Friends

Our adventure here in the Czech Republic could not have happened without the support of an awful lot of people.  Some took on extra work or even changed their own plans to accommodate us.  In Česke Buďejovice there have been two families in particular without whose help life would have been much, much harder.

Meet the Tučkovi family - Kačenka (11), Jana, Lucinka (9), Aneška (5), Jan (aka Honza), and Alfie.  Jana was a teenager in Jihlava while Kristine was on her mission.  She teaches ceramics on the side.  Jan is the director of the psych unit at the hospital.  He served a mission in England.  These are the folks who helped out with the Czech Foreign Police, found our apartment, have translated for us a ton as we have needed to do technical things (e.g. banking, apartment contract), and lent us toys for Silas.

And here is the Chrdlovi family - Štěpan (9), Miša, Johanka (12), Aleš, Tomaš (1).  Aleš is truly a man after my own heart.  He runs, bikes, canoes, climbs rocks, etc., etc.  I go running with him three mornings a week and before I could buy a bike he lent me one of his.  He served a mission in Utah.  He's a doctor at the hospital and the Branch President in our congregation.  Miša served a mission in the Czech Republic.  Johanka is in Caleb's class at school.  They have been very helpful and fun.

You'll be hearing a lot about these folks in the coming months, so I am pleased to introduce them.