Chautona Havig > Quotes

“I will not wear a tulle-tailed dunce cap for anyone or for any reason.”
― Chautona Havig, Princess Paisley

“Well, I think her exact words were, ‘Luke, sometimes I don’t wike you vewy much,’ so I just told her that I’d always love her very much.” ~Luke Sullivan”
― Chautona Havig, Ready or Not

“God’s got this covered. We don’t know how; we’re just waiting to see how, but He’s got this covered.”
― Chautona Havig, A Bird Died

“People think Biblical submission means you no longer have opinions, preferences and things like that—totally not true. It’s about preferring others over ourselves. All Christians are called to do that. I choose to give up my rights in order to bless another person.”
― Chautona Havig, Blessing Bentley

“To every woman who ever felt inadequate and every girl who didn’t know how to shut out the lies of society or a man who wormed his way into her heart only to crush it. There is One who loves you—finds you beautiful and precious. Hold fast to Him and allow Him to wash away all the ugliness and leave only the beauty of truth—that you are His workmanship, created in His image. He loves you with an everlasting love. I am always left a little breathless at that thought, aren’t you?”
― Chautona Havig, Corner Booth

“The treetops swayed high above the mists along the edge of the forest known as Wynne Holt. Five boys, all in their twelfth year, lay on their stomachs peering through the grasses of the headland near The Point. They watched as the cloaked Creature, the Ge-sceaft, wandered through the shifting fog that intermittently smothered the field ahead of them. Its shadow faded and resurfaced as it roamed through the grasses; and at times, eerie noises-- almost like singing-- drifted to the edge of the cliff from where they watched. Angus, the oldest and brawniest of the lads, began telling tales that terrified and delighted the others. “It has horns, it does. That’s why it wears the hood so far over its face. The horns aren’t at the back; they’re near the front, and it uses them to tear up its food like an animal uses claws and fangs.” “What does it eat?” The other boys turned”
― Chautona Havig, Shadows & Secrets

“trusting the Lord in the little things, to looking for His hand in everything,”
― Chautona Havig, Thirty Days Hath...

“There is no great virtue in ignoring your needs unless doing so saves someone else.  Otherwise, it just makes you act like a martyr. And there’s nothing more pathetic than a false martyr.”
― Chautona Havig, The Vintage Wren: Week 7

“everything”
― Chautona Havig, Advent

“Perfect isn't without flaw. Perfect is finished.”
― Chautona Havig, For Keeps

“those ones that just lay flat instead of folding out. As he pulled the heavy comforter over his shoulders, he thought of Lita and sighed. “Lord, please don’t let tonight’s meal prompt her”
― Chautona Havig, Advent

“It’s like she says. ‘Some guys use their hands to slug you or slap you. Others use your own emotions, their emotions, or their words to batter you into submission.’” She smiled up at him and added, “Then she says, ‘Don’t fall for the lie that says you deserve it.”
― Chautona Havig, The Vintage Wren: Week 5

“Tavish, working hard all weekend, despite the summer heat, cleared the storage area underneath the stairs, painted it, and cleaned up his mess from the previous Friday. Tuesday, he began moving in. After watching him for quite a while, Aggie pulled him aside for a little chat. “Tavish, why did you go to all this work? What is wrong with your room upstairs?” The boy ducked his head and was quiet. He didn’t answer until Aggie, obviously concerned, urged him again. “Aunt Aggie, I just like to be alone. The noise bothers me, and I can’t think. I like to read and think, and try to figure things out, and it’s just a lot easier when I don’t have anyone around. Our room isn’t just my room, it’s Ian’s too. I can’t tell him to be quiet or go away when it’s not all mine, and he has to take naps in there and stuff.” With that, he turned back to making his little corner of the house “home.”
― Chautona Havig, Ready or Not

“Lord, take a cop or a fireman—the toughest one around—and show him a child injured or emotionally scarred by something and they fall to pieces. It never ceases to amaze me.”
― Chautona Havig, A Bird Died

“she’s faced with her worst nightmare.    ”
― Chautona Havig, For Keeps

“I prayed years ago that if I was going to make a decision for my life that was wrong for me, that God would radically change my direction.”
― Chautona Havig, Ready or Not

“She transferred the baby and his Tupperware into the playpen for safety, stormed into the well-equipped garage, and searched frantically for a screwdriver. With an exultant cry of victory, she punched the button to the garage door opener and waited impatiently for it to rise. Resolutely, Aggie charged out of the gaping hole left by the door only to return moments later for a ladder. This posed a bigger problem than she’d anticipated. There wasn’t a ladder in sight. She searched corners and behind cabinets. In sheer exasperation, she threw her hands into the air and looked up as if to say, “I can’t take much more, Lord,” but the sight of a ladder hanging horizontally from the rafters halted her internal ranting. Now, she spoke aloud, her voice tinged with disgust. “Who would put a ladder up so high that you need a ladder to get the ladder down in the first place?” After a moment’s pause, she dashed into the kitchen and banged around the room, searching for the step stool. Ian squealed his slobbery encouragement as Aggie dragged the stool through the room, ruffling the few ruddy curls atop his bald little baby head. She teetered on the step stool, barely avoiding a collapse, and finally managed to jerk the ladder from its hooks. Hauling her prize out the garage door, Aggie surveyed the tattered basketball net she had remembered hanging deserted over the garage. The uncooperative ladder fought her at every step. After several frustrating minutes, where every swear word she’d ever heard filled her brain and threatened to overtake her self-control, Aggie realized that the ladder was upside down. Righting it, she climbed to the mounting bracket, the ladder teetering with every step. She eventually managed to unscrew one side of the apparatus and then the other. With a few jerky movements, the backboard lay on the ground beneath the swaying ladder, hardly worse for the fall. Aggie felt like a housekeeping genius as she wobbled through the house carrying her conquest upstairs to the wall above the hamper at the end of the hallway. The backboard was heavy and cumbersome; she found it difficult to hold in place and screw it into the wall at the same time, but several minutes later, she stood back and surveyed the results of her efforts. Though nearly satisfied, the lid on the hamper mocked her brilliant idea. Undaunted, she gave a swift jerk and ripped the cover off the offending hamper. “There. That’ll work,” she muttered as she trudged back downstairs, fighting the compulsion to pick up all the dirty laundry herself.”
― Chautona Havig, Ready or Not

“The gist is that you’ll pick a gift. Open it and show everyone. Then…” Bentley scanned the circle. Somewhere a kid screamed, and one of the women (don’t know her name) hopped up and called back that she was still listening. “Great. Then… you’ll look around the room and see who you think would be most blessed by that gift and give it to that person. No stealing. No take backs. The gift has an owner. It’s especially nice if you will explain why you chose that gift for that person—a way to be an extra blessing,”
― Chautona Havig, Love Blooms on Valentines: A Contemporary Romance Collection

“A cheerful and helpful nurse followed them into the cubicle, once Aggie became fully alert. “Well, hon, what happened to you?” Without the sincere expression on the nurse’s face, her syrupy tone would have sounded contrived. “I was walking past my brother, and he swung his bat and hit my head.” The nurse looked concerned, and Aggie realized that she didn’t know what happened. “So, your brother hit you with his baseball bat? Was he mad at you?” The woman shot a disapproving look at Aggie. “Oh, no! They were playing softball, and I was walking to the swing out back and didn’t see them. Laird’s probably pretty mad at himself.” Embarrassment in Tavish’s face and manner made him look dishonest. “Didn’t you see them playing? How could you just walk into the middle of a ball game?” Doubt and suspicion laced the nurse’s words, and she surreptitiously pressed a buzzer on the wall. Aggie sighed. She knew they were in trouble now. Tavish, unaware of the tension growing in the room, answered automatically. “Well, I wasn’t watching where I was going. I was reading and looked up just in time to see the bat coming at me. I ducked, but I think that just kept me from getting it in the neck.” Aggie laughed. She couldn’t help it. This was the boy’s third accident stemming from walking while reading. “Tavish, I have to make it a rule now. You may not open your book if you are standing on your feet. Do you understand?” Tavish sheepishly nodded. The nurse watched the exchange and then smiled. “Well, hon, I used to be real klutzy when I was your age, but it wasn’t because I was reading. I didn’t have a good excuse like that.” She gave Aggie a knowing look. “I have to go stop the nurse from calling someone about the accident. You understand.” Relief washed Aggie’s face, and she smiled. “I appreciate it. Sorry to be a bother.” “I’ll be right back. Happy to stop this one!” The nurse walked out of the room, and Aggie overheard her telling the receptionist to cancel the Social Services call. “I was premature— I remembered hearing about the house with all the kids and the 9-1-1 calls and jumped the gun. Tell Linda I am sorry for bothering her.”
― Chautona Havig, Ready or Not

“It takes a strong woman to accept a compliment.”
― Chautona Havig, Wrong About Mr. Wright

“Is it true forgiveness if you decide to forgive—choose to do it even though it’s hard not to still be upset?” “I think so. I think some things almost require that, y’know? I mean if someone willfully murdered someone I love, I’d have to do that seventy times seven thing—maybe every day.”
― Chautona Havig, Christmas in Rockland: A Seven Novel Collection

“Save yourselves from strangulation by stuff! You keep talking about how much more you need of this or that, but you don’t need anything—well, anything but Jesus. Most Americans don’t have true needs. We have more pressing wants than others, sure, but how many Americans won’t eat anything tonight? How many don’t have a place to live? How many have nothing on their feet or bodies to keep them warm and covered? Our homeless have it better than some of the world’s average Joes. That’s just wrong.”
― Chautona Havig, The Diary of a De-cluttering Junkie: Episode 7

“Somewhere along the way, we got the idea that crying shows weakness when really, crying is strength. It lets some of the weakness go instead of trying to carry it indefinitely.”
― Chautona Havig, Clock Tower Bound

“Her problem was discontent. She couldn’t change her husband’s income, but she could change herself. She chose not to. Don’t reject something beautiful because you’re afraid of something that doesn’t have to be.”
― Chautona Havig, Wrong About Mr. Wright

“America at Christmastime. Magical. Terrifying. No, really, it’s both. When and where else can you go into a store and hear about someone’s grandma being run over by reindeer one minute, and the birth of Jesus the next?”
― Chautona Havig, Christmas in Rockland: A Seven Novel Collection

“Memories have a way of making the commonplace exquisite.”
― Chautona Havig, Wrong About Mr. Wright

“Mibs says: I wanted to say something while you weren’t around to make me too shy to say it. Mibs says: I love you. I know you know that, but I don’t think you really realize just how much I really do love you. How’s that for a lot of real-ity? Mibs says: So, I want to tell you while I know you can’t get on and make me self-conscious. I love you. I love how you think of my children as yours. I love how you put us before you even when it is uncomfortable for you or a financial blow. Mibs says: Sigh. This is hard. I love how you smile at me. The way those smiles make my stomach flop is the most wonderful feeling. Mibs says: The way you reach for me and then hesitate, making sure you are being honorable in your actions. Mibs says: I love the tone of your voice when you say you love me. Mibs says: I love knowing that you mean it when you say it. Mibs says: And how you protect me, even from my children and from myself. Mibs says: I love your delight in your sisters, your nieces, and your nephews. I love how you cherish your mother and how that spills over into cherishing me. I’ve never doubted how you’d treat me. It shows every day in how you treat them. Mibs says: And I love how you call me “Mibs.” I love the way you say it, the tone of your voice, the little smirk around your lips…. Mibs says: Whew. This is killing me. I love that you find me attractive. You don’t say much, but I see it in how you respond to me. It amazes how much I see that you desire only me. Mibs says: But most of all, I think I love the way you love the Lord even more than you love me. I couldn’t ask for anything more. Mibs says: I love that I get to be the one you call wife. Mibs says: Goodnight.”
― Chautona Havig, Here We Come

“And I’ve learned since then that doing the right thing—doing things God’s way—has a protection to it that we can’t comprehend until we’ve lost it.”
― Chautona Havig, HearthLand: Good News

“Rockland”
― Chautona Havig, Speak Now

“Determined to get back on track with the kitchen renovation, Aggie decided to ask Luke if another coat of paint was necessary, or if she should carry in the flooring now. “Okay, Luke…” Aggie looked around for him, and eventually she saw him through the picture window in the living room. He was out front, guiding a large truck, as it backed up the driveway. Curious as to who was backing in, Aggie dashed out the door and tripped down the steps, fortunately unseen by teasing children or an over-protective Luke. When she saw Luke and a man she didn’t recognize unloading cabinets from the truck, she gasped. “Luke, where did you find them? They are exactly what I wanted!” Her squeals of excitement brought children from every corner of the house. Even Tavish the hermit stepped from his own little world to see what made Aggie squeal with such obvious delight. Luke and Laird helped unload each cabinet from the truck and carry them to the back step. Once finished, Luke thanked the driver for bringing them, as he handed the man a check. The burly man jumped into the truck, and as he put it in gear, he stuck his head out the window and said, “Hey, Luke. Anytime you feel like building more cabinets like those, let me know. My wife is green right now. I’d love to see her natural color again.” With that, the truck slowly drove down the driveway and pulled onto the road.”
― Chautona Havig, Ready or Not