It's All Grace

a journey with the Thomason family

It’s Good to be Home

We made it to 2:00am today. I went to bed last night at around 7:30pm, so that’s actually a pretty good night’s sleep. And I’m learning to live with jet lag. In fact, I was really productive between 3:00 – 7:00 this morning. Went through emails, wrote people back, worked on my to-do list, got things in order for next week, did puzzles with Avery, and even had time to get a shower in there! By 8:00 I was out the door and doing a little shopping for Bethany.

I feel like Bethany and I are tag teaming the whole jet lag with little kids thing. When I’m awake she rests, and when she’s awake I usually take a break too. Unfortunately, today all three of them fell asleep in the afternoon while I was working so we had to get everyone up around 2:00pm. Now we’re hoping they’ll still sleep tonight.

Besides jet lag, I was thinking today that it’s really nice to back in Czech. Being away for a bit was nice, but it’s been nice to be home. The weather here was amazing today and even yesterday when we went to Bethany’s doctor visit our drive was incredible. The sun was shining and the air was clear so you could see for miles (or kilometers!). I feel more comfortable here than I’ve ever felt and I hope that continues. I mean, I was even excited to go grocery shopping today and I don’t know why. I guess I’m just not as nervous about it like I used to be (don’t get me wrong; I still had an issue with my debit card while checking out, but that’s pretty much normal). Again, it’s good to be home.

It’s barely 5:00pm as I finish this blog and I could fall asleep at my desk I’m so tired. I’m hoping to make it until 8pm, but we’ll just have to wait and see. If you’ve been praying for us, thank you! Transitions are always hard, even if they’re just from one time zone to another. Here’s to hoping we can sleep in until 4:00am tomorrow!

January 16, 2015
Captain’s Log: Jet Lag Edition
Wednesday, January 14, 2015

18:30 – Just arrived home in Czech Republic from America
18:45 – Kids are crying a lot from exhaustion
19:00 – Avery fell asleep
19:15 – Titus is crying still
19:30 – Titus fell asleep
19:31 – Bethany and I fell asleep.
23:30 – Avery is wide awake and crying
23:31 – Titus is also awake now
23:35 – Bethany gets up, plays with kids, makes “breakfast”

Thursday, January 15 2014

02:00 – Bethany came back to bed and I’m up with the kids now
02:30 – I’m making myself a bowl of cereal
02:45 – It may be the middle of the night, but I feel great and am loving this time with the kids!
03:00 – Checked some email; got a little work done. I should get up at this time every day!
03:30 – Bethany is awake again. Sweet family time at 3:00am!
04:00 – Started unpacking all the suitcases. SO stoked to have this kind of time in the morning.
05:00 – I got a little sleepy, so I’m making coffee.
05:30 – Woah, Avery is not happy about life right now.
06:00 – I don’t really know why I’m awake right now.
07:30 – OK, I think everyone needs a nap. Bethany just laid down.
08:00 – Time to leave for Bethany’s doctor appointment!
08:02 – Avery fell asleep in the car.
08:34 – Arrived at the doctor’s office. Avery won’t wake up so Bethany is going to carry her across the parking lot and up the elevator.
09:30 – Just leaving the doctor’s. Great appointment. We found out the gender of the baby, but Avery slept through the entire thing. I took this photo of her in the office:

09:31 – Wow, I am tired.
09:32 – Titus fell asleep.
10:00 – Sitting in the parking lot of the grocery store while Avery and Titus sleep. Bethany ran in to get a few things.
10:30 – Back home now. I carried Avery in to the house because she’s still sleeping.
10:31 – Avery is awake and crying loudly.
10:35 – Snack time! Avery is happy again.
11:15 – Avery fell asleep. Bethany went to the bedroom and fell asleep.
12:00 – I laid down for a nap.
13:30 – Titus came in and laid down next to me.
14:00 – I’m up. Avery is still asleep. Bethany is on the couch with her. Titus is still asleep. I’ve tried to wake all of them up but at this point I am a failure. I tried moving them, shaking them, turning the lights on and off. Nothing is working.

17:19 – I am blogging. Everyone is asleep still. This is not good.
17:27 – I was just running some numbers and other than about 45 minutes this afternoon, Avery has been asleep since 8 o’clock this morning. That can’t be good.
17:29 – I could really use a nap.
January 15, 2015
Back in Czech

We made it to the train that is taking us home. Other than the Lord’s grace, I have no idea how we have come this far. We are exhausted, the Paris airport was ridiculous, and the sparkling grape juice I just opened exploded on me and my computer as I was typing this.

It’s been a long and challenging day. To be balanced, our flight from Seattle to Paris was pretty nice. It wasn’t a full flight so we had room to lay the kids down in our seats and the kids actually did really great. But after landing in Paris, it just seemed liked things got a lot harder.

I originally started this paragraph by explaining about what happened to us in the Paris airport and how hard it was, but I stopped writing. Complaining is a sin. I’m writing that for my own benefit and as a way of reminder as I look back on today. My flesh really wants to complain right now, but I guess that’s to be expected when 1) I’m a sinner (saved by grace, but still battling that flesh!) and 2) I’ve been awake for almost 24 hours. No matter how tired I am or how difficult a situation, the reality is that God is still in control and He is good.

Yesterday as we were leaving Seattle, Bethany’s dad prayed for us before we got in line at security. He knew our situation and our anxious hearts and prayed specifically for our flights, my tooth pain to subside, handling of our luggage, connecting flights, and for a ride from Prague to the train station. God was kind enough to answer all of those with a “Yes.” Bethany’s dad didn’t ask the Lord to make it all easy for us, he just asked God for solutions and God provided. And that’s why I can’t complain!

At the end of the day I can praise the God of the universe for His kindness to us. We don’t deserve any of it. That’s just it…it’s all grace.

January 14, 2015
The Big Trip Home

Looking out the window of our airplane I see clouds, snow, and the orange glow of the sunset on the wing. According to the flight map on the screen in front of me we’re somewhere over Canada. That explains the snow, I guess.

The morning was a little rough for me. Not only was I in a lot of physical pain from my tooth, but we also had to say goodbye to family which is never easy. It’s been a wonderful three weeks in the States and as Bethany’s dad said on the drive to the airport, “We’ve made a lot of wonderful memories.”

We packed a lot of stuff. When we finally arrive in Prague, I’m not exactly sure how I’m going to get all of it from the bus to the train, and I’m hoping that God will provide some help for us. As it was, it barely fit in the car to get it to the airport! Lord willing, I will be reporting in the next blog that it all worked. If it doesn’t it’ll definitely make for good blog material. This may sound strange, but I’ve genuinely ha the hope that that airline loses our luggage just so I don’t have to lug it around Prague.

There’s about seven hours left in this leg of our flight, and when we arrive in Paris we’ll be making a quick connection to get us on to Czech. It’ll be morning there, but it’ll feel like the middle of the night to our now adjusted, West Coast body clocks. I’m praying for grace as we make the connection from the Prague airport to four hour train ride home.

Here’s a few more photos from the trip thus far:

January 13, 2015
Unexpected Toothache

I’m sitting here in a good amount of pain so I’m going to keep this as short as I can.

When I was nine years old I got hit in the face with a baseball. At that time it broke three of my teeth, including one on the bottom which needed a root canal and then emergency surgery for an infection about a week later. That was 21 years ago. I have had zero problems with that tooth until Saturday night when it began to give me a lot of pain. I got into a dental clinic this morning only to find out that everything looks good, but I would need to see an endodontist (a dentist who only does root canals).

The earliest appointment I could get was at 4:30pm this evening and I didn’t see a doctor until about 5:30. After a thorough examination it was decided I would need another root canal on that tooth because it was badly infected. I left at around 6:30pm after all the work had been completed, and still in a lot of pain.

All of this would be alright for me, except we have to fly to Czech tomorrow. We have been packing almost all day, constantly weighing our suitcases to make sure we’re under 50lbs each. It’s already going to be a long, hard trip, and I’ll probably still be in pain and tired from the meds. Even as I type, I’m not sure we have everything packed. I got a couple photos today so here they are to finish off this post. Pray for us as we travel and for me during the trip.

January 13, 2015