It's All Grace

a journey with the Thomason family

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
Three Crockpots, Twister, and a Gospel Devotional

I joked with the family that it felt a little like Thanksgiving today. No, we didn’t eat turkey and to my knowledge there wasn’t a football game on, but there were three crockpots full to the brim with stew. Somewhere along the line, we (the collective family) decided to have a big meal for dinner. When the decision was made, the kitchen went into overtime peeling carrots and cutting potatoes. Someone had to run to another house to pick up extra crockpots and eventually everything was slow cooking throughout the afternoon.

While the crockpots worked over time, the kids found the game Twister and we did our best to have a family game. I joined a game already in progress and when I asked Titus if I could play he said, “Dad….it’s a kids game!” and abruptly me showed me the box cover adding, “See, it’s for kids!” (the cover had a picture of kids playing the game). I convinced them it would be awesome if I joined in and they obliged. The game lasted about 90 more seconds before Avery couldn’t reach across the board and Titus couldn’t figure which was left or right. Needless to say, I won!

Things are starting to heat up with the wedding approaching this Saturday. We picked up dry cleaning today and are working on getting Titus’ clothes hemmed to size. For Bethany’s family this will be wedding three of three and will marry off the last sibling, Bethany’s brother. The kids and I have been practicing our dance moves in the living room which mostly consists of flailing our arms and jumping up and down. By Saturday we’ll be ready to own that dance floor.

On a lot more serious note, we’ve been reading out loud from the book New Morning Mercies by Paul Tripp. The book is a daily devotional and it may be the best one I’ve ever read. I realize that throughout history there have been many such books, but I think Paul Tripp has a way of applying the gospel to all of life that is unlike any author I’ve read. We’re only a week in, but I have been blessed and challenged by the devotions and I can’t help but recommend the book to everyone. And as a bonus, the title of the book has caused me to have the hymn “Great is Thy Faithfulness” stuck in my head all day. I have been walking around singing “…morning by morning, new mercies I see!” and been contemplating that truth. Praise the Lord that His mercies are new every single day!

Such a helpful tool for preaching the gospel to yourself every day. Thank you, @pauldavidtripp, for this book

A photo posted by Shay Thomason (@shaycam) on Jan 1, 2015 at 10:01am PST

January 7, 2015
Good Times and Playing Outside

The weather in Yakima today was amazing. For the past week it has been below freezing and today it shot up to 60 degrees which meant Titus and I could play a little baseball outside! We played a little outside, but you can only last so long before your hands are frozen solid, so today was a nice change. Titus loves baseball and I always announce the game as if it’s a major league playoff which Titus thinks is hilarious (OK, I think it’s funny too).

As we approach our final week here, we did some final shopping today just to make sure we’ve covered everything we’ve been hunting for. We browsed through Costco today and while we were just hanging out the kids and I found some sweet leather chairs to sit on. I was pretending to lay in the chair when the kids jumped in and joined me, so Bethany got the above photo of us. Too bad you can’t fit leather chairs on airplanes…just kidding.

Titus got in on the leather chair action too. Here he is testing out another option.

If Costco wasn’t enough America to take in, we also enjoyed a little Asian-American cuisine and had Panda Express for lunch. The food was a little disappointing (maybe it’s our changing taste buds), but it’s one of those weird things you miss when you’re in Czech. Here’s a photo of Avery playing with one of Titus’ cars as we waited for our food.

Tonight I had the joy of spending a little FaceTime (video chat) with my friend Matt. I don’t know how long we chatted, but it was really special to be able to catch up and just talk about our new lives overseas. Matt and I used to meet regularly for coffee and I think often of those times and miss them. That is definitely one of those things you sacrifice when you move across the planet…close friendships. Matt and I will be friends for years, I’m sure, but it’s hard to be in a different time zone on the other side of the world. I’m thankful for the time we got tonight and hope for more in the future.

January 6, 2015
Blessed on a Sunday

Today we had the privilege to worship at one of our supporting churches, Harvest Community Church in Selah, Washington. It was a pretty special morning as we had time to share during the services, but more importantly, to hear from some of the people about how God has been working in their lives this past year. As a church they took some time today to have an open microphone where they could share and we heard incredible testimonies of God’s goodness. One testimony was from a lady who talked about how her brother who was born deaf was able to hear for the first time in his life at age 53 because of medical advances and a surgery he was able to get. Another was from a young man who talked about a friend of his who was contemplating suicide. By God’s grace, the friend called this young man and he was able to talk him out of it and he asked for prayer for his friend to come to Christ. That young man knows what his friend truly needs, a relationship with the One who can save his soul.

Along with the blessing of being at church, we had the chance to video chat with close friends of ours who live in California. Since we’re on the same time zone right now, it made connecting with them a lot easier. It was a sweet time just catching up and seeing each other’s kids. It meant so much just to spend time chatting about life, even though it was over video. I’m thankful for the friendships God has provided us and the technology to keep up with them, even if it’s from a distance.

I got the above photo tonight of Avery trying to get every last drop of her ice cream dessert out of her bowl. After she tried this for a few minutes she said to me, “Daddy, can you help me?” Somehow she wanted me to scrape more out of the bottom of the bowl for her. I did my best and she was happy. It was a cute moment.

We watched more home videos of Bethany and her family tonight and it was a lot of fun. Our kids love watching one in particular of Bethany when she was about 3 years old sledding in their front yard. I’m glad our kids get to see the footage of Bethany as a kid. But it’s also a reminder to me to make memories for our kids. As I watch Bethany’s family react and talk about what’s on the screen, I’m challenged to think about how I can lead my family and make sure we’re just enjoying life together. It’s so easy to get caught up in the work of ministry or even pursuing language learning that I can forget to take time for us to enjoy family and make memories. By God’s grace, we’ll make sweet memories together in the years ahead and one day we can look back and enjoy talking about them (or watching them!) together.

January 5, 2015