It's All Grace

a journey with the Thomason family

Church, Snow, and Goodbyes

With the busy day yesterday it was hard to wake up this morning to get ready for church. But we were scheduled to share at West Side Church (one of our supporting churches) during both services, so I hit snooze a few times and finally pulled myself out of bed. We had also planned to say a quick goodbye to our friends Blaine and Kelsey from California who had flown in for the wedding. They were at the house around 7:45am and that’s when they told us it had started to snow. We spent a few minutes hanging out with them and said our goodbyes. It’ll most likely be at least another year and a half before we see them again.

The snow didn’t last long (it was too warm to stick), but it was coming down pretty good this morning. By the time we got to church it had subsided. During the second service I took the kids out to get them a snack and it starting snowing again. We walked outside and they were getting really excited so I took a little video (below).

We had another large meal for lunch today with Bethany’s family and the Harpels. It was kind of a time to say goodbye because Bethany’s sister is headed back today towards Seattle and we won’t see them again. There were a couple good football playoff games on so we all enjoyed watching those and even took some photos of Bonnie (Bethany’s sister) and of all our kids. Bonnie is due with their second child in a few weeks so her mother-in-law was hoping for a few shots of her baby bump. I think we got some nice ones of her, but the kids were a much bigger challenge. After a few tries, the moms ended up joining the kids for the photo since we couldn’t get everyone to behave. In the end we got something that will work (I can’t show the photo on the blog because the family hasn’t seen it…sorry!).

For some reason, last night I woke up in the middle of the night with a really bad toothache. Unfortunately, it’s a tooth that was actually damaged when I was a little kid (hit in the face with a baseball), but I haven’t had any issues with it for many years now. Tomorrow we’re going to try and have it checked out at a local dentist in Yakima and hopefully get it resolved, but it’s been painful most of the day and not something I’m excited about dealing with the day before we leave. Lord willing, we can resolve and hopefully it won’t be a huge problem. Please pray for me if you think of it.

There’s other things that happened tonight, but nothing I really feel like writing about tonight. It’s going to be a busy day packing tomorrow and dental work, so I’ll just end this one here. But at dinner tonight I added a little bonus to the chalk walk at the restaurant. Maybe it’s just shameless self promotion (see below)?

January 11, 2015
Wedding Day And My First Time As A Flower Girl

Today was wedding day, the reason we flew to the States. Bethany’s brother Adam married his best friend, Taylor, and we had a blast celebrating with them.

Both Titus and Avery were part of the ceremony as ring bearer and flower girl respectively, so we were there early to take photos. Avery normally takes a nap around the time we arrived, so we were a little nervous about how she would do. Overall she and Titus did great during photos and were both in good spirits. Here’s a few photos from around that time (captions beneath each).

Bethany holding Avery while we waited for our time to do photos.

Titus with his uncle Adam (the groom).

Avery and Bethany looking beautiful.

Little Avery showing off her dress.

Titus laughing and watching the the bridal part out the window. When we arrived they were still doing photos outside, so we stayed in where it was warm and enjoyed the view out the windows.

While the bridal party came inside, uncle Adam (the groom) picked up little cousin Jude and Avery and Bethany said hi to him and the bride.

After photos were finished, there was a little down time before guests started arriving. Avery kept asking me for her basket of flower petals. When I found it, I figured this would be a good time to practice before “the big show” so we did just that. She did really great and I was excited about her attitude. Here’s a few photos of her practicing (in the second photo you can see that she’s only taking one petal at a time. Eventually she started taking handfuls).

When it was time for the wedding to start, I was given the job of organizing the family and bridal party and sending them down the aisle (as well as helping my own kids go down the aisle). We started the ceremony on time and everything was moving smoothly. Titus and his cousin Jude walked down together beautiful and now it was time for Avery. But then… all the heads turned. Avery took one look down that aisle and wouldn’t budge. Despite my prodding, she wasn’t moving. I tried to tell, “Do you see mommy? Walk to mommy.” That’s when she sat down. With all eyes on her and I, I made the quick decision to pick her up and carry her down the aisle. The place broke into laughter and clapping and that’s a new first for me and for Avery!

Other than that minor hiccup, the wedding went great. I really enjoyed the intimate feel of the entire event, and for me it was really neat to be just a participant and not doing the photography. I had my camera, of course, and I loved this moment (above) of Adam and his mom during their dance. But throughout the night Titus kept asking me, “Daddy, can we dance now?” We had told him there would be dancing and that’s all he could talk about. Eventually the dance floor did open up and Titus stayed until closing time. Other than a moment where he stopped for a water break, he spent the night jumping and dancing with his second cousin, Savannah. Here’s a little video I got.

When we got into the car tonight, Titus said, “That was fun, fun, fun!” I agree. It was a lot of fun and I’m so glad that we were able to celebrate with Adam and Taylor on their special day. It has been equally as special to be here with family and enjoy the time together!

January 10, 2015
A Wedding Rehearsal

I must have been caught up in the moment, but I didn’t take any photos of the wedding rehearsal tonight. On the bright side, I did become the wedding line coordinator (at least I think that’s what I call it?). It’s the person who guides the people walking down the aisle. I guess all of those years of doing wedding photography comes in handy when you need someone to tell people when to walk slowly in a straight line.

I may have forgotten the photos, but that shouldn’t spoil this blog. On the really bright side, we had the blessing of seeing our friends Blaine and Kelsey from our church in California. We had a fun time catching up with them and eating dinner together and it was just really fun to see our friends, even up here in Washington. As a bonus, tomorrow at around 4pm we’ll be related. You see, Blaine’s sister is marrying Bethany’s brother. Don’t you just love when that happens?! AND… yes, there’s more… They came tonight bearing gifts. They literally brought an extra suitcase full of stuff for us to take back to Czech from our Bible study in California. It was packed with the essentials: chocolate chips, yellow mustard, baby clothes, and even little twisty plastic straws for the kids. Thank you, friends!

The rehearsal and dinner went really well. I think everyone knows where to stand and I appreciated the officiating pastor who kept reminding us that “this isn’t a performance, it’s a celebration.” So often weddings become more of a performance where it all has to be perfect and we lose site of the celebration. Dinner was delicious and we had a great time of sharing about Adam and Taylor (the happy couple). There were some tears shed as people shared, but of course it was all in genuine care and love. It was a great start to the weekend and I look forward to a wonderful wedding tomorrow. I’m especially excited about seeing Avery as a little flower girl and Titus as a ring bearer. I’ll be coaching them down the aisle, so we’ll just see how it goes!

January 10, 2015
Camping in the Living Room

While I was on the phone, Titus burst in to room and exclaimed “Dad, we’re going camping!” Confused, I shook my head at him and finished my phone conversation. A few minutes later I came into where Bethany was and said, “What’s going on?” Apparently Papa (grandpa) came inside telling everyone, “We’re all ready to camping!” What Papa didn’t know was that the little three and four year old ears would take him literally. Now, Papa wasn’t really saying we were about to camping but he was excited about his new trailer hitch for his tent trailer that he installed. After the kids calmed down from their own excitement, Papa came up with a plan to camp in the living room instead. So he set up a tent in the living room, threw some sleeping bags in there, and the kids were camping in no time.

Unrelated to camping, here’s a photo of the kids with their younger cousin, Jude, while playing on the iPad. The moment didn’t last long, but I thought it was fun to see them all so engage in what was happening.

Tonight we had dinner out and outside the restaurant were some art pieces, including this one of a saddle. The kids tried it on for size. I think the stirrups are a little low, but overall Titus was a good fit.

When we got back from dinner there was a large box waiting for us on the doorstep. It was our new stroller! We only have one chance of getting the stroller back to Czech, so we had to secure one while we were here. This one will be much better for the sidewalks in Czech and with the baby due in June we’re excited to get him or her out on the town! The kids were excited too and climbed in to it and test it out.

That’s all from me tonight. Tomorrow is the rehearsal dinner for Bethany’s brother’s wedding and we’re all getting excited about the festivities. Good night.

January 8, 2015
Making Little Memories

I don’t know what memories my kids will have when they are older. I think about that sometimes when I’m playing with them. Will they remember this moment? Like today, we were outside and I decided to have some fun with them and “go on a hunt for pinecones!” We were just in the backyard and there was a wheelbarrow and lots of tiny pinecones scattered on the ground. I told the kids, “Find as many pinecones as you can and we’ll put them in here!” So off we went. Will they look back on our time today and remember what we did?

Whether the memory sticks or not, we had fun. Pinecone hunting was a success and every time they found one on the ground I would get really excited which made the kids just want to find more. In the end we had enough to cover the bottom of the wheelbarrow.

Beyond the pinecones, we just played more outside today. You can see in the photos Avery wearing little “butterfly wings” (as she calls them). She was really attached to them (no pun intended) today and just wanted to wear them most of the afternoon. Here’s a few more photos of us playing.

Tonight we had dinner with friends who have spent about eight years overseas serving in Germany. It was fun to talk with them and swap stories about living in a different country and culture. The husband of the couple we were with is our main contact at one of our supporting churches so he keeps up with us on a regular basis over email. It was a fun and relaxing dinner that ended with a short time of prayer. What a joy to have such special people around us.

After dinner we brought the kids home, put them to to bed, and Bethany and I went out for dessert. We have the blessing of having grandparents who can stay at the house while the kids sleep and so we took advantage of that tonight and enjoyed a late night out. That time is so crucial and it was really nice to just talk and enjoy a little ice cream. We need more time like that!

January 7, 2015