A Photo trip to the San Antonio Zoo

While Olen and I were in San Antonio at Christmas, we took advantage of having two grandma babysitters! We decided to take a photo expedition to the zoo. It wasn't very crowded. Of course, we got there only a couple of hours before closing time. We had fun trying to use up all the digital space on our cameras. As you can probably tell, we didn't take any pics of each other! We were just so glad to get some time alone. I love my son, but all couples need to take some time alone. Maybe next time we'll try to do something more romantic!!!

Jake

For those of you who haven't heard, our dog Jake has been diagnosed with the beginning stages of kidney failure. There are things we can do to make him feel better, but there's not really a cure. The only real cure would be for him to get a doggy kidney transplant which is very expensive. Jake's been part of our family since before we were a family. He first belonged to my friend Tab's parents almost since the time I originally met Olen. He became ours when Olen and I got married. So, he's been part of our family since the very beginning. As you can tell by the photo of him and Aiden, Aiden loves him. He'll see Jake and go running to him and sit down right beside him. If they're outside, he'll follow Jake all around the yard. He likes to lean over and kiss Jake.

We'd (or rather I) been thinking about getting another dog for the past few months. I knew that Jake was getting older. I wanted there to be another dog just in case something happened to Jake, so that it would soften the blow for Aiden (and maybe me). We haven't been in a position financially to add another mouth to the household though.

God actually worked to help us find out about it early. We thought that Jake needed to go in for his annual exam and took him in. We found out after we got there that he wasn't due in 'til April. We almost didn't have them do a blood exam, but decided to go ahead and do one now. It was that exam that found the problem. This way Jake got treatment earlier to help him feel better. God was watching out for our puppy dog.

In the midst of all of this, Olen and Aiden both got sick. Aiden was so sick that we ended up taking him to the doctor. They're both doing much better. Thank you to all of you who were praying for them.

It's amazing how much a pet can be a member of the family. So, as long as Jake continues to be a part of this family, we'll continue to give him hugs and kisses and follow him around!

Have you talked to your father lately?

This is a daily devotion from the Christian Women Online's blogspot. Cindy Swanson is the author. It really touched my heart and I hope that it ministers to you as well.


I've been thinking about my dad a lot lately. He passed away in July 2004, and sometimes it seems I miss him more instead of less as time goes by.

Before a condition called hepatic encephalopathy clouded his brain, I used to love having conversations with my dad. I wrote this on my blog in May of 2004, before his death that July:

"As a teen, I often disagreed with my father, but he never belittled me or made me feel like I couldn't express my viewpoints respectfully. It's interesting how, down through the years, I've swung around to his way of thinking on so many things!

"Since my folks have lived in the Austin area, every time I visited Texas, my dad and I would take long walks together. These were supposed to be fitness walks, as he and I both were always trying to lose some weight and become more fit. But even as they helped me physically, they turned into wonderful occasions for long conversations.

"I can recall many times when he would want to go on a walk and I would try to beg out of it, especially when the Texas sun was blazing particularly hot. But I usually gave in and dragged out my walking shoes, because even in those days, I knew that time with my dad was precious and wouldn't last forever.

"Now, I'm so glad I had all those conversations with my dad. I'll always treasure them."

I thought about those conversations a while back when I ran across this article about the daughter of Charlie Chaplin.

Apparently, although she lived in the same house with her aging father, Jane Chaplin didn't have her first and only meaningful private conversation with him until she was 17 years old, and it lasted only about 17 minutes. In fact, the book she is writing about him is entitled "Seventeen minutes with my father."

According to the article, "Jane said she grew up fearing rather than knowing her father, and being constantly told by her mother and by servants that that he was a genius and she would never match him."

How incredibly sad! I can't help but compare it to the many lengthy conversations I had with my dad during the 40-plus years I had with him...too many minutes, too many hours of conversation to even begin to count.

The spiritual application here is glaringly obvious. How many of us Christians live in our Father's house, blessed children of the King, and rarely take the opportunity to speak to Him?

I don't know if Charlie Chaplin would have wanted more contact with his daughter, although he was apparently kind and gracious to her during that seventeen minutes they shared. Obviously he did nothing to try to build a relationship with her. But our Father wants to communicate with us...he seeks companionship with us!

I know I don't take enough advantage of this wonderful benefit of being a child of God. I can't talk with my earthly father now, but I do have a heavenly Father that loves me and wants to speak with me, and He is the creator of the universe.

Amazing and awe-inspiring.

My prayer: Father, thank you that you love me even more than my earthly father did...and that you are vitally interested in everything that concerns me. Thank you for the privilege of being able to speak to you, daughter to father! May I never take this wonderful privilege for granted. In your precious name, Amen.

Church Christmas Dinner 2007

We enjoyed the church christmas dinner. As you can see, we were all a little silly! Of course, Aiden didn't want to participate in the reindeer ears on the head game, so we just held them up behind his head!!! Isn't he cute?!?

The Baking of the First Annual Christmas Goodies

We now have an annual christmas tradition in the Gustafson residence. The baking of the Christmas goodies was a big hit. We did learn one thing, well, maybe several things! First, the sugar cookies must come first, not last. Apparently, I forgot that the dough must sit for a few hours before you bake it. We waited 'til last to do the cookies which meant that Olen was baking sugar cookies in the middle of the night so that I could get some rest. Isn't he a good husband?!? I certainly appreciated it! Let's see....we made lots of goodies. We started with my chocolate fudge, which is still my favorite goodie. Then, I tried a new fudge. It was White Chocolate Cranberry fudge. Olen and Aiden loved that one. We followed up with my chocolate haystacks, as they've come to be known in my family. We also made a date nut candy roll which my mom used to make years ago. We've taken a vote that she isn't to make it anymore since it's so hard to stir. We decided that Olen will do the stirring from now on. Hmmm...we also made chocolate chip cookies to go with the sugar cookies. I also made a Pumpkin Butter Gooey cake to take for the church fellowship. I just love this cake! It tastes so wonderful. Of course, it has a couple of sticks of butter in it to start off with. It wasn't as big of a hit at the dinner though. We actually had leftovers which is rare for us. Did I mention that we also made a loaf of homemade bread to take with us to the dinner? It was definitely a feat to make and take all of these things. My mom stayed and played with Aiden so he'd stay out of the kitchen. As you can see by the pictures, we still had to put up blockades so he'd stay out from underfoot. We learned that we definitely need someone to help with him when we're doing this. We also learned that we need to schedule a FULL day to do it in. We didn't get started 'til about 7pm that night and we were still going in the middle of the night. Well, Olen was still going!! The rest of us were trying to get our beauty sleep in. After the whole experience, I figured that Olen would say that we should never do that again. To my surprise, the next day he declared it an annual tradition. He had a blast!! This could be a lot of fun in years to come!

Aiden's First Haircut

Aiden's hair has always been pretty fine. I had originally thought that I'd cut his hair on his first birthday. But the poor baby didn't have enough to cut!! Recently, my mom pointed out that his hair was getting long in the back. So, while Olen and I cooked all the Christmas goodies, Aiden got his very first haircut in the other room. He still doesn't have much hair, but he looks more like a little man! Isn't he cute?!? Of course, I could be a little biased.

Enjoying Christmas presents

We bought Aiden a water wheel table for Christmas. He has always loved playing in water. I put some water in it for him to try it out and he just thought that it was wonderful!!! I still find him bringing me pieces of this table trying to get me to put some water in it! And of course, I had to show off one of my presents. We got a lovely chest to put in our bedroom for some much needed storage.

The local Christmas Parade

Every year in our neighborhood, the fire department and constables and MUD board put together a christmas parade. Olen and I usually miss it, but made plans to stay home for Aiden to watch. It was really, really loud so Olen covered the baby's ears. They threw candy and toys at all the little kids. Aiden wasn't sure about all these people making so much noise and throwing things at him. We tried to tell him that this was fun!! I'm not sure he believed it!!!!

Various Thanksgiving pics

Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm a little behind on posting pictures. I just love how kids love the boxes more than what comes inside of them. Aiden just loves climbing into things. We had thanksgiving dinner at La Mansion del Rio in San Antonio. There was a man who tried all day to make friends with Aiden. It wasn't until the man offered his glasses to Aiden that he bacame his friend!! He just loves playing with glasses.