Our 1st Harvest Party and Brush with the Law

Our friends, Phil and Shanna Davis and their two wonderful kiddies Lucy and Clark, invited Lydia and I to a Harvest party today in the late afternoon. After a pep talk lasting the duration of our 30 minute car drive to their home Lydia complied and wore her carrot costume for a record-breaking 3 minutes! There were lots of fun activities... coloring, decorating cupcakes and bobbing for apples (However, the bobbing for apples water proved to be too big of a temptation for Lydia and contributed to our early party departure...). There were lots of crazy costumed kids having a great time. Being a little sleep deprived from our weekend away, Lydia wasn't exactly in the mood for Harvest Partying but we still had a great time.

The ride home was less enjoyable. I followed a car in front of me and made a left turn onto a street where apparently left turns are not allowed. I learned this lesson quite quickly when I and the car in front of me were pulled over. Hence, my first encounter with the Czech police.

I was a little nervous trying to determine how I was going to explain the fact that I did not have my passport or international driver's license with me. The police man approached my car and began explaining my offense in Czech. I quickly informed him "Mluvim Anglicky" (I speak English) and handed him my Maryland driver's license. He never even asked to see my passport! I think he took pity on me with my toddler in the back seat because after a short conference with his partner he returned to my car and managed to communicate that I was not allowed to make a left turn back there and that it would be a "problem... miminko in auto...crash" (i.e. it would be a problem if I had a crash with my child in the car). He then fined me approximately $8. The Czech police system has a reputation of being slightly corrupt and operating on a negotiation system. I found an $8 fine quite reasonable considering I didn't have any appropriate documentation with me! As I pulled into our garage tonight I realized all of this could only mean one thing: God is taking care of us.