It's All Grace

a journey with the Thomason family

Thunder and Thankfulness

It rained today. Actually it was a really fun thunder and lighting storm. Us southern California kids aren’t used to thunder and lighting, but it’s definitely an exciting change. The rain also helped cool the temps down today which was a good break.

I spent most of the day at the JV offices which is about a 30 minute drive from where we live. I carpooled with a friend who also works out of that office. My team is working on a lot of fun projects that I’m hoping to share about at some point on the blog. Right now it’s just a lot of meetings and face time with other JV staff which is really fun for me.

Tonight Bethany made a really good meal and we enjoyed our first meal together as a family on our new dining table. We enjoyed a little family time tonight reading books and doing a large circle kids puzzle. Bethany got about 3 more moving boxes emptied today, mostly books that she’s put on our new bookshelves. After the kids went to bed we spent a lot of time working through our budget and making sure our accounts are in order. The past month has just been crazy. Looking at receipts and entering things into our budget software was just reminding how much we have done this month. God has been so faithful to us.

One of the best things about writing daily is it gives me a constant reminder of God’s goodness and leads me to thankfulness. I’ms sure that harder days will come, but right now I feel like the Lord is just simply letting us settle here without a lot of major interruption. For that I’m definitely thankful. I’m thankful for my hard working wife and our two little ones. I’m thankful to serve the Lord in this capacity. I’m thankful that God provides just what we need and even sometimes gives us a little more than that. I’m thankful for new friends and even old friends who took the time this week to call us from the States. I’m thankful that God has brought us here, taken us on an amazing journey, and continues to work in our lives.

July 22, 2014
Church and the Zoo

Another Sunday in Czech and another great day with God’s people. Our church here in Czech has long been partnering with an American church and Welsh church to put on an English camp near our town. Today those two churches (the American and Welsh churches) came to our church to share about this past week’s camp and what God had done. In the above video, the whole camp sang “10,000 Reasons” and our friends said it was the first time they had ever heard an English song in this church since they came here three years ago. What’s neat too is that Bethany said she had prayed this morning that they would sing a song she knew the melody too. Obviously, the Lord provided the melody and the language. Amazingly, they also sang “How Great Thou Art” in Czech later in the service!

Today our friends Casey and Kristin (along with their two boys) took us to the zoo in Ostrava! We had talked about it earlier in the week and we thought this Sunday would be a good time to go and it definitely was. Although it was a little hot outside, we had a great time. The funny thing about the zoo here is it’s a whole lot more than a zoo. It’s very kid friendly and there must be a dozen little parks as well as water play areas. The kids loved it! We probably spent 70% of our time playing and the other 30% looking at animals. The Ostrava zoo is very nice and the prices of food and drinks is super reasonable so we enjoyed a lunch together as well. It was a really fun day enjoying the weather, friends, and the amazing animals that God created. Here’s a bunch of photos from our day.

July 20, 2014
If You Build It…

Today was mostly a “building day.” By “building” I mean I built a lot of IKEA furniture. In fact, I did some work with the screwdriver that I have two blisters on the palm of my hand as souvenirs from today’s IKEA marathon.

IKEA furniture is great, especially in Europe. It’s pretty reasonably priced, they are designed for smaller spaces (like European housing), and for the most part they are easy to build. After a while you just get the hang of where to put the little wooden pegs and how things go together. Today I built 2 book cases and our dining room table. Here’s a few photos (please forgive the mess, we’re building for your future enjoyment):

While I was putting together furniture, Bethany was hard at work trying to clear a walking path in our bedroom. It looks great in there, but it’s not quite photo ready. Our kids have been doing pretty well playing in their room and enjoying their toys again. Titus liked “helping” me by poking holes in cardboard with a screwdriver. We’ve amassed large amounts of cardboard the past few weeks so I’ve been taking trips to the recycling bin down the street pretty often. Today I took two huge chunks down there and tried to get it as flat as possible. When the piles are in the house both Titus and Avery will play and jump on them.

Speaking of Titus, he took advantage of Avery’s nap to work on constructing a “snake” with his building blocks. Below is a photo of him. He was very proud of his creation.

Also, he must’ve gotten ahold of Bethany’s phone because we found this photo on it tonight.

The weather has been very warm of late. It’s been in the upper 80s, maybe low 90s, and it’s so humid you’re usually just dripping in sweat. They don’t have air conditioning really here, so we’re running fans and guzzling water just trying to stay hydrated and cool. That’s not always easy and I really felt it today. Bethany and I both found ourselves longing for winter which is really funny because the winters are long and cold here. I’m sure we’ll regret saying we want winter to come, but we’re just trying to adjust to this humid heat sans air conditioning.

We had a relaxing evening at our friend’s house tonight. They made chicken tortilla soup and it was really yummy. They have two young boys so our kids really enjoyed running around (literally) their house and yard. At one point they were running circles (again, literally) around the couch and then then the house. I’m really glad they have friends who they can play with already. That’s a joy and a blessing for sure. It was nice to work hard today and then rest this evening. I’m looking forward to our fourth Sunday at church tomorrow!

July 20, 2014
First Haircuts

Believe it or not, I was genuinely concerned about getting a haircut in Czech. I think it’s because for the past 6.5 years I could literally walk downstairs at Paul Mitchell where I worked and April would cut my hair. Nobody wants a bad haircut. If you get a bad haircut, you’re stuck. For at least 4 weeks, maybe 6 you have a “thing” sticking out of your hair some place or one side is just not right now or… who knows?! But today, my fears were washed away in a nice salon sink on the 2nd floor of the building with the ATM at the bottom. Actually, they were washed away twice and she used some nice L’oreal soap!

Titus and I both got great haircuts today! Zuska is awesome and even though she can’t speak any English and I can’t speak any Czech she understands me gesturing with my hands. For Titus, I showed her a photo Bethany gave me of some kid on Pinterest and she took very literal, to point that she busted out the hair dryer and was flipping Titus’ hair up in the front exactly like the photo. It was great. My favorite part was when I was getting my hair cut Titus had to go potty. So Zuska saw him doing the potty dance and took him to the bathroom, helped him with his pants, and he came back out with his shirt tucked in (which we never really do). Again, it was great. Zuska even brought Titus some books to read while daddy was getting a trim. It was fun day. Titus and I walked back to our apartment from the salon and showed mommy. She was happy, I was happy…it was great.

July 19, 2014
Trains, Tolls, and Trusting Jesus in the Noise

There a lot sounds where we live. Next door is a Catholic church with bells that ring literally every 15 minutes. On the hour, a quarter passed, a the half hour, a quarter till, and then on the hour again. They ring when there’s a call for mass and I’m pretty someone just rings them out sometimes for the fun of it. They ring all night with no breaks.

On our container day these very loud horns rang out from the fire station across the street from us. Come to find out those horns were actually going off because of four fallen Czech soldiers in Afghanistan, however, those same horns will go off every first Wednesday of the month as an emergency test. Something to look forward to, I guess. Forgive my sarcasm.

Trains pass often and they are only about 200 feet from our place, just next to the fire station across the street. In fact, we can smell the diesel as they pass. Sometimes they pass every 2 minutes, like right now as I’m writing. Most of them are passenger trains and are short, but loud. Sometimes longer trains pass. Often we’ll just shut the windows, but if you have them open Avery will say, “too loud!” Even Titus came into our room the other night and said, “I hear the train.”

For those of you who know the story of our condo in the States, you know that noise is something we have dealt with. I remember during sleepless nights just wondering if it would ever end. But I also remember a few conversations with Bethany where we specifically said, “The Lord may just be preparing us for Czech.” Everything we went through with the HOA for years–taking them to court, winning the case, the HOA appealing, and finally losing the case–it was something God was doing with us, or for us. He was preparing us for noise. The trains, the tolls of the bells, and the sounds we hear are just something we have to live with and God has prepared us for it.

You might think I’m complaining about noise, and that’s not it. I’m saying that I believe God was strategically doing things in our lives before we came here to prepare us for this. We love our new place. No doubt we’re adjusting to everything, but we’re making it our home. It’s coming together and Bethany is doing a great job getting curtains, decorating and making it home…our home. It’s fun watching it come together! And it’s fun to see God’s hand at work in our lives years ago to get us ready for this new life. Praise Him for His faithfulness to us and for always providing everything we need and taking care of us. As the hymn says, “Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus…” He is worthy to be trusted with our lives, even the noise in our lives.

Now for some photos (captions below each).

Here’s a shot of my desk in our new place. I’ve got this corner just about square away and it’ll be my little office at the house. That frame in the window says, “Never stop learning” and I can’t wait until I can hang it some place prominent as a daily reminder.

Here’s us at the bank today trying to open a Czech bank account. Looks like it’s going to happen after we fill out some paperwork and get some things cleared. It’ll be nice to easily pay our bills (and rent!) online.

More Czech lessons today! We’re working on simple stuff but even that can be challenging. I better finish this post so I can get to studying!

I guess Titus is tired of building IKEA furniture?

July 17, 2014