Category: Memories

Posted on in Aging, Challenge, Faith, Family, Humor, Memories, Music, Special Event, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks

Songs I Need to Sing!

At times music just rolls through my spirit and I need to sing it out! Handel’s Messiah is often sung with the Cincinnati Symphony by our May Festival Chorus. I like when parts of it was also used by surprise choruses in the past at shopping malls.

It still gives me chills!!

Now I find myself needing to sing this EVERY Christmastide.

Is there something you must sing to God? Don’t hold back. If you are surrounded by people and do not want their opinion of your singing then go outside and sing. Or sing in the shower! Or sing in the car. The point is to sing to the LORD be it a new song or old. Sing out your love of His majesty. Your adoration of His glory. Your gratitude from His abundant mercies.

Years ago Bob bought me a copy of Streams in the Desert devotional that has blank lines for journaling. Recently I turned o the page for that day. I had written, “Joy to the World at church: “Lizzie cried, “the Lord is come!! That’s Grammy’s song. The Lord is come! They said it in church, Grammy!” My heart melted all over again. My Lizzie is now 21. I sent her the journal entry via texting. I hope she takes my song to heart and embraces Jesus as her Lord and savior. Then it will not just be my song, but hers too!

As a light snow falls here and the Carolina Wren works on the dried mealworm feeder, I pray you will sing out your joy and gratitude that the Lord has come, May earth receive her King, May every heart prepare Him room….”

O sing to the Lord a new song;
    sing to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Sing to the Lord; bless his name;
    tell of his salvation from day to day.
3 Declare his glory among the nations,
    his marvelous works among all the peoples.
4 For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised;
    he is to be revered above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
    but the Lord made the heavens.
6 Honor and majesty are before him;
    strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

Psalm 96:1-6 NRSV
Posted on in Faith, Listen, Memories, Music, Special Event, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth

Your Celebration

When did you celebrate Christmas, assuming you do celebrate it? Our family celebration was 10 days ago.

We always read the nativity story in Luke prior to the 25th. Bob and I celebrate our gifts between ourselves on the evening of the 24th. We had planned to go to the church celebration, but the evening service was cancelled due to the bitter cold wind chills. We watched the earlier service on TV. {Frankly, it was disappointing. The music was set at such a slow tempo that it was almost mournful like a funeral dirge. I wanted to rejoice because our Lord has come and will come again! So I did, even though our musicians did not. Would like to see those people SMILE up on the stage! Our God is a good, good Father and we can love and adore Him and smile because He loves us all the time.}

Okay Molly, off the soap box. Do you have traditions that remind you of family or friends? My mother loved Bayberry candles. So I always try to have one on hand at Christmas and/or throughout the winter. She always lit tapers on the Christmas meal table. These days I am lucky if I can find Yankee jar candles in Bayberry. Seems there are a few tapers on eBay, but I have to wonder if their fragrance has lasted?

Grandma Rush liked Mogen David grape wine. I recently tasted a wine that reminded me of Mogen David cherry wine. Could not find Mogen David cherry at the stores. Wonder how many traditions have been lost due to changes in manufacturing during the pandemic? I see online that cherry is no longer listed as one of their flavors. They have gone to pomegranate instead. Manischewitz makes a Cherry wine. Both Mogen David and Manischewitz are registered as allowable for Kosher ceremonies.

Perhaps my favorite tradition is playing my Christmas CDs. The instrumentals and a Capella Haven of Rest are my most played. Of course, this year I found Pandora instrumental Christmas which I can ask Alexa to play. I have even found some good ones on our You Tube subscription. Dan and Betty played Andrew Peterson’s Christmas concert while we were with them. Have been listening to that a bunch. That would be a fantastic show to attend one day!

I think in years past Bob got tired of the music always being on. He has become more patient with the listening as the years of marriage have proceeded. This year a Zits cartoon caught his fancy and mine. Enjoy!

Look at the ‘innocent’ teenager on his phone after changing the music!!

This week we hope to make it to the Krohn Conservatory. The Western & Southern Insurance company support a live nativity scene there. A cow, a donkey and live sheep. I have attended since childhood.

The Christmas elves from years ago (1950s) are making a come back in downtown Cincinnati! We hope to take a friend to see them one afternoon this week.

After the decorations, gifts and traditions, I hope the best thing about your Christmas season has been the reminder that Jesus was sent as the Light of the world to save us from ourselves. He will present us to the Father. He will NEVER leave us or forsake us. Draw near to Him and He will draw near to you.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, on the basis of God’s mercy, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable act of worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 12:1-2 NRSV

You are the gift Jesus is waiting for!

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Faith, Memories, Music, Poetry, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks

Christmas Ornament

Kim’a’aits’a Acoma Signed Pottery: New Mexico art clay handpainted piece. Traditional native made pieces are all made from hand dug clay. These native made pieces are highly collectible and sought after. Clay digging is as follows. The seeming ease of a finished pot made in the traditional way belies the enormous amount of work and skill, of intuition and hard labor, that has gone into its creation. First, the clay must be mined from the earth at sites a considerable distance from the village, and often accessible only on foot. “You can’t drive all the way,” says Rose Chino Garcia. “You have to walk in, and dig out the clay, and then carry it back to the truck, sometimes a long way, five miles or more.” In its original form the clay is rocky and slatelike, and large chunks must be broken up to manageable size. If it was damp when dug, it must be left to dry for many days in the sun. When dry, it must be cleaned thoroughly by sifting and winnowing to get rid of all unwanted matter, such as twigs and pebbles. With a stone, it is crushed and pulverized. Temper, in the form of clay potsherds, sometimes hundreds of years old, is hand-ground to a fine powder, and added to the clay to bind, strengthen, and prevent it from shrinking and cracking. A vessel made from tempered Acoma clay is very strong, and enables the potter to make the characteristic thin walls of traditional pottery.

When we visited Acoma Pueblo with our friends, Dan and Betty Cooksey, we purchased an ornament with a ‘Storyteller’ or ‘Singing mother” inside with her child. I like to think of it as Mary rejoicing to God the Father as she holds Jesus the Son. I do not place it on our tree for fear it will get broken. It sits on the top of the china cabinet with the Nativity scene during the Christmas season and inside the lighted china cabinet the remainder of the year.

It is recorded in scripture that Mary sang this. (Luke 1:46-55). Is it poetry or a song? Does it matter? The truth is the same. If she sang it once I believe she sang it most of her life! I rejoice with Mary, John Michael Talbot and millions of believers who have followed Christ Jesus my Lord.

Do you sing to the Lord? Is it a song of worship? Do you sing it only at Christmastide or throughout your life? If you do not sing to Him, perhaps you can begin in 2023!

Posted on in Aging, Book quotes, Faith, Memories, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Traveling

Telling the Destruction of Babylon

We visited Faith Church in Rio Rancho where Dan and Betty worship. Pastor Mike McDonald has been doing a series preaching on Jeremiah and this week was Chapters 50-51. “God’s judgement is a word to His people of future hope in their present hardship.”

And then the Word says:

He who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the Maker of all things, including the people of his inheritance—the Lord Almighty is his name.

Jeremiah 51:19 NIV

The Maker of all things. The Lord Almighty is his name. Our portion.

Our strength, our reward. Father You bless us even when we are not aware of Your blessing. Help us to bring attention to You and Your holy power in all that we do.

He is our portion We are exceedingly blessed. Look to Him at all times.

Posted on in Challenge, Collection of Quotes, Faith, Just do it, Memories, Poetry, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth

Advent Began November 27 This Year

Christianity.com offers these quotes:

“The celebration of Advent is possible only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come.” ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

https://www.christianity.com/wiki/holidays/what-is-advent.html

“God of hope, I look to you with an open heart and yearning spirit. During this Advent season, I will keep alert and awake, listening for your word and keeping to your precepts. My hope is in you.” ~ Matthew Kelly

https://www.christianity.com/wiki/holidays/what-is-advent.html

If you go to the website mentioned above you will read that this church season is a time to prepare our hearts for Christ but also a time to prepare our hearts for the RETURN of Christ. The author speaks of both looking back and looking forward, “balancing the two elements of remembrance and anticipation.”

I made the sketch below showing myself in the form of a manger. Each year at this time I return to my Advent poem from 1993. HERE AM I ©Molly Lin Dutina

Here am I, stuff of earth
But by the Spirit's power rebirth
has brought me receptivity.
Fill me with Yourself.
 
Molded by Your Holy Hand
I wait before You
Cupped and ready,
cleansed, atoned
eager for Your radiant touch
Virtue compelled to enfold Your own
the vessel of Your making.
 
Here am I, stuff of earth
yielded for Messiah's birth
be it unto me, O Lord,
as in Your word and will.
 
The Great I AM
dwells in my heart
there to impart the power
courage and propulsion for
His dream to be fulfilled.

My prayer for you is that this season you will wait for the Lord to fill you with His power, courage and propulsion that His dream will be fulfilled in your heart. We can gift ourselves to Jesus this year. Have at it!

May the words of Matthew Kelly keep your heart on track: “I will keep alert and awake, listening for Your word and keeping to Your precepts.” Amen!

Posted on in Aging, Beagle, Faith, Humor, Memories, Thanks

Vanishing Tablets

The older I get the more lessons I learn about growing old. Case in point, I recently had to fill my evening pillbox in the bathroom at bedtime. I use 4 pillboxes daily, (breakfast, lunch, dinner and bedtime). Somehow I had run out of evening medication before it was time to fill all the pillboxes at once. I hauled out the medication and prepared to fill the box for a one week supply.

When I got to the Losartan, described as ‘elliptical green tablet’, the open bottle slipped from my hand and spilled all over the bathroom floor. I closed the door to keep Lucky out while I scooped up tablets. I amused myself thinking, “If the Losartan seems hairy in your mouth it is likely due to dog shedding and Molly shedding!” I wanted to be careful to get all of them lest the dog get one and eat it. Her blood pressure has not been an issue so she does not need the medication! I am grateful that the medication regulates my blood pressure so it is not an issue for me either!

As I continued to get ready for bed I realized the lump in the new shag rug was yet another tablet, and another tablet. Pharmaceuticals can camouflage! Who knew? The color of the rug is actually more lovely than this image of the pill. I finally shook the rug in the shower stall in an attempt to retrieve all of them. In case you are too young to know, the insurance company keeps track of how many pills are dispensed by the pharmacy and will not cover the cost of extras if you lose a few to the bathroom floor.

A few days later I had cause to mop the bathroom floor. I took up the rug and began to sweep up any loose hair or dirt. Voila! There were 3 more tablets against the edge of the cabinet that I had missed. Yikes. Glad the dog did not find them or find them tasty. “Hairy blood pressure regulator.” Never saw that from a Doc!

Senior citizen with hands that sometimes do not grasp, spilled pills, likely missed more than a few on the first pass, and second pass! The lessons go on and on for me!

Posted on in Aging, Challenge, Faith, Family, Memories, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks

My Collected Photos

I recently realized that the photo files on my computer contain many photos of folks who are no longer living on this earth. Guess that means I am getting old. In case you have an empty chair at your table this year I want to remind you that others are missing loved ones, too. None of us are getting out of here without experiencing death of ones we love or our own. If you are following Christ there are promises for a better life with Him after we shed this ‘meat bag’ body and live on in the spirit. You are a spirit, inhabiting a body. Either Dallas Willard or C. S. Lewis made that point. Regardless, it is so true.

Aunt Patty Miles
Sister Mary Elizabeth
Betty Miles
Grandma Sally
Joy Cavalier
My Parents
Sister Stephanie

My In-laws, Betty and Drag
In all white, my crochet buddy, Karen.
Grandma Pat
My mother, day of my wedding

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” 

1 Peter 1:3-5

If you are missing loved ones, I pray that you are able to celebrate their life by adopting their best attributes and making those your own. Try to list wonderful things you remember about each person. Prayerfully thank God the Father for their positive influence upon your life. Ask for guidance from the Lord as to how you can best honor each one with the days you have remaining. May God bless and keep you this holiday season and always.

Posted on in Family, Humor, Memories

Intertwined Story

Once we had a Jewish house guest. I do not remember what we fed him for supper, but our son, Jeff, had hot dogs. Our guest was to sleep on the bottom bunk bed that night. Our son on the top. In the middle of the night our son was ill. He vomited hotdogs all over the side of the bed, splashing our guest below. Yep, I was up in the night cleaning up that horrible sickness, changing sheets and apologizing to our guest, soothing our embarrassed son. One of those yucky nights.

Fast forward 30 or 40 years. I sleep in fleecy socks. Seems I sleep more soundly with socks on? I had purchased new white sheets for our bed. The elastic in the old fitted sheet had burst. The other set never fit this deep mattress correctly. So with new sheets I prepared for bed and grabbed a new pair of socks, too. I also nap daily. I pulled back the sheets the next afternoon for my siesta and there was black fuzz on the sheets. Oh man, I thought. That night I forgot and climbed into bed with the same combination.

Next morning as I made the bed I looked between the sheets and the mess was worse than ever. I simply pulled back top covers and went to get the new Giant Extreme Stick with “extreme results to quickly remove lint, hair and debris.” After I rolled over the black lint, tore off a sheet and was on sheet #6 I realized this called for the attachment sweeper. My bed socks had vomited all over my new white sheets. As I swept and swept I remembered cleaning up that bedroom long ago after hot dogs visited the bunk beds.

Yes, those socks quite literally vomited all over my new sheets. There was black fuzz where I never realized I put my feet at night. Must have been searching for Bob’s warmth? I swept top and bottom sheets and then threw them in the washer using extra water in the cycle. Separately I washed the socks and put them in Goodwill donation box. Someone else might like black house socks.

The really bad part, I had bought my Grandgirls the same socks for Christmas. So now I had to go back to the store and exchange for a different color! The clerk said I could not simply exchange them. Did not realize until the young man had made the return and new purchase that the original discount was not applied. Geez!

I know now that I should have taken a photo for you. Unbelievable how far black fuzz can travel on a white sheet! Grateful fuzz was not as stinky as regurgitated hot dogs!

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Faith, Memories, Nature

Photo Bombs

I thought I kept a copy of the first time Bob did at photo bomb on me. I was trying to do one of my first selfies and he popped up between two trees. I can’t find that photo, (of course, since I want it). So here is the next photo when I made him get in the picture. We were at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

There was a report on the news recently of this photo bomb.

Jordan Anast captures Surfer with Shark at the annual San Onofre Surf Club contest near San Diego.
Professional surfer Tyler Warren

I thought it was a whale but it is actually a shark. Lucky surfer, I’d say! He wanted a copy of the photo to show his mom.

You can hear the story at https://www.today.com/news/great-white-shark-surfer-photo-rcna55642

Posted on in Aging, Family, Illness and Health, Memories, Thanks

Decades Ago

The photo that opened this post is my favorite Veteran. My Dad, Paul Arthur Rush, served in World War II. He was a navy signalman on several different battleships. Sadly, he died in 1961 from heart disease. There was not much in the way of treatment for heart disease at that time. Mom always told the story, “The doctors told him to quit smoking, quit drinking and quit hunting. His response was that he would rather be dead.” Sadly I was only eleven when he got his desired end.

Sort of amusing that the former navy signalman is playing with my Dennis the Menace puppet!

I cannot begin to express how much I have missed him over the ensuing 61 years. Here I am right before his funeral.

Since that many years have passed it is difficult to recall many details about my dad. People used to think I looked just like him. As I grew older, old family friends decided I looked just like my mom. Go figure. Dad and I did have a similar sense of humor.

I remember him letting me put his hair in pin curls while he watched TV once. He liked pretzels and candy, especially bulls-eyes.

On a run to the Pony Keg to get more beer with a friend, he would let me buy candy. When they read his will I asked if I could have the change they mentioned for candy. The room erupted in laughter. I do not think I ever got the coins.

AARP Magazine for October/November 2022 Has a Heart Disease Brief that reads: “3D view of Coronary Arteries, For people with chest pain, shortness of breath or signs of heart blockage, an FDA-cleared test called HeartFlow FFRct Analysis can provide a three-dimensional look at the arteries of the heart without an invasive imaging procedure. Studies show the test can help identify who does – and doesn’t – need more invasive tests and treatments.”

Dad’s favorite piece of classical music

I have one book that I know he owned. “Stories of Great Artists” with a copyright of 1903. His name is written inside the cover. His brother Howard is written inside the back cover along with mine. No other marks inside the book. I have always wondered if one of the works of art in the book was his favorite?

After his death I was forlorn. That also sent me on my quest for someone to fill his place. No one could. Then I truly began to turn to God as my Father. God my Father has never disappointed or abandoned me. I still miss my Dad though.

I have outlived both of my parents. Dad was 46 when he died. Mom was 61. I think we never appreciate our parents as much when they are alive as after they are gone. May they rest in peace.