Category: 365

A journal of every single day of the first year we lived in Czech Republic (2014-2015)

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

Polish Mother’s Day and Papa and Nana Are Here!

Post author By Shay
Post date May 24, 2015
2 Comments on Polish Mother’s Day and Papa and Nana Are Here!

Happy Polish Mother’s Day, I guess? I’m still trying to figure out if that’s what we were celebrating at church today and I have a feeling I’m at least close on that guess. Poland celebrates Mother’s Day not on Sunday, but on May 26th every year. We were tipped off by another missionary that our city (which is literally on the border of Poland) would be celebrating the holiday this weekend. The town square had lots of things set up and today at church there were all kinds of special things going on.

Titus and I were the only ones that went to church today because Bethany just isn’t feeling well and I didn’t want to have to try to wrangle both Titus and Avery (thus Avery stayed home too). When we got there things were already in motion and the kids were lined up in the hallway to go on stage. I didn’t know this was going on, but they tried to hand Titus some flowers and usher him on stage too but I just ended up taking him upstairs since we didn’t really know what was going on. By the time we got up there, the kids were in place on stage and music had begun so I got my camera out and started getting video (shown below). We also took the above photo to send to Papa and Nana because while we were at church they sent us a text message updating us on their trip progress. They had just landed in Amsterdam and had one more leg of their trip to Prague. You can see just how excited Titus was!

As fun as Polish Mother’s Day is, it pales in comparison to Papa and Nana coming to town! We spent the afternoon getting the house ready but the kids were asking all day, “Is it time to go get Papa and Nana!?” Their train wasn’t schedule to arrive until about 8pm tonight, and it was running just a few minutes late. But we ended up coming over to the train station and finding a spot on the platform where Bethany could sit and we could wait for them. I wasn’t positive which platform they would be coming in on, and I really wanted us all there to receive them when they got off the train. Incredibly, the spot we chose couldn’t have been more perfect. We sat and waited and just happened to be sitting right where their train door opened! Here’s a video I got of them pulling in which was really fun.

Papa and Nana had a pretty good trip from Seattle, but they did have one little hiccup in their trip when Papa fainted on the airplane. He said he felt like he needed to walk around a bit and headed towards the bathroom on the plane when he fainted and he told us when he came to “there was a Dutch doctor and a Norwegian nurse working on me.” He got a few scrapes on his face from the fall, but overall he’s doing alright. They made all their connections, all their bags arrived, and they made it on to the train towards our house all by themselves. Not bad for their first time flying to Czech! They also came bearing many gifts for us, including lots of our Christmas gifts that left in the States when we visited them this past Christmas. The kids of course were going crazy about everything and it was like Christmas in May in our living room as the suitcases were opened. There’s so much I could say her, but it’s getting late and everyone needs to get some rest. Here’s a few more photos from our time tonight and we’re excited about three weeks with Papa and Nana in town for the birth of baby #3!

We forgot to grab Avery her jacket before we left for the train station, so I gave her my sweater and she was all bundled up as we waited for Papa and Nana.

We decided to just walk home from the train station. I brought the car to bring the bags, so Bethany drove the stuff home while we all walked. It was just all part of the experience of coming to Czech. Avery held hands with Nana and just kept telling her about everything. It was a lot of fun.

Above you can see Titus and Avery opening the suitcase which held all the goodies. In the second photo Titus got to open a belated birthday gift from his uncle and aunt which Papa and Nana delivered. This was just part of the fun and there was so much excitement in this house for every little thing that we opened. It was a lot of fun and I was really happy to be reunited with some of my books that I got for Christmas as well other things that were brought over. Not bad for day one with Papa and Nana!

Tags family, Mother's Day, Papa and Nana, Poland, visitors

365 Czech Republic

Pickle Balloons and Pregnancy Update

Post author By Shay
Post date May 23, 2015
1 Comment on Pickle Balloons and Pregnancy Update

Beneath the small children and balloons is me. You can see a little bit of my shirt between the pink balloon and the chair I was sitting in and we were in the middle of a game I made up on the spot. I don’t really have a name for it, but basically the kids gave me “pickles” (aka balloons) to eat and after “eating” them (acting it out) they told me, “No, they’re not pickles, they’re balloons!” to which I would immediately begin to spit out the pretend yucky tasting balloon and make a weird face. This was all part of the birthday party we went to today for our friends the Yorman’s son Caleb. He turned eight yesterday and we had a fun time celebrating with him and all his little buddies today at their house. The party was mostly a fun hangout time for the kids, but with a Star Wars theme and a whole lot of Legos. They even had a home made Star Wars Ewok pinãta which Titus took a couple whacks at. Here’s a little video:

Bethany had kind of a rough night last night of sleep. She had a bad headache that kept her up really late (I think past 2am) and the baby was moving a lot which made her uncomfortable. She’s definitely in the home stretch here, but it’s the literal stretching the baby does inside the womb that can also cause significant discomfort to Bethany. Pray for her tonight as we’re hoping she’ll get better sleep and be more recharged. The hardest thing would be to have little to no sleep and then for her to go into labor. If that’s what the Lord has, so be it, but sure would be nice to have rest before things start getting more intense. Even tonight she was having some pains after dinner which weren’t really contractions, but painful enough!

We talked with Bethany’s parents tonight on the phone and they are sitting at the airport in Seattle, ready to take off for their final destination of Prague. We are so excited to have them here and can’t wait to pick them up at the train station tomorrow!

Tags birthday, friends, party

365 Czech Republic

Theatrics and Retirement

We walked to the post office today. It was just Bethany, Avery, and me because Titus was at school. I was surprised that Bethany came considering she’s in her final week of pregnancy, but when I asked her why she wanted to come she replied, “just to get a little exercise.” It did feel nice to walk, even in the cool mid-fifty degree weather we had today. Avery couldn’t make the entire trip and finally said, “Daddy, can you carry me?” I guess those little legs of hers aren’t quite up to Czech standards yet. We’ll have to work on that.

Titus did a little walking today too with his preschool class. They went to the local theater to see some kind of performance and I was pretty surprised that they walked. After checking on Google, I found out that’s a half a mile walk, one way. For a group of preschool age kids to go a mile to see a one hour play is pretty impressive. Apparently they weren’t walking very fast because when Avery and I walked to pick him up, there was no one there except a bunch of parents hanging out around the school building. As each parent would approach the building I would hear them saying in Czech, “No… theater…” or at least those are the words I could pick out. About fifteen minutes later we saw the kids walking down the street and when they arrived Titus’ teacher told me in broken English that they were going to eat lunch and it wold be another fifteen minutes. I said, “no problem” and Avery and I just played in the school yard for a little bit together. I took a few of photos of the fun (below).

We’ve been counting down the days until Papa and Nana (Bethany’s parents) arrive for their first trip to Czech. They will arrive some time on Sunday and we’ll go across the street to the train station to pick them up (that’s still so cool to do and say). The kids are so excited and both of them keeping reminding us that it’s only “2 more days” until Papa and Nana come. We actually sent Nana a little video message today because this trip also marks the beginning of her retirement! Today was her first day “off the job” so to speak so we took the kid to the back yard and made a short video of them telling her “Happy Retirement Nana!” We hope you had a great day today and we’ll see you soon!

Tags Avery, fun, park, play, retirement, theater, tunnel

365 Czech Republic

Rainy Day in May

If this was California you would think it was winter. It was about 50 degrees today and rainy, a far cry from the 70+ degree weather we’ve been enjoying lately. Honestly, it doesn’t bother because I think the colder air and rain keep the bugs under control, especially those pesky mosquitos. For the kids, however, it’s a bit of a bummer because that means they don’t get much outside time which they have been loving so much. Even now at almost 9:00pm the rain continues to come, but I know warmer days are sure to come.

Now I want to talk about dogs. I mentioned a few days ago about a little black dog that has been coming around the JV office and after Bethany read that particular post she said it sounded like I don’t like dogs. I just want to set the record straight and be clear that I actually do like dogs. I grew up around dogs and enjoyed many great ones, but maybe they set the bar too high for me because I rarely find a dog anymore that I like as much as the ones I grew up. This may be true for a lot of people who had childhood animals, but I like to think that ours were just a cut above. Numerous times my Dalmatian, Sparky, saved me from imminent danger and was kind of like my best boyhood pal. When a dog like Sparky shows up then I might care more, but until then I think that little black dog at the office is just a little nuisance.

This evening our friends from Poland stopped by with lots of goodies because they know how sick we’ve been. I was especially excited to look in to the bag and find some of this Polish fruit juice that we love so much. It was so kind of them and we’re excited to try some of the new foods they brought us that we’ve never had before. Bethany actually made potato soup tonight which really felt right with all the rain today. Warm soup on a cool day just makes sense. Unfortunately for me I wasn’t able to completely enjoy it because I still can’t taste anything. One week running with no sense of taste is just, well, bland.

Tags dogs, food, May, rain, taste, weather

365 Czech Republic

Avery Tried to Eat Money and Titus Broke Glass

Post author By Shay
Post date May 20, 2015
1 Comment on Avery Tried to Eat Money and Titus Broke Glass

Avery tried to eat a Czech crown today. Thankfully it was the smallest coin of the lot, but in her attempt to do so it caused her to throw up…all over our bed. Avery has been sick like the rest of us, and kind of like me, she’s slow to recover. I realize she’s only three years old, but when she gets sick it lingers. Today she found a little pile of coins on my night stand (I will often empty my pockets at night and leave coins there) and in the process just decided to see what it would taste like. As Bethany describes it, Avery immediately threw up and then told Bethany, “I ate the money! I ate the money!” and then it actually came out the second time she threw up just a few seconds later. Thankfully she didn’t swallow it and her body did what it was supposed to do–that is, reject foreign objects. Bethany gave her a bath afterward and she seemed to be feeling better. Crisis avoided, I guess. Well, at least the first one.

Later today, Avery was napping and Titus was having “rest time” after he had come home from school. Sometimes Titus will nap in our room while Avery naps in their room because it’s just easier for Avery to fall asleep. Titus doesn’t nap every day, but we still like him to have a little rest time even if he doesn’t fall asleep, which was exactly the case today. Bethany was in the living room when she heard a crash in the bedroom and upon arrival there Titus was sitting on the bed with a broken glass picture frame. It had begun to rain hard this afternoon and he got up to look out the window and when he did that he knocked the picture frame on to the floor, thus breaking the glass, but then he decided it pick it up (yes, even the broken glass) and put it on the bed. When Bethany got there he was crying, not because he was hurt (thankfully), but because he was sad about breaking it. He said to her, “Mommy, I’m sorry. I’m sorry!” She told him she didn’t care about the frame but wanted to make sure he was OK. He was and all was alright. I think it was just shortly after this event that I received a text from Bethany which read, “It’s been a rough day. Do you know when you’re leaving?” (as in, when I would be leaving the JV offices). I left the office soon after and came home.

Bethany is 39 weeks pregnant and she’s been pretty uncomfortable the past few days. Today was hard on her, but she still amazes me with her attitude in the midst of it. She wasn’t complaining when I came home, but just mostly tired and in need of help. I did my best to pick up the house and help get things cleaned up (including the glass) but my job was so minimal compared to hers today. I tried to explain this to Titus tonight when he wanted to play with me. I said, “Buddy, mommy has been taking care of you and Avery all day and now she needs our help. We need to work and help her and then if we have time we can do something else.” The kids did help me. They picked up different things and Titus helped me vacuum. They also recognize when mommy needs help, even though they don’t always know what that looks like.

Thank you, wife, for always being an example to me of godly character in the midst of life’s chaos.

Tags Bethany, coin, glass, hard, mommy, money, rough

365 Czech Republic

Doctors, Kids, Dogs, and Taxes

Post author By Shay
Post date May 19, 2015
1 Comment on Doctors, Kids, Dogs, and Taxes

Today was spring cleaning day at the Josiah Venture offices. This was a first for me, but it’s an annual event that’s actually on the schedule for us to clean anything and everything. For the international team, this not only includes our own offices, but also the garages (yes, plural) with tons of ministry materials that tend to get disorganized over the course of the year. I actually arrived late (shucks!) because Bethany had her last doctor’s appointment with her OBGYN. From now on she’ll be meeting with the doctors at the hospital that she’ll be delivering at because she’s officially in her 39th week! She’s only nine days away from her due date and we can’t wait to meet this little baby girl.

Speaking of baby girls, I got the above photo of Avery this evening as we were playing in the yard. She was just looking really cute and staring at me so I grabbed my iPhone and got this shot. Almost nightly we go outside and play, which usually means Titus and I play tennis, baseball, or basketball while Avery walks around picking daisies and telling me stories. Almost all of her stories involve animals of some kind, but I was surprised by tonight’s tale of “monsters all around.” She ended up giving me “monster powers” so I could fight all the monsters which turned in to Titus and turning our tennis rackets in to what I’ll describe not as guns, but as Ghostbuster-like weaponry (cause guns aren’t for kids, ya know). These kids never cease to crack me.

There is a dog that continues to come around the JV offices and she was there today was we were cleaning out everything. I believe she has an owner with a garage near ours, but almost every day since the cold left us she has been around. Often I found her chasing butterflies and just wandering around the office. She seems friendly and everyone has fun petting and playing with her, but I still feel at odds with her. I actually like dogs and grew up with many of them, but I can’t seem to commit to this dog. I foresee and ongoing saga on how I feel towards this canine, so you’ll have to stay tuned for that. In the above photo you can see her wandering through the grass.

I spent a lot of time tonight working on our taxes. I haven’t written much about it (or at all) on the blog, but we’ve been on the search for someone to help us with international tax law as things get really complicated when you move overseas. By God’s grace, one of our friends in the States was able to get us in contact with a guy who has 32 years of experience in taxes, along with a ton of clients who live overseas. I was able to speak with him on the phone tonight and we’re getting things moving which is great! Now you might be thinking that April 15 has already passed and we missed the deadline. Well, that’s actually a bonus of living overseas because we get an automatic extension. I’m really hoping our new tax guy can help us and get us all those wonderful deductions we cherish so much. He was really great on the phone and I’m excited to kind of get that stuff of my shoulders.

I’m still not feeling great and don’t have my sense of taste back. In fact, I actually had a lot of sinus pressure today that was really bothering me so that’s a bummer. If you think of us, continue to pray for health. The kids and Bethany seem to be recovering quickly but I trail behind still clinging to my box of Kleenex.

Tags Avery, dog, kids, office, sick, spring cleaning, taxes

365 Czech Republic

What Happens At Czech School Stays At School, Unless Of Course Someone Speaks English And Tells You All About It

Post author By Shay
Post date May 18, 2015
1 Comment on What Happens At Czech School Stays At School, Unless Of Course Someone Speaks English And Tells You All About It

Today was a very beautiful, sunny day. It was a very bright spot (pun intended) in an otherwise sickness filled week. Titus was back in school and I was back in to work even though we both still have congestion and coughs. As I dropped Titus off at school I heard other kids with similar symptoms as his so two things ran through my mind: 1) I’m glad it’s not just us and 2) I don’t feel so bad bringing my recovering kid to school. I thought for sure he would be sad after another week out of school and he was for a moment, but he was quick to jump in to the class and play with toys. Bethany called me around lunch time after she picked up Titus from school and told me all about his day. Apparently the class walked to the fire station (which is literally across the street from our apartment) and got to play with the fire hose. Titus said that they “pretended the big tree was a fire and squirted it with the hose.” Sounds like fun if you ask me! He said he enjoyed it so that’s definitely a bonus.

Later this afternoon Titus and I had an appointment to get hair cuts which we did and Bethany ended up walking over with Avery to meet us for ice cream. We’re glad it’s both warm enough for ice cream and the little shop that we like is open. We ended up just staying outside in the sun for a while and enjoyed our ice cream and just hung out on the benches in the town square. The kids love running around the big fountain there and since other kids were around playing they just ran around with their “friends” (any kid that’s in Titus’ vicinity is his friend). While out and about we ran into the English speaking mom I met a while back at Titus’ school and Bethany had never met her before. They were introduced and we were talking for a bit near the town square while all of our kids were playing.

She has two kids, a girl and a boy who are both very close in age to our kids. Her son and Titus are actually in the same class and he speaks English! This turned out to be very interesting when I walked up to him and talked with him and he said, “Did you know that Titus hits us at school?” Oh boy…come again? “Yeah, it’s not all the time but he hits us.” Of course I looked to Titus when the boy was sharing this insight and he denied it, but then began to say that they boys hit each other. “They hit me too, Dad.” This turned into a longer chat with Titus and then of course with Bethany as to how to process forward with this new revelation. Pray for us. I don’t say this jokingly, but we always need prayer as parents in regards to wisdom and handling situations and these are new for us. Like any parent, you don’t love to hear your kid is hitting other kids and you definitely don’t want to let it go un dealt with. Things just get a little more complicated when you add a language barrier between us, the teachers, the other parents, and the other kids.

With that I’m off to bed. I’ve got a bit of sinus pressure that won’t go away at the moment and it’s causing a headache. On the bright side, I was able to taste that ice cream this afternoon which is the first thing I’ve been able to enjoy for a few days now. Sadly, my taste went away again around dinner…oh well. Such is life.

Tags boys, kids, school, sunny, Titus

365 Czech Republic

Tasteless

Post author By Shay
Post date May 17, 2015
1 Comment on Tasteless

The inevitable appears to have happened: Bethany got sick. She woke up this morning feeling stuffy like the rest of us and now we’re hoping here super pregnancy hormones will allow her to bounce back faster than we are (I don’t know if that’s scientifically proven or possible, but I can dream right?). Needless to say with everyone hacking, sneezing, and sniffling we didn’t make it to church today. I took NyQuill last night and was out cold so even when I woke up I was pretty groggy. Bethany can’t take anything really because of the baby so again we’re just hoping she doesn’t get it as bad. To further complicate things, Avery threw up tonight at dinner which means she’s still battling. I ended up buying three boxes of tissues at the store last night and I’m pretty sure I already single-handedly used up a half a box. It’s just been one of those sick days that have become oh so common for us.

Something that’s kind of new for me is whenever I get sick I have been losing all sense of taste. I say new because it’s only really been in the past year or so that I’ve experienced this phenomena. I’m pretty sure it’s just related to how congested I am, but for the past three days I have been unable to taste anything. It’s very strange to bite in to a banana or eat a salad with dressing and taste nothing. My brain has the memory of what it should taste like, but there’s just nothing there. I hate it. You realize really quickly the incredible grace of God that exists in your sense of taste when you don’t have it anymore. God didn’t have to make food taste different. He could’ve just made it tasteless and only allowed food to give your nourishment. Instead He made food taste different and internationally we have some many different varieties to enjoy. That’s a grace of the Lord that I’m missing today.

We did manage to make it outside for a bit today. Titus and Avery love all the dandelions growing right now and at one point Titus just laid down in the long grass near the park where we walked to tonight. I took this photo of him because he looked so happy. It’s nice to see such joy in spite of sickness. That’s the heart I want to have right now. It truly remind me of the words of the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. This is my prayer this evening,

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Tags glory, gospel, sense, sick, sickness, taste

365 Czech Republic

Coins and Cleaning

I found the kids this morning sitting on the kitchen floor “reading” the newspaper (shown in the photo above). Actually, it’s not a newspaper, but an advertisement for a kids store here in Czech and apparently they found a few things of interest and were spending time talking about what they wanted to buy. I took this photo because in my mind they were just some old couple hanging out on a Saturday morning, drinking coffee, and reading the paper. Every few seconds Avery would say, “Can I get this one?” and point to some Disney princess thing and Titus was finding every Lego item on the page saying that’s what he was going to buy. We’re actually trying to teach them about money and how to save and think about things so we’ve been giving them “jobs” around the house which pays a few Czech crowns. It’s all really fun until they realize they don’t have enough money to buy the things they want and then the tears start flowing. It’s all part of the learning process.

As for the rest of the day we really just spent time cleaning and hanging out as a family. It was nice to get some things back in order and have the kids help clean up and do a little work around the house. We’ve had this annoying baseboard in our living room that kept coming off so I finally got some glue that I’m hoping will keep it on. We made it through all the dishes and I’ve got another load ready to go, and Bethany has been working on cleaning the sheets and getting the kids’ room a little more orderly before Papa and Nana come next Sunday. Speaking of Papa and Nana, we also spent time with them over Skype/FaceTime this evening as they prepare to fly next Saturday for their first trip to our place in Czech. They are mostly coming to help with the new baby, but we’re hoping to get them out to see some of Europe if we can. They are also bringing us some American goodies which will be fun too!

OK, that’s all for today. We’ll see ya tomorrow!

Tags grandparents, kids, money, Saturday, trip