Tag: fun

A Day of Water

Below our apartment we have a basement where our landlord has given us some space for storage. As I was carrying some boxes down the narrow stairwell I stepped off the final step and my foot was suddenly submerged in water. Since I had boxes in my arms I kept walking towards where our space is down the hallway. After turning the light on and opening our storage room door I saw water all over.

Some places were deeper than other but there was water anywhere between a half inch and two inches deep. By God’s grace we had only stored a single cardboard box down there and a few suitcases, but the box was saturated halfway up. It was kind of a mess to clean up because that box was packed full of baby stuff so we had to clean it out, put things in the washer, scrub things in the tub, and get rid of all the wet cardboard. I decided that if a little rain can flood it down there that it’s probably not the place we should store stuff. For now we’re going to ignore that space and figure something else out, but that was just an added project today that you can’t anticipate.

I’m really glad we had plans to hang with Kevin and Daniela Dickson this afternoon at their house. The Dicksons serve with JV helping direct the EXIT tour ministry here in Czech which uses music to reach young people (that’s a very short summary!). They live about 20 minutes from us kind of tucked away in a valley by a mountain. It was just nice to get outside today in their backyard and enjoy the beautiful weather we had. Swimming was on the agenda so we brought our swimsuits and we and the kids had a great time in the pool together. We also enjoyed some BBQ sausages, hotdogs, and pork outside and the food was fantastic. Here’s a bunch of a photos of our time at their house today and the beautiful Czech countryside.

Above is a photo of the Dickson’s daughter Anna, just in case you were wondering.

We have been so welcomed by the Josiah Venture family. Bethany and I were talking on the way home just how great that has been for us and how connected the JV missionaries are to each other. They have all been so hospitable to our family and we are blessed to be part of such a caring and loving group of people. Thank you Daniela and Kevin for reaching out to us and for making us feel welcome here. It means a lot to us and we praise God for you, your family, and the ministry the Lord has called you to.

Tags Dicksons, flood, fun, water

365 Czech Republic

Rain, the Sandbox, and How to Dad

Post author By Shay
Post date July 28, 2014
1 Comment on Rain, the Sandbox, and How to Dad

Lightning struck, thunder rolled, and it rained a lot. They say that in July is the wettest month in this region. I believe it. Today’s storm packed a punch and when the lightning started it didn’t stop for a while. I shot the below video today while at the JV offices. We have those ceiling windows which made it fun to look straight up at the raining pouring down. If you watch closely a white lined appears about 3-4 seconds in and that’s actually a flash of lightning that my iPhone can’t seem to handle.

When it rains we pretty much have to keep the kids inside, especially when it comes down like it did today. But after I got home this evening things had cleared up so I took the kids to the park while Bethany went to the store. We have some visitors coming tomorrow and Bethany wanted to make sure we had enough food while they stay with us. More on that in tomorrow’s blog!

Titus wanted to take some sand toys to the park so we carried (well, Avery carried) the buckets over and we walked down the street to the closest play area. Even though it was a little muddy the kids took their shoes off and began to dig. Titus said, “Just like the beach!” so I just went with it. We packed the buckets as much as we could and started to build a castle fortress. That’s what dad’s do, right? Our job is basically to up the awesome in whatever we’re doing with the kids (sometimes to the chagrin of mom!). So I got down in the sand and we filled up some buckets and built ourselves a castle. I actually had a lot of fun. It was wet, my hands felts weird from the sand, but the kids were laughing and loving it and that made it all worth it.

Later tonight the kids had a little snack at the table and I was finishing up some of my own Bible reading and just happened to be in Proverbs 4. I told the kids, “Let me read to you from my Bible.” In dramatic fashion I was reading to them from that passage which is a chapter written from a dad to his son. When I got to Proverbs 4:7 I said, “Get wisdom!” Bethany then brought me a little book we have called “Get Wisdom!” that is written as a little study for kids and parents so I flipped to the first section on “Listening” and the kids and I worked on their listening skills. Then we flipped to “Orderliness” and we started cleaning up the room and putting all the toys away.

During those moments I was reminded how important it is for dad to be dad, especially when it comes to spiritual things and leading my kids. It’s not that I didn’t know that, but I just had a fresh reminder of it tonight. I need to be able to play with them in the sandbox and practice with them in our house. I need to be able to “Wraskel” (wrestle) with them in our bed and then work with them and help them grow.

That’s probably why I was so impressed today by a commercial that Cheerios released on YouTube this past week. For the first time in a really long time it’s actually in praise of dads. So often in advertising the dad is seen as inferior to mom and kind of an idiot, but in this ad Cheerios actually praises fatherhood. At one point the dad even says, “Dadhood isn’t always easy because when a rule is broken we’re the enforcement…but when a heart is broken we’re the reenforcement.” Now that’s a message I can get behind–that’s how to dad.

Tags fun, kids, rain, sand

365 Czech Republic

First Haircuts

Believe it or not, I was genuinely concerned about getting a haircut in Czech. I think it’s because for the past 6.5 years I could literally walk downstairs at Paul Mitchell where I worked and April would cut my hair. Nobody wants a bad haircut. If you get a bad haircut, you’re stuck. For at least 4 weeks, maybe 6 you have a “thing” sticking out of your hair some place or one side is just not right now or… who knows?! But today, my fears were washed away in a nice salon sink on the 2nd floor of the building with the ATM at the bottom. Actually, they were washed away twice and she used some nice L’oreal soap!

Titus and I both got great haircuts today! Zuska is awesome and even though she can’t speak any English and I can’t speak any Czech she understands me gesturing with my hands. For Titus, I showed her a photo Bethany gave me of some kid on Pinterest and she took very literal, to point that she busted out the hair dryer and was flipping Titus’ hair up in the front exactly like the photo. It was great. My favorite part was when I was getting my hair cut Titus had to go potty. So Zuska saw him doing the potty dance and took him to the bathroom, helped him with his pants, and he came back out with his shirt tucked in (which we never really do). Again, it was great. Zuska even brought Titus some books to read while daddy was getting a trim. It was fun day. Titus and I walked back to our apartment from the salon and showed mommy. She was happy, I was happy…it was great.

Tags fun, haircuts, Titus

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

Family

Avery Is 2

Today is Avery’s 2nd birthday.

We have been in Kentucky spending time with my (Shay’s) family and we knew we would be celebrating Avery’s birthday while we were out here. Though we weren’t able to invite a bunch of friends and family, we had fun today unwrapping a few gifts and taking Avery to Chick-Fil-A for some chicken and a peppermint shake (OK, maybe the shake was more for Bethany and I but it’s a good excuse). Bethany baked some cupcakes which we’ll enjoy later, and hopefully tonight we plan on going to see a Christmas tree lighting in Louisville or a nearby town. And you know I wouldn’t leave you without a few photos so here’s some of Avery opening presents.

Tags Avery, birthday, fun, kids

Family

Snow Day

For the first time since we arrived at Mission Training, the weather actually did what it said it was going to do: snow! We woke up to a blanket of white and the fluffy goodness just kept on coming for the entire day. For us Californians this is a wonderful change of pace and our family especially loved it. Titus and Avery were really excited to get out and play in it, so here’s a few photos.

Tags family, fun, snow

Family

Garden of the Gods

Don’t judge us, but we skipped church this Sunday. It’s not because we don’t like church–in fact, it’s the opposite–we love church. We miss our home church and wish we could spend more Sundays there. But this past Sunday we decided it would be nice to take a mini “staycation” and enjoy some of the beautiful scenery here in Colorado. Many people have told us about Garden of the Gods (or The Garden of God as we like to call it) and we wanted to see it. Thankfully, it’s only thirty minutes from where we’re staying, so we packed up the minivan and ventured out. It was a beautiful day, although a bit windy, but we enjoyed God’s creation and I snapped a few photos for you to see.

Afterwards we went out for lunch and then hit a fun ice cream shop that was recommended to us by my sister and brother-in-law called Josh and John’s. Yum!

Tags fun, Garden of the Gods, landscape, photos, rocks

Family Friends

Day Out With Thomas (and Titus!)

Post author By Shay
Post date April 24, 2013
No Comments on Day Out With Thomas (and Titus!)

For Titus’ third birthday we really wanted to do something special, and since Nana & Papa (aka: the grandparents) were flying into town to celebrate too, we thought we would go and enjoy the Day Out With Thomas event that was happening just 20 miles from our house.

If you’re not familiar with Thomas, he’s just a simple train engine that gets himself into trouble on occasion and has to find the right way to solve his problems. Titus really likes the show and honestly, who doesn’t love trains?! But every year in a little town near us called Fillmore, they host a special Thomas event where you get to ride a full-size Thomas train and enjoy some county fair-like activities. I was pleasantly surprised by how well done it was and Titus really, really loved it. It was a great start to an extended weekend with our family, and below are a few photos our time together. But for the full experience, you can view all 26 of our photos (with captions) on my Flickr page by clicking here.

Tags birthday, fun, Thomas the Tank Engine, Titus, vacation

Family

Hipster Kid

Bethany pulled out our little blow up pool this week and set it up on the patio. Yes, it’s the middle of March and our kids are swimming on our patio. This week’s weather in SoCal has been in the upper 80’s and beautiful. Definitely not the best weather to get us ready for Czech Republic, but such is life!

Tags fun, kids, patio, summer, Titus

Family Videos

Christmas Tree 2012

Every year for the past 4 years we have put together a video of our family decorating our Christmas tree. It’s been a fun little tradition that we’ve enjoyed doing together. This year’s video is up and you can watch it below. For past years, you view them here: 2009, 2010, and 2011.

Christmas Tree 2012 from Shay on Vimeo.

Tags Christmas, Christmas tree, fun, video