It's All Grace

a journey with the Thomason family

Foggy Day and Bethany Gone at a Retreat

“I can’t go to school; it’s so foggy.” These were the first words I heard this morning as Titus woke Bethany and I up. I looked out the window and he was half right, it was really foggy, but that wasn’t going to keep him from going to school.

The fog had lifted a little by the time we walked to his school (photo above), but for the most part the day stayed foggy. I try to check the forecast on a regular basis to see what’s upcoming but I never saw fog in the forecast. Honestly though, we can’t complain. Lately we’ve been hearing from family in the States that it’s warmer here than most of the U.S. Last night I saw a map of America that showed the majority of it in blue (e.g. cold), with a lot of states showing highs in the 20s and 30s. This is like 15 degrees cooler than us so we’re very surprised. We’ve been hunkering down and expecting severe weather, but so far it’s mid November and I don’t even think it’s been below freezing the entire month.

No matter what the weather, Avery’s looking fashionable.

This evening Bethany left with our friend Rachael and headed in to Poland for a youth women’s retreat with the girls from our church. She was originally asked to speak, but with all of us being sick (yes, Avery and me are still hacking) she opted out this time around. Even though she’s not sharing, she was excited to be a part of it and hopefully grow some relationships with the young women in the youth ministry. I sincerely hope it goes well and that God uses that time to grow relationships and build a strong community among the young women.

With Bethany out this does present me with twenty four hours of Titus, Avery, and Daddy time. Tonight that meant taking the kids to McDonald’s for dinner. Is McDonald’s twenty minutes away by car? Yes. Would it have been possible for me to make dinner for them at home? Maybe. Did I want to kill time and make it easy on myself? Absolutely. But hey, you have to at least give me a little credit. We did bath time when we got home, jammies were put on, and Bible reading time went off without a hitch. Not a bad night! Now my only concern is if McDonald’s here is open for breakfast?

November 14, 2014
A Love Story

One of the great joys of working with Josiah Venture is being part of seeing lives changed, especially among the youth of Central and Eastern Europe. The above video was created for our annual conference back in September and it’s one that has always stuck out to me from the first time I saw it. This girl is from Slovenia, a spiritually dark country, and her short testimony is one that’s full of life and joy. I find myself often quoting this video because there’s a line where she says, “I love love stories” that has always stuck out to me. More than anything it’s the heart of a teenage girl putting the pieces together in her mind of God’s love for her. She sees it as a love story and that’s exactly what it is.

I just reading about love last night in John 17. At the end of Jesus’ high priestly prayer he talks about it. Here’s that last part of the chapter and Jesus’ prayer,

I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.

I’ve bolded the word “love” for emphasis. Verse 23 is so clear: God the Father loves Christians the way He loves Christ. I say Christians because it’s clear from verse 20 that this is about “those who will believe in me…” That’s the context and those are the people of whom Jesus is praying. One of the most famous passages in the Bible says the same thing. John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” There’s no doubt about it–it’s a love story.

Mostly tonight I’m just thankful to be part of that love story. Not only did God show His love toward me by saving me, but He continues to pour out his love of many all over the world. Like the young girl from Slovenia, Christ continues to transform lives and change hearts in a way only He can do. It’s that great love that compels me forward daily and gives hope for the future.

November 13, 2014
Restarting Formal Language Lessons

We’ve been trying for quite some time now to secure a new language teacher that could help give us formal Czech training. This has been a little bit of a challenge because it seems like there just aren’t that many Czech instructors near us. You can find a lot of people who teach English, but not that many for Czech. Today, however, we were back in the saddle and reengaging in formal instruction with our new teacher Tamara. She teaches Titus’ Sunday school class at church and teaches Czech to at least two other missionaries. It was a great time today and our two hours together was a blessing for sure. We worked a little bit on some of the basics, some Czech rules, and really focused a lot on our pronunciation. Even though we’re doing more listening than speaking, it’s good to know how something is supposed to be pronounced. Bethany and I are trying to avoid building bad habits in order to make our Czech sound better. Hopefully it will all pay off in the end! Above is a photo of Bethany (left) and Tamara (right) working through one of the lessons and below are just some cards for distinguishing between certain letters and sounds.

We took Avery with us today to lessons since Titus was in school. Here’s a photo (below) of her playing a little table at Tamara’s house. Tamara is also a music teacher so you’ll notice the instruments along the back wall, including the piano clock/bookshelf that she and her husband made! Pretty cool.

We found a box of mini spring rolls at the store today so we went for a pretty Asian dinner tonight. Bethany made rice with chicken and terryaki sauce and we added in the little spring rolls to complete the meal. More and more we’re excited about being able to make things from scratch and just see how it turns out. That being said, I still had to manually type all of the directions for baking the spring rolls in to Google translate to see how long and hot how we were supposed to cook them. How did missionaries survive before Google!?

After dinner Avery rode Titus around the living room like a horse. I got a photo because we were all laughing.

Finally, right before bed the kids decided to do a little coloring. Our refrigerator is packed with these drawings, but hey…they’re only this young for so long.

November 12, 2014
Duck, Duck, Goose (St. Martin’s Day)

Today is St. Martin’s Day in the Czech Republic. Mostly it’s a European holiday, and in Czech it’s celebrated with a goose or duck meal. I was with some teammates today at a restaurant and everything was duck. I even had what I’ll call duck noodle soup. This particular restaurant even offered a family size goose meal if you ordered in advance. You could say today’s specials were duck, duck, or goose (sorry, I couldn’t resist). Today is also the Czech name day for “Martin.” Every day of the year has a name associated with it in Czech and today is Martin. I can only assume that’s on purpose. Below is a photo of the chalk board sign they had at up at the restaurant today.

As I did a little online research on St. Martin’s Day, I found a few interesting things. One thing actually helped explain something from the other night that I didn’t understand. Remember when we were at Titus’ preschool and we walked around town with lanterns? Well, in most Western European countries, they have been doing this for many years in the days leading up to St. Martin’s Day. According to Wikipedia, in Germany “children walk in processions carrying lanterns, which they made in school, and sing Martin songs. Usually, the walk starts at a church and goes to a public square.” This is almost exactly what Titus did the other night which really helps explain at least the origin of the tradition for me.

The second interesting thing I read was that in Czech, St. Martin’s Day signifies the first half of November when it usually starts to snow. Today that couldn’t be further from the truth. Even as I type at 9:00pm, it’s only 55 degrees out and just a few hours ago I was playing tennis outside in the driveway with the kids at it was 60. There was a lady working in our entry way (she works for our landlord who lives upstairs) and she said to me, “teplo noc” which means “warm night.” I said, “Ano! Moc templo” which means “Yes! Very warm.” Now, you might think 60 degrees isn’t that warm for some parts of the world but for here it’s very nice. When you only have to wear a sweatshirt and not a snow jacket outside, you know it’s nice. I’ll take a teplo noc any day in November.

I was really encouraged today by some Czech language CDs that a teammate gave to my team. I started listening to them in the car today and in an hour’s worth of time (round trip to the JV office and back) I learned a bunch of new phrases. It helps that we’ve been engaged in language already, but I was able to talk a little tonight with our landlord. It’s amazing how even just being to say, “I understand” or “I don’t understand” can keep a conversation going. My landlord and I talked about a light being broken in the garage and what I got out of the conversation is that she wants me to email her. As always, I’ll take the win with that one!

November 11, 2014
There’s Lice at Titus’ Preschool

I just scratched my head. Does it itch? I really don’t think so, but now I’m paranoid because apparently there’s lice at Titus’ preschool.

Lice is not something that brings any kind of joy. Just the thought of tiny little bugs running around your head is horrible. I’m sure everyone has their own lice horror story. I remember there was a big lice scare at my public school when I was in kindergarten or first grade and just to be safe my mom shaved my head. My older sisters (twins) got it worse. My mom had to comb through their hair for what seemed like an eternity with some special comb and I don’t recall them enjoying it very much. As a reminder to myself about lice, I just spent a few minutes Googling it and it’s so creepy I couldn’t stare at it anymore. Lice just isn’t nice.

Bethany texted me about it this afternoon after she picked up Titus from school. She said she ran in to our friend who’s son is in Titus’ class and she told her there’s lice there. In fact, she said it happens every spring and autumn. The Czechs use Tea Tree oil as a remedy, but who really knows if that works? Just to be safe Bethany put some on Titus head today and did a comb through. At this point, we haven’t found anything or seen any signs of lice on our kids, but I really hope this doesn’t become a preschool epidemic. I guess head checks will be added to the daily routine now.

In happier news, we got some mail today from the States which is always fun! Our friends sent us a little baby announcement, stickers, and some drawings from their kids to our kids. It was really kind of them and we’re thankful for that little envelope of fun (shown above).

Bethany is out tonight at a women’s Bible study. It’s been a few weeks since she’s been able to attend because we’ve all been sick for so long. Avery cried a lot for her tonight when I put the kids to bed which tells me it’s been a while since mommy has been out at night. That’s okay, though. Mommies need a little time away sometimes.

November 10, 2014