Tag: dinner

No Delivery on Sunday

It’s possible that it could still happen with three and a half hours left, but there has been no delivery of the baby today. However, contractions have begun and things are definitely moving forward at this point. After I posted yesterday’s blog, Bethany was having regular “events” (as I’ll call them) with contractions happening about every hour. We were able to sleep last night even though she was contracting through the night. We honestly thought things were going to start heating up this morning so we decided not to try to get everyone to church in case something happened. But even though things have stayed constant, it’s still not enough to warrant a trip to the hospital. That being said, as I type Bethany has had some really regular contractions about fifteen minutes apart so we’ll see how this evening goes.

So without wanting to get too far from home, we tried to just stay around town today with the family. Mostly, we let Bethany rest at home and the kids, Papa and Nana, and myself walked the town a bit, played at the park, and played a lot in the back yard. Of course I kept watch on my phone, just waiting for any news from Bethany that would cause us to turnaround and head back towards our house, but still had a lot of fun walking and enjoying our little town here in Czech. I especially love showing Papa and Nana around and seeing their reactions to this little place. It reminds me of almost a year ago when we first arrived and had all of those same emotions. It’s wonderful to remember those days and to be to sort of relive them again.

I took a ton of photos today form our adventures, so here they are with captions beneath each.

Throwing rocks and sticks in the river is something we haven’t done in a while. You can see Titus on the right with his new sunglasses enjoying the beautiful weather and water. It’s still so fun to be able to walk to these places which are so close to our apartment.

Late this afternoon, after everyone had a nap, we spent some time in our landlord’s garden just sitting and swinging. Papa made some coffee so he and enjoyed some great conversation and time together. Later Titus joined us and wanted to swing with Papa so I got this photo of them. Hopefully Titus will learn from his Papa much wisdom!

Here’s a view I have often of Avery when she wants me to hold her. I was pitching to Titus in this moment but looked down and saw just how cute she was, so I got a photo.

I couldn’t resist. I had to get another one of Avery. She was showing me how she could twist her arms which she thought was pretty awesome.

While walking to dinner tonight we saw this ice cream cone that was freshly dropped on the ground.

We took Papa and Nana to a local Czech/Italian restaurant tonight (Bethany came too!) and the waitress brought the kids some colored pencils and coloring books. Titus was really proud of this one and said, “Dad, take a picture.”

After dinner we caught the tail end of a little kids festival in our town square, so we ended up buying a couple balloons. Avery had her heart (and eyes) set on this flower balloon which I couldn’t resist buying. This was her face when we got it tied to her wrist which was just hilarious.

Finally, here are the kids running towards our place with their new balloons. Even though we’re still waiting for baby, we’re enjoying the time together and having fun!

Tags baby, balloons, dinner, family, kids, park, river

365 Czech Republic

Papa and Nana Go To Poland

I don’t believe the sun has come out a single time since Papa and Nana arrived, but we’re doing our best to make the most of this rainy weather. Tonight we decided to make our way across the border for a little dinner out. Technically, we could’ve walked but with all the rain we decided to drive and stay dry. We took everyone to the place that Bethany have been to just a few times, a nice little restaurant on the town square in Cieszyn (photo of the outside below).

For Papa and Nana, this was really their first European meal experience and they loved it! We all ordered something different and just enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere and the rain coming down outside. Titus and Avery did pretty well while we all talked and just spent the evening together as a family. There’s something very nice about restaurants here that is not common in Southern California, mainly the calm and quiet. You don’t find yourself yelling over the table to have a conversation or feeling rushed by a waiter trying to get you out the door. I think Papa and Nana were very impressed with the meal and loved all the new flavors. We even had time (and room in our bellies!) for dessert which included Tiramisu, ice cream with hot raspberry sauce, and hot apple tart. Not a bad way to enjoy a meal out with Papa and Nana!

After dinner the kids wanted to run around the fountain in the town square and despite the rain we decided to let them. They had their rain boots on, so “jumping in muddy puddles” was first on the priority list. Papa and Nana had their phones out and were capturing personal photos and video and the kids were as happy as clams. I was very content just watching them play with my hood on and rain falling all around. I think for all of us it was a really great evening together as we wait for the arrival of baby #3.

Bethany is still feeling those early contraction pains, but nothing has been too intense yet. Our Czech friend Romi is coming over tomorrow afternoon to help finish up some final paperwork that we need for the hospital so that will be a huge help and load off of us. I’m really hoping we’ll have everything in place before Bethany goes in to labor because it’s already complicated enough just having a baby in a foreign country. Continue to pray for us if you think about it!

I continued to battle sinus headaches today and this afternoon it got really bad. I tried to lay down, but just couldn’t fall asleep as my head was pounding. I’m not exactly sure what’s going on, but this is about as bad as it’s been since I first started experiencing sinus problems back in college. I’m experiencing a little relief this evening, but am hoping that this pain will subside soon. I can handle headaches for a short time, but when they go on for hours it’s really hard on me. Again, if you think of us, pray for me and this continued health struggle.

I don’t want to end on that low note because today was a pretty fun day for all of us. We’re excited to have family here and even more excited about meeting this new addition to our family!

Tags dinner, Papa and Nana, Poland

365 Czech Republic

Dinner With Friends and Day One With Papa and Nana

Post author By Shay
Post date May 25, 2015
1 Comment on Dinner With Friends and Day One With Papa and Nana

Today was the first full day of Papa and Nana in town, but without the arrival of baby #3 it’s business as usual in our home. Titus was off to school this morning and I was off to the JV offices for a few meetings. I still continue to battle sickness for some reason and today was actually kind of a harder day for me (at least the first half). After my first meeting this morning I ended up coming home around lunch because I had a very bad sinus headache. I did my second meeting on the phone with my teammate but just was battling what was the most severe sinus headache I’ve had in a while. Coughing was actually the worst because it just made my head pound, so when I got home I took two Tylenol, ate a quick lunch with the family, and took a nap. That seemed to help but it still took another hour or so to get relief.

Papa and Nana got good rest last night as they begin the process of getting over jet-lag. With a nine hour difference from the West Coast to here it’s definitely hard to get adjusted. Nana was up at 4:00am, which is hard, but Papa was able to get a little more rest this morning. It’s almost 9:00pm here right now and they’re still awake which is a good sign!

Tonight we enjoyed dinner at our friends the Stephens house. They had wanted to have us over before the baby came and we were able to make it happen tonight, even with Bethany’s parents in town. Brian (who’s house we were at) has his parents in town as well so we had a great meal together and enjoyed just hanging out. Brian’s wife Aliesha just had a baby in Czech six months ago, so they are a big help in navigating some of the Czech health system and were answering some of our questions tonight. I had kind of forgotten about all the other paperwork items related to a new passport and social security number for the baby which we’ll end up doing in Prague shortly after she is born. The weeks ahead will be full and tiresome, I’m sure, but we’re continuing to look the Lord for strength and energy!

In the suitcases that Papa and Nana brought was a new book called Big Truths for Little Kids which is a children’s catechism that one of our supporters bought us. Papa read it tonight to the kids and I’m really like the question and answers as well the stories that go with it. Avery seems to be very interested in it and asking her questions like, “How many gods are there?” (answer: 1) and “How many persons in the Godhead (answer:3) is just fascinating to me. Without her understanding everything, she is able to begin to get her little mind our the Trinity. Above is a photo of Papa reading to them.

Every night I read to the kid from their Big Picture Story Bible. Above is a rare photo of all four of us tonight that Papa took while I was reading. It really is a joy to read and teach our kids the truth of the Scripture.

Finally, when we got back tonight from dinner I decided to let Titus park the car in the garage. Here’s a video Papa got:

OK OK, he wasn’t really parking the car by himself. He was sitting on Daddy’s lap!

That’s all for day one with Papa and Nana!

Tags dinner, friends, kids, Papa and Nana

365 Czech Republic

A Czech Anthem and an English Speaker

Post author By Shay
Post date April 10, 2015
No Comments on A Czech Anthem and an English Speaker

We had our regular Friday Czech lesson with Tamara today and we did something a little different and special. After our normal lesson (which I struggled through today), Tamara showed us a song that from what I understand was an anthem during the Velvet Revolution in Czech. Tamara had actually showed Bethany the song a few weeks ago, but I missed that lesson because I wasn’t feeling well. So today we were at Tamara’s house and she is also a musician so she showed us the song on piano and even allowed me to strum along on her guitar. Bethany got a video and you can hear Tamara playing and signing, although you won’t understand the words (sorry about that).

A Czech Anthem from Shay on Vimeo.

For the past few days Bethany has experienced the most discomfort she has had in this pregnancy. She still has about eight weeks to go, but yesterday and today have been pretty hard on her. Tonight we decided to go for a walk to a local restaurant because she really wasn’t feeling up for cooking and a walk sounded nice. But during the walk she was definitely uncomfortable. Thankfully the place isn’t far from us, so we didn’t have to walk for long. If you think of it, definitely be praying for her as we start to enter the final stretch here before our third child is born.

During our walk Titus and Avery were being pretty cute, and the weather was amazing so here’s a few photos.

We enjoyed a really nice dinner, but it’s still very frustrating to not be able to speak enough Czech to order. Our waitress tonight actually spoke great English, so that was a blessing, but going to eat is a constant (I mean, constant) reminder of how much we don’t know of the language. For me it’s really frustrating and often affects my attitude. I definitely had to get my heart right tonight during dinner because I’m struggling with language and also trying to train our kids to stay seated and not be too loud, etc, etc. Often when all of those things collide at dinner I find my attitude changing and have to remind myself that this is all a process (both parenting and language learning).

As we walked back from dinner tonight we passed a lady who heard us speaking English. The kids were being crazy after dinner so we were focused on them, but the lady turned and said something to me which I just assumed was in Czech. I say, “I’m sorry, I don’t understand” in Czech and she said to me in a perfect English accent, “Oh, that’s OK.” We ended up talking with her for a few minutes and she’s from England and teaches English in our town. If I understood her correctly, she has been here 10 years and has met other Josiah Venture missionaries like us. Outside of other missionaries, we rarely meet native English speakers so it was kind of fun. We told her there were other American missionaries like us in our town and she she said she would look out for them.

Tomorrow we’re heading to Poland to do some photos for about 16 different families and individuals. The weather is supposed to be incredible and we’ll going to the Josiah Venture training center in Poland which is a beautiful place. I think the kids are going to enjoy all the places to run and play there and I’m excited to do a little photography for a change. Until then…dobrou noc.

Tags anthem, dinner, kids, song

365 Czech Republic

Enjoying Spring and Burger King

Post author By Shay
Post date March 24, 2015
No Comments on Enjoying Spring and Burger King

The kids might be battling sickness, but that didn’t stop Bethany from making sure they got a little sun today. We had a nice warm day today (around 60 degrees) and in the afternoon Bethany and the kids had a little lunch on our driveway. Bethany sent me this photo (above) of Avery relaxing in her chair. Every time I look at it I start laughing. Both the growth of our kids and their personalities is just a joy to watch. Avery especially has been making us laugh a lot this week with the things she’s saying. She has been so talkative and full of questions. I love to watch her explore and figure things out. Below you can see Titus playing on my skateboard. He too has been growing a ton and continues to surprise us as we see his gentle heart come out. He love his little sister, even though he often is way too rough with her. Titus requires a lot more energy right now, but I’m also seeing him mature so much. Please continue to pray for them as they cough and sneeze and hopefully are still able to get some rest tonight.

Speaking of children, I took a silhouette photo of Bethany (below) because today marks the 30 week mark in her pregnancy. While praying with Titus and Avery at bed time tonight Avery reminded me to “Pray for the baby to come, Daddy.” Pray we did and I was thankful for the reminder to ask the Lord to continue to grow this new life inside of Bethany. As the day approaches, I’m getting more excited to meet this little girl and watch her grow and change. This Friday we’ll meeting with another missionary to talk through hospital stuff and birth plan for the Czech hospital. I think we may have found a good place to deliver, but we still need to take a tour and see what we think.

We needed to go to the mall to get a few things tonight, so we decided that after our Czech lessons late this afternoon that we would eat out. Tonight’s speciality was Burger King and the kids loved it. Burger King in Czech is way better than the States and I say this without any hesitation. Maybe you’re thinking “well, that’s not too hard,” but I can say that it genuinely hit the spot tonight and we all enjoyed our food. We’re finding that Czech has absolutely changed both are taste and appetites. The kids really wanted “prince” and “princess” crowns as they called them and during dinner they were telling each other “Hello, prince” or “Hello, princess” and bowed to each other. They were especially happy tonight for some reason, but I’m definitely not complaining. We had a fun time together and I told Bethany when we got home, “I needed tonight.” It was a really fun evening that ended with a great cup of coffee.

Here’s two photos of the kids being silly at dinner.

Until tomorrow…good night.

Tags Burger King, dinner, family, fun, kids, silly, spring

365 Czech Republic

Camping in the Living Room

Post author By Shay
Post date January 8, 2015
No Comments on Camping in the Living Room

While I was on the phone, Titus burst in to room and exclaimed “Dad, we’re going camping!” Confused, I shook my head at him and finished my phone conversation. A few minutes later I came into where Bethany was and said, “What’s going on?” Apparently Papa (grandpa) came inside telling everyone, “We’re all ready to camping!” What Papa didn’t know was that the little three and four year old ears would take him literally. Now, Papa wasn’t really saying we were about to camping but he was excited about his new trailer hitch for his tent trailer that he installed. After the kids calmed down from their own excitement, Papa came up with a plan to camp in the living room instead. So he set up a tent in the living room, threw some sleeping bags in there, and the kids were camping in no time.

Unrelated to camping, here’s a photo of the kids with their younger cousin, Jude, while playing on the iPad. The moment didn’t last long, but I thought it was fun to see them all so engage in what was happening.

Tonight we had dinner out and outside the restaurant were some art pieces, including this one of a saddle. The kids tried it on for size. I think the stirrups are a little low, but overall Titus was a good fit.

When we got back from dinner there was a large box waiting for us on the doorstep. It was our new stroller! We only have one chance of getting the stroller back to Czech, so we had to secure one while we were here. This one will be much better for the sidewalks in Czech and with the baby due in June we’re excited to get him or her out on the town! The kids were excited too and climbed in to it and test it out.

That’s all from me tonight. Tomorrow is the rehearsal dinner for Bethany’s brother’s wedding and we’re all getting excited about the festivities. Good night.

Tags camping, dinner, stroller

365 Czech Republic

Making Little Memories

I don’t know what memories my kids will have when they are older. I think about that sometimes when I’m playing with them. Will they remember this moment? Like today, we were outside and I decided to have some fun with them and “go on a hunt for pinecones!” We were just in the backyard and there was a wheelbarrow and lots of tiny pinecones scattered on the ground. I told the kids, “Find as many pinecones as you can and we’ll put them in here!” So off we went. Will they look back on our time today and remember what we did?

Whether the memory sticks or not, we had fun. Pinecone hunting was a success and every time they found one on the ground I would get really excited which made the kids just want to find more. In the end we had enough to cover the bottom of the wheelbarrow.

Beyond the pinecones, we just played more outside today. You can see in the photos Avery wearing little “butterfly wings” (as she calls them). She was really attached to them (no pun intended) today and just wanted to wear them most of the afternoon. Here’s a few more photos of us playing.

Tonight we had dinner with friends who have spent about eight years overseas serving in Germany. It was fun to talk with them and swap stories about living in a different country and culture. The husband of the couple we were with is our main contact at one of our supporting churches so he keeps up with us on a regular basis over email. It was a fun and relaxing dinner that ended with a short time of prayer. What a joy to have such special people around us.

After dinner we brought the kids home, put them to to bed, and Bethany and I went out for dessert. We have the blessing of having grandparents who can stay at the house while the kids sleep and so we took advantage of that tonight and enjoyed a late night out. That time is so crucial and it was really nice to just talk and enjoy a little ice cream. We need more time like that!

Tags dinner, fun, kids, memories, pinecones

365 Czech Republic

Christmas in Yakima

Today we celebrated Christmas in Yakima with Bethany’s side of the family.

I’ve been writing for the past few days that there’s been a bit of a delay with Christmas as we’ve been waiting to get the entire family together. Everyone was here this morning bright and early, and we enjoyed breakfast and cinnamon rolls on the floor by the tree. Bethany’s dad read Luke 2 and we enjoyed opening presents and giving gifts to each other. We had a great time together and we were blessed to receive lots of new books, clothes, and toys as a family.

We alway start the present opening time with stockings and work from youngest to oldest. The process takes a few hours, but it goes quickly and is great to watch all the responses. Everyone in the family keeps a wish list active that the rest of the family can pull ideas from, so it’s always fun to open presents and things that you may have added to your list a while back. I’m especially excited about the new books that I got this year. Everything from new Bible commentaries to business books to poetry, all of these will keep me busy for years to come. The kids were also blessed with books, along with a Buzz Lightyear costume for Titus, and a Jessie (from Toy Story) hat for Avery.

After presents we took a break (and naps!) and rested in the afternoon. Besides some snacking, we skipped lunch and planned for a big meal out together at a local restaurant in the late afternoon early evening. We reconvened about 3:30pm to take a family photo together. For all I know, it’ll be a few years before we get to do another photo like this again.

Dinner tonight was incredible. We haven’t had a big, American style dinner out in six months. I was so excited to eat a cheeseburger with real American cheese! We had fun being loud and enjoying the family time out. The restaurant is a new place that’s only been open for a few weeks here in Yakima (shown below). The food was delicious and I ate way too much. On the bright side, I shouldn’t need to eat for a couple of days!

Our time here has been sweet, restful, and fun. For me, I think this has been a recharge and a God-ordained trip to just think and rest. Czech is not the easiest place, but I’m so thankful for what God is doing in that part of the world and how he continues to stretch and grow us in order to use there. Tonight as we were driving home from dinner I actually missed Czech. It’s our new home and even though we have had a lot of fun here, I look forward to being back there and continuing to pursue all God has for us, good or bad.

Tags Christmas, dinner, food, fun, laughter, presents

365 Czech Republic

Restarting Formal Language Lessons

Post author By Shay
Post date November 12, 2014
2 Comments on Restarting Formal Language Lessons

We’ve been trying for quite some time now to secure a new language teacher that could help give us formal Czech training. This has been a little bit of a challenge because it seems like there just aren’t that many Czech instructors near us. You can find a lot of people who teach English, but not that many for Czech. Today, however, we were back in the saddle and reengaging in formal instruction with our new teacher Tamara. She teaches Titus’ Sunday school class at church and teaches Czech to at least two other missionaries. It was a great time today and our two hours together was a blessing for sure. We worked a little bit on some of the basics, some Czech rules, and really focused a lot on our pronunciation. Even though we’re doing more listening than speaking, it’s good to know how something is supposed to be pronounced. Bethany and I are trying to avoid building bad habits in order to make our Czech sound better. Hopefully it will all pay off in the end! Above is a photo of Bethany (left) and Tamara (right) working through one of the lessons and below are just some cards for distinguishing between certain letters and sounds.

We took Avery with us today to lessons since Titus was in school. Here’s a photo (below) of her playing a little table at Tamara’s house. Tamara is also a music teacher so you’ll notice the instruments along the back wall, including the piano clock/bookshelf that she and her husband made! Pretty cool.

We found a box of mini spring rolls at the store today so we went for a pretty Asian dinner tonight. Bethany made rice with chicken and terryaki sauce and we added in the little spring rolls to complete the meal. More and more we’re excited about being able to make things from scratch and just see how it turns out. That being said, I still had to manually type all of the directions for baking the spring rolls in to Google translate to see how long and hot how we were supposed to cook them. How did missionaries survive before Google!?

After dinner Avery rode Titus around the living room like a horse. I got a photo because we were all laughing.

Finally, right before bed the kids decided to do a little coloring. Our refrigerator is packed with these drawings, but hey…they’re only this young for so long.

Tags dinner, kids, language lessons

365 Czech Republic

Scratch That

Scratch that. Never mind. Just kidding. I guess Titus isn’t starting school on Monday.

This morning Bethany called me because she had just gotten of the phone with someone about Titus’ preschool. The school actually had to rescind their offer of a open spot for Titus because of a strange law in the Czech school system. Another boy who needs to go into primary school (aka first grade) had to take the spot that Titus was filling because he needs at least one year of preschool before he can move up. Or at least that’s how I understood it at this point. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of this story was…you know, lost in translation. Honestly though, I don’t know if I was ready quite yet for Titus to start school. I had come to terms with it and we really feel like him starting will be a huge ministry for us with other kids and families, but it all did feel really rushed so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens. There’s actually still a chance another spot could open up so we’ll just take it one day at a time.

You may be wondering why there’s a photo of a microphone above. That’s from today at the Josiah Venture offices where our team was working recording a voiceover for a video we’re working on. For me it’s really interesting how God uses all of the things I’ve learned in my life to do the work I’m doing here in Czech. There was a time in my life where I did live sound and have done a little recording and now I’m having to pull some of those skills back out of my mental junk drawer. We got a really good recording today and I look forward to finishing the video with my teammate Daniel. I believe it will bless many and be a testimony to what God is doing over here with Josiah Venture.

Bethany and the kids had a little picnic today in the square since the weather was nicer today. They ended up seeing our friend Kristin and her son Beni too so they played for a bit. Bethany tells me that Avery was picking leaves for me. Here’s a few photos from their afternoon, including one of the church from a different angle than we usually post.

Tonight we had a bunch of friends over for dinner that live in our town. It’s nice to be encouraged by each other and of course let our kids play together. The boys and Avery had fun playing outside and then playing the Wii inside. Bethany made a delicious soup and we had a nice fruit crumble for dessert. God has blessed us greatly with friends and teammates near us to support and encourage each other. I do believe this is an answer to prayer from our faithful supporters and of course a testament to God’s amazing grace in our lives. Psalm 118:28-29 says it this way, “You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you. Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!”

Tags dinner, friends, picnic, preschool, recording