It's All Grace

a journey with the Thomason family

Theatrics and Retirement

We walked to the post office today. It was just Bethany, Avery, and me because Titus was at school. I was surprised that Bethany came considering she’s in her final week of pregnancy, but when I asked her why she wanted to come she replied, “just to get a little exercise.” It did feel nice to walk, even in the cool mid-fifty degree weather we had today. Avery couldn’t make the entire trip and finally said, “Daddy, can you carry me?” I guess those little legs of hers aren’t quite up to Czech standards yet. We’ll have to work on that.

Titus did a little walking today too with his preschool class. They went to the local theater to see some kind of performance and I was pretty surprised that they walked. After checking on Google, I found out that’s a half a mile walk, one way. For a group of preschool age kids to go a mile to see a one hour play is pretty impressive. Apparently they weren’t walking very fast because when Avery and I walked to pick him up, there was no one there except a bunch of parents hanging out around the school building. As each parent would approach the building I would hear them saying in Czech, “No… theater…” or at least those are the words I could pick out. About fifteen minutes later we saw the kids walking down the street and when they arrived Titus’ teacher told me in broken English that they were going to eat lunch and it wold be another fifteen minutes. I said, “no problem” and Avery and I just played in the school yard for a little bit together. I took a few of photos of the fun (below).

We’ve been counting down the days until Papa and Nana (Bethany’s parents) arrive for their first trip to Czech. They will arrive some time on Sunday and we’ll go across the street to the train station to pick them up (that’s still so cool to do and say). The kids are so excited and both of them keeping reminding us that it’s only “2 more days” until Papa and Nana come. We actually sent Nana a little video message today because this trip also marks the beginning of her retirement! Today was her first day “off the job” so to speak so we took the kid to the back yard and made a short video of them telling her “Happy Retirement Nana!” We hope you had a great day today and we’ll see you soon!

May 22, 2015
Rainy Day in May

If this was California you would think it was winter. It was about 50 degrees today and rainy, a far cry from the 70+ degree weather we’ve been enjoying lately. Honestly, it doesn’t bother because I think the colder air and rain keep the bugs under control, especially those pesky mosquitos. For the kids, however, it’s a bit of a bummer because that means they don’t get much outside time which they have been loving so much. Even now at almost 9:00pm the rain continues to come, but I know warmer days are sure to come.

Now I want to talk about dogs. I mentioned a few days ago about a little black dog that has been coming around the JV office and after Bethany read that particular post she said it sounded like I don’t like dogs. I just want to set the record straight and be clear that I actually do like dogs. I grew up around dogs and enjoyed many great ones, but maybe they set the bar too high for me because I rarely find a dog anymore that I like as much as the ones I grew up. This may be true for a lot of people who had childhood animals, but I like to think that ours were just a cut above. Numerous times my Dalmatian, Sparky, saved me from imminent danger and was kind of like my best boyhood pal. When a dog like Sparky shows up then I might care more, but until then I think that little black dog at the office is just a little nuisance.

This evening our friends from Poland stopped by with lots of goodies because they know how sick we’ve been. I was especially excited to look in to the bag and find some of this Polish fruit juice that we love so much. It was so kind of them and we’re excited to try some of the new foods they brought us that we’ve never had before. Bethany actually made potato soup tonight which really felt right with all the rain today. Warm soup on a cool day just makes sense. Unfortunately for me I wasn’t able to completely enjoy it because I still can’t taste anything. One week running with no sense of taste is just, well, bland.

May 21, 2015
Avery Tried to Eat Money and Titus Broke Glass

Avery tried to eat a Czech crown today. Thankfully it was the smallest coin of the lot, but in her attempt to do so it caused her to throw up…all over our bed. Avery has been sick like the rest of us, and kind of like me, she’s slow to recover. I realize she’s only three years old, but when she gets sick it lingers. Today she found a little pile of coins on my night stand (I will often empty my pockets at night and leave coins there) and in the process just decided to see what it would taste like. As Bethany describes it, Avery immediately threw up and then told Bethany, “I ate the money! I ate the money!” and then it actually came out the second time she threw up just a few seconds later. Thankfully she didn’t swallow it and her body did what it was supposed to do–that is, reject foreign objects. Bethany gave her a bath afterward and she seemed to be feeling better. Crisis avoided, I guess. Well, at least the first one.

Later today, Avery was napping and Titus was having “rest time” after he had come home from school. Sometimes Titus will nap in our room while Avery naps in their room because it’s just easier for Avery to fall asleep. Titus doesn’t nap every day, but we still like him to have a little rest time even if he doesn’t fall asleep, which was exactly the case today. Bethany was in the living room when she heard a crash in the bedroom and upon arrival there Titus was sitting on the bed with a broken glass picture frame. It had begun to rain hard this afternoon and he got up to look out the window and when he did that he knocked the picture frame on to the floor, thus breaking the glass, but then he decided it pick it up (yes, even the broken glass) and put it on the bed. When Bethany got there he was crying, not because he was hurt (thankfully), but because he was sad about breaking it. He said to her, “Mommy, I’m sorry. I’m sorry!” She told him she didn’t care about the frame but wanted to make sure he was OK. He was and all was alright. I think it was just shortly after this event that I received a text from Bethany which read, “It’s been a rough day. Do you know when you’re leaving?” (as in, when I would be leaving the JV offices). I left the office soon after and came home.

Bethany is 39 weeks pregnant and she’s been pretty uncomfortable the past few days. Today was hard on her, but she still amazes me with her attitude in the midst of it. She wasn’t complaining when I came home, but just mostly tired and in need of help. I did my best to pick up the house and help get things cleaned up (including the glass) but my job was so minimal compared to hers today. I tried to explain this to Titus tonight when he wanted to play with me. I said, “Buddy, mommy has been taking care of you and Avery all day and now she needs our help. We need to work and help her and then if we have time we can do something else.” The kids did help me. They picked up different things and Titus helped me vacuum. They also recognize when mommy needs help, even though they don’t always know what that looks like.

Thank you, wife, for always being an example to me of godly character in the midst of life’s chaos.

May 20, 2015
Doctors, Kids, Dogs, and Taxes

Today was spring cleaning day at the Josiah Venture offices. This was a first for me, but it’s an annual event that’s actually on the schedule for us to clean anything and everything. For the international team, this not only includes our own offices, but also the garages (yes, plural) with tons of ministry materials that tend to get disorganized over the course of the year. I actually arrived late (shucks!) because Bethany had her last doctor’s appointment with her OBGYN. From now on she’ll be meeting with the doctors at the hospital that she’ll be delivering at because she’s officially in her 39th week! She’s only nine days away from her due date and we can’t wait to meet this little baby girl.

Speaking of baby girls, I got the above photo of Avery this evening as we were playing in the yard. She was just looking really cute and staring at me so I grabbed my iPhone and got this shot. Almost nightly we go outside and play, which usually means Titus and I play tennis, baseball, or basketball while Avery walks around picking daisies and telling me stories. Almost all of her stories involve animals of some kind, but I was surprised by tonight’s tale of “monsters all around.” She ended up giving me “monster powers” so I could fight all the monsters which turned in to Titus and turning our tennis rackets in to what I’ll describe not as guns, but as Ghostbuster-like weaponry (cause guns aren’t for kids, ya know). These kids never cease to crack me.

There is a dog that continues to come around the JV offices and she was there today was we were cleaning out everything. I believe she has an owner with a garage near ours, but almost every day since the cold left us she has been around. Often I found her chasing butterflies and just wandering around the office. She seems friendly and everyone has fun petting and playing with her, but I still feel at odds with her. I actually like dogs and grew up with many of them, but I can’t seem to commit to this dog. I foresee and ongoing saga on how I feel towards this canine, so you’ll have to stay tuned for that. In the above photo you can see her wandering through the grass.

I spent a lot of time tonight working on our taxes. I haven’t written much about it (or at all) on the blog, but we’ve been on the search for someone to help us with international tax law as things get really complicated when you move overseas. By God’s grace, one of our friends in the States was able to get us in contact with a guy who has 32 years of experience in taxes, along with a ton of clients who live overseas. I was able to speak with him on the phone tonight and we’re getting things moving which is great! Now you might be thinking that April 15 has already passed and we missed the deadline. Well, that’s actually a bonus of living overseas because we get an automatic extension. I’m really hoping our new tax guy can help us and get us all those wonderful deductions we cherish so much. He was really great on the phone and I’m excited to kind of get that stuff of my shoulders.

I’m still not feeling great and don’t have my sense of taste back. In fact, I actually had a lot of sinus pressure today that was really bothering me so that’s a bummer. If you think of us, continue to pray for health. The kids and Bethany seem to be recovering quickly but I trail behind still clinging to my box of Kleenex.

May 19, 2015
What Happens At Czech School Stays At School, Unless Of Course Someone Speaks English And Tells You All About It

Today was a very beautiful, sunny day. It was a very bright spot (pun intended) in an otherwise sickness filled week. Titus was back in school and I was back in to work even though we both still have congestion and coughs. As I dropped Titus off at school I heard other kids with similar symptoms as his so two things ran through my mind: 1) I’m glad it’s not just us and 2) I don’t feel so bad bringing my recovering kid to school. I thought for sure he would be sad after another week out of school and he was for a moment, but he was quick to jump in to the class and play with toys. Bethany called me around lunch time after she picked up Titus from school and told me all about his day. Apparently the class walked to the fire station (which is literally across the street from our apartment) and got to play with the fire hose. Titus said that they “pretended the big tree was a fire and squirted it with the hose.” Sounds like fun if you ask me! He said he enjoyed it so that’s definitely a bonus.

Later this afternoon Titus and I had an appointment to get hair cuts which we did and Bethany ended up walking over with Avery to meet us for ice cream. We’re glad it’s both warm enough for ice cream and the little shop that we like is open. We ended up just staying outside in the sun for a while and enjoyed our ice cream and just hung out on the benches in the town square. The kids love running around the big fountain there and since other kids were around playing they just ran around with their “friends” (any kid that’s in Titus’ vicinity is his friend). While out and about we ran into the English speaking mom I met a while back at Titus’ school and Bethany had never met her before. They were introduced and we were talking for a bit near the town square while all of our kids were playing.

She has two kids, a girl and a boy who are both very close in age to our kids. Her son and Titus are actually in the same class and he speaks English! This turned out to be very interesting when I walked up to him and talked with him and he said, “Did you know that Titus hits us at school?” Oh boy…come again? “Yeah, it’s not all the time but he hits us.” Of course I looked to Titus when the boy was sharing this insight and he denied it, but then began to say that they boys hit each other. “They hit me too, Dad.” This turned into a longer chat with Titus and then of course with Bethany as to how to process forward with this new revelation. Pray for us. I don’t say this jokingly, but we always need prayer as parents in regards to wisdom and handling situations and these are new for us. Like any parent, you don’t love to hear your kid is hitting other kids and you definitely don’t want to let it go un dealt with. Things just get a little more complicated when you add a language barrier between us, the teachers, the other parents, and the other kids.

With that I’m off to bed. I’ve got a bit of sinus pressure that won’t go away at the moment and it’s causing a headache. On the bright side, I was able to taste that ice cream this afternoon which is the first thing I’ve been able to enjoy for a few days now. Sadly, my taste went away again around dinner…oh well. Such is life.

May 18, 2015