How Widow of “American Sniper” Is Fighting for Family

FIGHTING FOR FAMILY
Taya Kyle, wife of late U.S. Navy and “American Sniper” author Chris Kyle, is working to help strengthen the marriages of military families. Taya explains, “When we were in the military the SEALS had a 97 percent divorce rate.” Chris and Taya had resolved to do something to change those statistics together. Yet, Chris’s life was cut short unexpectedly in February 2013, when he and his friend Chad Littlefield were both killed by Eddie Ray Routh, a Marine. Prior to Chris’ untimely passing, he was developing his vision to help more than the two original families he was working with. After his death, Taya decided to follow through and founded Chris Kyle Frog Foundation in honor of her husband. CKFF’s mission is to honor God, country, and the families who serve by strengthening their marriages. CKFF provides custom retreats like: Revitalization Retreats (RR), Mastering Your Marriage Retreats (MYM), and the Empowered Spouses Retreats (ESR) and they have a Date Night Out (DNO) program. Their programs have impacted more than 2,274 family members within the military and first responder community.

THE AMERICAN SPIRIT LIVES ON
After Chris died Taya found herself overcome with grief and pain. When people came forward to share their own stories of overcoming hardship and adversity, those stories helped Taya have faith the world was still a good place.

Taya believes that the division in our nation could change if people would stop looking to the government for their happiness. Rather, if we focus on our faith, and the amazing things that people are doing to make a difference, that will bring joy. Human contact heals far more than bureaucracy.

Working again with Jim DeFelice (co-author of American Sniper and American Wife), Taya shares the remarkable tales of over 30 Americans who have done extraordinary things while facing difficult situations --rising to the occasion to make a difference in other peoples lives. She explains, “Shining a light in the darkness produces more light. It ripples, and in so doing, it multiplies its effects through our communities, our nation, and the world in general.” She wrote the book with the “… wish that someone reading our book will see themselves in one of the stories and go out and do something similar. Or better.”

LUTTRELL’S & BILL FLY
In August of 2017 Hurricane Harvey ripped through Houston, Texas leaving devastation in its wake. One of its victims was Bill Fly, a 99-year-old WWII Veteran. His wife had just passed away three months earlier after 69 years of marriage. Now, Mr. Fly was also facing losing his home and having to live out the rest of his days in a nursing home. That’s when a group of volunteers which included Melanie and Marcus Luttrell (story portrayed in movie, “Lone Survivor”) raised $85,000 to fix his home and get him back in it before his 100th Birthday. Melanie told Mr. Fly, “You fought for our freedom. We’ll fight for yours.”

THE EXODUS ROAD
Matt and Laura Parker moved to SE Asia with their family in 2010 as directors of a children’s home. While working in this capacity they worked with people who were also targets for human sex trafficking. Matt started working with local police and NGOs to figure out how he could help those victims at the ground level. Infiltrating this dark underworld is dangerous. Yet, both Matt and Laura felt that if they didn’t help the victims, who would? Over time, they began to see how few organizations were actively looking for those currently trapped in slavery and how even fewer were working with local police. They also realized that nationals were the key to long-term change and that facilitating rescues and arrests within legal systems was a critical strategy for impacting the issue. After investigating hundreds of bars and brothels throughout SE Asia, he and Laura began The Exodus Road in January of 2012 on the belief that justice is in the hands of ordinary people (theexodusroad.com).