It's All Grace

a journey with the Thomason family

Third Time’s The Charm

It’s 1:11am. Normally I would write this after dinner, but tonight we had some guests over to watch a little Dodgers baseball on the TV. Bethany got me an MLB.tv subscription when we moved over here because she knows how much I love the Dodgers. Basically, when they are playing a day game on the east coast we can watch it live at a reasonable time, so tonight we had Zach and Kara Zegan over which was a lot of fun.

Today we went on our 3rd trip to Bratislava, Slovakia to pick up the kids’ visas. Praise God, they are in and we’re all set with all four of our visas! This is such good news and even though we had a couple hiccups in the process we’re hopeful that by early next week we’ll be set with our 6-month visas. This will allow us to get 2-year visas at the beginning of 2015 and we won’t have to go back to Bratislava (Lord willing) for that process.

Of course we couldn’t go down to Bratislava without getting a few photos so enjoy…I’m off to bed.

August 15, 2014
It Was Nice To…

Czechs love to walk. Especially if it’s not raining (and somtimes if it is!) or if the sun is out or both. You can walk pretty much anywhere you need to in our town. The post office, the grocery store, the city hall, the bank–it’s all within a few minutes of where we live. Today I had to walk to the bank to finish up the crazy situation with our rent and finally was able to deposit the right amount for our landlord. I asked Titus if he wanted to go with me but he wasn’t up for it so I went alone. There were a lot of other people out just walking. It almost feels like downtown New York to me. That’s the only place I know of and been to where you just walk. It was nice to walk today.

I really enjoyed our Czech lesson today. I’m not sure if it was because I had just gone on a nice walk and my mind was more clear, but I felt like I was really making progress today. I would say the same for Bethany. Of course, I could use more discipline, but I think the work we’re putting in is paying off during our lessons. Below is a photo of Bethany working through a little exercise where we were given a photo of “our” family (it was actually a photo of someone else’s family) and we had to say what relationship we had to the person in the photo and say what their name is…all in Czech. It wasn’t easy but I really thought Bethany and I did pretty well (I better be careful not to overstate our progress because I know our teacher reads our blog!). For sure language learning is slow process, but I really enjoyed it today. It was nice to study a little Czech today.

On my errand to the bank they gave me some paperwork along with our new Czech debit cards that had come in. I wasn’t able to get Bethany’s because she has to sign for it so we decided to walk there after our Czech lesson. The second walk was better than the first. I think mainly because I didn’t feel rushed and we didn’t have a super set plan. It’s nice to just slow down and not have a set plan.

Once we finished up at the bank Bethany said we should go to the Christian book store which we hear may be one of the only ones in the entire country. It was just a block down the road from the bank and I’m glad we went. Bethany was able to pick up a little stack of postcards with Czech verses on them and the kids and I just kind of looked around at all the fun things they had. It was nice to just enjoy the bookstore.

We actually made two more stops before we went back home. The first was at the town square water fountain where the kids and I played while mommy went to get a few things at the “kosmetika” store. I chased Avery around with the stroller and Titus basically ran in a circle around the fountain for fifteen minutes. The second stop was to the little mini-mart grocery store where I decided to spend 77 cents to get the kids a little juice drink and where mommy was getting the last few ingredients she needed for tonight’s lasagna dinner. The whole trip from the bank to home was only about an hour of time, but I loved our little outing. It was nice to walk a second time today.

It was nice today. The weather was cooler and it didn’t rain. I got a few projects done for JV. We had a great Czech lesson. We had a fun time walking the city. Maybe I needed a nice day like today more than I knew. I do know that when I sat down to write this I was happy and smiling and as I finish I feel the same. It was nice to write about today.

August 13, 2014
The Tale of the Rent and the Babička

As I was walking in to the JV office this morning I get a text from Bethany, “Are you in your meeting yet?” I wasn’t. She texts again, “Can I call you?” “Yes,” I replied. Phone rings. I pick up.

Bethany: “So…we don’t know how much our rent is.”
Me: “Huh?”
Bethany: “[our landord] just came over and gave me a note written in English that we didn’t pay enough for rent.”
Me: “Oh man.”

And so continues the saga that began with me not paying the rent on time to thinking I had figured it out the second time, to me now not paying enough for rent. Honestly, I’m really trying here. I thought I had read the contract correctly and even after a review of the entire document by both Bethany and I we’re not seeing where the extra fees are coming from. But after having our Czech friend look it over she says we owe what our landlord is asking for which is totally fine, I just want to do right. It’s hard enough going to the bank to try and make a cash transfer to our landlord’s account, but having to do it again and again is just double difficult. Even today I tried to get to the bank on my way home only to find out they close earlier today and I missed it by 15 minutes. I can’t win…but I digress.

Babička (pronounced BAH-BEECH-KA) in Czech means “grandma” or “grandmother.” That’s what our landlord (who lives above us) wants our kids to call her. Even though we can’t communicate very well with her we know she’s really sweet. I actually take it as a big deal that she wants our kids to call her grandma because that means she likes them and whenever she sees them she calls their names and says hi.

Shortly after babička came over to talk about the rent issue, she came bearing a gift for our family. Sigh of relief…she must not be mad about the rent! The gift was a cake. In Bethany’s words it’s “some kind of walnut/nut cake with chocolate mouse and chocolate and vanilla icing.” It’s awesome. Czech desserts and pastries are amazing and this one lived up to the Czech standards. It was a really nice gift and genuinely made us feel like we’re not offending her. I guess I don’t know if that’s actually true or not, but we’re going to work under that assumption! Here’s a photo of the cake.

Today Bethany worked with Titus on his hand writing in a workbook we have for him. When I got home from work he said, “Daddy! Look!” and went on to tell me what he had done. It was really special to me. About drawing the letter “A” he said, “You do this line…then this line…then you pick your pencil up and make a bridge across.” He gets an “A” for awesome job.

I wish I could say that the rent thing was the only hangup we had today, but sadly other things continue to be problematic. While at the JV office today Martina (a Czech who works for JV) came in to where I was working and said, “Shay…I need to talk to you.” Basically, she wanted to know if the Czech embassy said anything to me about getting a special stamp on our visas within “3 working days” of getting our visas. Her concerned look to my reply of “No” was not reassuring. We’re already passed the 3 day mark on Bethany and my visas and we’re headed back to the embassy on Thursday to get the kid’s visas. Now I need to find out if there are any issues with our visas and if this going to be a problem. Pray for us.

Every day we’re making progress on our language learning and the more I work on my vocabulary the better for me it is to understand and hear things when I’m out and about. We have language lessons tomorrow and I still have homework to do. I better get on that before it gets too late!

August 12, 2014
One Box At A Time

Some people take life one day at a time, but we like to take it one box at a time. If you’ve ever moved, you know what I’m talking about. It’s like you keep unpacking and unpacking and the more you unpack the harder it gets to find places for everything. There’s actually a part of me that has sort of begun to ignore some of the boxes in our house, but seeing the stack of empty ones that Bethany had from today surprised me. Where are all of these coming from?! Bethany is on a roll right now just tearing through boxes and putting stuff away. I’m so thankful for her. She works so hard for us. I honestly don’t know where she is getting all of this energy.

The past few weeks have actually been very busy at the JV office as we prepare for an international training conference in late September. Over 300 people will come together for an annual conference that JV puts on for the country leaders and others (or least that’s my understanding at this point. I’ve never been to this conference). Needless to say there’s a lot going on with my team to prepare for their arrival and hopefully provide them all the resources they need so they can be equipped to serve Christ better in their countries. For instance, my team is helping build a Web site right now that will be a resource for leadership training material. It goes hand-in-hand with a book that we’re designing (written by JV staff) that will aid leaders to train other leaders. There’s a lot that goes into both projects but things are moving along which is a blessing. My hope and desire is that these will be a blessing to those who use them and more fruit in the Kingdom will come from it!

The other night when Jonny was visiting I was showing him some music that has been blessing me of late. One of the songs I showed him and one that I just can’t seem to stop listening to is “The Only Name (Yours Will Be)” by Benji and Jenna Cowart. I won’t try and explain the song now but recommend you take a listen. It’s a simple worship song and a good reminder about what really matters at the end of the day (or the end of your life!). I’ve placed the lyrics below the video. Enjoy.

The Only Name (Yours Will Be)

Yours will be the only Name that matters to me
The only One Whose favor I seek
The only Name that matters to me

Yours will be the friendship and affection I need
To feel my Father smiling on me
The only Name that matters to me

And Yours is the Name the Name that saved me
Mercy and grace the power that forgave me
And Your love is all I’ve ever needed

When I wake up in the land of glory
With the saints I will tell my story
There will be one Name that I proclaim

Jesus Jesus Jesus just that Name

This song can be found on their EP album “Letters To The Church At Buffalo.”

August 11, 2014
Making Progress on Sunday

We’ve already shared before that Sundays in church have been tough with the kids. The summer months are especially hard in Czech because our church (photo above) doesn’t have Sunday school for the kids so we’re taking them to the main two hour service. We do our best to have them draw in a coloring book or even (yes, I’ll admit) play a game or two on the iPhone so as not to distract the service. In that past weeks we have ended up outside at some point just because they weren’t staying quiet enough to not disrupt the service. Today, by God’s amazing grace, was the first week we didn’t go outside! Friends have already told us they are praying for this and we saw that prayer answered today. It wasn’t perfect and there were moment’s of frustration, but the kids stayed the entire two hours and we definitely praise God for this little victory. After church we let the kids play in the church yard for a little bit and the photo below is of Avery and Titus walking around with huge branches. Avery’s face kills me in this photo.

Since we had Jonny with us at church we treated him to a pizza lunch in our time. I ordered three pizzas thinking they were small but they ended up being much bigger than I thought. Providentially our friend Rachael happened to be walking home from church and saw us eating so we asked her to join us and help us eat some of our extra slices. What’s amazing is we were able to feed six people for $24 and that included water (which you have to pay for) and a Czech favorite, Kofola soda. Not a bad deal!

This afternoon I drove Jonny over to the train station in Ostrava where he was catching his train to Prague. He and three of his friends are headed to Norway for six days to enjoy some camping and European exploration. While I at the station I saw another JV missionary, Jonathan Rosen, and he asked if I wanted to grab a quick cup of coffee before heading back home. I agreed and off we went to a little coffee shop in downtown Ostrava. Jonathan was actually the intern leader at the very first camp Bethany and I served at in 2012 so it was fun to catch up with him and see how ministry was going. He introduced me to a great little coffee shop and hopefully I’ll get a chance to take Bethany there some time.

At church this morning we were invited by a young Czech couple to hang at a river side park around 4pm. Because of my coffee with Jonathan I made us a little late to the park and it was a new park to us (one we hadn’t been to before) and we just couldn’t find the couple when we arrived. I was bummed, especially since it was really my fault we didn’t make it there by 4pm. Bethany wrote them on Facebook to apologize and hopefully reschedule and we literally just got a message back a few minutes ago saying that we actually didn’t miss them, but that we just didn’t walk far enough on the path to another park along the river. There are a lot of different parks along the river path but we just didn’t need to head further down…bummer. They said they’ll most likely be back there next week to so hopefully we can catch up then. That couple is due with their first child in just three weeks and it would be really fun to get to know them and catch up with them before the busyness of having a baby.

The little trip to the park wasn’t all bad because the kids got a little time to play and swing at the park we did find. We didn’t stay long because we needed to hit the grocery store and make dinner at home so off we went to the local Tesco. Bethany made another great dinner and we immediately did bath time with the kids when we were finished eating. We’re trying hard to get back into a rhythm with bed times and routines and it’s so nice to have a more settled home to do that.

It’s been a great past few days and Bethany commented tonight how much fun it’s been having so many different people in our home of late. In fact, both of us our a little worried we might start getting lonely here come fall because there’s just no one left to come and stay with us! I guess that’s just another reason to dive in and get to know the many people here, Czechs and other missionaries, and continue to build relationships right where we are. That’s really one of the main reasons we’re here and Lord willing we’ll be able to do just that in the months and weeks to come.

August 10, 2014