Williamsburg couple publishes children's book 'The Magic Balloon'
Jun. 16—WILLIAMSBURG — A local couple is hoping to minister to children through their new book, "The Magic Balloon."
Williamsburg's Chelsey and Josh Tyree met while in college at Eastern Kentucky University and are now approaching their 10th year of marriage.
In 2012, during Josh's second year of medical school and after just discovering Chelsey was pregnant with their first child, Josh began experiencing severe headaches. After several tests and surgeries, doctors determined that Josh had Neurosarcoidosis, a rare, chronic disease of the central nervous system, which encompasses the brain, spinal cord and optic nerve.
After 10 brain surgeries and 12 surgeries overall, Josh and Chelsey are now living in Williamsburg with their two sons, Jace and Graham. Chelsey works as an occupational therapist at Williamsburg City School and a local nursing home, while Josh is a stay-at-home father and is continuing treatments for his illness.
"He is a walking miracle," Chelsey said of her husband's recovery. "God has protected him, our family, and he's just like a walking testimony. God was in every step, every detail of our lives and looking back, we can see that a lot more clearly now looking back on it. God was there, he was a step ahead and he provided."
Chelsey said the couple has always known they were meant to write a book about their life together and overcoming Josh's medical issues. The pair didn't expect their first book together to come out a children's book, though, but Chelsey's experience as an occupational therapist during the pandemic inspired her.
"I have been praying for creative wisdom for a while because I knew I was supposed to write a book but I didn't really know it would come out a children's book at first because it just came to me during COVID," she said.
Throughout the pandemic, Chelsey was providing occupational therapy services to her elderly patients who were battling COVID-19. Because she had to go into patients' rooms in full PPE, she felt a need for a more creative approach to her rehab sessions and turned to using a balloon. Eventually, the balloon began to feel "magical" as it helped to get her patients smiling, interacting and moving along with her.
This sparked Chelsey's desire to write a children's book. Josh and Chelsey began writing out ideas for the book on index cards and even kept a notebook in the car to jot down new ideas.
"It was like a coping thing for me going into these COVID rooms," Chelsey said. "I would think of new ideas and I'd talk to my patients and they loved hearing about this book I was writing. I think I needed the project during that time."
The couple began looking at ways to self-publish their book through Amazon and eventually found an illustrator online who was a high school student from Indonesia.
After working on the book for nearly a year, the pair published "The Magic Balloon" last month.
The book follows a little boy who is given a "magic" balloon and goes on different adventures throughout his day. The story hopes to build a child's awareness of the impact they can have on others through small acts of kindness throughout an ordinary day with something as small as a balloon.
The book is full of tiny details, like some noticeable scenery such as the Lane Theater and images of the pandemic with people wearing masks and practicing social distancing.
"I really want kids to take away that the magic in him (the main character), the magic is love and God is love," Chelsey said of the meaning behind the book. "That's what I hope they come to see and the parents come to see to teach them that."
"The boy found joy in that and I think when you find joy in something, it's good that when you find joy in something to go around and share that," Josh added. "When you find joy in something, share it with people."
So far, the couple has already sold over 100 copies of their book.
"Seeing that we've completed something together just proves that God still works miracles," Chelsey said. "I just have felt so blessed to have him (Josh). He's my best friend. To be able to do something like this with him after all he's been through. It symbolizes where we were and where God has brought us. It shows so much more than just the book, it shows our communication together, our patience with one another, teamwork, how marriage isn't always easy but love is a choice. You choose to love each other every day. It just symbolizes a lot because we've completed this project together."
Chelsey and Josh hope to write more books in the future, as well, with another children's book already in the works.
"Our biggest goal is to work up to an autobiography of our experience, just the whole experience of life but there's just something about children's books that we really like," Josh said.
"The Magic Balloon" is available for purchase on www.amazon.com.
