Author Archives: Chayli

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I used to read. A lot. I’d have stacks of books on my headboard, and I’d be in the middle of reading all of them. Have a hankering for sci-fi? I’d pull out David Weber (definitely rated R for language, so don't take this as a recommendation). Need a bit of fantasy? Lord of the Rings to the rescue. A seat-gripping, far-out novel? James Byron Huggins. A romance? Kristen Heitzmann. Not to mention classics galore in my post-teenage years.

I read less after I got married, and still less after I had the boys. The last few years I’ve hardly read at all.

2021 seemed like a good year to change that. I’m in the middle of my fourth book for the year already. ...continue reading →

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We celebrated my parents' forty-year wedding anniversary today. When you're only going on year five in your own marriage, forty years seems like a very long time. 🙂 Something to look forward to, for sure.

Family gathered, mostly under the guise of the very worthy cause of meeting Drew's lovely lady friend but also to celebrate my parents.

Dora and I surprised Mom with a cake decorated in her wedding colors, and Mom surprised us by coming out in a new white dress. I'd texted Dad earlier in the week to tell him to make sure that he and Mom's clothes coordinated so we could get some good pictures, and they really went all out. Mom quickly and quietly sewed a dress the day before the party, and Dad brought along dress clothes to match her. I think we were more surprised with the wedding garb than they were with the cake! ...continue reading →

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These are my children.

Alec is two; Sebastian is one. They are happy, loved, and cared for. As every child should be.

But so many children aren’t.

Today is World Day Against Human Trafficking. I’ve been reading stories all month. A snippet here, an article there. Survivors’ stories. Rescuers’ tales. Things to keep you up at night. Things to make you sick. Things you want to forget, but cannot.

Should not.

Because if we don’t realize what is happening, how will we stop it? ...continue reading →

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I hung up Eric’s work shirts the other morning. One of them was a lime green polo. And I thought to myself, This is the shirt I met Eric in.

It seemed a bit unreal, that we'd ever actually met, that we haven’t always known each other.

But I remember that night so clearly. We were playing volleyball in our school gym, and I was at the far side of the court from the entrance. I heard the doors open and close, and before I looked up, I smelled cologne. All the way across the gym.

And there was that lime green shirt. ...continue reading →

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We’ve had a rough morning, my boys and I. So much screaming and fighting and toy-stealing. Sebastian wanting what Alec has, Alec wanting what Sebastian has, neither of them being happy if I sit a bit to read my Bible and drink my coffee. I couldn’t even manage to get dressed.

Some mornings they’re little angels. They happily play with toys in the living room. They drive cars together on the dining room windowsill. Alec decides to go play in the green room, so Sebastian quits what he’s doing and follows him. Alec sits and looks at his big-boy books, and Sebastian sits and looks at his little-boy books.

Angels, like I said.

Not this morning. I couldn’t wait till Sebastian’s morning nap. That ended up not going so well either. When I came out from a long half-hour of fighting Sebastian to sleep, I sent Alec out to play on the back deck. All I wanted to do was grab a second cup of coffee and sit down at the computer to work on a photo book.

But today is Tuesday. Floor sweeping day, laundry folding day . . . not to mention dishes and meals and little boy maintenance.

In other words, I had things to do. And I knew it was going to get blazing hot later in the day. We don’t have our AC up and running yet, so by noon it’s already pretty hot in our house, and by evening we’re all sweating. I definitely didn’t want to still have floors to sweep by that time of the day. ...continue reading →