It's All Grace

a journey with the Thomason family

Winter Wheels and Good Meals

Today was Czech Independence Day from when they became Czechoslovakia back in 1918. Like many American holidays, in observance of the holiday many stores and shops were closed. Our team in Czech follows the Czech calendar so our office here was closed as well. With the extra day I had hoped we would be able to get our new winter tires on the car before this Saturday because November 1 is the date you’re supposed to have winter weather tires. We bought them a few weeks ago, but I’ve had them sitting in the garage for a moment when I can go get them switched. Thankfully, I can see the tire place from our house and it’s a 30 second walk to get there. While looking out the window today to see if they were open I saw their gate was unlocked and cars were driving in. Score! Titus and I packed up the car and coasted down our street to get them changed.

Titus thought it was great fun. For him, changing tires is just like the movie Cars and a pit stop with Lightning McQueen and honestly the guys today were about as fast as little Guido is in Cars. In about 8 minutes they had our car in and out with the tires on and ready to go. The guys at the shop are really nice and the main guy spoke really good English which was so nice. I don’t expect it and when it happens it’s an extra blessing, especially with the technical stuff like tires and auto repairs. They told me we probably need a few new tires for spring time, but we’ll get those fixed at a later date. And in the end the total charge was like $11 for the work. All in all it was a great little errand and I’m thankful to have those guys so close and be so helpful.

For lunch we decided to do a little picnic outside on the grass. The weather was cooler for sure, but the sun was shining and it was actually very nice outside. We basically did leftovers from last night’s chicken and drop biscuits. Bethany brought a little blanket out and all four of us enjoyed lunch together. It was nice just to relax a bit and be still.

While we were eating lunch Avery started to collect these leaves with long stems and turned them into a bouquet of dead leaves. She was really proud of it.

Tonight we had dinner with our friends, the Stephens. They invited us out since it was a holiday and we were excited to join them for a big family meal. The food was incredible and we enjoyed these fully loaded, barbecue grilled quesadillas! When we walked into the door Brian was still prepping them on the counter to get them ready for the grill and I snapped a quick photo. Mmmmmmmm.

The Stephens have a daughter, twin boys, and another boy on the way in November. Our kids had a lot of fun just playing with their kids and later in the evening they enjoyed playing the Wii in the living room. Brian and Aliesha are a blessing to chat with and wealth of knowledge on helping us continue to maneuver the Czech culture and transition here. As well, they were our regular support and Skype friends for the past few years before we came over here and I don’t know what we would’ve done without their help. Thank you, Stephens family, for having us over again and for the wonderful evening and great food!

October 28, 2014
That Drunk in the Headlights Look

This week the Czech Republic is celebrating their Independence Day. I guess they have two, but this week’s celebration commemorates their first back in 1918 when they declared their independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Titus actually has the first three days of school off this week and the Josiah Venture office here will be closed tomorrow. That’s all well and good, but there’s only problem: all the drunk people.

I don’t know if it’s just the holiday, but I can’t imagine a regular Monday night being a big drinking night for most people. But going to the grocery store was an event tonight. When I pulled in to Tesco where I planned to shop tonight, I saw a guy walking towards the car of an older lady who was putting her groceries in. He was talking to her and she was not responding. I had the kids in the back seat and was just kind of keeping an eye on things as I parked the car. I watched as he kept talking with her and she continued to not respond and he stood behind her car and she tried to back out. Eventually he moved out of the way, but was talking the entire time and finally hit her hood as she was backing out. I don’ think he did any damage, but for me that was enough for me to head to another store. Listen, I’m sure I could take a drunk guy in a fight if I needed to but with two kids you think twice about pulling everyone out of the car with this guy hassling customers in the parking lot.

I drove over to Kaufland (another grocery store) which is just around the corner from Tesco. Things went pretty well for the most part, except the place was just absolutely packed with people. Maybe I don’t shop on Mondays enough, but my goodness, this place was hopping! I only had to grab a few things, and I had Titus and Avery in the cart. Titus wanted to sit where the young kids usually sit so I put Avery in the main part of the cart. As I was checking out the woman at the register was clearly upset at me and kept looking at Avery. “OK Shay… what is she saying to you?” I was thinking to my self. I tried to ignore it and just keep unloading the cart. I’m not trying to be mean, but I just don’t understand enough Czech at this point to figure it out. She said something to me again and I looked at Avery and realized, “Oh… she probably doesn’t want Avery in the cart!” I picked up Avery and put her down and the lady said, “Thank you” in Czech. Whew. Dodged a bullet on that one.

While driving away from Kaufland I noticed a heavier than normal police presence with cops walking around casually in the parking lot. I wonder what that’s all about? I kind of blew it off until I got a little down the road and almost hit a drunk guy walking directly in the middle or the road. That’s true. Turned the corner and….drunk guy, walking sideways with a plastic bag in his hand right in my lane. I slammed on the brakes, he had that drunk guy in headlights look, and maneuvered his way around our car without a scene. Whew. Dodged a drunk guy on that one. I didn’t put it all together, but as we pulled in to the driveway it all clicked: oh yeah, it’s a holiday week and maybe that has some connection with all the craziness I have seen tonight. Honestly, I have no clue if that’s true, but that’s my explanation in this moment and the best I can do!

In all seriousness though, I think it’s all really sad and I genuinely felt compassion for both of the men I saw tonight, especially the second man who just looked really messed up. Both of them are made in the image of God. Both of them are in desperate need of a lot more than alcohol, that is, they need a relationship with Christ. That is not something I take lightly and as I write tonight my heart is heavy for Czech Republic. There are still so many that have never heard the Good News and I pray they will get to hear it and respond in faith before it’s too late.

October 27, 2014
Time Is (Sort Of) On Our Side

Every year, twice a year, my dad calls me around the day we adjust our clocks forward and backward. We always have a good laugh because I think we’re both a little unsure how this little tradition of him calling me about it started but it’s fun nonetheless. Sadly, I didn’t get that call toady because my dad, I’m sure, is unaware that Europe changes their clocks at a different date on the calendar. Today was that day here in Czech and we “fell back” one hour, giving us a little extra time in bed today. The whole day felt a little weird, almost like an extra long day. America will join the time change fun in a week so we’re actually an hour closer to the States this week which is great for talking to family. So maybe I can expect an earlier phone call from my dad next weekend? C’mon dad, we’ve got time on our side!

This morning at church I stayed in Titus’ room with him again just to make sure he’s adjusting and also to watch his progress. It wasn’t my plan to stay but I really was curious. The language barrier is definitely tough and I think it’s really easy for him to get distracted and I had to really push him to stay with the rest of the class. In the photos above and below, the kids are drawing pictures and I honestly don’t know what exactly they were supposed to draw. All I know is that the other kids drew one person while Titus drew at least six. He told me, “I drew everyone!” He needed help with the ears but he was pretty proud of his rodina (aka: “family” in Czech).

We went to the store after church to get a few groceries and I was a little disappointed that I missed a good language use opportunity. While checking out, the lady said to me “Kolik?” I know the word, I’ve studied the word, but the only thing I could think of in that quick moment was something about time. Is she asking me what time it is? Time just wasn’t on my side, even though it was on my mind, and I stared at her in confusion. Then she started counting my croissants. My brain made switch and I said out loud, “Sedm…eh…Shest!” Which is, “Seven…eh…Six!” I was happy that I figured it out, but a little bummed I couldn’t nail it right away. Such is the life of a foreigner just trying to buy a few croissants. Hey, they’re cheaper than time. See what I did there?

October 26, 2014
Playing Outside and Making Apple Pie

The gray skies lifted today and the sun was shining so we went to the park for a few hours this morning/afternoon. It wasn’t only the sun that brought us outside, but I had told our friend Rachael that I would snap a few photos of her so she can send an updated photo to her ministry partners (one photo is below). For at least the last three weeks, I’ve been taking photos for friends so they all can can update their prayer cards and email newsletters. What’s funny is it’s almost identical to what I was doing in the States with family photos right around this time of year. Everyone is sending out family photos for the holidays and I usually would schedule shoots during October/November so it kind of feels like that only in a different part of the world.

Photos didn’t take long today so we just hung out at the park and played with the kids and talked to Rachael. It’s been a pretty full week of ministry things at JV so spending some time focused and outside the kids was really nice. Here’s a little video of us playing on the slide and some more photos I took since I had my camera gear with me.

When we were about to leave I notice Titus’ rain boots (which he uses almost daily right now) have a hole in them. This is bummer because it’s the only pair he has. We may have to go see if we can find another pair tomorrow because they’re important for him to have at school.

After the park we invited Rachael over to enjoy some Swedish pancakes for a late brunch. You would think that a late brunch would actually just be lunch, but things are just different in Europe. OK, I’m kidding about Europe, but I digress. Rachael was an extra blessing today in helping us pick up the house a bit. Bethany was working on the food and Rachael helped unload the dishes while I vacuumed. I had really hope we would get some time to clean today and so that was really nice to have some extra hands to help! Thanks Rachael!

We continue to struggle with sickness as a family. I have a been coughing pretty hard this past week and today was feeling really tired. I laid down with Titus and we took a pretty long nap today which is just rare anymore for me. I’m hoping this sickness doesn’t last too long.

Tonight we made apple pie! I bought a big thing of apples a few days ago and we finally had time today to have a good ol’ American class apple pie. It was a family effort and we served it up with a little vanilla ice cream. It was delicious if I do say so my self and here’s a few photos and a video to end our blog tonight.

Making apple pie tonight. Yum!

A video posted by Shay Thomason (@shaycam) on Oct 10, 2014 at 8:43am PDT

October 25, 2014
Casing the Grocery Store at 3 Degrees Celsius

Today marks four months of us in Czech. It’s been a wild ride and our lives have dramatically changed in a short amount of time. For instance, I went again tonight to do the shopping at the grocery store. I’m getting pretty good at finding my way around the store and I’m making less phone calls back home to Bethany asking, “What, what does sour cream look like again.” Don’t get me wrong, I still made a few calls tonight, but they are decreasing in number. The one thing that isn’t getting better is remembering to grab a 5 cent or higher coin to get a grocery cart. In order to get a cart you need a coin to release the chain that holds them all together. Usually we keep a coin in the car, but lately I haven’t had one and because of that I’m pretty it looks like I’m casing the joint.

Picture this: a huge tall guy (me) is walking around like a crazy man with his empty shopping bags hoping to find a cart that might not be chained up. So I’m in the parking lot shaking carts to see if one will come loose and repeat the same process inside. Desperation sets in when no cart comes free, so I go to the ATM, pull out cash, go and buy gummy bears, do a self check out, walk back to the car with my purchase, return to the store, get a cart and begin my shopping for a second time. All this while wearing a huge black jacket because it’s freezing outside.

While shopping I found a HUGE jar of Nutella with Santa on it. I didn’t buy it, but I took a photo because I couldn’t believe the size.

Speaking of freezing, it was 3 degrees outside…celsius. I checked the temperature from early this morning and all through out the day and it never changed. On the way to school this morning with Titus (shown below) it was cold and windy. While walking with Titus, he said, “Daddy, it’s too cold. I don’t like it when it’s cold.” He said that while wearing long johns under his clothes, snow gloves, a thick coat, and a warm hat. The walk is not far, but we were cold when we got to the school. I don’t waste too much breath talking about the weather, but the change is definitely dramatic but we’re thankful for big, warm jackets!

Before putting the kids down to bed tonight, Bethany told Titus, “Daddy wants to have a relaxing day tomorrow (Saturday).” Then he put his hands behind his head and said, “I love relaxing” which she took a photo of. There’s a few things on the agenda tomorrow but it’s been a busy week and I am truly hoping for some rest. Only time will tell.

October 24, 2014