Author Archives: Chayli

•

Me: briefly considers retreating back into blog silence.
Also me: proceeds to post three posts in five days.

🙂

Back to the California trip . . . if you missed the first installment, here it is: https://www.michaylaroth.com/2024/a-little-jaunt-south-part-1/.

After the Crater Lake fiasco, we drove a while longer and then stopped for the night at a KOA. Word to the wise when traveling in a motorhome: hook it up to water before you leave on your maiden voyage.

But we had literally been so busy in the days leading up to leaving that that hadn't happened, so it wasn't until we were hooked up at the KOA that we discovered that the toilet leaked and the shower didn't work.

Oops. ...continue reading →

•

I've had two scares this week, one with each of my boys.

I say each, as if I only had two. The other one was just over there earning Student of the Month and stuff. 🙂 (Thanks to Alec's grandma for the sweet pic!)

On Sunday, Emmett and Sebastian were down with Eric at the shop, and Sebastian hoisted a metal rod, not realizing how heavy it was, and somehow in there it slipped and hit Emmett right near the eye.

When Emmett came in with a bloody gouge under his eye, I asked what had happened, and it honestly just chilled me. If he had been standing a little closer. Or if his face had been turned a different way. Or if he had been bending over. So many possible ifs.

That metal rod could have so easily left my baby sightless in one eye, and I couldn't bear to think of it. I don't know how many "Thank You, Jesus"es I said, both out loud and in my mind, again and again.

Thank You, Jesus, that it wasn't worse. Thank You, Jesus, that it didn't directly hit his eye. Thank You, Jesus, that we are home and not at the hospital. Thank You, Jesus, that my little Emmett still has both his beautiful eyes.

It drove me nuts to even think of the alternative. ...continue reading →

• 3 Comments

•

I’ve blogged at least once a month every month for over a year now. It seems a shame to break that streak. So . . . we went on another trip.

Goodness, if we had known back in August that we’d end up in both Missouri and California in the next six months, we probably never would’ve booked that trip to Hawaii. (Good thing we didn't know!) Three week-long trips to three different states in six short months seems like overkill when you have three little kids and a business to keep after. 🙂

This last trip we were smart though. Instead of flying . . .

VoilĂ .

We took home with us. And guess what, the boys slept so much better. Too bad you can’t fly a motorhome. 🙂 We’d be in Europe on Spring Break!

Kidding. We just want to stay home, honestly. ...continue reading →

•

Life is funny sometimes. You don't appreciate good health till you've been mired in sickness. You don't crave rest till you've been swamped in busyness. You don't love home till you've been away from it.

Well, that last one is relative. I always love home. 🙂

The point is, the hard parts in life make the good ones all the more wonderful.

This is a very long and winding post about how that has looked for us this past month, and it might not be interesting to anyone but my mom and dad, but here goes. 🙂 The trip, the sick, and the holiday -- that's how I sorted out my notes. And the title will make sense eventually, I promise.

To make it make sense though, I have to go back a ways . . . all the way back to December 24th and the beginning of some hard things that made the good things at the end all the more appreciated.

Here we are, Christmas Eve 2023.

Not really wishing for adventure but about to go on one nonetheless. About to take flight from Oregon to Missouri to celebrate Christmas with the rest of the Baers. We were somewhat trepidatious about the whole thing, especially since our last experience flying with all three boys was not just the best one, but our tickets were bought, and our massive suitcase was packed, and off we went. ...continue reading →

•

In April 2023 I posted a “What I’ve Been Reading” post. I’m slightly embarrassed to say how many books I’ve read since then, but at that point I had already read more books in a year than I had the prior year, so I guess my own progress should be my measuring stick. 🙂

That embarrassing number is three. I’ve read three books in the last nine months. Four, if you count reading Little House on the Prairie to my big boys. But for all practical purposes, three. All of them parenting books, two of them by the same author.

I read Abbie Halberstadt’s M Is for Mama and Hard Is Not the Same Thing as Bad back to back. I’d already read the first book a while ago but wanted a refresher before diving into her second book. Turns out I liked M Is for Mama even more the second time around. The first time I read it I was really hoping for a more formulaic approach. Your kid does this; you do this. Of course, that’s not how life, and especially not parenting, is. Going into it this time knowing it wasn’t going to be like that allowed me to better process what she was saying, and I really enjoyed and was blessed by both M Is for Mama and Hard Is Not the Same Thing as Bad. Highly recommend both books.

I also read Habits of the Household by Justin Whitmel Earley. After reading two books written from a mother’s perspective, it was really refreshing and interesting to read one written from a dad’s perspective. I started in right away with sticky-noted sections to show to Eric later. That's the real test of how much I like a book. 🙂

I’m actually not feeling very book-review-ish at all at the moment. I'm more excited about what I'm going to be reading next. 🙂 So if you want to know more about the afore-mentioned books and what’s inside them, just do yourself a favor and go borrow or buy a copy. Very worthwhile reading, all three of them, especially if you’re in the parenting trenches. ...continue reading →