It’s the time of year where we spend Monday evenings out serving meals, doing crafts and teaching Bible stories with people from our Church in a “less fortunate” area of town. I’ve written about it before - we love to spend time here - the kids enjoy it, and it’s such a great experience for them to see, help and serve. We have done this same thing for three years during the summer now, and look forward to it starting every spring.

Brothers…

Last night I took some snapshots to share. Seeing so many happy kids does good for the heart. Seeing your own kids being happy and accepting with those kids or better yet, serving those kids is amazing. Every once in a while I can look at my children and KNOW that just for that second, their behavior is proof that for some brief period, I’ve been a successful parent. Of course, I also realize that it’s really Suzie that is the successful parent, and I’ve learned soooo much from her.

That said, here are some photos from last night! Read More »

A childhood friend just adopted a newborn girl. I think that is so cool. In an email, he said he sort of felt old… as I had said about having a 16 year old.

That said, I thnk I figured out the formula!

I believe that you’re only as old as the father of your youngest child… and when the time comes, only as old as your youngest grandchild.

We spent a nice evening with friends on the 4th… Fireworks you can purchase here are certainly different than anywhere else we’ve lived. The pyrotechnics started off with three-foot-long sparklers, and had lots of firecrackers and artillery shells… we of course had to start braiding artillery shell fuses and had a fun time. The big booms and shells went off without a hitch, but unfortunately some of the little fireworks caused some owies. The food (more fans of my bride’s awesome potato salad, and Nate, thanks for introducing me to Kobe beef! Wow!), swimming, friends and fun made for one of the best 4th of July’s in memory. Some times you find people that you just click with on a lot of levels, and life is good, just hanging.

Nate, to your comment, “Same time next year?” - You’re on, buddy!

I was looking around and found some classic videos that I added to the ipod this weekend… I guess once a kid of the 70’s, always a kid of the 70’s! Johnny Sokko, Johnny Quest, Space Ghost, Wile E Coyote and Roadrunner, Lost in Space, more things to torment, er, share with my kids! Fun stuff…

Last night we finished our annual four night Vacation Bible School event at church. The theme was “Rescued” and as usual, it was over the top, complete with a firefighter (a real one, thanks Heath!) rescuing a damsel (and Josh) from a three story collapsing building every night. Suzie led the preschool wing - about sixty-five kids under the age of four! Truman and Scott… and Adam, and… hamming it up in skits, and Cap’n Kevo leading worship. Tons of work, and a great time for the kids! Here are a few photos. Read More »

I spent a sleepless night rolling around last night for a hundred different reasons, and at some point after the wicked headache set in that has yet to leave, I was trying to just relax, and thought to myself, “if I were an inanimate object, what would I be?”

Which led me to a new entry page for the www.gusstrand.com domain. Why would I be a titanium spork? Well, lots of reasons that I will leave to you to speculate upon, but the form, function and material all have significance. Go figure.

Han is the chairperson for the Light the Night Friends and Family teams this year… Go get ‘em girl! I’ve noticed a few hits to this site looking for the Team Pink LTN website.

You’re close… Go here: www.ltnteampink.com

OK, I finally created a website for something I have wanted to write about for a long time, Customer Service. You can find it here. We’ll see how it goes. In looking at the stats for this site, the most visited section by far is the spot where I have photographed and written a paragraph or two about pocket knives. Go figure. I guess that’s a niche. Not going to be much new writing there, as I caught up with the things worth writing about, and don’t foresee getting any new additions to the realm. If anything, more will be moving to ebay soon.

We spent an evening with some friends a couple weeks ago… out on their boat, chowing some burgers, etc. here are some pics of a great time! Thanks Nate and Gretchen!

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I’m excitedly anticipating the Olympics… I hope they cover Judo on the broadcast channels!

In the mean time, a cool link: http://www.superjudo.tv/

We spent memorial day weekend on a quick trip to Apache Oklahoma to visit with my wonderful bride’s relatives and attend the memorial service for her Grandmother. I was contemplating what to write about this, and realized that there were many, many good things that came of this trip. Read More »

Han, KJ-52 and Noah…

I took the older kids to a concert the other night - Starlit Platoon (we missed them, for the most part. I don’t think they did more than a three song set…) Britt Nicole, KJ, Disciple and Superchick… It was a varied enough playbill that there was something for everyone!

Han loves Britt Nicole, and she put on a short but nice show. I love watching my princess enjoying her music. We all enjoy KJ-52 (and as the picture above shows, Read More »

Noah has decided to become more serious about his climbing, and is officially a boulderer these days.

“Bouldering” is basically rock climbing sans ropes, clips, harnesses, and sanity. It’s a cool concept, really - basically it’s not about how high the rock is, as he will not climb to dangerous heights untethered, but it’s about solving “Problems.” Yesterday evening Noah and Ethan went to the first chapel of Austin Bouldering, Bull Creek Park. Read More »

This is the drainpipe on the side of our home… those are hail marks…

A cool photo taken by a coworker who lives near us last night… (thanks, John!)

Last night was likely the worst storm we’ve experienced since moving here. WIND, big, nasty hail that we thought was going to come through the windows on the North side of the house. BIG hail. Read More »

We spent Mother’s Day honoring my beautiful wife… she is so much more than just a mother.

Suzie is Superwifeandmom. She teaches all of our children, including two high schoolers. She allows me to work - supports the demands of my jobs over the years that allow me to support us (sort of), is the world’s foremost cookie and cupcake baker and maintains an immaculate home - to the tune of all laundry is done the day is is soiled, beds have clean sheets at least once a week, the sink is always empty, and the dishwasher is usually, too… Read More »

We recently decided to “get out” more - to experience this place that has become our home. Last Saturday, we took a drive out to Pedernales Falls State Park. After about an hour drive, we ended up smack in the middle of the Texas Hill Country, at a nifty little out of the way park that is based on the presence of these huge sloping limestone pools and falls. To get a sense of the scale here, there is a person standing by the slide fall whitewater in the center of the photo above. See them? Read More »

…and last night’s sunset was a good one… Read More »

We sat around the computers a couple nights ago watching the Disney vacation planning DVD’s, and collectively decided that even though we went to Disneyland a few weeks ago that it would be nice to go back to Disney World… They have the “free dining plan” offer again, and that in itself saves us literally thousands of dollars… Read More »

We knew Gerry through Tim, just found out he went on to a better place recently. Seventeen, and a fighter. Dude, you’ll be missed more than you ever know. Read More »

A “hidden Mickey” of Creme Brulees!

When we went to WDW, we had an all inclusive meal plan and got unquestionably spoiled by dining with characters and eating at the “better” restaurants in the parks. We didn’t have the plan on this Disneyland trip, but we did try to have some fun with our Disney Dining. One thing is for sure - even if you eat at the counter service restaurants, you pay dearly. We couldn’t find a meal for all of us at those for less than $40-50. Read More »

I was looking at the pictures for posting here and saw some themes, so rather than one huge Disney post, I’m going to make a few smaller, more focused posts first.

Since I’m talking about some favorites, ”It’s a Small World” was closed during our Disneyland visit - Since that is Suzie’s all time favorite (with King Arthur’s Carousel a close second) it was disappointing, but we dealt with it. It might take a trip to Orlando for us to fully heal… Read More »

During our recent trip to Disneyland, we fell in love with a new horse. We had no idea there was a story behind the horse… This is “Jingles” - the lead horse on the King Arthur Carousel. Suzie and I have had a love of carousels our whole marriage - riding them together, visiting a carousel museum on our honeymoon, and of course, the Carousel sequence in Suzie’s favorite movie, Mary Poppins. Read More »

Noah is a Junior in High School. As many know, our children are privately educated at home. If we were NOT in this home education endeavor, this email would have really disturbed me… Read More »

We have this class at Church for 8th graders and their parents… part of the class is to have the parents write a letter to their 8th grader, and read it to them in front of the class. This was the letter Suzie and I read to Hannah. We have Noah’s letter framed and hanging in the dining room. This one will join it soon.

Hannah, Read More »

I have an ongoing list of some of my favorite music videos found on youtube. Thought I would post it. enjoy!

Oh, and this is “Christian” music, but far from what you might expect from “church music.” Check them out… Read More »

P.O.D. just released a new album, When Angels and Serpents Dance. I really like it - it’s a refinement and growth of their style, a nice blend of who they have been on previous endeavors. If you are a fan of both old AND more recent works of the group, this will be refreshing. Check it out at www.payableondeath.com. Personal fav tracks of mine include #’s 3 and 4 - “Condescending” and ”It Can’t Rain Everyday.”  Read More »

I had my first gulf coast fly fishing experience this past weekend. I was the only fly fisher in the bunch… sort of. One of the other guys likes to vacation in Colorado and is a once a year fly fisher type. He came  with a shiny new 8wt. Or at least one that doesn’t see much daylight. Our hosts were groovy - this trip was a fundraiser for a local Christian camp for disadvantaged kids. We pay the money, but it all goes to the camp, Read More »

We were at the outlets last week and I had a point and shoot - I decided to “see love in everything” for my wife, so I looked around for letters in normal things. I gave myself a rule that I could not take a picture of a “real” letter on a sign, and was looking for specific letters… It worked, sort of…

Suzie,  !!!

From your friendly neighborhood Christian Hardcore group, Demon Hunter…

Click (broadband only, folks, it’s 14 megs of mp4 video goodness…)

Fading away… Read More »