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Czech Republic

Trying to Escape the Heat

It’s really hot right now. According to a Czech news Web site, we’re experiencing some of the hottest days on record in Czech Republic. That wouldn’t be a problem except for one big factor: no air conditioning.

Now I want to make sure I’m really careful about what I say and how I say it. I know, for instance, of missionaries who live in intense heat all year round. They have to live with constant warm air in their house with very little relief. That is not the case for us whatsoever. To those friends and missionaries that serve in unbearable heat week in an week out, God bless your ministry. I mean it. Just little taste of the heat this past week is reminding me to think and pray for you, wherever you may be. That being said, I do want to comment on what we’ve been trying to do to escape this heat.

Escaping the Heat (8/10/15)

Our apartment just holds heat in. With concrete walls and no air conditioning, we’re just stuck trying to get air to move through the house. Over the weekend we just couldn’t do it anymore and decided we were leaving town to a large mall in Poland to find some AC. On Saturday we basically the entire day there, walking around, eating meals and letting the kids play in the air conditioned play area. Judging by the number people there I think they all had the same idea we did. Above is a photo I got of Karis while Bethany looked around one of the Polish stores.

Escaping the Heat (8/10/15)

When we got to the mall, the first place we decided to go was to Pizza Hut (shown above). For you American readers, you’re going to have to lay aside all your preconceived notions of what Pizza Hut is and allow me to tell you about Pizza Hut in Poland. To compare it, it’s more like California Pizza Kitchen. It’s a fancy, sit-down, restaurant (at least this one was). We had heard they were nice, but we were shocked. They had waiters, lots of salads and pasta on the menu, and really good pizza! We all ordered pan pizza, except for Titus because he wanted spaghetti. Everything tasted it great and we even decided to go for the Chocolate Chip cookie dessert which was an oversized cookie with vanilla ice cream on top. It was a lot of fun and here’s a picture of Avery’s pizza.

Escaping the Heat (8/10/15)

After food we did some shopping and eventually grabbed some coffee. The mall we went to is huge and we eventually made our way to the kids play area. You pay a few bucks for an hour of play time and they have staff there to help the kids and there’s a ton for them to do. Why America hasn’t jumped on this money making machine is beyond me. I sat and read a book while the kids played and Bethany did a little shopping with Karis. Here’s a photo of Titus with the playground behind him.

Escaping the Heat (8/10/15)

Since we were going all American on the food we decided for an American class, Burger King, for dinner. We wanted to get the food to go and head to the hardware store to look at little air conditioning units. Titus went with me to order the food and we got those Burger King crowns which I wore through the mall with Titus all the way back to the car. At points their were Polish people tapping each other on the shoulders and pointing at me because I’m sure I looked ridiculous. Bethany and the girls were in the car and when we got there Bethany was just laughing at me and said, “You’re a good daddy.” Thanks, babe. I’m sure you were laughing WITH me and not AT me.

Escaping the Heat (8/10/15)

We tried six different stores to find a little air conditioning unit that was both powerful and affordable. This is no easy task in a place that doesn’t really have AC. What we ended up finding and buying was a little unit that was around $160 (US) that we currently have sitting in our window sill. It’s a swamp cooler that uses water to cool down the room and it’s been a pretty big help the past few nights. Here’s a photo of it in the store (the price on the side is in Polish currency). I’m calling it R2-D2.

Escaping the Heat (8/10/15)

The next day we basically did the same routine, only this time we went to a Czech mall instead of Poland. Essentially all we did was go there for lunch, walk around, and let the kids play. There was a bench near the kids area with Ronald McDonalds so I took a little photo of the kids next to him. Quite honestly I’m a little jealous that Ronald gets to sit there all day, enjoying the air conditioning looking all happy.

Escaping the Heat (8/10/15)

We’re trying to have a positive attitude, but it’s been rough. Right now I’m sweating, we have six fans running, and we’re sleeping in the living room because it’s just too hot in the bedroom. Every time I get hot I just go and take a cold shower which really does help. The weather is supposed to be like this for at least the next week so we’re buckling up for more heat. If you think of it, pray for us, especially our kids. It’s hard to sleep when you’re sweaty and hot and we’re all trying to just make it through until cooler air comes our way.

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365 Czech Republic

A Birth Certificate-ová

There is something kind of neat about Czech and Czech culture that hit close to home today. I don’t claim to understand exactly how this works, but When a girl is born in Czech her last name is given the letters “ová.” For example, check out this list of Czech female tennis players on Wikipedia. The overwhelming majority of them have the added “ová” to their last names. As I understand it, at their birth or when they’re married, if their last name was say “Smith” then it would be come “Smithová.” So what does this have to do with us?

Rodny List!!! (6/9/15)

Today we went to the city hall in Ostrava to obtain Karis’ Czech birth certificate, or “Rodný List.” We need it in order to move forward with getting her a passport and social security number. Although she’s an American citizen by birth (because of Bethany and I), we have to go through the normal process of obtaining these documents so we can travel with her (among other things). Culturally in Czech, moms don’t usually take their babies away from home until six weeks after their born, so it’s often the dad who will go to obtain the birth certificate and the mom is not required to be there (of course, because she’s at home recovering). So today I, along with our friend Jenny and my father-in-law went to do just that. Jenny was kind enough to come and help translate and I’m so thankful she did.

Basically what happened today was that I had to decline the Czech naming convention so Karis’ last name wouldn’t be “Thomasonová” but just Thomason. Normally this requires the mother’s signature, but Bethany wasn’t with us. The Lord was gracious, however, and somehow we got it figured out today without having to drive back another forty minutes and get Bethany. The lady at the city hall was really kind and through Jenny translating we were able to get it squared away. We were only there for a few minutes and we left with a complete birth certificate and Karis can carry our family name in the traditional, American way. Step 1, done.

Karis Gets A Birth Certificate (6/9/15)

Step 2 involved going to the “Foreign Police” to register Karis (shown above). Because we don’t have a passport yet, we were a little unsuccessful but got the ball rolling which was good. Again, Jenny was a huge help in navigating the language barrier and figuring out what will happen next (THANK YOU, JENNY!). It sounds like the Czech government is going to send us some documents in the mail and give us a 60 day window to make it all happen. Step 2, done.

Step 3 involves multiple things, but it involves getting a “Consular Report of Birth Abroad,” applying for passport as well as a social security number. For us this means a trip to the U.S. Embassy in Prague which will happen on June 22 (unless we can get an earlier appointment). We’re going to Prague this week with Papa and Nana for a few days and we’re hoping that an appointment might open up while we’re there. It would just make it easier on us as Prague is over four hours by car or train. We’ll see how it goes!

At the end of the day I’m thankful we were able to get what we needed to take the next steps in this big process of having a child abroad. Even tomorrow we’re hoping to get her passport photos done right here in our town. Pray for us!

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365 Czech Republic

Sunday School Speaking

Something amazing happened today: I heard Titus speak Czech. Now, before we get really excited, I will say he was just saying Czech words, not phrases. However, this doesn’t really make it any less amazing in my mind because of what was going on in Titus’ brain. Here’s the story.

During Sunday School this morning I stayed with Titus in his classroom. The kids were doing some kind of activity where the teacher was asking them questions and she was going around in a circle and they were responding. When she got to Titus, I heard him say something and we couldn’t really understand it. I said to him, “what was that, buddy?” He said it again and I was still unclear. Then the teacher said, “Ohh…tři, čtyři, pět” which means “three, four, five” in Czech. Even though Titus couldn’t answer or didn’t understand what was being asked, he had made the switch in his brain to answer in whatever Czech he could–in this case it was numbers. It was literally the first time I had ever heard him attempt Czech numbers or words in response to someone speaking Czech to him. A little later the kids were playing a game where one person thought of an animal and the kids had to guess. I was impressed by Titus because he figured out what they were doing and tried guessing an animal. He said, “krokodýl” nice and loud which means “crocodile.” His guess wasn’t right, but I was amazed at the process in his mind. It’s a fun process to watch him grow and learn.

I didn’t get any photos today, but I did get a little timelapse video from Titus’ Sunday school class. Usually they have a little drawing activity and so I got some footage of all of the kids at their tables. You can watch it below.

Sunday School Timelapse from Shay on Vimeo.

As for the rest of the day we had a great lunch at home with some fresh croissants we got at the store. Steve and Judy spent a lot of time just hanging with us today which was a lot of fun. I just love the questions they ask and they have been a huge encouragement to us. We’ve talked of books, ministry, life, parenting, missions, and anything in between. It truly has been such a joy to be with our “family,” that is our extended church family from the States.

Tonight we decided to have a quick dinner with Steve and Judy at McDonald’s in Poland. We ended up going to Poland because there’s a new McDonald’s just inside the border, about 7 minutes from us. But when we got there it was actually not even open–that is, it’s so new it’s still under construction. So instead of going back in to Czech we drove a little further into Poland toward another set of Golden Arches. I’m so glad we did because our drive home was right around sunset and it was stunning. Rain had been falling this afternoon, but the sunset peeked through the clouds while we drove and we were in awe of God’s amazing creation. A photo wouldn’t have done it justice!

There are some plans tomorrow do a little shopping with Steve and Judy in the morning after we take Titus to school. Right now I’m planning on staying home for the morning to get a little work done, but hopefully we’ll find something fun to do in the afternoon. They are only here two more days so we’ve gotta pack our time in and see what else we can show them! There’s also a rumor that Bethany and I will be taking a date night which just sounds really fun. Until then…goodnight!

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365 Czech Republic

Spring Rain

As you can probably tell from the photo below, it was a little rainy today. I don’t think the sun came out at all and I woke up this morning to rain hitting our windows so I assume there was just a little bit of a breeze. The temperatures dropped significantly from where they’ve been, but that didn’t stop Avery, Titus, and me from going outside later this afternoon and playing.

Polka Dots (3/27/15)

Titus was back at school today, but he struggled again this morning. He’s been out all week with sickness, so that’s not too surprising. Bethany took him this morning and he was really wanting her to pray with him, which of course she did. It’s hard to evaluate how he’s doing there, but we have noticed when we pick him up the other kids will say goodbye and he just kind of ignores them. This has always been a concern for me that he is doing the same thing to his teachers, but again we really don’t know.

Normally on Fridays we take Titus to school and then drive to our Czech lessons in a nearby town. But this morning our Czech teacher, Tamara, called and asked if we could do them at our house since she was coming this way with her son to see their family. Her coming to our place is great, but I actually ended up walking out of our lessons and laying down because I wasn’t feeling well. I ended up sleeping another two hours! I don’t know if my body is fighting something or I’m just actually that tired, but I ended up missing the rest of the lesson which Bethany finished by herself with Tamara.’

We just got back tonight from spending some time with another missionary family. The wife, Lauren, is going to be helping us with all the hospital and baby stuff and we had a great time talking through the details tonight. Lauren has delivered all four of her own kids here in Czech, speaks Czech, and is actually a certified doula in Czech! She knows a ton about the systems and how the hospitals work so tonight we had dinner together and our kids played with her kids while talked through some of the process of having a baby in Czech. Mostly it sounds similar to the States, but there are still many cultural things that are different and will probably come up. It’ll be nice to have Lauren’s help and we’re blessed to have her be part of this journey with us.

That’s all from me. Good night!

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365 Czech Republic

Czech Makes You Do Funny Things

Czech Silliness (3/11/15)

“You put the green book under the yellow head.” I think that’s the sentence that Landen was putting together in this picture. To the left you see his wife, Jenny, laughing because it’s hilarious how silly we look sometimes but how focused we are while we’re doing these things. You may not think that putting a green book under your chin with a color card would mean much, but for us it’s helping us understand adjectives and how those words change. In the Czech language the endings of words change often and that’s true of adjectives, like when you’re using a color to describe an object (e.g. “the green book”). So we’re building sentences from simple objects and trying to listen as Jenny tells us what we’re doing in Czech. Fun times!

Czech Sticks (3/11/15)

Another funny (maybe strange?) thing about Czech is an Easter tradition where boys use sticks to hit girls on Easter Monday (that’s not a typo, it’s the day after Sunday). Above is a photo Bethany got of those sticks today at the grocery and instead of trying to describe the tradition myself, here’s how one Web site explains it:

Young, live pussywillow twigs are thought to bring health and youth to anyone who is whipped with them. An Easter pomlázka (from pomladit or “make younger”) is a braided whip made from pussywillow twigs. It has been used for centuries by boys who go caroling on Easter Monday and symbolically whip girls on the legs. In the past, pomlázka was also used by the farmer’s wife to whip the livestock and everyone in the household, including men and children. There would be no Czech Easter without the pomlázka.

I guess I’ll make sure to keep Bethany indoors on Easter Monday!

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365 Czech Republic

Verbs, Czech, Love, and Optimus Prime

Friday Grab Bag (2/20/15)

We spent a more extended time in our Czech language study today and it was a mix of grammar and speaking. This morning we had our normal language grammar lesson with Tamara and we were working on verbs. There are so many forms that verbs in Czech take, it’s amazing. After some serious drilling and writing, I was feeling much better about it. Tamara has been a huge blessing and I’m very thankful for our time with her.

Above is a photo I took of Bethany during our second round of study today. We were doing our normal speaking drills with Jenny and Landen Llamas and we were building simple sentences like “I picked up the book” or “I put the book on my head” and I just had to get a photo of Bethany because it made us all laugh. You’re not really thinking about what you’re physically doing, but mentally just trying to put sentences together and I realized I should probably get a photo of it.

Friday Grab Bag (2/20/15)

As Jenny and Landen were leaving they found a package on our doorstep from America. Even though it took a little while to get here, we received our Valentine’s Day cards from Bethany’s parents which they have been sending to us for years now. There was an envelope for each of us and they threw in some of our mail that was delivered to them in the States. Bethany’s dad also included a handwritten note inside which was really nice. We don’t get much mail, so when anything comes it’s kind of special. Thank you, family, for thinking of us even on Valentine’s Day!

Friday Grab Bag (2/20/15)

Tonight we took a short trip to the grocery store as a family just for something to do. We only picked up a few things, but as we were walking around and just browsing I turned around to find Titus with this mask on (shown above). He kept saying, “Dad! Take a picture of me!” I didn’t realize until tonight that it was a mask of Optimus Prime from Transformers. Titus has no clue what that is, but I just love that he’s enjoying being a boy. While driving to the store he told Bethany he wanted to go on a date with her tomorrow. They have been talking about it for a while now, but I think it’s going to happen tomorrow. I just hope Titus has more ideas on what to do on a date in Czech because I’m just plain out of them!

We had some plans to make a little trip to Prague tomorrow to see our friends, but we’re delaying them until maybe next week. The youth group at our church is having a big party tomorrow and we would really like to be part of it. But we also want to get out and explore Czech. We’ve never really had much opportunity to spend time in Prague so we’re hoping to do that soon. It’s so crazy that we live in Europe.

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365 Czech Republic

Full Days This Week

Nationals (2/18/15)

I don’t like to talk about how tired I am, but at this moment I’m really feeling a little out of gas. The last few days have been longer than usual with different things going on at Josiah Venture, including the national orientation that I talked about yesterday. Above is a photo that I took this morning of the entire group and some of the leaders of the orientation. It hasn’t been snowing the last few days, but it was still pretty cold out and you can see just how much snow is still on the ground. I believe there are about eight different countries represented in that group and I was told by one of the leaders that they seem to be a really great group with lots of energy and interaction. Tomorrow I will be with them and sharing a bit about our story and how God used technology to help us connect with others during our support raising. I’m really looking forward to it!

Language, Language, Language (2/18/15)

We had our usual language talking time at home this afternoon and if you look on the far right (in the above photo) you can see we’ve added another member to the group. Our friend and teammate Daniel joined us today for some Czech language and we had a good time together. Mostly we’re making sentences like, “I took the bus to the store,” with really basic grammar and words. As has been true thus far, it’s amazing just what you can learn by repetition and listening.

Avery Paints (2/18/15)

I didn’t do a great job of being daddy tonight. Shortly after I took the photo above, Avery spilled that orange cup of dirty water all over the floor and me. I got pretty short with the kids and just in general didn’t have a good attitude. Bethany pointed it out to me and finally I realized I just needed to lay down, which I did for about 20 minutes. Tiredness is never an excuse for sin, but it definitely can influence it.

The night ended better and we enjoyed a good dinner, Bible time, and a new thing we’ve been doing with the kids which is there verse. Bethany has a little verse on the wall in their room and for the past week we have been reciting it with them. The kids and us say together,

When I am afraid,
I will trust in You!
In God I trust.
I will not be afraid.
Psalm 56:3-4

The kids have it completely memorized and they can recite it together and by themselves. It’s been fun to do and serves as a reminder to them that they don’t have to be afraid of the dark. I was blessed to hear them say it again tonight and am so glad we’re able to watch them memorize Scripture at such a young age.

Tomorrow we’re up early to head to the Foreign Police to receive our official two year visas. We won’t be going with a translator because we’re told it’s not hard to do, but you can definitely pray it goes well. Until then…

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365 Czech Republic

Memory Monday

Celebrating Daniel (2/9/15)

One of my teammates, Daniel, celebrated his birthday yesterday and a few of the missionaries here wanted to do something for him and celebrate. We decided that this morning would be a good time to take him out to breakfast and enjoy some fun together. After taking Titus to school, Bethany, Avery, and I drove out to a little cafe in Ostrava to join the fun. Breakfast places are actually kind of rare in Czech and this little cafe made some great food. I believe I had my first omelet in Czech and the only one I’ve eaten since leaving the States. I trust Daniel was blessed and I’m glad we were able to celebrate him while he’s so far from family and other friends. I hope it made a memory.

Snow Everywhere! (2/9/15)

The snow was falling all morning and this made Bethany’s drive back home a little challenging. I had actually caught a ride with Daniel to go back to the Josiah Venture office which is a different direction then our home, so I wasn’t with her. She ended up being about 30 minutes late picking up Titus from school but they were very understanding. It has been snowing all day since this morning and we’ve got at least four inches on the ground, even though it might be even more now.

Bethany was nervous about putting the car in the garage because she thought she would have to come pick me up due to all the snow that was coming down. I ended up getting a ride home, but here’s a photo of our car in the driveway as it sat when I got home. It took Bethany and I a few minutes to wipe it all off and put it back in the garage, but we were laughing and having a good time. It made a memory.

Snow Everywhere! (2/9/15)

Another really fun moment today was going to the post office. I can’t believe it, but I was able to send a letter to America and buy stamps all in the Czech language! Granted, I wrote everything down and had notes I was using, but it really doesn’t change the feeling of being able to actually do something in another language. As I walked out of the building I took the photo below of the outside just to remember the moment and I said out loud, “YES! I did it!” I have a renewed passion to do as much Czech speaking and learning as I can possibly do and today was a win in my book. It made a memory.

Post Office (2/9/15)

I also got a quick video of my excitement.

A video posted by Shay Thomason (@shaycam) on

Lastly, tonight we opened our February envelope! Each month we open an envelope from our small group back in the States. This was a really fun envelope from some great friends of ours. It’s bittersweet to see the notes and kind words from them and remember the sweet times we enjoyed with them. Thank you, friends, for caring for us and sending us these wonderful gifts. Here are a few pictures of the kids opening it up and some of what was inside.

Opening February (2/9/15)

Opening February (2/9/15)

A sampling of things inside were new toothbrushes for the kids, Burt’s Bess lip balm, new books (see below), coloring books, a puzzle, bead key chains (a craft for the kids), a drawing from our friend’s kids and a nice card for us.

Opening February (2/9/15)

It looks like someone was scanning our Amazon.com wish list. Thanks for these awesome books!

Opening February (2/9/15)

Opening February (2/9/15)

I tried to get them to smile for this last one, but it didn’t happen. Smile or not, they were happy to get these new fun things and so are we. Thank you!

Opening February (2/9/15)

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365 Czech Republic

Back in the Saddle…I Mean, Sedlo

Language Learning (2/6/15)

We were back at it this morning, continuing our formal language learning with our our Czech teacher. It felt really good to be back in the saddle and just pushing forward. Speaking of forward, that’s pretty much what we we were learning, that is, directions. In the photo below, you can see Bethany working hard at reading a sentence with directions on a map and then trying to understand where exactly we are supposed to go. Left, right, down, up, turn, forward, straight, go. These are the kinds words we were focused on.

Language Learning (2/6/15)

For me, today was one of my favorite lessons because I’ve begun to write down confusing sentences and words in my Field Notes notebook so I can ask Tamara (our teacher) about them and get some clarity. I like the idea of capturing words and then working on what I hear. If you look closely in the photo below, my notebook has sentences like “I am not stupid,” “I’m cold,” “Let’s go (forward)!” and “Nevermind.” Those might sound pretty scatter brained, but they are legitimate phrases I’m curious to know and now have in my book where I can review and see regularly. Our ears hear lots of things throughout the day, so being able to say, “What does that mean?” and write it down is just really helpful.

Language Learning (2/6/15)

We also had a little review time, which you can see in the photo above. Tamara was holding up photos and asking us certain things about the case (masculine, feminine, neuter) to see how much we could remember. Bethany was much better at recalling that info that me, so I have some studying to do!

Avery Shades (2/6/15)

We’re planning a little fun for tomorrow with the kids. It’s actually supposed to be sunny, but cold and we’re hoping to do a little sledding near the mountains. Titus has been asking me when Saturday is because we told him about it earlier in the week and he’s been pretty excited. We have a wooden sled that we got a few months ago, but I’m hoping we can find a plastic one on our way out of town. We’ll see how it goes!

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365 Czech Republic

Red Cheeks and the German Occupation

It continues to be a winter wonderland here in Czech even though it really didn’t snow too much today. The snow was piled high on the sides of the roads and sidewalks and while walking Titus to school today I saw multiple moms pulling their children on sleds. After I got Titus in to his class, I realized I forgot his bag so I ended up making the walk back home and then back to his school. When I returned I saw Titus sitting at a table alone, really focused on whatever he was coloring. I approached him and said something to him and he jumped. I saw a tear in his eye, like maybe he had cried after I left? It was a weird moment and I was reminded how hard this must be for him to be in school and not really understanding much of the language.

When Bethany picked Titus up in the afternoon, his teacher asked another mom who spoke English to translate. She wanted to tell us that Titus had been doing much better in class. This was good news to our ears as we have been really working with Titus on different things at home, especially listening and first time obedience. We tell him daily to listen and obey even if he’s not exactly sure what’s going on (which I’m sure is often). As a bonus, Bethany was excited that she met another mom who spoke English. She told me that she sees that mom often, so now she knows she can talk with her and maybe build a relationship.

Lots of Snow (1/26/15)

Bethany let the kids play in the snow this afternoon after Titus got out of school. Our Czech friend Misa came over and was spending time with Bethany and the kids. She brought some presents for the kids and a few things for us which was really nice. While they were playing Pani Musilova (our landlord) saw them playing and knew that Misa could translate for us, so she talked with them for a while. One thing Pani Musilova mentioned was that it was good for Avery to get “red cheeks.” After some really basic research (I asked 3 Czech friends), this may have 2 different meanings:

1) It could be a reference to an old Russian fairytale. I am quoting our friend who said, “An old Russian fairytale when the ugly step sister put tone of red blush on her cheeks to get the queen to look.”

2) It could be a reference to good health. From our understanding, and we could be wrong, Czechs will often let little babies take naps outside in the cold. Sometimes you will even see a stroller outside with a baby bundled up, but their little face exposed. It’s possible they think the cold air is good for the babies and small children?

Or maybe we’re just really confused? That’s very possible.

Red Cheeks (1/26/15)

Another interesting anecdote from that conversation which Bethany shared with me was about our landlord’s name. They were talking about Bethany’s pregnancy and baby names and Pani Musilova (Mrs. Musilova) explained that her first name “Helena” is actually the German version of the Czech name “Helenka.” She explained that she was born under the German occupation of Czech and they were only allowed German versions of the names. I’ve shared before that Czechs have their Czech Name Day where every day on the calendar is someone’s name day. All that to say, it was just crazy to think that she was born during the German occupation of Czech! I think Pani Musilova is really pulling for us to name this next baby with a Czech name, but I guess we’ll just have to wait on that.