Category: Celebrations

• Thanks, Maria. That Gives me an idea.

  

  A couple years ago, around the first of November, Chaplain Julia of the Jail Ministry invited the women inmates worshiping together in the jail chapel to tell each other about some of their family traditions related to Halloween and All Saints Day. She especially encouraged Maria to explain to us what her friends and family…

  Marian

  November 3, 2015

  Celebrations, Jail Ministry, Personal Retreats, Reflections

  All Saints Day, All Souls Day, Aztec, Christian celebrations, Day of the Dead, departed loved ones, Dia de los Muertos, favorite foods, favorite meal, Halloween, jail, jail ministry, Memorial Day, Presbyterian Church

• “Music . . . controls our thoughts, minds, hearts, and spirits”

  

  Now is the time to start singing and playing the big, powerful hymns of the church. It all started last Sunday – Reformation Sunday. Our opening hymn at Messiah Lutheran Church was A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. I tried to set the mood for it with a much louder than usual prelude – a simple…

  Marian

  October 27, 2015

  Assisted Living, Celebrations, God’s Love, Music, Reflections

  A Mighty FOrtress Is Our God, bold, boldness, church music, Holy Week, I have decided to follow Jesus, maple leaf, Martin Luther, noble art of music, Reformation, Sin boldly, Thanksgiving, Then Sings My Soul, tracing

• An Odd Gift

  

  Some forty years ago, I received a really odd gift from my parents. I had recently graduated from college and was living in a small town in Connecticut. I had become a high school English teacher. My parents gave me, as a gift, their used manure spreader. It wasn’t a particularly practical gift for me.…

  Marian

  October 6, 2015

  Celebrations, God’s Love, Life’s Challenges, Reflections, Reunions

  class reunion, concentrated manure, ELCA, Ford tractor, gift giving, Good Gifts, gratitude, H tractor, harvesting corn, Heifer, Heifer International, James 1:17, joy, Kenyon High School, liquefied manure, manure spreader, Messiah Lutheran Church, odd gift, practical gifts, soybeans, tractor

• Friends and Relatives, Cats and Dogs

  How many friends and relatives, cats and dogs does it take to make one’s life wonderful? Hundreds. Maybe thousands. What it takes to make a life wonderful is to learn to appreciate – to be thankful for – the  enrichment each person and pet contributes to one’s life. During the last couple weeks, Mim and…

  Marian

  August 11, 2015

  Celebrations, E-Retreats, God’s Love, Life’s Challenges, Reflections

  beer garden, cats and dogs, family reunion, friends and relatives, funeral, Jacobson family reunion, life wonderful, love your neighbor, Mim, Mim Jacobson, Moody’s Pub, neighbor, Roger Hovey, Ruth and Elaine, Ruth Robbins, wonderful life, Zoe

• Shopping for a Tombstone

  So far this year I have had the privilege of playing the piano or organ for nine funerals. I typically play for between five and ten funerals a year – and it’s only July! In the 31 days from June 1 through July 1 of this year, I played for five of those funerals. Needless…

  Marian

  July 14, 2015

  Celebrations, Goals, God’s Love, Life’s Challenges, Music, Reflections

  “I know that my Redeemer lives”, “I love to tell the story”, Archie Monuments, Carl Korth, cemetery, comforting music, Elsie Korth, epitaph, funeral, funeral music, funerals, gravestone, Jimmy Carter, musical requests, praying hands, Through the Year with Jimmy Carter, tombstone, Wormeli

• My Musical Destiny

  Seventeen years ago, Mim and I created a new business called Korth-Jacobson, LLC. Within that business structure we have done lots of different things – from being a bed and breakfast to selling real estate; from doing strategic planning and project management for small businesses to providing music in churches and a pub and other…

  Marian

  June 16, 2015

  Assisted Living, Celebrations, God’s Love, Life’s Challenges, Music, Reflections

  All Shook Up, assisted living, Aunt Edith, bed and breakfast, Beer Barrel Polka, childhood memories, church music, Country Comforts, Country Comforts Assisted Living, Eleanor Jarlsberg, Elvis Presley, Fireside Theater, funeral, funeral music, gospel music, gospel organist, Gospel pianist, Greatest Hits, Jesus loves me, Korth-Jacobson LLC, Love Me Tender, Lowery electronic organ, Lowery organ, memorial service, musical destiny, Nancy Koplin, Ward Brodt

• My Mom – from her Boss’ Perspective

  I guess it’s natural to think about the special people in my life from strictly my own perspective. Obviously, that’s how I know them. I’ve written about my mom several times in this blog. Long-time readers of my blog know what she was like – at least from my perspective. A couple months ago, I came across something…

  Marian

  May 5, 2015

  Celebrations, God’s Love, Reflections

  Bread for the Journey, church bulletin, church bulletins, Elsie Korth, Henri Nouwen, Jim Jondrow, mimeograph, mom, perspectives, Pres House, Presbyterian Student Center, right-justify, shadow of consciousness, someone else’s perspective, stencil, twilight zone in our own hearts, work standards

• The Goose Family is Home Again! Happy Spring!

  I got up from my desk and walked over to the patio door. “Oh, look, Floey, the Goose Family has returned.” A goose made a big splash as it landed on the water. The honking got even louder as another goose landed. “That looks like Gilbert and Gloria. Let’s go out and welcome them.” “Who…

  Marian

  March 24, 2015

  Celebrations, God’s Love, Life’s Challenges, Music, Reflections, Spring

  Abbey, Cleland McAfee, Floey, friends, geese, Gilbert Goose, Gloria Goose, God loves us, God’s love, God-given gifts, goose family, Grace Goose, Gregory Goose, hymn sing, joy, kindness, Lent, lenten hymns, Lenten songs, life challenges, listening for God, love your neighbor, nature, Near to the Heart of God, reflections, seasons, spirituality, talking with God, whispering winds

• Dinnertime

  I guess today is a good day to talk about dinnertime. It’s Mardi Gras – Fat Tuesday – a time of feasting the day before beginning a forty-day fast for Lent. Mim and I are planning to go out for a musical feast tonight – an organ recital by Thomas Trotter (a fantastic organist from…

  Marian

  February 17, 2015

  Assisted Living, Book Recommendations, Celebrations, Life’s Challenges, Reflections

  Abbey, Adventures in Hospitality, assisted living, Bread for the Journey, Buffalo Ice Cream Parlor, Country Comforts, Country Comforts Assisted Living, Country Comforts Bed & Breakfast, Country Comforts family, daily devotions, devotional book, dinner time, dinnertime, eating meals together, family, Fat Tuesday, feasting, friends, God’s love, Henri J. M. Nouwen, Henri Nouwen, kindness, Lent, listening for God, love your neighbor, Mardi Gras, meal time, Mim, musical feast, Nouwen, reflections, spirituality, Sunday dinner, talking with God

• Oh, the Conflicted Month of February

  Oh, how I long for the “Merry, Merry Month of May.” But first I must struggle through the conflicted month of February, and then March and April. I’m tired of winter. There I’ve said it. But huge piles of snow and sub-zero wind chills just represent the most obvious burdens of February. It’s the time…

  Marian

  February 10, 2015

  Celebrations, Life’s Challenges, Reflections

  accounting, bread heart, catch up on accounting, conflicted month of February, favorite month, February, friends, getting organized, happy childhood memories, heart-shaped box of chocolates, heart-shaped slice of bread, joy, joyful month, life challenges, love your neighbor, merry month of may, mid-morning snack, QuickBooks, reflections, selecting valentines, spirituality, terrible month, tired of winter, Valentine, valentine box, Valentine’s Day