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365 Czech Republic

Banana Bread for Breakfast

Still Jet Lagging (1/21/15)

“Daddy, we’re having banana bread!” That’s what Avery told me around 4:00am this morning while I was laying in bed. Admittedly, I didn’t get up until about 45 minutes later, but she wasn’t joking. When I stumbled in to the kitchen, Bethany was wide eyed and the oven was baking away a fresh banana bread loaf with Nutella (shown above). She had been awake since 2:30am and finally got out of bed around 3:00 and got straight to work apparently.

Still Jet Lagging (1/21/15)

As I’m sure you figured out, we’re still jet lagging and we’ve been home for a week now. Even we’re struggling to understand and believe it. But I guess we’re making the most of it. Today we had banana bread at 5am, enjoyed a cup, and even read a devotional. I even had time to read my 10 chapters in my Bible reading program. After all that, Titus and I started working on cleaning the house and he was getting serious with the vacuum (as you can see in the photo above).

Still Jet Lagging (1/21/15)

Even though it’s been a little cold (mid 30s), the kids have been wanting to go outside and do bubbles. In the above photo you can see them dancing and playing outside after Titus got home from school today. It’s fun to see them enjoying the weather, even when it’s colder.

Still Jet Lagging (1/21/15)

Titus’ teacher told Bethany that we should speak more Czech to Titus at home. When I took him to school today, I spoke a little with her in Czech and she seemed pretty happy about it. If we could teach Titus more Czech, we would, but since our own understanding is so limited it makes it tough. As I talked with his teacher this morning I can only get so far before I just say, “I’m sorry, I don’t understand” (in Czech). It’s never easy to feel like you can’t continue a discussion (or even a relationship) because of the language limitation, but it’s just reality for us right now. Bethany and I have come to the conclusion that we’re not going to continue to feel bad about it, but just do our best to plow forward with learning and trust God for the rest of it. It might be a slow process, but eventually we’ll have opportunities to complete sentences and conversations!

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365 Czech Republic

Snowy and Sleepy

I am struggling to understand just exactly why our kids won’t sleep past 11pm. We have done everything to keep them awake for as long as possible, but this jet lag has been brutal. Today marks our 4th full day in Czech and I really don’t think the kids have moved from the West Coast time zone. Bethany played with them from 11pm-2am and I got up around 2:30/3:00 and haven’t slept since. The kids took naps around 9am this morning, but we kept them very short.

Snowy and Sleepy (1/18/15)

It doesn’t really get light outside until around 8:00am right now, so it wasn’t until about that time today that we saw all the white outside. Apparently it snowed last night. Clearly it wasn’t a blizzard, but it was enough to cover everything and make it look nice. This is actually the first time since we’ve been in Czech that we have seen the snow on the ground. We were gone during some of the snow around the beginning of the year. It’s mostly melted now, but it looked really fun outside today (as you can see in the photo above of our yard).

Since the kids were napping, we didn’t go to church today, so Bethany and I decided to go ahead and take down the Christmas decorations that we left up before we went to the States. We got the Christmas tree ornaments down and most of the other things around the house. A lot of it is still sitting on our living room floor, bust mostly it’s all boxed up and just needs to be put away.

Titus and I did a few errands today, one to the hardware store and then to get some groceries. I had to walk every aisle at the hardware store to find Velcro, but we did eventually figure out where it was. Six months ago that would’ve drove me nuts, but today I planned on it taking forever and knew we would be hunting for a while. I’d say that’s progress.

I’m too sleepy to continue typing so this is where I’ll leave you. Here’s to hoping we can make it past an 11pm wake up time.

Categories
365 Czech Republic

It’s Good to be Home

We made it to 2:00am today. I went to bed last night at around 7:30pm, so that’s actually a pretty good night’s sleep. And I’m learning to live with jet lag. In fact, I was really productive between 3:00 – 7:00 this morning. Went through emails, wrote people back, worked on my to-do list, got things in order for next week, did puzzles with Avery, and even had time to get a shower in there! By 8:00 I was out the door and doing a little shopping for Bethany.

I feel like Bethany and I are tag teaming the whole jet lag with little kids thing. When I’m awake she rests, and when she’s awake I usually take a break too. Unfortunately, today all three of them fell asleep in the afternoon while I was working so we had to get everyone up around 2:00pm. Now we’re hoping they’ll still sleep tonight.

Besides jet lag, I was thinking today that it’s really nice to back in Czech. Being away for a bit was nice, but it’s been nice to be home. The weather here was amazing today and even yesterday when we went to Bethany’s doctor visit our drive was incredible. The sun was shining and the air was clear so you could see for miles (or kilometers!). I feel more comfortable here than I’ve ever felt and I hope that continues. I mean, I was even excited to go grocery shopping today and I don’t know why. I guess I’m just not as nervous about it like I used to be (don’t get me wrong; I still had an issue with my debit card while checking out, but that’s pretty much normal). Again, it’s good to be home.

It’s barely 5:00pm as I finish this blog and I could fall asleep at my desk I’m so tired. I’m hoping to make it until 8pm, but we’ll just have to wait and see. If you’ve been praying for us, thank you! Transitions are always hard, even if they’re just from one time zone to another. Here’s to hoping we can sleep in until 4:00am tomorrow!

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365 Czech Republic

Captain’s Log: Jet Lag Edition

Jet Lagged Family (1/15/15)

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

    18:30 – Just arrived home in Czech Republic from America
    18:45 – Kids are crying a lot from exhaustion
    19:00 – Avery fell asleep
    19:15 – Titus is crying still
    19:30 – Titus fell asleep
    19:31 – Bethany and I fell asleep.
    23:30 – Avery is wide awake and crying
    23:31 – Titus is also awake now
    23:35 – Bethany gets up, plays with kids, makes “breakfast”

Thursday, January 15 2014

    02:00 – Bethany came back to bed and I’m up with the kids now
    02:30 – I’m making myself a bowl of cereal
    02:45 – It may be the middle of the night, but I feel great and am loving this time with the kids!
    03:00 – Checked some email; got a little work done. I should get up at this time every day!
    03:30 – Bethany is awake again. Sweet family time at 3:00am!
    04:00 – Started unpacking all the suitcases. SO stoked to have this kind of time in the morning.
    05:00 – I got a little sleepy, so I’m making coffee.
    05:30 – Woah, Avery is not happy about life right now.
    06:00 – I don’t really know why I’m awake right now.
    07:30 – OK, I think everyone needs a nap. Bethany just laid down.
    08:00 – Time to leave for Bethany’s doctor appointment!
    08:02 – Avery fell asleep in the car.
    08:34 – Arrived at the doctor’s office. Avery won’t wake up so Bethany is going to carry her across the parking lot and up the elevator.
    09:30 – Just leaving the doctor’s. Great appointment. We found out the gender of the baby, but Avery slept through the entire thing. I took this photo of her in the office:

Jet Lagged Family (1/15/15)

    09:31 – Wow, I am tired.
    09:32 – Titus fell asleep.
    10:00 – Sitting in the parking lot of the grocery store while Avery and Titus sleep. Bethany ran in to get a few things.
    10:30 – Back home now. I carried Avery in to the house because she’s still sleeping.
    10:31 – Avery is awake and crying loudly.
    10:35 – Snack time! Avery is happy again.
    11:15 – Avery fell asleep. Bethany went to the bedroom and fell asleep.
    12:00 – I laid down for a nap.
    13:30 – Titus came in and laid down next to me.
    14:00 – I’m up. Avery is still asleep. Bethany is on the couch with her. Titus is still asleep. I’ve tried to wake all of them up but at this point I am a failure. I tried moving them, shaking them, turning the lights on and off. Nothing is working.

Jet Lagged Family (1/15/15)

    17:19 – I am blogging. Everyone is asleep still. This is not good.
    17:27 – I was just running some numbers and other than about 45 minutes this afternoon, Avery has been asleep since 8 o’clock this morning. That can’t be good.
    17:29 – I could really use a nap.

Categories
Christianity Czech Republic

All Packed!

It’s very possible we’ve gone mad over here, but we’ve been packing pretty much all day. I just weighed Bethany’s bag with our trusty bag weighing thing-a-ma-jig and it was 51.3 pounds. That’s 1.3lbs over the limit so we’re moving things around to make it work. Why so heavy you ask? Well, we’re trying to take things back with us that we just don’t need over here or want to leave in the States. For instance, we have a 2.3lb bag full of American coins and we’re taking it back (I think it may have been from the kids’ piggy bank?). We have old VHS movies, a hair dryer that doesn’t work on European power, and a few gifts to take back as well. All that to say, we’ve got big, full suitcases that we’ll be hauling around the globe here in the next couple days.

All Packed! (12/21/14)

Basically, our plan is to have 4 large suitcases since we are allowed 1 bag per seat at no extra charge. On our way to the States we’re hoping to only take 3 and pick up another suitcase for our return. With Christmas presents and other things, we’ll probably have a lot more stuff coming back to Czech so we’re trying to plan well on this end. In the photo above the kids thought it was hilarious to put pillows and lay in our in one of our large suitcases. In the photo below, Bethany has laid out all the kids clothes to make sure we have it squared away. Since we’ll be at church 3 times and also attending Bethany’s brothers wedding, it’s actually a lot to think through for all of us. I realize a lot of people take big trips like this, but we’re just trying to be prepared.

All Packed! (12/21/14)

All the travel will be a lot on our family, but that doesn’t bother me nearly as much as jet lag. Since we just came over here in June, we’re definitely familiar with the toll jet lag can have on the body. It’s a weird feeling trying to eat a meal at a certain time when your body thinks it should be sleeping. Lord willing, it won’t be too bad, but we are prepared for some interesting days in the coming week. Jet lag or not, we are definitely excited about visiting family and being able to attend Bethany’s brother’s wedding. That’s worth all the packing, jet lag, and travel any day!