Shay Thomason – Page 31 – everything beautiful in it's time

Taking In Another Sunday

We had a bit of a different morning at church today as the children’s ministry started back up with Sunday school. As we walked into church our friend Casey told us we could take Titus to class, but that he wasn’t sure about Avery since she’s only two. I stayed with Avery and Bethany took Titus downstairs to the classroom. When they got in there it was pretty full and Titus went and sat by his friends, Beni and Caleb. You can see them all sitting next to Kristin in the middle against the back wall in the photo above. Bethany ended up staying down there with Titus for the whole service and she said he did pretty well, all things considered (new class, new language, etc.).

Meanwhile, back upstairs, Avery read books to herself and played with stickers while I tried to figure out what was going on in the service. I didn’t get a translation device today, but from what I could tell we were installing a pastor or thanking him, I’m not quite sure. There were a lot of different men speaking and I saw flowers being handed to the pastor and his wife a few times, but when you can’t speak the language all you’re doing is making observations.

I can count on one hand the number of times I remember actually working on a Sunday. Granted, I’m not counting the countless Sundays we have worked at church doing ministry or I have taught, or led music, or maybe been at a youth camp, but today was one of those ministry “working” days. It was necessary in order to finish the leadership training manual we’re creating for our upcoming conference. Myself and the team at JV have all been working very hard to finish this book which has been a bit of a battle with many people traveling during the summer months and us going through a few rounds of edits.

The blessing, however, is that our family went over to Dave and Connie Patty’s house and I worked with Dave on the book (photo above courtesy of Connie) while Bethany and the kids played outside. We had great weather today and the Patty’s have a trampoline and a little playground area that our kids just loved. Since it was taking Dave and a I a while to work through the edits to the book, Bethany ended up driving and exploring the town where she found a new toy store. Below are a few photos and some captions below.

This this store Bethany found that she said was great. She ended up getting the kids some $2 toys, a pinwheel for Avery and some tiny hand cymbals for Titus.

Bethany took the photo (above) because she said that toy was basically identical to something she grew up but hadn’t seen in a while.

There were some toys for the kids to ride on so they took advantage of them.

It’s almost midnight as I write this and I’m pretty tired. I’ve got the live Dodger game on in the background and they need at least two runs to get back in to it. Tomorrow I’ll meet with our communications team and hopefully get that book out to the printer once we do a final review. Dave reminded me today as we were leaving how thankful he was for all the time we’ve put into this and that he believes this will be a book that has the potential to affect many lives and many leaders. That’s a good reminder and not something I want to just overlook when I’m a little tired at the end of a long day.

P.S. Adrian Gonzalez just hit a three run home run to put the Dodgers in the lead. I’ll take it before I hit the hay.

Tags book, fun, ministry, Sunday, toys, work

365 Czech Republic

Full Day, Full Hearts

We drove to a nearby town called Třinec to meet with the headmaster of a local preschool today. Somehow Natalija got Bethany’s phone number and connected with us this past week to have us over to her house. Her desire was to meet our family and talk to Bethany about helping out after school by teaching English to kindergartners. She was a very sweet woman who has two grown boys, one who is 22 and the other 19. We spent the afternoon with her and her oldest son, Daniel, and enjoyed tea and a wonderful Czech pastry called Bábovka (pronounced “BAH-BOVE-KUH) outside in their garden. Above is a a photo of Avery holding a tiny plumb which we picked from her true. In the left photo is a wheelbarrow full of them. Natalija’s husband actually baked the Bábovka for us and she told us that the recipe was at least “a few hundred years old.” Below is a photo of this delectable treat.

Natalija is actually Russian but moved to Czech about twenty years ago. She speaks great English, Russian, Czech, and even a little Italian. High energy would be one way to describe her, but that might even be an understatement. We were given a full tour of her three story house which is currently under construction. At one point she showed us a little cabinet with some Russian items she owns. One item in particular is from the fifteenth century! She inherited it from her grandmother or something, along with some old books that date from around the same time. My mind has a hard time fathoming that kind of history and it’s just sitting in a display case in a family’s house in Czech. Below are some photos of the display case and her dining area which she told us was decorated with things she bought solely in Hungary.

At one point during our tea time Natalija asked what we do. After explaining that we were missionaries and telling her about Josiah Venture and our ministry she told us that she grew up Russian Orthodox and that her mom is actually a nun. She started telling us funny stories about her mom who was once a very wealthy woman in Russia but left it all to be a nun. But as the conversation continued she expressed her fear of Muslims and asked us what we thought. Bethany and I did our best to clarify what the difference between Christians and Muslims. We also talked about the political system that Muslims desire and that’s when Daniel, her son, piped up. “I’m an atheist and I’ve read the Bible a little bit,” he said, “but I see the God of the Bible telling people to kill their kids just like Muslims kill people.” A bit startled, I said, “You mean like Isaac and Abraham?” And Bethany asked, “Or do you mean like stoning disobedient kids in the Old Testament.” He said, “Yes,” but I wasn’t sure to which question. He ended up telling us that he thought Muslims were just an archaic society and that the modern society is just more advanced than them. “Wow”, I thought to myself.

Knowing it was an opportunity to talk about Christ Bethany and I just began to share with them Christ and grace. Bethany talked about not being able to earn your salvation and that there’s nothing you can do to work your way to God, in stark contrast to the Koran. I encouraged Daniel to read the gospels and look at what Christ did. Amazingly, and this hard to express, but amazingly, there was no dissension at the table. No one was angry or upset and we just kept right on talking. Within an hour of arriving we were talking about Christ and honestly I wasn’t even sure that I wanted to go when I woke up today. Natalija and Daniel didn’t bow the knee to Jesus today, but maybe we were the first people to talk to them about Christ? Maybe, just maybe, we’ll get more opportunities to share Jesus with them again. We have open door now and we’ve been invited back and would love to keep this relationship going. We prayed for them today and tonight and would covet your prayers as we pursue them.

Immediately after leaving Natalija’s house we went to a birthday part for Titus’ friend, Beni, who turned five. Beni is the son of Casey and Kristin who are missionaries with JV as well. We had a wonderful time there and even went in their pool for a while. They had a home made piñata and even played a “pin the tail on the donkey” type game, all with an Iron Man theme. Even though Titus and Avery had skipped naps and were pretty tired from the morning, they did pretty well. And believe it or not, this wasn’t our last stop of the day.

From Beni’s party we went straight to our church’s youth group meeting that started at 5:00pm. We have wanted to go for a few weeks now but tonight was our first time. Without question we had a great time. Titus and Avery did really well all things considered and we just had a really fun time with the students tonight. For me, this was the piece I think I’ve been missing most which is just spending time with young people. Czech students are so sweet and friendly, and many of them speak English. We played games with them, laughed with them, and from what I could tell we were the only married couple there. Below is a photo during one of the games where you had to run down the middle of this tunnel thing and below that is a video of the boys being boys.

The whole youth group meeting was very similar, if not identical to what you would fine in the States. The format of the whole night was similar with games, message, music, and announcements. There was at least forty students there tonight and I was talked with some of them it sounds like a few our from different towns as far as twenty minutes away. Even though we had a very full day, I really felt like we needed to be there and my heart was encouraged by these young people. God is truly moving among the youth in Czech!

Ah! So many emotions are hitting me tonight, but I am just sitting here in awe of God’s hand on our family. It was so fun to do ministry together today. From spending time with unbelievers, friends, and then our church’s youth we have had a full and joyful day. We learned a ton today and I believe it will only deepen our faith. I am thankful to my Savior for pulling the scales from my eyes and showing me Christ. Those same scales currently blind people like Daniel, Natalija, and no doubt some of the young people at church tonight. Oh that Christ would open their eyes! This is our prayer on this full day. To Him be the glory.

Tags friends, gospel, youth ministry

365 Czech Republic

Free Vitamin D

My dad grew up in the desert of California and delivered milk when he was really young. He would always tell this story when we visited my grandma’s house because the roads we would drive on were places he delivered milk. If my memory serves me, I remember him saying that the dairy farmer he worked for would give you your order for free if the sun didn’t shine that day. It’s been a few days since we’ve seen the sun here in Czech. We didn’t get any free milk, but we finally did get some vitamin D. By noon today the fog and clouds blew away and we got a beautiful, sunny day. I always loved cloudy days in California because they were so rare. If we never saw the sun I would be fine because I knew it would be back in full effect soon enough. I’m starting to wonder now how I will feel about that here when I’ve heard that there are literal months where the sun doesn’t shine. Only time will tell, but we’ll take a little sun in the meantime.

Above is a photo of half the office I share with our team here. I’ve written already this week that we are hard at work on a 155 page leadership training manual. It’s been a big project and one I’m hoping will be literally out of my hands this coming Monday when we send it out to be printed. But each day we come to this office and work hard at communicating the heart of what we do as an organization. On that whiteboard is a list of projects we’re currently working on, all of which I think reflect the work that God is doing in Central and Eastern Europe. On the floor you’ll notice some big photos that we printed out for another book we’re working on. Story after story of God’s faithfulness in the lives of young people will eventually fill the pages. It’s an exciting time here and I’m truly thankful to be part of it.

As I often do I spent some time outside tonight with the kids while Bethany made dinner. Titus and I were playing basketball in the driveway when Avery popped her little head of the kitchen window. Our apartment is the lower floor but’s elevated above the street so she was looking down on us and just giggling and smiling. Finally I took a photo of her because she’s so cute.

File this next photo under “random Americana in Czech.” Bethany bought cranberries at the local Kaufland (a German grocery store here in Czech) and after closer inspection of the packaging realized it was very, well…American. If you look, you’ll see at least 3 American flags, a cowgirl, and a sign saying “Las Vegas.” What do those have to do with cranberries? Your guess is as good as ours.

Tomorrow is an extremely full day with lunch at the preschool headmaster’s house, a birthday party for our friend’s kid, and then our first youth group at our church here in Czech. I’m praying for energy and hope our kids hold up. It’s probably not how I would’ve planned it but it’s what God has for us. I guess we’ll all find out tomorrow when we blog about.

Tags Avery, cranberries, office, sun

365 Czech Republic

Window Sills and Chicken Talk

Post author By Shay
Post date September 4, 2014
1 Comment on Window Sills and Chicken Talk

Czech Republic is a land that has history dating back as far as 870 AD. It’s an old place with old buildings and things, but the one thing that impresses me about Czechs is how they clean they can keep things. For the most part I find that they like their houses very tidy, clean, and well kept. This would include the yards too. Our landlord is no exception. Just the other day, we saw a cleaning lady out in the driveway meticulously sweeping the bricks and with a pickaxe she was scraping in between each individual brick removing dirt and moss!

Today our landlord left a note about the window sills on our place needing to be cleaned. Amazingly, Bethany actually had that on her list of things to do and had started on one side of the house today. She was halfway through cleaning them when she found the note on our doorstep (shown above). I’m positive our landlord using Google Translate to write us and it’s just funny how they sound. Bethany told me later that she took a photo of the window sills because she wanted people to see just how large they are (photo below). You can practically sit on them like a bench and they are definitely a chore to clean. I don’t think I’ve ever really seen anything like them in the States, but we’re happy to make sure they look nice.

My teammate John and I went to a little restaurant near the Josiah Venture offices today for lunch. Its a great little place that I’ve shared about before and we like it because for $4 you can get hot soup and a lunch entree. Only one time have I ordered anything but pizza there because I think it’s amazing. As we were doing our best to translate the menu today the waiter came over to us and motioned with his arm like a chicken. He was trying to tell us that the third item on the menu was chicken wing, but for some reason I was said, “Chicken breast?” and he nodded and smiled in affirmation. I don’t know what I was thinking and I definitely don’t think he understood me. A few minutes later he came over and in broken English said, “chicken?….” and was motioning with his arm like a chicken. Then I heard the words, “chicken breast?” come out of my mouth again and he got excited and ran over to another table and told them “Chicken breast.” There were some other native English speakers at a nearby table (which is rare) and our waiter was excited to speak English to him, I guess. Nevertheless I felt like a failure but his one-armed chicken wing motion still makes me giggle.

Speaking of chicken, Bethany made amazing chicken and dumplings tonight. She was really excited that she was able to get all of the ingredients at the store by herself and the meal was wonderful. Now she’s in the kitchen reading on how to make her own chicken stock! She tells me those are her chicken stock ingredients in the above photo. This girl has gone true Pioneer Woman and I like it! Watching Bethany adapt here is actually really fun and I think she’s risen to the occasion of being a foreign missionary, engaging newer things with a willing and able attitude.

Tomorrow is another early day for me but I’m hoping to spend the latter half of the day with Bethany and the kids as I’ve been plowing pretty hard this week with projects for Josiah Venture. God has been gracious with our health and energy during some busy days. Praise the Lord for how He continues to show his kindness to me and my family.

Tags chicken, cleaning, cooking, windows

365 Czech Republic

Working From Home

We had a pretty normal day today, with the exception that I worked from home today for about half the day. My team is working on a 150 page training manual for young leaders that will be launched in a few weeks at our fall conference. Our short-term intern and editor, Amy, and I had to work through a lot of edits and instead of heading to the office we worked at our apartment. Titus kept coming to my desk telling me about his drawings on the magnetic drawing pad we have. The first one was “of you, dad!” and I think even got my hair right. This is probably the best person drawing we have seen him do.

While I was making edits on my computer I could hear Avery giggling over at her little table. Bethany was painting the bottom of Avery’s toes. A friend on our Facebook had posted about a little craft where you make a leaf etching, paint the kids toes, and make little caterpillars. Below you’ll find photos of both the kids giggling away and the final result.

I’m a little tired tonight as today was pretty full at the JV offices. There is a ton of ministry items to prepare for, especially with the upcoming conference. I have to constantly remind myself that the little things we might be working on day to day are a big part of what we do as a ministry and will eventually have, Lord willing, a great impact on the leaders and missionaries in many countries. I guess we’ll just rest in October!

Tags crafts, fun, home, kids

365 Czech Republic

Reflecting and Lots to Pray About

Post author By Shay
Post date September 2, 2014
1 Comment on Reflecting and Lots to Pray About

For the past two days I have found myself saying, “I can’t believe it’s September.” On this date last year I was starting my last two weeks of work at Paul Mitchell and our family was stepping into a new adventure called full-time support raising. I can’t believe that was a year ago and I can’t believe I’m sitting here in Czech Republic writing about it. No doubt God’s hand has been in this process with our family and has brought us many miles physically and brought us further in our faith. Praise the Lord for His goodness and faithfulness to us in this journey.

Maybe I’m just reflecting more tonight, but I’m amazed at the growth in my kids. Titus and Avery both seem to be making big strides in all areas of their little lives. Avery is still have accidents, but she’s consistently using the potty and telling us so we can take her. Titus is building more complicated things with his legos (photo above). He’s helping more around the house and he’s just talking a lot more. Every day he comes to the door when I get home and says, “So dad, how was your day?” I’m so thankful for their growth and for the work that Bethany puts in with them. Praise the Lord for His grace and kindness to us with our kids.

Tonight we had dinner with our new friend Soňa (pronounced “Sown-yuh”) over for dinner. You may remember that Bethany met her at a little preschool in our town. We don’t believe she knows Christ, but she told us tonight her family is Catholic. In fact, her mom texted her while she was at our house asking her to pray about the situation with Putin and Russia as she heard reports that things are escalating. Like all Czechs she brought us a little gift and even thought of our kids (photo below).

Soňa is a very busy girl with multiple jobs and she’ll be starting university (like college) later this month. She has offered to babysit for us but we wanted to spend more time with her. We see an opportunity to minister to her and see what God does. Pray for us as we seek to make wise decisions in this area. Soňa also told us about the new English teacher at the preschool who is from New Zealand. Bethany is going to try and contact her as well and see if we can help her with her visas stuff. We feel like we need to push into some of these relationships and see what God has. It’s a reminder to pray.

After Soňa left Bethany got a phone call from the lady who runs the preschool. They continue asking Bethany to come and speak/teach English. Right now they are asking her to commit for a fews day a week and we’re just not sure about it. The woman that called insisted we go to her house to discuss it and now we’re scheduled for lunch on Saturday so we’ll see what this might entail. Obviously, we’re not her to hold jobs like that nor are we legally allowed to. We would have to work out some kind barter, but we just need to pray and have wisdom. Again, I don’t believe these are accidents, but we need the wisdom that comes from above. Just another reminder to pray.

Tags opportunity, prayer

365 Czech Republic

A New Month and a New Store

Post author By Shay
Post date September 1, 2014
1 Comment on A New Month and a New Store

Tonight we had our monthly time of opening an envelope from our Bible study in the States. Until June of next year we have envelopes for every month which they have put together with gifts and fun things inside. The September envelope brought lots of fun things so here’s some photos of our kids unwrapping it all (captions below each photo).

Titus found a light up yo-yo which also wanted to take with him to bed. Avery found a rounded object that she began to unwrap.

Avery found a princess wand and finally unwrapped a great candle. She went around the house saying, “Sprinkle sprinkle, do your thing” with her wand. No clue where that came from or what exactly it means.

Titus found a Cars sticker book which he loved.

Oh… Avery found Daddy’s favorite, an iTunes gift card! She also found a book called “Lone Survivor” which is the background for the recent movie of the same name.

The kids found a letter from our friends, the Shanks family. It was written from their kids and had some great questions about our life here in Czech. Here are the questions with some answers:

Q: Do you play basketball in your new house?
A: Yes! But not in the house. We have a basketball hoop that we keep in the garage and when it’s not raining we roll it out and play in our driveway.

Q: Have you made lots of new friends?
A: Definitely! There are so many fun friends here and we’re having a blast getting to know lots of new people.

Q: Do you like your new church? What is your church called?
A: Yes. We love it. It’s called “Církve Bratrské” which means, Church of the Brethren.

In other news, we had a little hiccup at the Josiah Venture offices today which required me and my teammate, Brian, to go to Ostrava for a few things. We needed to get a couple new computer hard drives from the store because of some issues with someone else’s computer. The mall in Ostrava is actually where Bethany and I went on our second date in Czech and it’s just an amazing place. In the photo above you can see Brian using a giant touch screen display to find out where the computer store was. When he picked the location it showed us where we were and how to get to the floor above where the store was. I have never see anything like it in the States. We walked up stairs and got exactly what we needed.

Since we had already made the thirty minute drive, Brian called his wife to see if they needed anything from the mall. She said they needed brown sugar from this British store called “Marks and Spencer” which Brian knew of but I had never heard about. I couldn’t believe my eyes when we got inside. Chocolate chip cookies, English language packaging, sauces, salsa, and even brow sugar (which is apparently hard to find around here). The store was amazing considering this is the Czech Republic and I ended up calling Bethany to tell her while I was in there. I only bought two things but I think we’ll heading back at some point. Here’s the photos I showed to Bethany when I got home.

Funny thing is you have to walk through a department store to get to where this store is located. It’s all part of Marks and Spencer, but I was still confused by it.

These are the little bags of brown sugar. They cost a little less than $3.00 (US).

On the left is lots of coffee and on the right is lots of ice cream toppings. The ice cream stuff is probably splurge items, for sure, but it’s amazing that they have that kind of stuff.

Last but not least, jalapeños. I don’t know if these are hard to come by but seeing anything spicy which is even related to Mexican food makes my heart happy. You’d be surprised how these little things make you feel when you haven’t seen them a while.

Tags envelope, gifts, Marks and Spencer, September

365 Czech Republic

The Sunday Dichotomy: When The Church Service Goes Long

Post author By Shay
Post date August 31, 2014
1 Comment on The Sunday Dichotomy: When The Church Service Goes Long

When was the last time you were at church and the guy announcing an outreach ministry begins with a story about someone attempting suicide? That’s what happened this morning at our church in Czech. The man sharing was introducing a ministry called “Alpha” which, from what I could I gain through our translator, is designed to help people share their faith with those in their workplaces and neighborhoods. The story he was sharing was from his own work where a mom asked to leave work early because her son was trying to commit suicide. He continued that people at his work know he’s a Christian and are willing to share things with him. As well, he shared that in the case of the woman he asked her if he could pray for her son before she left and she said “OK.” This man encouraged the body to continue to tell others about Christ and the gospel, and invited them to “Alpha” where they can gain training and tools to aid in their own evangelism.

Watching the nationals in our church is so encouraging and spurs our own missionary family on towards gospel ministry in this place. Lord willing, more people will come to Christ because of that ministry, our church here, and the faithful witnesses of Christ.

Church today went almost three hours long. Our kids did exceptional, but we ended up going outside around the two hour, fifteen minute mark. There was a lot going on, including an entire group of students that recently came back from camp who shared about their experience and sang a few songs (video above of one part of one song). We also had a guest speaker, communion, and an extended prayer time. School will start here tomorrow (Sept. 1) and the pastors wanted to pray for all the kids in the church so they asked them to come forward and the pastors and elders prayed individually for students, teachers, and families. The place was very full today so the lines for prayer went all the way to the back and we watched as the pastors would place hands on the families and students and pray (photo below).

Bethany and I talked during lunch about how to respond to a longer service. We feel the burden of living in two worlds now: World #1 (the more American view): Being on time is right and good. It honors God to be on time–church services should end on time. World #2 (maybe a more Czech view?): Spending time with your church family is right and good. If the service goes long, it’s just extra time for prayer and fellowshipping with other believers which is a joy and encouragement–it’s OK if the service goes long. It’s a Sunday dichotomy. Both feel right and good, but you can’t have both at the same time.

I like what one friend told me in the States. On the possibility that the service might go long on a particular Sunday he told me, “Hey, you really don’t hear people complaining when the football game goes into over time.” I think he’s right. Often we (Americans) make exceptions in our minds for sports and entertainment, but not so much for church. I know I do this and am guilty of complaining when church doesn’t end when I think it should. Maybe I do need look at the other side and learn from my Czech brothers and sisters that spending a little more time at church might just be a joy and not a burden. It’s like what our Czech pastor said today about the service running long, “We love our children and our teachers. This is the wisest thing for us to do.” Amen, brother.

Above is a photo of Titus with his hands in his pockets just watching the service. We like that kid.

Towards the end of the service there were a lot of kids outside. The boys turned the grass area into a scene from Braveheart, each boy for himself with a stick for a sword. We had no clue where the other parents were.

Finally, our two little ones which seem to betting bigger every day. Thanks to Bethany they always look so nice when we go to church.

Tags church, culture, time

365 Czech Republic

Laboring on Labor Day Weekend

Post author By Shay
Post date August 30, 2014
1 Comment on Laboring on Labor Day Weekend

For the United States it’s a nice long weekend. Everyone will celebrate Labor Day on Monday and most likely take the day off. Many are probably already at the lake, on the road, or heading out someplace for a little rest and relaxation. Unfortunately, we’re not in the United States so instead of taking a break we were hard at work today on our apartment trying to get things unpacked (yes, still…) and getting our storage room organized. We shared before we have very limited space so we’re trying to make decisions on what things will stay inside and what we can put in the garage. After filling about six or seven plastic tubs we called it quits. We definitely gained some space in each room and we keep chipping away at the boxes.

Titus and I (Shay) went to Tesco (store) and did a little shopping this afternoon. Bethany stayed home to work on the house and and do laundry. If I’m going to the store I like to take my time and really just take in everything that’s available. Things change constantly and I am on the hunt for a few items, namely a good vacuum and an iron. Our iron from the States is too high of wattage for the power transformers we have and even though our vacuum works here it has to go through a transformer which really isn’t convenient and not the most efficient when it comes to energy consumption. As we were slowly making our way through the aisles I saw this board game (photo below) on learning English. It’s funny how learning English is associated with England. In my American mind I want stars and stripes on the front of this box.

This evening we had a chance to Skype with Bethany’s sister, husband and their two year old son Jude. It was nice to connect with them for the first time since we’ve been here. There’s no doubt that technology like video chatting is just such a blessing to foreign missionaries. I realize not all missionaries are able to connect back to family the way we can, but we praise God for means to do so.

More and more Bethany is having to make things from scratch in the kitchen. I think it’s great how she has jumped right into it. I’ve said before she’s braver than me and I can tell you she is doing it with a willing attitude and never complaining. We can’t just go to the store and get a familiar pasta sauce so tonight she made her own from scratch. The only down side is dinner takes a little longer some nights but I usually end of taking the kids outside if the weather allows. Tonight I took them in our backyard and put Avery’s new streamers on her tricycle (Nana and Papa sent them to us in the “box o’ fun”). She had a huge smile on her face as she made her way around the driveway and that’s always a joy for me to see.

As we were laying the kids down tonight we heard some big “booms!” coming from outside. Bethany and I ran to the open kitchen window to find fireworks coming from down the street. We’re not sure if they were happing on the Poland/Czech border and we’re honestly not sure what the celebration was, but it was fun. Bethany said, “I’m gonna get the kids!” and ran back and we all watched the big sparkles in the sky for a few minutes together. Oh fireworks, you really don’t get old and I’m not too old for you. Here’s a little video I took accompanied by a song by Sleeping At Last that I enjoy.

Tags boxes, fireworks, Skype, storage, unpacking

365 Czech Republic

The Zoo Part Two

Bethany and the kids hit the zoo today for the second time since we got here. Last time (aka: Zoo Part One) we went it was really fun, but also really hot. But today they had great weather and since we have annual passes it’s just really the cost to drive and park. The family dropped me off at the J.V. offices and half way there we realized we forgot the stroller. Thankfully our friends John and Erin let us borrow there’s for the day so that was a huge blessing.

In lieu of a normal blog with the full story, we’re just going to post the photos from today’s adventure to the zoo, part two (some descriptions are below the photos):