It's All Grace

a journey with the Thomason family

Spring Conference – Day 1

Today was the start of the Josiah Venture Spring Conference, an annual event for all the missionaries to come and be together. The theme this year is “Family on Mission” and Dave Patty (the president of the organization) will be the main speaker. But as I sit here in my bed at the hotel with my family asleep around me, I’m just flat out tired.

We got an early start on the day because we needed to be out the door in order to make it here in time for music rehearsal (we live about 40 minutes from where we’re staying this week). Amazingly, we did leave on time and made it here but rehearsals didn’t go as planned today. I’m playing the drums and all in all it went just fine, but our music leader’s family all got the stomach flu so we had to improvise a lot of different things today to make music practice go well. I think we ended up rehearsing for a totally of five hours throughout today, plus we played the music during tonight’s session which as about another thirty minutes of playing. I haven’t played the drums in over a year, so my hands are hurting a bit and my legs are tired. However, despite my physical state I really didn’t enjoy playing worship music with a bunch of other missionaries. There are so many talented people serving in so many different countries. It’s pretty awesome.

It rained a ton today, so that put a bit of a damper (literally?) on things. If not a damper, it just made things a little more challenging. But tonight’s session was good and I felt like overall the conference is off to a great start. Above you can see a photo of Dave teaching and he mostly did an intro to his messages for the rest of the week.

After the main session and a long day, I ended up playing another hour or so of music with Zach and another missionary named Christy. We’ll actually be leading music tomorrow morning (yes, really) and I’ll be playing guitar. We’ll be there bright an early at 7:30am for rehearsal. I honestly hope I make it. My body is so tired at this moment that I’m not even sure I’ll have the energy to change out of my clothes!

I really don’t want my tired tone to affect how I felt about today. Playing music was a ton of fun and I’m so blessed to be able to serve that way this week. However, this has added some extra work to Bethany today which is double hard with her in the last weeks of pregnancy. The kids are excited to be here and for them a new place and new kids around is really exciting (I regret that I don’t have time to tell the story about how Titus got out of child care tonight and was running around the hotel crying).

So with heavy eyes I leave you in hopes that the next six hours of sleep will feel like ten!

May 6, 2015
Getting Ready for Conference

We have been on the go today and it really started this morning with Bethany’s doctor appointment. I decided to stay home and watch the kids because her appointment was a longer one which required her to lay back and relax while they monitor the baby’s heart beat for fifteen minutes. She ended up taking a book and headphones to stay relaxed because laying on her back this late in the pregnancy is never comfortable for her. The doctor said everything is looking great and she said Bethany is “really close” and that things are progressing. We’re still a few weeks out, but I have a feeling we’re going to meet this baby this month!

As soon as Bethany got back I was out the door headed for the Josiah Venture spring conference where we were setting things up and getting it prepped for tomorrow night’s first session as well as the rest of the week’s activities. There is a ton of work that goes in to getting things ready for the conferences and I’m so impressed by the team of JV missionaries that work and serve to get it prepared. Below are a few photos I got during setup today.

This evening we enjoyed an easy spaghetti meal at home with some IKEA Swedish meatballs mixed in! They are pretty tasty and this week was the first time we had tried them. For dessert we had little ice creams that we enjoyed in the back yard. I got the below photo of the kids and even took some video of them. They were just kind of cracking me up as they were eating and talking. They were like an old couple just hanging in the back yard. I love it.

Backyard Ice Cream from Shay on Vimeo.

I’m playing drums this week for a few session during the worship music sets for conference and even playing guitar for another set. I just got off the phone because the main worship leader who was supposed to lead tomorrow is sick with the stomach (actually, his whole family is!). So right now the team is trying to rearrange the sets a bit and make sure everything is good to go. It’s great to see the team pulling together and trying to make it work. That’s just one of those things you learn often in ministry: be flexible. We’ll be ready tomorrow night, even if it isn’t all as polished as we would like. I’m looking forward to it!

May 5, 2015
Late Night, Short Post

It’s 1:09am. If that doesn’t tell you what kind of day it’s been, well, I’ll just say it’s been full! From start to finish this day has been non-stop, but we’re doing good. Above is a photo of our kids literally climbing the walls of our apartment. I feel like this photo just kind of embodies today. Our friends Jenny and Landen had come over tonight and the kids found their way out of bed and ended up doing this (thanks Landen for the photo). This is the first time we know of that the kids did something like this and don’t think it’ll be the last.

I would love to expound on this glorious Monday, but my bed is calling me. Tomorrow is a big day with a doctor appointment for Bethany and then setting up for the Josiah Venture spring conference. We’ll be staying at the hotel that JV owns from Wednesday through Sunday so that should be a fun time! I apologize for the short post, but’s now 1:25am (yes, it took me that long to complete this post!). Bed time!

May 4, 2015
Playing in Fields of Yellow

To my knowledge, I don’t remember a time in my life where someone has tried to wake me up but couldn’t–that is until today. Bethany said I slept through my alarm four times and even tried touching me and talking to me to get me to wake up. I don’t remember any of it. She even told me that she had the kids run into the room to turn my alarm off because it was going off endlessly at some points. When I didn’t get up she assumed I had either stayed up late or wasn’t feeling well. When I did finally get up church had already begun! I had a headache and I asked Bethany what happened and she told me be the above tale. I’m still confused by it. My headache lasted most of the day and it wasn’t until I finally realized I should take some Tylenol around 3pm that I got some relief. Why I waited so long to take medicine is beyond me, but I digress.

One of the great joys in my life is being able to be able to bless people with photography. I had that chance this evening with our teammates and friends, John and Erin (and baby Shade!). We scheduled a dinner with them tonight along with a plan to take some photos of their family. Dinner was delicious and afterward we literally walked out their back door through a field of beautiful yellow flowers. The flowers you see in the photo above are what we get canola oil out of and right now the Czech countryside is completely covered in a blanket of yellow. I would love to show off a bunch of photos of John, Erin, and Shade, but they haven’t seen them yet so I’m holding off for now. Above is just one I got of them walking through the fields, but the yellow seems to go on forever. Below are a few I got of our family. Again, we have more of these too, but I have to same some for our family too!

We actually took a ton of photos and even ended up doing a few down by a lake near John and Erin’s house. As we drove back from the lake we saw a young deer in the field which we stopped to stare at. He was only a few yards from our car and had just some little antlers. I rolled the windows down so the kids could stare out and see him. He was staring back at us and finally bounded away. I regret not getting a photo, but it was fun to just enjoy the moment. But the yellow flowers and deer weren’t the only thing we got to enjoy of God’s amazing creation tonight. Out the other window of our car was an amazing rising moon! When we got back to John’s house, he convinced me to pull my camera out again and get a shot of it which you can see below.

In other news, we set up the baby’s bassinet today. Bethany is in her last month of pregnancy so the clock is ticking as we wait for the arrival of our daughter! This coming week is a busy with spring conference and then a few weeks after that Bethany’s parents will arrive in here in Czech to help with the new baby. God is good!

May 3, 2015
Seeing Friends and Enjoying Saturday at Home

You might say the day got off to an early start because at 4:30am we were up and at em’. No, weren’t catching a plane or train or going on a trip, but we were “meeting up” with with friends via video chat this morning. Since California is nine hours behind us, we had to get up early to try and meet them before they go to bed. Above is a photo I quickly took with my iPhone of us all “gathered” together, but we enjoyed a sweet time talking with close friends from our church in the States. It was actually the firs time we had done something like this with them and we’re hoping to do it more often in the future. They asked a lot of great questions and were just an encouragement and we ended with a time of prayer which was really nice. As always, we’re super thankful for the technology God has provided for us to connect in this way. It was great to see you, friends!

We ended up having time to go back to bed for a bit this morning, but the kids were awake not long after we fell asleep–such is life. Bethany made pancakes, bacon, and eggs this morning and we ended up having more of a brunch than a breakfast which was kind of fun. The kids were playing in the living room and were “camping” so I joined in on the phone while Bethany was doing laundry this afternoon. She also took a few photos, one of which is above as we were “sleeping” under the stars. The kids’ imaginations continue to grow and grow and I just love joining in on the process.

Titus got a letter today! He was pretty stoked when he opened our front door and found it sitting on the steps. I think it got a little rain on it, but there was no damage. We let him open it and inside he found $5 bucks (above are two photos of him opening it)! His aunt, uncle, and cousins are so nice to send this to him for his 5th birthday and he was excited to “buy a toy” with his new wealth. Obviously, American money isn’t accepted here in Czech, but I was able to exchange it for him at a very reasonable rate at the Parental Exchange (e.g. my wallet). Since I needed to go to the store anyways, this afternoon I took him along and allowed him to buy something from the toy aisle with his money. He ended up getting a new, small Star Wars lego set and I even let him buy it himself at the check-out line.

This evening Titus and I went to the youth group at church, but we arrived a little late because we didn’t know they had changed the start time again. The main church pastors were there sharing their testimonies and the whole topic tonight was on the Spirit of God. Our friend Martina helped translate a majority of their messages and Titus did a pretty good job of being self-controlled and sitting next to us. It seemed like the night went a little long and I had to take Titus home during their small group time at the end of the night. The youth group was going to be watching a hockey game after that, but I wasn’t able to go back tonight to join them. However, it was nice to be there, but the language barrier is still so hard and that’s often discouraging.

As the days continue to get longer and longer, the sunsets here are just incredible. When we pulled in to the driveway tonight, the church next door was so beautiful and golden. With a few puffy clouds above it in the blue sky, it just glistened so I had to take a photo (above). This is just an incredible time of year in Czech and if you’re ever coming to this part of the world try to come at this time of year. The weather is mild (not too cold, but not too hot) and even though there was a little rain this morning it cleared up beautifully this afternoon and evening. As much as I love California, I’ve enjoyed the new experience of weather here in Czech and am definitely thankful to the Lord for the beautiful sunset we saw tonight!

May 2, 2015