God-sent Gusts of Gratitude
Like most everyone else, the Dave Gust family experienced a whirlwind of blessings and challenges this year. Through it all we are most thankful to our God and Savior Jesus Christ, in whom we live and move and have our being. Here we want to share some of the more prominent blowings of the Spirit in our lives this year.
February
Fagan James Arrives
In February we welcomed Fagan James, Sam & Kaity’s beautiful boy, into our extended family. And by God’s providence Fagan and Dan share the same birthday, February 9! Babies are an encouragement that God has not yet given up on us and keeps sending new people to meet and know.
Dan determined to be "The uncle the parents hate but that my nephew LOVES!"
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Dan determined to be "The uncle the parents hate but that my nephew LOVES!" 〰️
March
Congestive Heart Failure
In March I, Dave, went into the hospital with congestive heart failure! This was brought on by being in atrial fibrillation for an unknown period of time but the doc figured for several months at least. A side effect of the afib was that my body took on water weight to the point of literally running out of room to beat and breathe hence the CHF. Read more to find out how I am doing (spoiler alert…God is good!).
Eowyn & Fagan meet for the first time.
My Doc agrees to go to Pizza Ranch…if I get down to 220 lbs. It’ll be a while.
April
T-Wolves, an Eclipse, and a Concert
In April Shirl & Dan went to a Timberwolves game against the Toronto Raptors, which we won handily. Then Shirl and I drove down to southern Missouri to observe the total eclipse. I had always wanted to see one and I would recommend it, even though it only lasts a few minutes. Dan & Joe were both in the Crown College Choir again this spring and they got to sing in the St. Paul Cathedral!
May
Dan Graduates and Preaches
Dan graduated high school in May and also earned an Associate of Science degree from Crown College! Giving a reason to look up to him other than because he is taller than the rest of us. Oh, and he also preached at our church’s Senior Sunday.
June
Shirl goes to school, Dave gets zapped!
This June Shirl became an Academic Language Therapist, which means she now contracts part-time with the Reading Center in Rochester helping dyslexic students “re-wire” their brains so they can learn to read! No surprise, she is very good at it. We had a graduation open house for Dan’s graduation, and I got my heart zapped putting me back into sinus rhythm (that is a good thing).
Lis, Eowyn, Elijah, Joe, Dave, Dan, Tabatha (Dan’s gal), Shirley, Kaity, Fagan, Sam
July
A final visit with Shirl’s Dad
Shirl’s dad, Abe, took a turn for the worse in June and went into hospice. We took a week to drive out in July and see him. He passed in October, so it was a blessing to be able to visit with him while we could.
August
From Crown to Dunwoody
After a year at Crown College Joe decided to switch to Dunwoody so he can persue a carreer in Electrical engineering!
September
Bike trip out west
In September Shirl & I, along with friends Brad & Wendy, towed our bikes out west to ride in the Black Hills, Yellowstone, Washington & Idaho, and in Glacier National Park. It was glorious! Turns out I love riding my bike, and riding in some of the most beautiful places in North America makes it just that much better!
Montana traffic
Standing for our nations founders
Visiting with Lij, Lis, & Eowyn was good too.
October, November, & December
Trick or Treat, coming attrations,
& a Christmas visit
Fagan in the form of a lion surprised us on Halloween, our first grandchild trick or treat! And we got our first look at “Puff,” baby number two for Lij & Lis, arriving in March.
I had ablation therapy at the beginning of November. Ablation is where they burn nerves in the heart to try and more permanently fix the afib thing I had going. It seems to have worked as designed and I have recently been able to drop some of the meds I have been on. Yay! I feel good and have another follow-up appointment in about six months.
In December Elijah, Lis, and Eowyn came home to visit and most of us then went to Canada to celebrate Christmas with Shirl’s mom, brother, sister and some nieces and nephews, as well as Oma’s 80th birthday. It was a wonderful time! Unfortunately, Sam and crew could not make it because Fagan’s passport didn’t arrive in time. But as they got sick over Christmas it was perhaps just as well. Still, we missed them.
