6 Months!

Well, we have officially lived in San Antonio for 6 months now! It’s hard to believe it’s already been that long! It has been a whirlwind, and obviously we have not been able to keep our posts current. Here’s a brief update on what’s been happening!

Collyn and Kayleigh are both enjoying their new school and friends. They are both in 2nd grade, but in separate classes. They both played soccer this fall and both of them had consistent records. Collyn’s team was undefeated, and Kayleigh’s team never won! Regardless, though, they both enjoyed the soccer season.

We are enjoying the church and our Young Adult ministry. It is a definite change from anything we’ve done before, but we love it. Terry loves the people he works with and fits right in.

I am enjoying my new position at the school. It’s a definite challenge, but it has been a nice change of pace!

We stayed here in San Antonio for Thanksgiving and are doing the same for Christmas. We enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner at the Eshleman’s house, and we will be hosting Christmas dinner for them at our house. It is such a blessing to live near our dear friends again.

Jenny and I participate in Midnight Madness on Thanksgiving, which was our 2nd year doing so. We left at 9 p.m. Thanksgiving evening to arrive in San Marcos at 10 p.m. We shopped from 10 p.m. until 12 noon on Friday. Needless to say, we were exhausted but we had a blast in the process!!!!

I hope everyone has a blessed December!!!!!

Love, Janelle

We Made It To San Antonio

IT’s HOT!!! Actually it hasn’t been to bad the last 2 days in the mid to high 80’s but we finally rolled into town Monday around 2pm. We decided to take our time getting here and it was a lot less stressful. We stayed just outside Nashville the first night because we were falling asleep at the wheel and then Lonoke, AR the next night. It was nice, we checked into a hotel around 3 and took a nap, ate at TGI Fridays and went to see Pixar’s movie UP. Sunday we drove to Grapevine, TX and had dinner, Guitar Hero, and a movie with Janelle’s cousin Carla and family.

There were just a few last minute things at the house to be taken care of but we should be ready for the truck full of junk tomorrow.  The dogs are not sure of what to make of the whole thing but I think that once we spend the night there it will help. They traveled extremely well and we never had an issue in the hotels or on the road.

Here is our the full rundown of how to contatct us and our new mailing address

Our Cell phone #s are currently the same.  We will let you know when they change.

Mailing address:22819 Sabine Summit,  San Antonio, TX 78258

Email:

terry@tnjgus.com

Janelle@tnjgus.com

collyn @cnkgus.com

kayleigh@cnkgus.com

Twitter:

terrygustafson

pocteacher
Facebook

Terry

Janelle

Please keep in touch!!1

New Beginnings

If you have not already heard, we are moving to Texas. Our lives have been turned upside down in the last month and now we find ourselves making a major change in our lives.  As of June 10th we will be starting our new jobs at Cornerstone church in San Antonio.

A few weeks ago we received a call from our friend Jerry who is the superintendent at Cornerstone Christian Schools. He told me that they wanted to hire Janelle to develop the special needs program for the school. It also turned out that the church was needing to hire a pastor for the college/singles ages 18-35. Thus, the call to us to fill both positions. We flew down shortly thereafter and had several interviews that ended with Pastor Hagee saying “welcome aboard.”

It’s not going to be easy saying goodbye to our close friends and church family here. We honestly htought that this is where we would be for the rest of our lives. Yet God, in his own wisdom, has been preparing everyone who will be taking on new responsibilities and looking at the big picture its really kinda cool.

So please be praying for us as we transition into this new chapter of our lives. It is exciting and scary all at the same time, but then again, God never asks us to do big things that we can easily do on our own does he?

Texas here we come!

Where’s my Warranty?

Once again I find myself on the wrong end of a doctor’s needle.  It started with a simple routine physical. Lately my blood pressure had been slightly elevated, not high, just elevated.  My plan at the beginning of the year was to start changing my eating habits and start exercising to lose weight. I thought it best to get a checkup to be sure my cholesterol and BP were healthy. As is customary with a full physical, I had to offer up a sample of water after it had been drank. The results of all my test came back without any major red flags, except……the nurse said that she had never seen that color shown on the dip stick. As you can imagine I felt like my blood quickly rushed to my body and made me feel like I was going to pass out.   So it turns out I was spilling 12xs the normal amount of protein and that is not good.

On to the specialist who happens to be a great guy with a good sense of humor. He orders an ultrasound and a biopsy and then takes about 10 samples of my blood.  As of right now my blood has only shown to much waste product. My second donation of “used to be water” showed half of the protein of the original tests.  The ultra sound went fine and I confess it was somewhat ticklish and it came back perfectly normal.

Yesterday was my kidney biopsy and according to my friends, Dr. House does it all the time.  It was explained to me that a long tin needle would be inserted into my back where a gun like device would then be inserted into the needle and retrieve samples of my kidney tissue. Here is where it gets wierd. I am laying face down on the CT scanning table so they can find exactly where my kidney is before the stab me in the back. The first round of happy juice was delivered along with some heavy pain killer. I was still completely aware when they called for the doctor to come in and to the biopsy. The next thing i know is that they are waking me up telling me its over and that I need to get back on the gurney. It was when I returned to my original room that my mom noticed that I was not wearing the same hospital gown that I left in. Now let me be clear, I have never woke up wearing different clothes that I fell asleep in. Apparently there was some sort of blood spillage or something.  As is customary with a biopsy of this type they let you enjoy the hsopitality of the medical environment for 4 hours to be sure that there is no internal bleeding.  The highlight of my post procedure  activities was the Philly cheese steak and fires from the hospital cafeteria. It was pretty good actually. From there I spent most of the remaining time examining the inside of my eyelids.

I share this with you because what I would love to do is pull out a warranty and get some replacement parts and not worry about it any more.  Wouldn’t it be great if we could swap out parts as easily as we do for cars? Fortunately I have a connection with the original designer of this particular model. maybe I can’t swap out parts at the local “body shop” but I can ask the maker to fix it. I know for a fact that prayer works, I know that he hears my pleas and the prayers of my friends and family.  I also know that God has my life in his hands and that He is the reason for living. So, i don’t have a warranty but I do have the creator and he can fix anything that breaks.

On The Road Again

I am woking for MediaShout in Salem Oregon while Janelle and the kids are enjoying some Dad-free time.  In other words, Pray for Janelle’s strength and patience while I am on the edge of the country hangin out with my good friend Joey.  On our flight from Nashville to Denver we flew on a smaller plane that only sat 5 people across. I had more legroom on that smaller plane than I did on the 757 we flew from Denver to portland. Airplanes are not one size fits all.  As we got close to Portland we saw Mt. Rainier and Mt Hood in the distance and it was amazingly beautiful.  We then descended into the soupy fog and that has been all we’ve seen for the most part.  At one point yesterday we did see Mt. Hood in the distance through the fog and it was awe inspiring.

Our hotel accomodations are those of royalty. We are staying at an awesome little jewel of a place and enjoying the lush expansive rooms while watching cable TV on the latest in display technology. I can’t say that I have ever been in a hotel room that had such innovative architecture, i mean, the door slides into the wall, how cool is that. This door glides like butter and it sounds as if it is sliding on nothing but the air itself.    OK, so we are staying at the Roadway Inn and the rooms are small but satisfactory. The 27″ tv has a limited volume takes up most of the desk area along with the microwave. The pocket door to the bathroom is slightly quieter than a country neighbor startin the ol’ dodge truck with no muffler at 3am.

All in all it really has been a relaxing trip and we got to chat with some reps from Yamaha, Christian Musician, and worship films. it really is nice to be in a queen size bed and not have to share it with …. well, its nice not sharing.  And just to prevent me from missing my dogs while I’m away, this hotel allows pets and the dog next door sounds about the same size as zoe. How comforting.

She’s A Sloppy Drunk

Thursday afternoon Janelle had dental surgery for a tooth implant. It was a short surgery but janelle was put into a “twilight” anesthesia.  When the surgery was over It was made clear that I was to help her walk and make sure that she did not fall or stumble. Well as with all of our post-op experiences this is a time to see what it is like when the other is completely gone. Another tradition of ours is to leave the surgery and go directly to get food because the patient is not allowed to eat before surgery.  This day was no exception.  As with any other day Janelle wanted chocolate so we hit the McDonald’s that was 30 seconds from the dental office. She got a large chocolate shake and I, being the supportive husband that I am, got a large strawberry shake.  I pointed out, as we drove home, that it was not good to suck on a straw after surgery  because it could cause bleeding at the surgery site so she took off the lid and started drinkin’ away. She mumbled through some conversation that she would never remember and went to town on that shake. I must admit that I probably found way too much entertainment in her medicated state but these opportunities don’t come along very ….. actually they come along too often. ( note to self: cut back on surgeries)  The best part of the trip home was looking over and seeing this glob of chocolate shake running down her chin and dripping on her shirt. I told her to get a napkin and wipe her chin and then watched as she grabbed a napkin and wiped the part of her chin not covered by chocolate.

We then discussed where we were going, again, and I assured her, again, that home was our next stop. Although the thought did cross my mind to go somewhere and buy something rediculous.  The game continued all the way home as she would drink, dribble and mumble while I laughed and handed her napkins.

I can only assume that this is what she would be like were she to get drunk but we will never know for sure.

Update: Since Janelle’s metal implant on thursday she has been setting off the security detectors in almost every store she enters.  She stuck just her head between the detectors at Staples and the alarm went off. Once again, I was entertained.  Ironicaly I have 6 plates and 36 screws in my jaw and have never set off an alarm.

good nite

     Good Nite

I love you DAD good nite.

Its me    I Love to be with 

you.  This is wath I Want

frogs' tubes' gum' you'

you can't takem

go on.  Cats' Dogs' DaD'

but you have that go on' 

but thats it

I like you good nite

            The End

These are the words I found written on a notebook sitting on my daughter’s bed.  As I re-covered her with her blanket she stirred and said she was cold so I asked her if she had written it tonight. “uh huh” is about all I got but it was enough. We had a small “time for bed” conflict that did not end according to her will. It was 15 minutes later she came out of her bedroom apologizing to me for her behavior. Instantly my insides turned in to warm goo and I hugged on her and said it was ok. This letter totally messes with my understanding of myself as a father and as a child of God. We are so alike, her and I, and I need to remember that the next time one of us does not get our way.

I Love you Too, my precious Daughter

I’ll Miss You When I Leave

Tonight Kayleigh gave us two notes.  One was very loving and the other was just kind of a heads up.

It’s funny the things she thinks about and tonight was no exception.

We asked her why she wanted to leave and she feels that when she is twenty she will be ready to  get her own house. As Janelle and i tried to not bust out laughing in front of her we wanted to make sure she just didn’t want to leave now. My question was what’s wrong with leaving at 18?

Growth Spirt

Over the last few weeks I have noticed that Collyn’s pants were not reaching all the way to this feet. His white socked ankles were becoming more and more visible.

Two weeks ago we had pictures taken so we went to get him some matching duds for the famiy photo event.  We bought pants that were 21 sizes bigger than he was currently wearing and it turned out that they were just right.  It really is amazing how quickly your children grow up. Looking at these pictures makes me feel old and yet proud of my little guy who will not stay little.

While my little boy is still young enough to not be embarrased by his daddy holding him, I’m gonna soak up

every opportunity.

Things a Great Dane will eat-2

It is time to update the list of things Zoe has stolen from the Table, Stove or Countertop.

Of note is the half container of dog treats that she chewed the lid off of then managed to empty its contents. It was a nice container but Zoe seemed to be more impressed with the inside than the outside.

Tonight I put a 9×9 baking dish with 1/3 of it full of corn casserole covered in aluminum foil. Apparently this seemed like a happy meal that contained food and a toy.  The dish was cleaned out and the foil was gone.  As I started to wonder which dog would be trying to pass a ball of foil through their digestive track I found it in pieces on THE COUCH.  My guess is that Lucy licked the foil clean and began to disassemble it like the pencil she found in kayleigh’s room the night before. Either way, the leftover food was not wasted.

In addition, Zoe can easily open the lid on the trash can so I decided to fix it. I drilled holes into both sides of the trash can and used a bungee strap to prevent Zoe from “snacking” at will. It works great at keeping her out but it is a pain to deal with for everyone else. Time to design a dog-proof-person-friendly trash can.

Additional items eaten by the four footed disposal.

• Collyn’s Waffles
• Cinnamon Desert Pizza
• Portions of the back yard

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