It's All Grace

a journey with the Thomason family

Driving East and Foreign Police

Today was our first full day in Czech. Last night we planned to stay in a hotel near the airport because of our late arrival time. It was a great hotel, but unfortunately we didn’t do a lot of sleeping there. As a family we stayed up until around 2am because of our jet lag, but that didn’t last long and we all woke up around 5:30am. Since we were up we decided to make it to the hotel breakfast which started at 6:30 and then we went outside to jump in the rain puddles.

Our good friend Kara (also a missionary in Czech) came to Prague and picked us up in a borrowed van. We packed that thing to the ceiling with all of our stuff and started heading eastward toward Český Těšín (pronounced Chesky Tesheen) where we’ll be living. We had to make it to the “Foreign Police” by 5pm in order to register ourselves in the country so we can begin our visa application process. Honestly, I was really tired while we were there, so thankfully Kara helped us and spoke Czech to the officer and got our paperwork squared away. I believe we have everything in place to get our application for visas rolling.

Finally, around 5:30pm we made it to where we’ll be staying for a few weeks. Another missionary (her name is Rachael) is graciously loaning us her flat in Český Těšín while she is away because are waiting for our container to arrive in the country in the next few weeks. We have great accommodations here and it’s fun to see the little town that will also be our home. Bethany and Kara went to the grocery store tonight to get some food for us and the brought home some kind of flat bread gyro sandwich thing that was really yummy for dinner.

No we’re super tired…I mean, really tired. Bethany is laying on the couch and we’re hoping to put the kids down for bed and see how long they and we will sleep tonight. Thank you for your continued prayers for us during this first week of transition. It was a really great day to catch up with Kara and just enjoy the Czech countryside while we drove. Please pray for the coming days as we will be more on our own and continue to explore this new place.

June 25, 2014
This Is The First

We’re here. It’s ten minutes to 1 AM local time here in Czech Republic, our plane landed around 10:30pm and…we’re here. We have spent the last 16 hours traveling from Los Angeles, dragged about 12 pieces of luggage from the Prague airport to the hotel across the street…we’re here. We just had a literal midnight snack, and the kids are awake watching a movie on Bethany’s laptop, but we’re here.

Maybe it’s the jet lag, but in many ways it doesn’t feel real. I know I am sitting here many miles from all I’ve known as home, but we’re here. God has moved and used many incredible Christians to come alongside us to pray for us and to financially support us and now everything we’ve been praying for begins. I know every day won’t be like the first day, but there many new things to experience and to engage in. There are still a lot of “firsts” left to experience–that’s why I plan to write it all down.

This is the first. This is the first of what I hope to be an ongoing journal of what transitioning life to a new country and culture looks like. Lord willing, it will be daily. My hope is that for a year I can maintain some thought, long or short, from our days in Czech Republic. I hope it will be a testament to the Lord’s grace in our lives, what He is doing, how He is working, and just how our lives are being transformed into the likeness of Christ.

So to start things off I want to simply show you a few photos from today. Here’s how our first day traveling to Czech played out, in just a few photos (captions below each):

Here we are on our way to LAX. Our friend John was kind enough to drive. Thanks John!

Here we are outside of the international terminal at LAX. I truly rejoice that both of my kids are looking and attempting to smile for this!

Titus stared at a huge digital wall of awesomeness.

We flew to London!

And this plane flew us to Czech!

These kids slept a lot…thank you for praying!

Every single bag arrived. I accidentally carried the wrong car seat from the airplane all the way to baggage claim, but I was happy to hand it off to another young family. Unfortunately for them, two of their bags were still missing…

Finally a photo of the Prague (Praha) airport from our hotel. Ok, now time for bed!

June 24, 2014
5th Annual Christmas Tree Video

For the past five years now our family has made a little video of us buying and decorating our Christmas tree. It’s been a fun tradition and one that brings lots of fun and new memories. Come join in a little of the fun we had this year by watching our video below.

We hope your own Christmas is a joy and blessing to you and your family. Merry Christmas!

P.S. Looking for the other Christmas tree videos? You can view them all by clicking here.

December 21, 2013
Clouds And Windmills And Liquid Nitrogen! Oh, My!

We’re visiting family and spending the Christmas holiday in Washington. The drive up here from Southern California takes about two days and the last few hours of the trip is really fun when you get to cross the huge Columbia river. Bethany realized we would be crossing the river right around sunset and had already prepared me to grab my camera (which I keep under the center console in the front of our van just in case anything exciting happens). She figured it would be beautiful that time of day and it was. As we got closer and closer to the river we started to see low hanging fog sitting on the river and I began snapping away from the car. After crossing it we pulled over so I could get a few shots of the sun and clouds hitting the water. That’s what you see below.

Where we cross the Columbia river you have to make a turn and head up a little hill before you’re back on the main highway, but right as we hit the stop sign for our turn we realized there were police directing traffic. That’s when we came up on a semi-truck that had tipped over. I guess it couldn’t make the turn or hit it too sharply and then fell over. From what we could see it looked like the driver made it out safely, but his load didn’t. As we came around the back of the truck we saw liquid nitrogen spilling out on to the road and down the side of a hill. It’s probably the craziest thing I’ve ever seen. Feels like a once in a lifetime kind of thing, so I had to pull over and get some photos. Below are a few shots we got, along with captions below the photos.

This is what we drove up to. You can see the truck wheels and the guys just watching the liquid nitrogen spewing out the back of the truck.

As we drove up the hill, I pulled over and got this shot of nitrogen going down the hill.

I zoomed out a bit and now you can see the spill in the foreground and the Columbia river with low hanging fog in the background. Pretty wild!

After getting back on the road we were right up on the windmills so I had to get a classic shot of those guys.

Ok, that’s all. Weird stuff!

December 19, 2013
Avery Is 2

Today is Avery’s 2nd birthday.

We have been in Kentucky spending time with my (Shay’s) family and we knew we would be celebrating Avery’s birthday while we were out here. Though we weren’t able to invite a bunch of friends and family, we had fun today unwrapping a few gifts and taking Avery to Chick-Fil-A for some chicken and a peppermint shake (OK, maybe the shake was more for Bethany and I but it’s a good excuse). Bethany baked some cupcakes which we’ll enjoy later, and hopefully tonight we plan on going to see a Christmas tree lighting in Louisville or a nearby town. And you know I wouldn’t leave you without a few photos so here’s some of Avery opening presents.

November 29, 2013