Visa Update

Sometimes, things just work out. 

To get our visa, we had to visit a Czech Embassy in another country. We had been working with this company that arranges these things and they sent us to Vienna. Believe it or not, this was less complicated than going to D.C. to get it done. 

We submitted the papers and everything went smoothly! We will be receiving the visa in the standard wait time. What a wonderful blessing that was today! We'll take that win. Thanks very much to everyone that prayed for us. 

Below is a picture of the Czech Embassy in Vienna.

Now the ride home, on the other hand, was a bit of a mess...

More on that next week in a blog entitled, "No one knows how to stand in line here."

Love and Basketball

You guys ever see that movie called Sophie's Choice? Well it's about a woman who has to make an impossible choice between two things she loves dearly. That's where we were at the end of January. (Apologies to Omar Epps, for stealing the title to his year 2000 classic of the same name.)

The last basketball season we had was nothing short of a dream season. We very nearly were conference champions and even won a playoff game in the state playoffs. There was certainly more to it than that, but I've delved into that in other formats. 

So we were faced with this decision: how do you know when to leave something you love to go do something you love? 

It sounds like a win-win doesn't it? Stay and do what you love or leave and do what you love. It's not as simple as that though. Since we began living this way, it seems like there is always someone or something that we are leaving behind. We're always stepping in and out of people's stories. I feel like I should get a tattoo of a square peg trying to fit into a round hole and write the phrase "my life" under it. (Probably on my lower back, you know, some place special and classy.)

So how did we make this choice? Well, as you can see from the last post, once we began to look into it, the choice got made pretty quickly. Basically, we decided to put our "yes" on the table. This is a term our pastor uses often, meaning that we would be open to staying or going. We talked, we prayed, we sought the council of friends and family, and this is where we ended up. 

It was the right choice, for sure. But I will always miss basketball and the sense of family it provided for us. I am glad that it will be in good hands this season. Makes the choice a little less Sophie's, and a little more bearable. 

Next time: The first weeks in Prague!

Reboot, Part Two

With our sites firmly set on London, we began contacting GCI members there to see what our next steps would be. As we made our connections, Prague came up several times in various conversations. What's that old saying? Twice is coincidence, three times is a pattern? We began to see a pattern forming. It may be best to number the events. All of following events happened within about two weeks of each other. 

1. Our contact to find out about getting visas for London was currently living in Prague. 
2. He had a lead on an anti-trafficking effort out of a church in Prague.
3. The church mentioned above was the same one we attended while were living in the city. 
4. The same week, I was contacted by Arabska, the school I worked at in Prague. 
5. She mentioned that there was a job available there for an English teacher. I was intrigued.
6. Tonya was contacted by a student that she had done one on one English lessons with while we were there. This student had not contacted her for months.
7. We reached out to our former regional director about jobs there. She again mentioned the Arabska job and also directed us to the same anti-trafficking that GCI had recommended. 

At this point, we were just kind of stunned. I never thought we'd live in Prague again.  But as we began to pray for guidance, it became clear that Prague was where we were going. 

Now the only thing left for us to do was begin to end again. Ending another tour at Grace meant ending our basketball career again. That was going to hurt. 

Next time: Love and Basketball