Category: Czech Republic

Every post I wrote while we lived overseas.

Literally Stuck in Frozen Czech

Post author By Shay
Post date December 1, 2014
2 Comments on Literally Stuck in Frozen Czech

Update (11:35pm): Made it home after 6 hours stuck on the highway. The roads are frozen over and the driveway to our place is basically an ice rink. But it’s nice to be home!

As I write this, I’m sitting in my car in the middle of a freeway with the engine off. I’m about 6.5 miles from home with little hope of when traffic will resume. The hundreds of other motorists in the same predicament are all asking this question: will I get home tonight?

Today in Czech Republic, the weather turned from cold to freezing rain. As I was working out of the Josiah Venture office (about 30 minutes from home), I hadn’t paid much attention to the weather, and no one had informed me about what was going on outside. Then I got a text from my teammate Daniel who had left earlier saying he was stuck on a hill with a bunch of other cars. That was at 3:53pm and I was in a meeting and it really didn’t click for me that maybe something like that couldn’t happen to me too.

An hour later, Rachael came in to the office and said that someone in Cesky Tesin (our mutual town) informed her that the roads were getting bad. Rachael asked me if she could get a head start back to town in her car, and if something went wrong, asked if I could help her. Of course, I said sure and called Bethany to tell her about what was going on.

Not 15 minutes later, Rachael called me. The highway onramp was closed and she wanted to know if she could come back to the office and if I could help her. Of course, I said yes, and that’s basically where the story starts and basically ends. That was three hours ago.

When I got to my car it was literally frozen solid. There was ice covering the entire thing and icicles hanging from the sides. It took about ten minutes to warm it up and scrape off. By this time the onramp had reopened and Rachael didn’t trust herself in this ice so I decided she could ride with me. Off we went going slowly on the highway knowing that there was ice between our tires and the road.

Since I began typing, we still haven’t moved. It took us about an hour and half to go about 16 miles and that’s how long we have been sitting still. We saw people literally sliding on the icy sidewalks and multiple times we have stopped for 10-15 minutes each. Police have snaked their way through the traffic a couple times now, and the second batch had an ambulance following. I don’t know what’s going on ahead of us, but I assume people got hurt.

[long break from writing]

It’s 10:30pm. We’ve been stuck for over five hours and apparently the road is closed in both directions. We got a text from a Czech friend telling us they’ll be closed until at least midnight. I’m going to try and post this blog from the car via my phone and see what happens. I will either update it throughout the night or just try and post more about it tomorrow.

Here are some photos from the adventure (captions below each):

This was my frozen windshield as I got into my car around 5pm.

Here’s an ambulance squeezing through traffic.

This is the salt truck. It got so close to our car we could high five the driver.

More police clearing a space through the already tight traffic.

This is how all the trucks looked…icicles!

Not sure how this truck got snow on it? It was the only car we saw like this.

Tags car, freezing rain, rain, storm, weather

365 Czech Republic

I’m Sorry, I Don’t Speak Headlight

Post author By Shay
Post date November 30, 2014
No Comments on I’m Sorry, I Don’t Speak Headlight

We spent this morning at church in Titus and Avery’s class. We weren’t exactly sure why there wasn’t a class for Avery’s age today, but a lot of her class were combined with Titus’ class so we all ended up just staying together. They did a little activity (photo above) where they had to put gifts on their colored fabric. Tamara, today’s teacher, told us in English that they were supposed to give their gifts to another person in the class the same way God gave his gift to us, Jesus Christ. She followed that by saying, “But none of the kids want to do it.” I guess they’re all still learning how to give gifts.

Here’s a couple more photos from class today. The little gifts they chose from were wooden ornaments, plastic gold stars, and metal bells.

This afternoon I spent a good two hours trying to replace the driver’s side headlight on our car. Outside it was around 28 degrees, but my phone said “feels like 20” because there was a wind chill. I had purchased what I thought was the correct light bulb a few days ago and figured I would be able to quickly replace it. Our owner’s manual is all written in German, so it was no help, and I tried searching online and that didn’t help much either. After removing the entire headlight because I really couldn’t find another way to do it, I replaced the light, turned the lights on and…I had fixed the wrong one. Back to the store for another bulb and to try again.

Since I had already taken it apart once, getting to the light again was a cinch, but the lowbeam bulb was more challenging to replace. On our cars in the States, this process was always very simple and usually didn’t take a lot of time (and often I didn’t even need tools!). Today I had to remove about five different screws and the entire headlight. The cold was hurting my hands outside, so I brought everything inside where could let my fingers thaw out and try to see how to get the bulb replaced. It proved much more difficult than I thought and thankfully my dad head given me a metric star shaped screw driver which was a life saver today since I don’t have any of those kinds of tools. Finally, I got the lowbeam replaced and in, took it outside, and put it all back in place. Amazingly, it came right on and we have two working headlights again!

I really only share that story because it’s another example of what usually is simple is just harder here. Learning the stuff of life here is on the same level of difficulty as learning the language and apparently I don’t speak headlight. But with a little more work and some extra time I was able to get it fixed and get everything working again. Now maybe with a little more work and a little more time the lightbulb of the Czech language will turn on too!

Tags car, church, maintenance, Sunday

365 Czech Republic

Ice Skating in Poland on Avery’s Birthday

Post author By Shay
Post date November 29, 2014
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Never in my life would I have imagined spending Avery’s birthday ice skating in Poland, but that’s exactly what happened today. Our friends, the Millers, have a daughter with the same birthday (she’s a few years older) and they planned a big ice skating trip with a few other missionary families today. They invited us while we were at the JV Thanksgiving event and we were pumped to join them. The ice rink they chose is about a stone’s throw from our apartment, but it’s across the river in Poland. I think it actually takes longer to drive there than walk, but since it was in the 20’s outside we decided to take the car.

There were five families, including us, and we had a really fun time on our first ice skating adventure. The rink was very nice and really reasonably priced for skate rentals and time on the ice. I have done a lot of rollerblading, but I don’t believe I have ever actually been ice skating before. Bethany has gone, but it has been a really long time. Titus was excited, but Avery just wasn’t having it today and didn’t even want us to put skates on her. Later she warmed up to the idea (ha! “warmed up”…to ice) and let me carry her around the rink for a lap or two. Titus wanted to try a few times so I would hold his arms while his little legs and feet scrambled for stability beneath him.

Here’s a few photos with captions beneath each one to give more of the story.

We arrived a few minutes earlier than the other families so Titus and I were walking around the building just checking it out and found a big pile of snow. This is not snow that had fallen from the sky, but I guess they made it for some event or practice they were doing. Behind this pile was a large ramp thing where I assume they were skiing or snowboarding. But that didn’t matter to Titus; he was just excited about all this crazy white stuff.

Here’s Bethany and Avery as we were waiting to buy tickets and get our skates on. Avery had just gotten up from a nap so she wasn’t quite camera ready.

Here was the scene inside the locker room where everyone was getting their skates on. I was really impressed that the same electric key that got you into the room also unlocked your personal locker. Not bad for $11 which got all four of us an hour of rink time, a locker, and skate rentals.

I know ice skating rinks are cold, but I’m pretty sure it was colder inside than outside (and it as cold outside!). For a while we skated clockwise and then an announcer came on in Polish to tell us to turn around and go the other direction. Since we don’t speak Polish you just kind of follow the crowd. You’ll also notice the big sign that reads “Welcome to Cieszyn.” Cieszyn is the Polish name for the same town in Czech which is Český Těšín (where we live).

This a little video I took going around the rink one time.

I held Titus and Avery while skating around the rink a few times. I only fell one time and sadly I had Titus in my arms. Both our kids were well padded today, but when you’re dad is 6’4″ it’s a long way down. I saved Titus’ head from hitting the ice, but his bum hit hard and he cried. He settled down after a few minutes and we went around again. I tried hard to make sure he wasn’t completely freaked out about the ice after that considering that it was his first time. When we got home he said, “Ice skating was fun!” so I don’t think I did too much emotional damage.

After ice skating, the other families had plans to go back to where they were staying and invited us to have sundaes with them. It was just a little too far for us to go tonight and would’ve been another hour of driving, so we left and went to a local hamburger place in the Polish square.

While at dinner we were waiting for our food (at the table above) and Titus was drinking his apple juice we had gotten him. I was sitting across from him asking him to sit down when he reached for his juice and it slipped and began spilling on the his seat (the bench seat). In a moment, I got up from chair, hit my head on a hanging light and all I heard was a big crash and glass breaking. It hurt and I was a little confused in the moment about what exactly had happened.

You’ll notice in the photo above that the glass lamp shade is sitting on the bench. Basically, my head knocked the huge lamp cover off the wire it was hanging from, it broke the light bulb, and everything fell on to our table. Amazingly, the lamp cover didn’t break, but we had broken glass from the light bulb, juice, and drinks all over the table and floor. Here’s a few more photos after we cleaned it all up with the help of the employees at the burger joint.

Finally, we did have time this morning to give Avery a little something from us which she opened in our living room. Here’s a few more photos of Avery opening that. It was a really fun day and we’re glad we got to spend it with friends and enjoying another new adventure here.

Tags Avery, birthday, first things first, ice skating, Poland

365 Czech Republic

On a So-Called “Black Friday”

Post author By Shay
Post date November 28, 2014
No Comments on On a So-Called “Black Friday”

It’s amazing what a day will do. You go from happy, fun Thanksgiving to this intense, maddening holiday rush where sleepless people wait all night to save $20 on a big screen. I was a little sad to be out the States yesterday, but I’m not missing “Black Friday” at all on this side of the Atlantic. As I watch the news stream in from the States of big lines and huge sales, I’m struck with the fact that it’s become such a part of the American culture. From what I can tell, that doesn’t seem to be the case over here, but only time will tell just how strong that American influence is to the rest of the world.

We packed and left the hotel this morning and were back home around 11am. My voice is slowly returning, but I woke up with a pretty bad sore throat today. My energy hasn’t returned much either. We had a little meeting around 3pm with our landlord to get a new copy of our rental agreement which is needed for our long term visas. She has an office above our flat and while we were signing papers the kids ended up bringing her drawings they made which she was really excited about. Through her computer she translated, “I am going to bring them something for Christmas.” I’m glad our landlord likes our kids enough to want to bring them gifts!

Speaking of gifts, tomorrow is Avery’s actual birthday. Above is a photo of her last present, which is from us, so she’ll have something to open. There’s also a chance we’ll be joining some friends for ice skating tomorrow. They too have a daughters whose birthday falls on the 29th and they invited us to join them. We have never taken the kids ice skating, so this should definitely be an adventure.

Shortly after our meeting with our landlord, we decided to lounge around and watch a Christmas movie together. With me not feeling well and all of us a little worn out from Thanksgiving, it was nice to just “veg” as my dad would call it. Bethany prepared some food and I made popcorn. Avery loves to make popcorn from scratch and watch the popcorn pop on the stove top. She giggles and says, “That’s silly!” which I think is just hilarious. We had a lot of fun just hanging around today and being together. Hopefully I can feel good for ice skating tomorrow and Avery’s birthday. Being sick just isn’t fun, especially when you’re trying to celebrate holidays and birthdays!

Tags Avery, Black Friday, landlord

365 Czech Republic

Our First Thanksgiving in Czech

Post author By Shay
Post date November 27, 2014
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Above is the view we woke up to this morning. We’re staying at what is called Hotel Malenovice. This building has a story of it’s own, but it’s basically the Josiah Venture training center where all of our major training events are held here in Czech. As I type the sun has gone down, and this view has turned in to sparkling lights over the city. We just finished our big Josiah Venture family Thanksgiving meal downstairs and it was a wonderful time. Dave Patty, president of JV, led us in a little devotional out of the Psalms and we spent a few minutes sharing with each other how God has been faithful this year to each of us. Before we started eating, Dave also led us in prayer and the singing of the hymn “Great is Thy Faithfulness.” Here’s a little video I took of us singing.

The food today was incredible to say the least. It is a rare moment where you can gather so many people from so many different places and enjoy home made food from each family. Most of the people here this week are American missionaries so they all brought their own family’s traditional dishes and let’s just say I did a little sampling. Oh, and the turkey…amazing. There’s a local guy here in Czech that cooks the turkeys every year for JV and they are delectable. I don’t know how many turkeys it takes to feed 100+ people, but here’s one of them in it’s glory.

I also got this photo of Bethany and the kids as we were finishing up our meals. Clearly, Avery is not finished yet.

Here’s a couple photos of the kids playing outside today. Avery loved the swingset, and you can see Titus with his toy light saber while playing with the other boys (who were hiding from him).

What you’re seeing in the photos and video above are about as much as I was involved in today’s events (actually less because Bethany took the photos of the kids playing outside). Pretty much every other moment I was laying on the bed in our room. Even though I went down for breakfast in the morning, I came right back up and slept. I remained in bed right up until we went down for the Thanksgiving meal at 1:30. Today was just the worst of my sickness. I’ve got antibiotics working their magic, but the sinus pressure and overall energy sap really did me in. It really bummed me out and I was sad to miss the football game they had outside and just spending time with my family and other people. In some ways, I feel like I missed Thanksgiving and that’s definitely not fun.

The night ended with a talent show put on by all the third culture kids (TCKs), where they performed and sang in front of everyone. Think of it like a recital, but not as serious. The kids were great and there was a lot of amazing talent up there and definitely a lot of laughing going on. Our kids were pretty tired afterwards so we rushed them upstairs to bed where I’m finishing this post while they are fast asleep.

Besides being tucked away in bed most of today, I’m thankful to have been here. It really is a special time where a lot of families can just be together while they are so far away from their own families. That’s really just a testament to God’s grace for bringing so many like minded people together, in a land far away from their own, to share the Good News of Christ to such a dark place like Central and Eastern Europe. God has a big vision for bringing more people in to his family which involves all of the families here today. Now that’s something to be thankful for.

Tags Czech, first things first, Josiah Venture, Thanksgiving

365 Czech Republic

A Doctor Visit and Two Days Away

Post author By Shay
Post date November 26, 2014
No Comments on A Doctor Visit and Two Days Away

After much prodding on behalf of my teammates, I finally saw a doctor for the first time in the Czech Republic. When you can barely talk, that’s usually a sign you need to see someone about your health. The doctor I saw today was fantastic and he speaks great English which makes the entire process just a lot easier, not to mention lifting the burden of trying to find someone to come with me an explain the situation in another language.

He asked where I was from and when I told him California he started to share how he visited the San Francisco area two years where his uncle lives. He was actually asking me because he was curious if the weather in Czech was affecting my health and there’s definitely some truth to that. But after a few minutes of discussion and listening to me breathe the doctor was sure I have an infection, probably a sinus infection. He graciously prescribed some antibiotics and I left with a smile. It’ll probably take a week to clear up but I look forward to getting my real voice back and feeling better.

Tonight started our mini getaway with some of the Josiah Venture family. Every year Josiah Venture puts on a Thanksgiving event for the missionaries and we’re invited to stay at the training center (in Czech), have meals together, and just enjoy the holiday together. Since everyone is away from their families in the States, it’s an opportunity for the JV family to be together and give God thanks for all we have and what He’s doing in our lives. Bethany made her family’s famous green bean casserole and some deviled eggs and other families brought their own traditional family dishes. I’m excited about the meals tomorrow and hopefully getting some time to rest and take a break. We’ll be here until Friday morning, so hopefully I can get some photos of where we’re staying and what we’re doing when the sun comes up tomorrow. The weather is supposed to be cold but sunny so we praise the Lord for that too!

Tags doctor, first things first, Thanksgiving

365 Czech Republic

A Sick Day and a Date Night

Post author By Shay
Post date November 25, 2014
No Comments on A Sick Day and a Date Night

Don’t be fooled by the title of this post. Usually when someone says they had a sick day they really mean they didn’t show up to the office and laid in bed. That’s what I should’ve done today, but thought I could plow through the day despite my sore throat and lack of a voice. Now I’m sitting here tonight really tired and just not feeling well.

This week is a shorter week because the Josiah Venture family will be together at our training center for two days at a big Thanksgiving event. Lots of missionaries from around Central and Eastern Europe will come and we’ll celebrate together and talk about what we’re thankful for. All the festivities start tomorrow night so I figured I would finish up some work at the JV offices, but alas I should’ve stayed in bed. I guess I did get a few things done today but now I have my first doctor’s appointment in Czech scheduled for tomorrow around 4pm. Hopefully I can get some medicine to help figure out why I have been so sick for a few months now.

Despite being sick, Bethany and I had a date night scheduled tonight that we enjoyed together. Our friend Rachael came over and graciously watched our kids for the evening in exchange for some photos I did for her a few weeks back. Bethany and I enjoyed a quiet dinner at a local restaurant near our apartment and drove to a new shopping center to try and get some gifts for Avery’s actual birthday this Saturday. The photo above is of the bathrooms there…so strange. The night went relatively smoothly, but while we were in one of those stores shopping a lady who could speak a little English said to us, “We’re closed.” This after a few minutes of the employees trying to communicate with and us not understanding. We laughed and apologized and out we went. Thankfully we got Avery’s gift purchased before that so we’re excited for her to open something on Saturday when she turns 3.

Shortly after we left for our date tonight, Rachael texted us this photo (below) of Titus asleep on his bed (around 6:15pm). Apparently he cried after we left and went to his room to calm down (on his own) and a few minutes later this is how Rachael found him. I guess he calmed himself down alright.

Tags date night, shopping, sick, tired

365 Czech Republic

Daniel Came Over

Today marks five months in Czech. The sad thing is, from the time we got here we’ve been trying to have Daniel over for dinner. Daniel and I work closely in the Creative Communications team and he specializes in the video work we do and does an incredible job. It only took five months, but tonight we had the pleasure of having him over for dinner and Bethany cooked my favorite, lasagna. Daniel even brought gifts for the kids, which was really nice and they were having fun spending time with him too.

Later after dinner we had some time just to play worship songs together. There have only been a few other times for me to spend time playing guitar and singing with someone else so I really count it as a special time. That’s probably something I miss from the States.

Daniel was here during Bible reading tonight and caught this little photo of me and the kids.

Bethany was saying later after Daniel left that it’s just nice to talk and process with someone who came on the field around the same time as us. Daniel got here a little more than a month ahead of us, so in many ways we feel like we’ve all been here about the same amount of time. One thing that is consistent between us, I think, is that there truly is a process to this transition. Nothing feels normal. In fact, I’ve kind of lost sight of what exactly normal is anymore. Even as we talked tonight Daniel was talking about the grocery store and how he’s starting to feel like that’s not as hard as it was in the beginning. But even without saying it, we can all agree it’s still pretty hard!

At the end of the day, I’m thankful to be transitioning alongside other missionaries like Daniel. His experiences are different that ours, but it’s nice to be able to talk and just think through it together. Just like the Christian life in general, we’re doing this alongside others with the same focus: to see others come to Christ. Praise God for that!

Tags Daniel, friends

365 Czech Republic

More Visa Applications and Making a Million Mistakes

Post author By Shay
Post date November 23, 2014
No Comments on More Visa Applications and Making a Million Mistakes

Unbelievably we’ve already been here long enough to begin processing another round of visa applications. Our first set of visas are for six months so technically they don’t expire until the end of January. But with all the holidays and time it takes to process things here we have to get started earlier to make sure there are no hangups. Today we spent most of the afternoon just going through the paperwork and trying to make sure we have got all the information correct. These new visas will be good for two years and give us simpler identification (something other than our passport). We’ll be working this week with the team here to help get it all moving forward. Most likely we’ll be headed to the Foreign Police in the next couple days to begin processing them so that’s a point of prayer for us this week.

When we were at missionary training last year, one of the language teachers said, “In order to learn a language you have to be willing to make a million mistakes, so start now!” Today I took that instruction and butchered Czech about as much as humanly possible. I had a conversation today with our landlord about the light not working in our garage. I felt terrible because I couldn’t understand much, but basically she was trying to tell me that she got it fixed and that the light was actually on now and we needed to turn it off. This took me about four minutes of conversation with her until she finally just pointed for me to come outside with her and she showed me the light. I remember asking her “why” and just getting a blank stare. Who knows what I was asking her because I sure don’t!

Then tonight at the grocery store Avery left her Hello Kitty coloring book in the store and we didn’t realize it until we got home. Titus and I went back for it and I was trying to explain to two different store clerks that this was my daughter’s book and I wanted them to know that before I walked out of the store with it. What they were understanding from me was that my daughter had left a book like the one I was holding and that they didn’t have it. Finally we had to walk over to where I found the book and try using my phone to translate the whole thing and when something finally clicked they just started laughing. Thankfully, they did understand and were very gracious, but that doesn’t change the painful interchange that went on for ten minutes. Only 980,854 mistakes left to make before I learn Czech!

On a parenting note, a friend from the States asked me yesterday on the phone about Titus and how he was doing. It was a timely question because I’ve been thinking a lot about Titus lately. As a dad, especially one of a boy, I’m really trying to process how to be intentional with Titus and train him well. Yesterday before the party I asked him to help me take the recycling out. He was really excited and carried “the big box” down the street all by himself. It may have only been a few minutes of time but I was really enjoying watching him grow and mature, even in things like helping with work. Lately Titus has been showing a lot of mature answers to questions and really starting to put things together. We see him asking lots of questions and just engaging more. It’s fun to watch him change and grow.

Tonight after we got Avery’s book at the store, Titus and I had a funny little conversation in the car which I sent out on Twitter. Here’s how it went:

Titus: “Dad, let’s do jokes.” Me: “Knock, Knock.” Titus: “Who’s there?” Me: “Orange.” Titus: “Orange??!! Hahahaha”

— Shay Thomason (@shaycam) November 23, 2014

Tags language, learning, paperwork, Titus, visas

365 Czech Republic

Avery’s 3rd Birthday Party

We enjoyed a wonderful celebration today of Avery’s little life and were blessed by many friends joining in the fun. As I wrote yesterday, Avery’s birthday is actually next Saturday but with Thanksgiving and traveling many people weren’t going to make a party the weekend after the holiday. So instead of trying to make that work we decided to move it up a week and enjoy a little party today. Bethany did a great job getting things ready and this morning we put the final touches on our apartment to get it ready (mostly just cleaning) and everyone came over around 3pm.

Before I begin with all the photos and stories, it’s fair to note that today actually started very early when Papa and Nana video chatted with Avery and she opened their gift which was mailed from the States. I was actually asleep while Bethany and the kids did this, but Avery loves her new Elsa Frozen doll. Thanks Papa and Nana!

Here are the photos and story from the party with captions below each.

Here the kids are gathered around Avery while she’s opening gifts. The “Czech way” (as we’re told) is to open the present right as you receive it which is basically what we did as people arrived (as opposed to having a large gift opening time during the party). The kids of course were really excited about each present and I think when I captured this photo there was a line of people waiting for theirs to be opened.

Here is Avery opening some new gloves she got from Josiah Venture’s resident grandma, “Grandma Linda,” as everyone calls her. She’s actually Kristin Yorman’s mom and she moved to Czech to help the Yorman’s with their autistic sons. Thanks for the gloves and tights!

Avery was smiling and excited about all the new toys and gifts. She was very blessed and everyone was so generous.

The three photos above are from the cupcake decorating time we did with the kids. The table almost wasn’t big enough to get all the hands and plates in there, but we made it work. The kids enjoyed adding their own frosting and putting gummy flowers and dinosaurs on top to their liking. Thanks to our friend Greg, you get the rare shot of me standing on the right. He told me, “Now your kids will have at least one photo of you.” It’s the classic tale that dad isn’t in any photos because he’s always behind the camera. Thanks Greg for keeping my memory alive!

Here’s Avery with her completed cupcake creation. I realize she doesn’t look that excited but honestly she was!

Bethany actually had scheduled a little craft for the kids to create some pinwheels. It proved to be a little more difficult for the younger kids so the parents were helping out a lot (like Brian in the first photo). But they all turned out pretty good!

Here’s us with Avery as she was blowing out her three little candles. It took her a few tries, but she finally got them all blown out. I don’t want to dwell too long on this thought, but I’m starting to think that the reason we blow candles out is because that’s how fast it feels like the years go by. Bethany and I actually feel like Avery’s little years have gone at a good pace. We’ve had a busy year this year, but God has been gracious to make the time feel slow and we’ve been able to watch Avery grow. We’re thankful to the Lord for our daughter!

The party actually ended around 5pm and we were supposed to join our church’s youth group for their “American Thanksgiving” party. As we were walking out the door we realized our friends who had driven in from Poland forgot a baby bag, but they had already left. I called and told them we would meet them on the road so they would have it and we drove into Poland and met them at a gas station. I actually thought we would be able to turn around easily but this was not the case. The gas station was just off the highway, and there was no place to turn around and go back towards Czech. This meant we ended up driving (and I’m not joking) another 20 minutes into Poland until we could turn around.

We figured we had missed dinner with the youth group and so we decided to eat at the McDonald’s in Poland and made a poor decision on driving through. Imagine an American family, that now lives in Czech, driving through McDonald’s trying to order in Polish (which we can’t speak a lick of). It took forever for us to order and I ended up having to walk inside to order the things that didn’t get communicated. Finally we got all of our food and headed back to Czech (another 25-30 minute drive). And yes, I got a photo of the McDonald’s.

About 6:45pm we made it to the youth group hangout which was a lot of fun. The kids were full of energy and were running around the room while all the students were talking and hanging out. We enjoyed talking with a couple of the students and staff and just being there.

At the end of the day, I’m thankful for how the Lord works out the details. Some things went as we had planned and some things didn’t (e.g. dinner in Poland), but it all went as God had planned. Awesome.

Tags Avery, birthday, party, Poland