Tag: family

Christmas (Part I)

“Go big or go home.” It’s a phrase I use often, mostly joking, to describe certain situations or even little things like ordering lunch. But I guess when it comes to Christmas it’s “Go big AND go home.” I only say that because today we celebrated Christmas 1 of 2 here in Yakima. That’s how we’re describing it to our kids who by Tuesday will have celebrated Christmas 3 different times. Today’s Christmas was at their great-grandmother’s house where we opened presents and shared a big meal with Bethany’s mom’s side of the family. I remember being at it last year and us saying goodbye to family with no intentions of seeing them for at least two years since we would be moving to Czech. Little did we know that we would be back this Christmas celebrating together once again.

The format is simple: eat and then open presents. Bethany’s grandmother always goes big on the gifts and I think she spend a certain set amount on everyone, though this still remains a mystery to me. I am pretty excited about my new pocket knife, shirt, and three more volumes that will be added to my MacArthur commentary set! Bethany was given a new necklace, salt and pepper shakers, and some clothes. Avery got some kitchen toys, including a working cash register and a stand mixer (think Kitchenaid) which she calls her ice cream maker. And Titus was pretty pumped about his big play ship thing that folds up. We’re definitely thankful for the wonderful gifts and kindness of our family!

Overall our energy levels were better today and we were all up at 5am. I think we’re gaining an hour of sleep every night. It’s such a bummer to have to turnaround and flip back to Czech time in just a few weeks, but that’s just part of the life we live right now. Christmas part 2 will be on Tuesday will complete the triple Christmas celebrations we have had. It brings excitement for gifts, but a little anxiety as to how exactly we’re going to get all of this stuff back to Czech!

Here’s a few more photos from the afternoon.

That’s Titus and Avery with their second cousin Savannah.

Tags Christmas, family, gifts, meal, Yakima

365 Christianity

A Trip to Prague

Oh, you know how it goes. You spend two days packing and making sure everything is ready to go. You stay up late the night before the big trip just to make sure you’ve packed everything. A few things get added to your luggage, you mark off your packing list, and then you zip up your bags and put them by the door for an early departure. Then, you barely make your train. But barely is still making it!

The train ride today was a lot of fun and I’m actually really glad we got to experience this trip in this way. It’s 4 hours from our place to Prague, but we had our own little mini room with four seats and plenty of space for our all of our stuff. The trains here are incredible and come complete with free coffee, free juice for the kids, and even free WiFi–not to mention pretty reasonably priced tickets. It’s just really nice to be able to sit and relax on the train and let someone else do the driving.

We are staying tonight in a hotel by the airport and will depart early tomorrow morning. Our Czech friend Martina sat with us on Sunday to explain just where to go and how to get around Prague and we had no trouble figuring it out with her directions. To get to the hotel we took a train, a bus from the main train station, and then a shuttle to the airport. It was a lot of maneuvering of baggage and kids but we made it work.

One of the highlights was on the bus from the train station to the airport where we talked with a young college student from Instanbul named Umur. He’s studying mechanical engineering in a town near ours but was traveling back to Turkey to see his family for the holiday. He was a really nice guy and was laughing and smiling with our kids. We talked about Turkish kabobs, which he told us were the real ones, and just chatted about different cultures and language. Near us were some young girls who gave their seats to our kids and they were from Portugal. Since everyone spoke English we had fun chatting and joking. It’s so fun to be around so many different cultures and people from different nations. I truly do praise God for the opportunity to talk and meet these young people today.

We had a simple dinner tonight and are getting prepped to give the kids baths and get a short night of sleep. We’ll be up early tomorrow (around 4:30/5:00am) to get to the airport for our 7am departure. Hopefully we’ll get good sleep and be ready for the big 17+ hours of travel ahead of us!

Here’s a bunch more photos from today.

Tags family, nations, Prague, train, travel

365 Czech Republic

Traditions and an Early Christmas

Post author By Shay
Post date December 20, 2014
No Comments on Traditions and an Early Christmas

Traditions are important. I haven’t done a big study on the topic or read any books, but I think one of the main reasons people like traditions is because they are a constant in the midst of a changing world. No doubt some traditions need to go, but some are ones we look forward to year after year.

Bethany grew up with the tradition of enjoying breakfast, cinnamon rolls, and reading Luke 2 all on the floor around the Christmas tree. This tradition has carried it’s way in to our family and it’s one we now enjoy. Today we celebrated our own Christmas on the floor around the tree. With traveling to the States on Christmas Eve we felt like we should just have an early Christmas of our own here in Czech before we leave. Below is the mini-feast we enjoyed today, complete with cinnamon rolls.

We didn’t tell the kids a single thing about the plans for this morning. Bethany had the big blanket laying out by the tree and Titus, “Hey, what’s this blanket doing here?” We told him to look under the tree and when they saw the all the presents they were giddy with excitement. Once the food was ready, we brought everything out and enjoyed our eggs with cheddar cheese, bacon, coffee, orange juice, and of course the cinnamon rolls. After we finished we cleared the area for present opening. I took the photo below of the kids before we started opening presents.

Below are the photos I got during present opening. Nut much explanation needed, just a lot of happy faces and excited screams.

Here’s Titus playing with his new sword and shield. We bought these at the Christmas market in Poland on Monday. He loved it!

This afternoon we did a ton of work cleaning the car and the house. We want things to be nice and tidy for when we return from the States in mid January. Bethany also worked on making chicken and dumplings which we enjoyed for dinner! While we were outside cleaning the car, our landlord came down and gave our kids a little plate of cookies and gingerbread gifts. This little house (below) she gave to Avery has incredible detail!

Titus and I had to walk to post office this afternoon as well, so I got a few photos of the amazing weather we were enjoying. The sun was shining and even though it was a little windy, it was just a nice walk.

It was a really fun day and I’m excited were able to make it happen. Tonight we reminded the kids just why we celebrate Christmas–the birth of Jesus. I look forward to celebrating it again next week with our family in the States.

Tags Christmas, family, fun, presents, tradition

365 Czech Republic

Slowing Down

There’s something about Saturdays here in Czech that have been much different than the ones I remember in the States. I realize we’ve only been here just under six months, but more than ever I am finding that Saturdays here really cause us to slow down. Oh sure, we’re still working around the house and getting things done, and maybe it’s mostly in my head, but I feel like today especially got to just take in the day and enjoy my family.

The photo above is proof positive of what I’m talking about. The weather was strangely warm today (high 40s). Oh sure we were still bundled up, but in comparison to freezing rain temps it’s like a heatwave. We walked to the little grocery store near our place as a family and on the way we were passing a little restaurant that we like. It was actually around lunch time and even though Bethany and I weren’t that hungry we decided to go in and have the kids split a pizza while us parents ordered just soup. Normally we don’t just stop what we’re doing and go eat at a restaurant like this, but I think we were just walking, enjoy each other, and thought, “Hey, why not?” I guess for that’s slowing down for us. Anyways, I just love Bethany’s face as she’s looking at Titus while he searches the menu for the pizza he thinks he wants.

Maybe it’s the walking? Czechs walk everywhere and when it’s all so close it makes it really easy. Walking makes you slow down. You have to be patient to get to your destination. You don’t have to stress out about finding a parking place. Walking makes you move slower by default and forces you to take in things at a slower pace. Maybe that’s what I really liked about today? Even as we walked by the church we see ten times every day, I took this photo of the kids (above). Bethany said, “I don’t know what it is about that church, but I think it’s pretty.” That’s what slowing down does. Even when you’ve seen something a thousand times, you might see it in a different light when you’re just slowing down and enjoying it.

I think the church is pretty too. I love when the golden sun shines on it. I don’t know how many photos I have taken of it out of our kitchen window, but I found myself grabbing my iPhone and shooting another oner today (below).

We’re going to be doing a little more slowing down the next few days which will be really nice. Bethany and I have some planned time away and thanks to some friends it’ll just be us two for about a day and a half. But I’ll save all that for another blog.

Tags family, slowing, walking

365 Czech Republic

Saturday With the Carlsons

Post author By Shay
Post date December 6, 2014
No Comments on Saturday With the Carlsons

We had a wonderful Saturday today spending time with another missionary family in Poland. I believe the Carlsons have been in Poland for about 18 years now and have enjoyed their ministry there immensely. Back in July we visited them, but it was fun to reconnect again at their home and just talk about what’s going in each of our lives and share a Saturday together.

My biggest takeaway from today was just how important it is to have older families in your life. God has graciously allowed older families in to my family’s life over the years and I have learned much from them. Invaluable tools have been handed down to me in regards to parenting, my and Bethany’s relationship, ministry, leadership, etc. from older men and women. That’s part of discipleship and I really don’t care how old you are, there’s always something to learn and there’s always someone who has gone before you and would be able to speak in to your life. I tell myself all the time, “Never stop learning.” Maybe I’ve even written it on this blog, but when you stop learning, you stop growing. Growth is part of being a human, and it’s definitely part of being a Christian. We are constantly desiring to grow in Christ-likeness and to look more and more like Him every day. But if I sit still and don’t work at it, there won’t be any growth. It takes work.

All that to say, we were blessed just to chat with the Carlson family and learn from their time on the field and to hear their insights in to what helped them along the way. Topics like parenting, language, and friendship. The key now is to work through the things we discussed and make a game plan for how to implement change and grow in those areas. By God’s grace, we will do just that and even look more like Christ in the end.

This was Avery playing with a balloon at the Carlson’s house today. I know she just turned 3 a few weeks ago, but she really looks older to me here.

Tags Carlsons, family, mentor, ministry, Poland

365 Czech Republic Videos

Our 6th Annual Christmas Tree Video!

Post author By Shay
Post date December 4, 2014
5 Comments on Our 6th Annual Christmas Tree Video!

I’m very excited to present the 6th annual Thomason Christmas tree video! This year’s has a special message hidden inside, so you’re going to have to stay with us until the end. We hope you enjoy it. Merry Christmas!

Want to the previous years? Here’s a link to all the videos!

Tags Christmas tree, family, tradition, video

365 Czech Republic

Training and Painting Pumpkins

Post author By Shay
Post date November 1, 2014
1 Comment on Training and Painting Pumpkins

Saturdays are usually are rest day and we enjoy a big breakfast as a family (often that’s Swedish pancakes). However, today I was attending some training with the international team at Josiah Venture (JV). The training was led by Steve Patty (brother to Dave Patty, president of JV) and focused on how to do research for evaluating the effectiveness of a ministry. That might sound like a mouthful, but it was very insightful, helpful, and instructive. Essentially, Steve was trying to put into our hands the tools to evaluate how ministries are doing by asking the right questions and being able to discern through what kind of data to collect and what kind of data is actually going to be helpful in the actual evaluation. For those on the international team this is a great tool for evaluating all the different ministries that JV facilitates. Mostly I appreciated Steve’s focus on how to as ask questions and what categories different types of questions go in. All in all I thought it was a great morning and am thankful for JV’s commitment to continue to build up and train it’s staff and leadership.

Yesterday I mentioned that I was having a sharp pain in my side for most of the day. I didn’t sleep great last night, but it did feel a little better this morning as the pain had mostly subsided. A lot of people were asking me about it at the training this morning and I was still feeling some discomfort, but not like yesterday. Hopefully it was just a one day thing, but who knows? My takeaway right now is it’s helped me think and talk about where exactly I would go to see a doctor and what to do in a more emergency situation. I still have questions about that process, but at least it got me talking to other people and allowed me to get a little insight in to just how that works over here.

While I was at the training this morning, Bethany and the kids decided to pain the pumpkin we got a while back. She gave them each half of the pumpkin to decorate. Titus painted a face that had pointy teeth and Avery just went for full coverage. The kids told me all about it when I got home today, and here’s a few photos of the fun (one above, two below).

We had homemade pizza for dinner which I thought turned out great! On one of the two pizzas we baked we used spicy BBQ sauce and topped it with bacon and mushrooms and it was delicious. After dinner we video chatted with Bethany’s parents and her grandmother (shown below). The kids are always so excited to see family, even if it’s over the computer. As always, I’m thankful for the time we get to connect with family.

That’s all for today. Time to hit the hay. I rhymed.

Tags family, pumpkins, training

365 Czech Republic

Getting Excited About Fall Conference

Post author By Shay
Post date September 11, 2014
1 Comment on Getting Excited About Fall Conference

Even though my team is hard at work on a lot of different projects right now, I’m getting excited about our upcoming fall conference. I think it’ll be the largest Fall conference JV has put on and many youth ministry leaders throughout Central and Eastern Europe will be here. Today I was asked to teach a little session extra session one evening on using social media in your local ministry. This is something I’m actually pretty passionate about and I’m excited for the opportunity to share what I know and how I think God can do amazing things through all the new media we use today. Pray for me that this would be a time to help these national pastors and leaders, and hopefully spark a fire in them for greater impact in their ministries.

I’ve been in the office every day this week and my team has it’s hands full. We’re making a training Web site, writing blogs for JosiahVenture.com, creating conference videos, and I’m trying to work through stories for another book we’re creating. All of these are happening simultaneously so our office feels a little crazy right now. Yet despite the busyness, I was happy to have Bethany and the kids out at the office for most of the day today. It rained a lot, but Bethany deck out our kid with boots and rain jackets so they enjoyed the weather together. We all had lunch together and they basically stayed around the office until I was finished this afternoon. Above is a photo of us walking back to the office from lunch and below are a few of our kids.

Bethany went to one of the grocery stores near the office because we don’t have one in our town (the JV office is 30 minutes from where we live). Apparently they found some Cars themed noodles and Titus got really excited so Bethany grabbed a box. Titus actually brought me the box (photo below) to my desk tonight and said “Dad, take a photo of it.” From the look of the box, I think it’s an Italian import. I checked Google Translate and the box says, “Pasta with tomato and spinach.” It’s no Kraft macaroni and cheese, but I guess we’ll give it a whirl.

Tags fall conference, family, noodles, projects

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):

Go baby elephant, go!

If you look closely at the above photo you’ll realize just how close our kids are to the lions.

And this (above) is a shot that Titus got of the lion as he was walking away.

I love that Bethany took photos the pretty things the zoo has.

Remember these? You put the coin in and watch going round and round. So fun.

Avery loves the flamingos! She kept telling me that she was going to show Titus how to stand like one.

The kids zonked out on the drive home. Great day and I’m glad the family had so much fun!

Tags animals, family, kids, zoo

Family Videos

5th Annual Christmas Tree Video

Post author By Shay
Post date December 21, 2013

For the past five years now our family has made a little video of us buying and decorating our Christmas tree. It’s been a fun tradition and one that brings lots of fun and new memories. Come join in a little of the fun we had this year by watching our video below or clicking here.

Christmas Tree 2013 from Shay on Vimeo.

We hope your own Christmas is a joy and blessing to you and your family. Merry Christmas!

P.S. Looking for the other Christmas tree videos? You can view them all by clicking here.

Tags Christmas, Christmas Tree 2013, family, fun, tree, video