CD and one that you really need to add to your collection. It would also make a great gift- most parents I know are glad to receive music that the whole family can listen to and have fun with.

You can find out so much more about Joanie at www.citykidmusic.com. This CD is available at her website, at amazon.com, cdbaby.com, and at specialty toy and bookstores across the country, starting on March 23.

Mandatory entry (must be done first for extra entries to count):
Visit Joanie's website and tell me something about her that I didn't mention here.

Extra entries (please leave a separate comment for each):

1. Follow my blog on Google Friend Connect

2. Put my button up on your blog- let me know where to find it!

3. Subscribe to my blog via email.

4. Follow me on Twitter and tweet "@gabreviews is giving the CD from @joanieleeds! http://bit.ly/9v8IYV #giveaway"
You can tweet this once per day. Leave a separate comment every time you enter and please let me know what your twitter name is.
5. Become a fan of Growing a Baby Reviews on Facebook
6. Enter any of my other giveaways (including the Visa card giveaway at my other review blog) (one extra entry per giveaway entered, leave a separate comment for each)
7. Enter any of the giveaways currently going on at LuvnLife (one extra entry per giveaway entered, leave a separate comment for each).

Giveaway will close at 9 PM Pacific Time on April 3, 2010. I'll choose a winner with random.org and will email that person who will have 48 hours to respond. Good luck!

Disclosure: I received a copy of this CD to review for myself. I was not compensated in any other way and all opinions posted here are mine and mine alone.