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365 Czech Republic

Another Wild Day in Czech (In Photos)

Somehow I ended up with a ton of photos from today so I thought I’d just tell today’s story in photos (with captions beneath each). Let’s do this!

A Wild Day in Czech (6/19/15)

It was raining and cooler this morning so Titus and I donned rain jackets and umbrellas while walking him to school today. I probably should have sent him to school with rain boots, but I was worried we would be late for some event they were going to be leaving for. But I found out when they got there that it had been cancelled due to rain. Go figure.

A Wild Day in Czech (6/19/15)

The word “easy” in the photo above is a little misleading. From Titus’ school I walked over to this cosmetic drug store thing (so hard to explain what it is) that apparently has the only instant photo machine in our town. It was 8:15am and they had just opened. There I was in my black rain coat, looking really shady walking around the store looking for something I couldn’t find which was the machine you see above. I eventually left without saying anything and I’m pretty sure I saw the lady checking my hands as I grabbed my umbrella and walked out the door. Thanks to Rachael and Martina who I texted about this, I went back to the store about and hour later and was able to find the tiny machine.

A Wild Day in Czech (6/19/15)

I had to get prints made for Karis’ passport photos and this was my best option. I finally figured out the machine while the lady tried to explain things to me in Czech. I did finally leave with 6 prints, all of which cost me about $1.25! I was stoked and left a happy man.

A Wild Day in Czech (6/19/15)

Here’s some of her mug shots, I mean, her passport photos.

A Wild Day in Czech (6/19/15)

Karis had a doctor’s appointment today so Bethany gave her a bath just before lunch. I ended up taking Karis in her towel and placing her in front our little heater because she was a little cold and crying. She calmed right down.

A Wild Day in Czech (6/19/15)

Bethany, Karis, and our friend Martina drove to the next town over to the hospital where they had referred Karis. They actually did an ultrasound on her hips/legs. They’ve done that in the States, but it’s just an internal check to make sure there’s no issues with her internally. I believe in the States they just do a physical check with the doctor’s hands, but here’s just a little different. While the girls went to the appointment, Titus and I walked over to the haircut place and I got a trim (no photos of that, sorry!). I did get to show some photos of the baby to my hairdresser lady so that was fun.

A Wild Day in Czech (6/19/15)

When Titus and I walked to get a haircut we saw they they had set up a huge carnival deal in the town square. I believe it’s a big celebration for both our town and the sister city in Poland. I believe they are celebrating the founding of the city or something like that, but whatever it is, it’s important. They went big for this one with rides and tons of shops and food. Below are a ton of photos of what we saw.

A Wild Day in Czech (6/19/15)

I love that the ride above has an image from Toy Story which is actually a sad part of the movie.

A Wild Day in Czech (6/19/15)

A Wild Day in Czech (6/19/15)

A Wild Day in Czech (6/19/15)

Sweet tooth, anyone?

A Wild Day in Czech (6/19/15)

A Wild Day in Czech (6/19/15)

The grills were looking good! I may be wrong but I think something on there might be pork knee (a Czech favorite from what I can tell).

A Wild Day in Czech (6/19/15)

The huge stage already had local dance crew performances going on.

A Wild Day in Czech (6/19/15)

This “bowl” was probably 4 feet across. Sausage and potatoes…yummy.

A Wild Day in Czech (6/19/15)

A Wild Day in Czech (6/19/15)

A Wild Day in Czech (6/19/15)

A Wild Day in Czech (6/19/15)

A Wild Day in Czech (6/19/15)

A Wild Day in Czech (6/19/15)

We ended up going back to the town square as a family this evening so the kids could play and we could get dessert as a family. It was a much different experience from when Titus and I were there a few hours earlier because the place was jumping with people and live music. We ended up getting some traditional Trdelník with cinnamon (it’s so yummy!) and then bough tickets for the big bounce house slide thing.

A Wild Day in Czech (6/19/15)

This is Titus and me waiting for his turn to go up the big slide. I had bought a ticket for Avery to go up to, but she wasn’t “up” for it…get it, “up” for it… because it’s really tall. Yes, tall… like me as I stick out like 8 feet above everyone else in this photo.

Here’s a 30 second video I got of Titus enjoying the slide.

A Wild Day in Czech (6/19/15)

Lastly, here’s Karis as she rode around in the stroller tonight. She was awake most of the time and did great. We had to bundle here up pretty good because it was like 55 degrees out (dead serious).

There you have it–another day in the life of our little family. In the words of Porky the Pig, “That’s all folks!”

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365 Czech Republic

Better Than Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups

I fell down flat on my bottom while playing soccer with Titus this evening in the back yard. It’s been drizzling and raining on and off today and the grass was a little slick. In a classic move out of an America’s Funniest Home Video I slipped and hit the ground hard. Even though the ground was wet, I stayed down. It hurt. Titus said, “I’m sorry you got hurt, Daddy. It was a little bit funny though.” I’m sure it was, but I wasn’t laughing. After icing my elbow and a couple Aleve pain pills I’m still hurting. I guess I’m just getting old.

Speaking of getting old, it’s my birthday. Yup. I’m 31. To celebrate I stayed up really late last night and watched the Dodgers win in 12 innings. That’s always fun. But beyond that it’s been a pretty regular day. I worked from home and we had one short time out this morning to take Karis to the doctor, but as usual that didn’t go as planned. We missed the opening time slot by 15 minutes and will now try again at 9am on Wednesday.

On My Birthday (6/15/15)

Speaking of Karis, I took her passport photo today. This also proved to be difficult. The U.S. government has strict requirements for how the photo is to be taken, the sizing of the photo, the size of the head, the height of the eyes from the bottom of the photo, the lighting, etc. And not mention we’re working with a two week old so that’s a challenge. Thankfully I have professional lighting equipment from all the photography I did in the States and that came in really handy. I had to take the photo from above her while she laid down on a white sheet and Bethany held her arms down because she kept putting them in her face. Here are a few photos I got. I love the one of her cracking a half smile.

On My Birthday (6/15/15)

On My Birthday (6/15/15)

On My Birthday (6/15/15)

On My Birthday (6/15/15)

On My Birthday (6/15/15)

Our Internet is down right now. I’m not exactly sure what happened, but around 5pm today it just stopped. I’m using my phone to post this post. Like the Internet, our kids have struggled today too. By struggled, I mean they have just had a hard time obeying. They still managed to make me birthday cards and give me a nice new shirt for my birthday. They also colored me a few pictures including a Star Wars Angry Bird color book page and Curious George on that Avery printed off the Internet (yes, my three year old can print color pages off the Internet!).

On My Birthday (6/15/15)

Bethany baked cupcakes for me and inside they had Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups that were imported from the U.S.! Everyone sang “Happy Birthday” to me (or as Avery sang, “Happy burstday”). It was awesome–definitely the highlight of an otherwise average day. I’m definitely thankful for the amazing wife and great kids the Lord has given me. They are my favorite gifts this year and every year. Even better than new shirts and Reese’s!

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365 Czech Republic

School Photos and Friends From Afar

Friends From Afar (4/23/15)

What a day! It’s just before 10pm here and I’m sitting her with a smile on my face. I’m looking over some of the photos I got from today and am just thankful for God’s grace and excited about the next few days. Here’s a little summary of the day:

First, we had to divide and conquer this morning because we found out yesterday that it was picture day at Titus’ preschool. Bethany had a doctor’s appointment (baby check-up) this morning at the same time that picture stuff was going on at the Titus’ school, so I stayed home with Titus and Avery while she went to the doctor. I got the kids all dressed and we walked to Titus’ school around 10 to get ready for pictures. I didn’t know if they were doing just a class photo or individuals, but we were ready for anything! It was an absolutely gorgeous day outside, and they ended up doing just a class photo outside under a beautiful blooming tree. Here’s a few photos:

Friends From Afar (4/23/15)

Friends From Afar (4/23/15)

I spent some time watching the other boys interact with Titus and also watched Titus’ reaction, but I can confirm that language is still a battle. The other kids are trying to talk to him and he’s still confused about what they are saying. I also noticed that they were kind of copying him, but I don’t know if they were being mean or just playing? It’s so hard to tell. At one point Titus hand his arms out like an airplane and was spinning around. The other kids joined him and were saying, “Ja jsem Ty Ty! Ja jsem Ty Ty!” which I understood as “I am Ty Ty! I am Ty Ty!” (the kids call him Ty Ty, not Titus). I just assume they were being silly? Speaking of silly, here’s Avery walking home today staring at her own shadow.

Friends From Afar (4/23/15)

This afternoon we finished cleaning up the house in preparation for our friends, the Severances, arrival! Steve and Judy are from our sending church in California and Steve is one of the pastors. They actually flew to us from being in Israel the past week or so. They had a flight from Israel this morning, a cab ride from the Prague airport to the train, a 3.5 hour train ride to us, then a short car ride back to our town. Needless to say, they are troopers! We picked them up from the train station around 5:30pm tonight and it was such a joy to see them. We ended up taking them to a nearby mall for dinner and coffee and just had a sweet time catching up with them. It’s seriously such a joy to see them and we’re so thankful to Placerita for sending them to us for the next few days. Here’s a few photos from tonight. The first is of Avery and Bethany playing a little clapping game while we were waiting for the train to arrive, the second is one that Titus took of us with Steve and Judy at the mall, and finally there’s one of the kids playing at the mall’s play place.

Friends From Afar (4/23/15)

Friends From Afar (4/23/15)

Friends From Afar (4/23/15)

Tomorrow is Titus’ 5th birthday! The smell of a baking cake is wafting through the house as I type and we’re excited to a do small celebration with him tomorrow. On Saturday we’re headed to the zoo for a more formal party, so we’re all looking forward to that. I’m excited about what the next few days hold!

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365 Czech Republic

Portraits in Poland

To Poland We Go (4/11/15)

As planned we packed the van up today with toys and tricycles and headed into Poland to take photos of and for missionaries there. Above is a photo of the back of the van after Titus and I loaded it all. Titus wanted to make sure there was a skateboard, baseball, baseball bat, glove, and frisbee. I was actually impressed that he was able to lift my longboard skateboard in to the back but he got it in there all by himself. When I got the car started he squealed and rubbed his hands together with excitement about us going to Poland. He told me, “Dad, when you’re taking photos in Poland you have to take one of me giving thumbs up.” It was literally one of the first photos I took when we got there (below).

Thumbs Up For Poland (4/11/15)

I haven’t had time to edit through the photos today, but I took a quick at look at the shots I got of the different families and teams and am excited to share them at some point. Below is one of the group shots I got of the Poland team. Great people!

Team Poland (4/11/15)

We were invited to stay for lunch with the team, but apparently Polish lunch starts at 3pm and that’s pretty much right around nap time for our kids. So we packed the van back up and headed out for a quick lunch on our way home. Since the weather so amazing today we decided to get dessert and sit outside where the kids enjoyed their first ice cream cones of 2015. It was actually as we were sitting outside enjoying the sun that we realized I left my camera gear back at the training center! We ended up going back and getting my gear which was thankfully still there where I left it. Whew.

To Poland We Go (4/11/15)

This afternoon we washed and vacuumed the car which was much needed. I was excited to try out my European extension cord which I specifically had purchased on sale a few months back so I could vacuum my own car (it’s the little things in life). Yes, it worked and the car is looking good! Since we were already outside, Titus and I ended up playing a little baseball in the driveway. Avery was our umpire, but I think we need to install an instant-replay system because it seemed that no matter what happened–if I caught the ball or tagged the runner (Titus)–that he was called “safe!” C’mon blue!

Titus and I went to youth group tonight, but we didn’t know that the start time had been moved from 5pm to 6pm. Thankfully there were a few students there on the music team so we weren’t alone. Instead of going home and coming back we just decided to stay there and enjoy hanging with the students. Youth group is still a challenge because of the language barrier. It never feels normal or right, especially when you’re sitting through all the announcements and teaching with not a clue as to what’s going on. Even Titus turned to me tonight and whispered, “Daddy…they are talking funny.” Nope. We are talking funny; they are talking normal. They are speaking Czech. We…well, we’re not.

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365 Czech Republic

Titus’ First Official School Photo

Karnvel (2/16/15)

You remember that day a few weeks ago? You know, the one where there was a party at Titus’ school that we didn’t know about? Well, I’m proud to show you the photos from that historic day! Bethany was sold these photos today at Titus’ school and above is a photo of his entire class. That being said, there are a few things I would like to point out about this photo:

  1. I love the kid with the beard in the back row, middle. He just looks awesome.
  2. I love that pretty much the entire back row is not looking at the camera.
  3. The kid rubbing his eye in the front towards the left is just classic.
  4. My favorite: the smiling Darth Vader kid laying on the ground in the front is all kinds of strange and amazing. There is so much to love about this photo. I’m so glad it exists.

Karnvel (2/16/15)

You may recall from that day that Titus had to go downstairs to get another photo taken, an individual shot (shown above). I wasn’t there for the group photo, but I was there for this individual and I’m actually really excited about how it turned out. There is just something joyous about the fact that Titus’ first, real, official school photo is of him wearing a Buzz Lightyear costume…and wearing it proudly. His smile is so genuine here, and thinking back on that day I’m so surprised we even got this face out of him. He had been crying and sad not long before we went downstairs so it’s quite a feat to see him happy as a clam. These are great memories and I can’t wait to show this one day in his wedding video montage.

Lots of Czech Talk (2/16/15)

As for other things from today, we were back at it this afternoon doing our Czech speaking with Jenny and Landen. I can’t say enough just how amazing it has been and how much I have learned in just a week. I really do love learning the grammar when we do our normal lessons, but the speaking and just listening to Czech has been unbelievably helpful. Bethany even said it’s shocking how this system works and how even when you think, “Oh, I didn’t study…” or “I don’t think I’ll do well today,” you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Bethany actually did the best speaking today out of all of us! We’re hoping to go five days straight this week with these extra speaking lessons. It’s a full week with lots to do, but I guess you’ll just have to come back tomorrow to find out what happens next…as the world turns.

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365 Czech Republic

Playing Outside and Making Apple Pie

Playing Outside (10/25/14)

The gray skies lifted today and the sun was shining so we went to the park for a few hours this morning/afternoon. It wasn’t only the sun that brought us outside, but I had told our friend Rachael that I would snap a few photos of her so she can send an updated photo to her ministry partners (one photo is below). For at least the last three weeks, I’ve been taking photos for friends so they all can can update their prayer cards and email newsletters. What’s funny is it’s almost identical to what I was doing in the States with family photos right around this time of year. Everyone is sending out family photos for the holidays and I usually would schedule shoots during October/November so it kind of feels like that only in a different part of the world.

Playing Outside (10/25/14)

Photos didn’t take long today so we just hung out at the park and played with the kids and talked to Rachael. It’s been a pretty full week of ministry things at JV so spending some time focused and outside the kids was really nice. Here’s a little video of us playing on the slide and some more photos I took since I had my camera gear with me.

Playing Outside (10/25/14)

Playing Outside (10/25/14)

Playing Outside (10/25/14)

When we were about to leave I notice Titus’ rain boots (which he uses almost daily right now) have a hole in them. This is bummer because it’s the only pair he has. We may have to go see if we can find another pair tomorrow because they’re important for him to have at school.

After the park we invited Rachael over to enjoy some Swedish pancakes for a late brunch. You would think that a late brunch would actually just be lunch, but things are just different in Europe. OK, I’m kidding about Europe, but I digress. Rachael was an extra blessing today in helping us pick up the house a bit. Bethany was working on the food and Rachael helped unload the dishes while I vacuumed. I had really hope we would get some time to clean today and so that was really nice to have some extra hands to help! Thanks Rachael!

We continue to struggle with sickness as a family. I have a been coughing pretty hard this past week and today was feeling really tired. I laid down with Titus and we took a pretty long nap today which is just rare anymore for me. I’m hoping this sickness doesn’t last too long.

Tonight we made apple pie! I bought a big thing of apples a few days ago and we finally had time today to have a good ol’ American class apple pie. It was a family effort and we served it up with a little vanilla ice cream. It was delicious if I do say so my self and here’s a few photos and a video to end our blog tonight.

Making Apple Pie (10/25/14)

Making apple pie tonight. Yum!

A video posted by Shay Thomason (@shaycam) on

Making Apple Pie (10/25/14)

Making Apple Pie (10/25/14)

Making Apple Pie (10/25/14)

Making Apple Pie (10/25/14)

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365 Czech Republic

Sunday School Isn’t Just For Kids

One of my favorite sayings is “Never stop learning.” I actually have a print of it next to my desk that Bethany got me. It’s one of those life philosophies that I adhere to and kind of drives me to read, study, and continue to grow in all areas of my life. I realized this morning while sitting in Titus and Avery’s school school class that each and every Sunday here we’re learning. I know we have things like “Sunday School,” but for a foreigner like me it’s more like “Sunday University.” At least, that’s what today felt like and the funny part is we never even made it in to the sanctuary. Here’s four lessons we learned today:

Learning on Sunday (10/19/14)

1) Being in the right classroom is a good place to start learning – We got to church this morning and found our way to the kids classrooms. Avery was downstairs and Titus’ was upstairs. Bethany stayed with Avery because she was a little sad and I took Titus to his class. When we got there the kids were sitting at the table during what seemed to be a teaching time (photo above). I put a chair at the end for Titus and the teach asked in Czech what his name was (which I understood!) and also if we spoke Czech (which I also understood!). I did my best to keep Titus focused and listening but after about 10 minutes Titus says to me, “Daddy, this isn’t my class.” Uh oh. I waited a little longer. “Daddy, where’s Beni and Caleb?” Titus asked because they are normally in his class too. Oh no. We better go.

Learning on Sunday (10/19/14)

Learning on Sunday (10/19/14)

2) Employ family to help in the learning process – Titus and I kindly left the class and went back downstairs to Avery and Bethany. I told Bethany that wasn’t the right class and we decided to switch so I could stay with Avery and she could go with Titus to try and find the right one. As I sat with Avery, they kids were painting little leaves (shown above). As I sat just observing I was picking up Czech phrases like “pro maminku” (“for mommy”) as the kids were finishing their artwork. I figured out was “mám rád” (which I’ve heard a lot) means “I like.” Listening to the teachers speak SIMPLE Czech was so helpful for me to just try and pick up what they are saying. Then I got a text from Bethany: “I found it. Beni’s here.” She means she found the right class and Titus’ friend was there. Whew. That’s like 2 lessons: a) language lesson b) church building geography lesson. Sweet! This must be a 4-credit class. Oh, and those little leaves the kids were painting were put on a piece of paper that read: “The Lord creates colorful leaves.” Yes, He does.

Learning on Sunday (10/19/14)

Learning on Sunday (10/19/14)

3) You’re never too old for the tiny chairs. – When it comes to learning, you sit in whatever chair is available and in both Titus and Avery’s rooms this morning we were hanging out in tiny chairs. You’ll even see the teacher in the photo above in the small chair. Learning is more important than comfort, I guess. Also, and this is really a bonus, you can be pretty funny from the tiny chairs. Today I had the kids cracking up by making silly faces. Here’s a photo I got of them laughing at me (side note: I also dig the kid in the background feeding another kid a cracker).

Learning on Sunday (10/19/14)

4) Have fun after class.- This evening I had plans to take photos for our good friends Zach and Kara. At the castle yesterday I was thinking I’ve gotta go back and do photos there so Zach and Kara were my models today. We had a lot of fun and I was excited that Bethany could come too and see it all for the first time. The weather was incredible today and perfect for enjoying some family time and photos of friends. Here’s a couple photos (captions below each):

Hanging in Poland Again (10/19/14)

Zach and Kara having fun watching Titus try to make them laugh. It worked!

Hanging in Poland Again (10/19/14)

This is Bethany and Avery overlooking our city from the Poland side. It was a little windy, but what a great view today.

Hanging in Poland Again (10/19/14)

Avery’s legs because she’s still so little and cute.

Hanging in Poland Again (10/19/14)

Titus in his natural state…”hanging” out.

Hanging in Poland Again (10/19/14)

A quick shot of the streets of Poland, just inside the border.

That’s all, folks!

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365 Czech Republic

Sunday Grab Bag

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday (10/12/14)

On my fifth birthday my mom brought my kindergarten class “grab bags.” They were brown paper bags filled with stuff from a little convenience story, maybe even a dollar store. I remember it being pretty fun to reach in and not know what was in there. Today was a bit like this. It was pretty normal Sunday, but it came with a few surprises.

This morning we were celebrating the 50th anniversary of the church here Český Těšín and Dave Patty was asked to preach. Bethany didn’t feel great this morning and the kids still had coughs so I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to go or need to stay home and help. I ended up going, but I was a little late and got there while they were singing. Even though we don’t live far, I drove, but that proved to be a poor decision because with so many visitors it took me a while to find a place to park. The same was true when I got inside…no place to sit. It was absolutely packed inside! A nice man spoke to me in Czech, offering me a seat in the front row, but I really didn’t want to be a distraction on such a big day so I just stayed in the foyer area and listened through the speakers. Dave preached in Czech so just like last night, I didn’t really know what was going on and since I wasn’t sitting next to anyone I couldn’t really get the gist so I basically just tried to see if I recognize any of the words. I trust Dave preached a great message and that the body was edified.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday (10/12/14)

After church…we went to the zoo? This is why I say it was a grab bag. We had originally planned on going to the zoo yesterday, but everyone just wasn’t feeling good so we canceled that plan. Bethany asked me today if we could go because she felt like we’re going to run out of good weather like we’ve been having and that made sense to me so we went for it. We have annual passes, so it doesn’t cost us anything and the weather was so nice it really turned out to be a great time outside. Our kids love the zoo here and I’ve mentioned before, I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that there’s like fifteen parks in it! There was still one thing scheduled tonight so around 3:30pm we left the zoo and headed home.

Photos for Friends (10/12/14)

We’ve been trying for a few weeks now to schedule some time to take photos of our new friends Romi and Pichal, with their new baby Ondra. Today seemed like a great time for that and with the sun shining it’s great light for family photos. I had a great time photographing them. They are such an easy-going family which makes it nice to take photos of them and just enjoy the time together. Here’s a few shots:

Photos for Friends (10/12/14)

Photos for Friends (10/12/14)

Photos for Friends (10/12/14)

It’s fun to open up a grab bag once in a while.

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365 Czech Republic

Hanging With the Millers In Poland

Hanging in Poland With the Millers

The Miller family is a blast. Bethany and I first met Korban and Tanya at Josiah Venture orientation in October 2012 where we spent a week together in Wheaton, IL. There’s a fun connection with them because their senior pastor in Indiana was roommates in college with Scott Ardavanis, our pastor at PBC for many years. They asked if we could drive out to Poland and take some family photos and we were excited about the opportunity. We saw them briefly back on the fourth of July but today we got to spend the afternoon and dinner together which was just a great time to catch up.

Our afternoon started with the photos in the downtown area of where they live. There were some fun brick buildings and the weather was great so we snapped a few shots. The photo above is them walking right through this very long street where many people are walking and trains and busses travel through. You would never see anything really like it in the States, but we made use of it for a nice walking photo. When we finished there the kids all got suckers for doing such a good job. Here’s a little shot of all them.

Hanging in Poland With the Millers

After the downtown area we headed over to a park just a few blocks away. I don’t know why I didn’t get a picture of the giant tower in the middle. Not joking, I think it was like a 10 story sun dial. The play area had like a twenty foot climbing net that would never be legal in the States. Our kids loved it! But the sunlight was great at that time of day so I grabbed the Millers for a few more shots. Here’s one I really liked.

Hanging in Poland With the Millers

Behind them is an old fire station and really nice cafe/restaurant area. Bethany walked over there with Avery to use the restroom and she said it really felt like she in Europe and said it was very nice. I’m bummed I didn’t go check it out. We let the kids play a little longer and packed up the vans and headed for the Millers house.

Hanging in Poland With the Millers (10/11/14)

We had a wonderful, American style dinner! Cheeseburgers, homemade mac-n-cheese, and veggies were all part of the spread. It was delicious and I’m not gonna lie, I had two burgers. It was fun to hear from their daughters about their school experience as they have all only been in Poland for about ten months. Language is obviously still hard but their girls are getting along pretty well in school. It’s encouraging to see another family walking through the same kinds of things that we will be experiencing very soon. After dinner we enjoyed some fun desserts: rice crispy treats and frozen bananas with chocolate and nuts! Mmmmm…

Hanging in Poland With the Millers (10/11/14)

Before we left we had a short time of prayer for each of our families which was a blessing. As we were walking out the door, Titus kept saying, “Goodbye! Thanks for everything!” which we had never really heard him say before. It was hilarious and cute. He’s right though. Thanks, Millers, for a great day together and for having us over for dinner. Let’s do it again sometime!

Hanging in Poland With the Millers (10/11/14)

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Family

Clouds And Windmills And Liquid Nitrogen! Oh, My!

Untitled

We’re visiting family and spending the Christmas holiday in Washington. The drive up here from Southern California takes about two days and the last few hours of the trip is really fun when you get to cross the huge Columbia river. Bethany realized we would be crossing the river right around sunset and had already prepared me to grab my camera (which I keep under the center console in the front of our van just in case anything exciting happens). She figured it would be beautiful that time of day and it was. As we got closer and closer to the river we started to see low hanging fog sitting on the river and I began snapping away from the car. After crossing it we pulled over so I could get a few shots of the sun and clouds hitting the water. That’s what you see below.

The Columbia River

Where we cross the Columbia river you have to make a turn and head up a little hill before you’re back on the main highway, but right as we hit the stop sign for our turn we realized there were police directing traffic. That’s when we came up on a semi-truck that had tipped over. I guess it couldn’t make the turn or hit it too sharply and then fell over. From what we could see it looked like the driver made it out safely, but his load didn’t. As we came around the back of the truck we saw liquid nitrogen spilling out on to the road and down the side of a hill. It’s probably the craziest thing I’ve ever seen. Feels like a once in a lifetime kind of thing, so I had to pull over and get some photos. Below are a few shots we got, along with captions below the photos.

Untitled
This is what we drove up to. You can see the truck wheels and the guys just watching the liquid nitrogen spewing out the back of the truck.

Untitled

Big Rig Spill
As we drove up the hill, I pulled over and got this shot of nitrogen going down the hill.

Big Rig Spill
I zoomed out a bit and now you can see the spill in the foreground and the Columbia river with low hanging fog in the background. Pretty wild!

Wind Power
After getting back on the road we were right up on the windmills so I had to get a classic shot of those guys.

Ok, that’s all. Weird stuff!