Tag Archives: birthday

Birthdays and Death Days

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My best birthday present of all time!

The last week of December always means a time for extra reflection on the past, the present and the future. With the New Year approaching, I join with millions across the globe to make resolutions to improve. But, the week carries a little extra importance for me. My oldest daughter and I celebrate our birthday’s this week. She was my birthday present 21 years ago today. (That’s more than a little crazy to think about!) How could that many years fly by so quickly? Continue reading →

A Grand Trio For Mio

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[PARENTS MAGAZINE, GIRL WITH CAT]

Image by George Eastman House via Flickr

This month marks the third blogiversary of my MormonSoprano “experiment”! It is hard to believe that 3 whole years have flown by of my life, let alone of my “Blogger” status!

Three is such a wonderful number. So much symbolism and significance! Continue reading →

Mormons Honor Tolkien

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Today is author J.R.R. Tolkien’s birthday. He would have been 118. Born on Jan. 3, 1892 (died Sept. 2, 1973), John Ronald Reuel Tolkien became a famous English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor. He is best known as the author of the classic fantasy works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Indeed, he has been called the “Father of Modern Fantasy Literature”.

It is well known that Tolkien’s closest friend was fellow-author and Christian convert C.S. Lewis. Mormons Love C.S. Lewis. He is considered one of the most quoted non-LDS authors over an LDS pulpit – and likewise, J.R.R. Tolkien is admired no less.

Second President of the LDS Church Brigham Young said that “much … knowledge is obtained from books, which have been written by men who have contemplated deeply on various subjects, and the revelations of Jesus have opened their minds, whether they knew it or acknowledged it or not.” (Journal of Discourses 12:116, emphasis added.)

The Prophet Joseph Smith was admonished that we need to seek “out of the best books words of wisdom…seek learning, even by study and also by faith.” (D&C 88:118.) The Lord further urged that we need to “study and learn, and become acquainted with all good books, and with languages, tongues, and people.” (D&C 90:15.)

A brief search on lds.org offers a few examples of Mormons honoring J.R.R. Tolkien:

1. Elder Neal A. Maxwell (July 6, 1926 – July 21, 2004), LDS Apostle:

We may not be able to fix the whole world, but we can strive to fix what may be amiss in our own families. Tolkien reminds us:

“It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule” (The Return of the King [1965], 190).

From “Hope Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ“, emphasis added.

2. LDS-owned Brigham Young University holds a large annual Women’s Conference. The 1983 Conference chose a quote by Tolkien as their theme:

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost,
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
(J. R. R. Tolkien, from The Fellowship of the Ring.)

The theme was addressed thoughtfully and creatively by students, educators, and General Authorities alike in a wide variety of addresses, workshops, and opportunities for learning attended by over two thousand participants.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell was one of the conference’s speakers, and expanded the theme’s message.

“Your Tolkien theme, ‘Deep roots are not reached by the frost,’ might well have had added to it, ‘nor are they scorched by the sun.’ Jesus described the realities of that scorching sun when he talked in these terms: ‘And some fell upon the stony places, where they had not much earth, and forthwith they sprung up because they had no deepness of earth. And when the sun was up, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered away.’ (Matt. 13:5–6.)”

“In our own lives, the heat will come—not alone in the rigors of daily life, but also in the special summer of circumstance at that point in history when the leaves of the fig trees sprout. The anticipated summer is upon us, and only those who are (to cite Peter and Paul’s adjectives) ‘grounded, rooted, established and settled’ will survive spiritually. (See Eph. 3:17; Col. 1:23; Col. 2:7.)”

As quoted in the May 1983 Ensign “News of the Church“

3. Renoun Latter-day Saint fantasy artist James C. Christensen stated his symbolic art was greatly influenced by C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien:

The Pelican King

“[C.S. Lewis puts] the gospel in a nongospel context. And he’s not writing just for a religious audience. He’s accepted out there in the real world. I found the same thing with J. R. R. Tolkien. This happened while I was in college. The fact that their fantasy was considered as a viable kind of expression gave me the courage to say, “Why don’t I try to do the same sort of thing visually and see what happens?”

From the interview “Windows On Wonder: An Interview with James C. Christensen“, New Era August, 1989

And last, but not least, Mormon Soprano raises her own toast. I have always loved the following words of Tolkien wisdom:

Nearly all marriages, even happy ones, are mistakes: in the sense that almost certainly (in a more perfect world, or even with a little more care in this very imperfect one) both partners might be found more suitable mates. But the real soul-mate is the one you are actually married to.  (J. R. R. Tolkien, Letter to Michael Tolkien, March 1941)

Happy Birthday Mr. Tolkien!

A Blogging Toddler

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2nd birthdayThis month ‘Mormon Soprano’ turned 2 years old! It’s hard to believe our little baby has grown into a full-fledged toddler. It seems like just yesterday she was too small for search engine recognition. Now, her posts often make the top ten on a Google Search, and other bloggers ping and track-back. She has even been recognized by professional news feeds, including a spotlight in the Mormon Times.

As many of you have experienced, every day with a two-year-old is definitely a new adventure! According to “experts”, here is some advice for raising the toddler blog:

“As your blog continues to grow, you will notice new and exciting abilities that develop.” - Bloggerting Magazine

childs_eyesThis is definitely true. When baby Mo was born, she didn’t know the difference between a bar code  and an HTML code! Slowly but surely she learned how to create an account, upload, insert, save, edit and post. There was first-time-parental panic when the site went down, and we endured the painstaking process of healing and rebuilding with another server. But, the satisfaction of watching an idea develop on the screen, and the opportunity to experience spiritual, as well as intellectual growth made it all worthwhile. We enjoyed the thrill of success when a photo or quote would finally attach, and celebrated when her stat tracker finally got in synch.

“Speech development is very exciting for parents as they watch their blog become social beings that can interact with others.” – Early Blog Development, PENNultimate State

mom-and-happy-babyWho could ever forget the excitement of receiving that very first comment? The social aspect of raising a blog has been amazing. Baby Mo’s Stat Tracker shows that since her birth she has received visits from every continent on the globe. Currently she has made over 150 faithful subscribing friends located in the USA, Canada, South America, Europe, Africa and Asia!

“Speech at this age is becoming clearer and the blog begins to form sentences.” – Better Blog Care

child_abcAlthough it is a little embarrasing, it is also entertaining to read posts from her early days. There has definitely been some maturation.  We still have a long way to go. One can only hope that Mo’s mastery of syntax and clarity will continue to improve.

“Two-year-olds like to be independent! Favorite words are “Mine” and “No” and “I do it!” A great deal of time is spent exploring, pushing, pulling and touching.” - Dr. Blogjay Goodpost

toddler_poutingYes, I admit. Baby Mo has had her share of extreme emotions as she has explored her life and the world around her. She is very possessive of her family, she refuses to allow mean spirited comments, she enjoys her independence and she is never shy to express what’s on her mind!

Much of parenting a 2-year-old involves the principle of “foreseeing the evil” and avoiding it (Proverbs 22:3). – Blog Guidepost

no_evil

Just like Joey’s Parable, it is critical for Mo to understand that we can choose our actions, but we cannot choose the consequences. Mo is learning to choose her words and subjects wisely. It takes patience and effort to blog responsibly.

Two-year-olds want to do as much as they can and more. They get upset when they find they don’t have the skills to do things, or the words to say what they want. Some bloggers call this period the terrible twos. But when you take the time to learn about and understand blogs this age, you’ll see that they are really the terrific twos! – Early Blog Gazette

learning to tie shoesMo has recently discovered Movie Maker and she has her own MoSop YouTube channel. She loves experimenting with images and music. However, she still gets frustrated that she does not know enough yet, and the end product does not turn out as she imagined. But, with practice, the learning curve will get easier to navigate, and the quality should improve. We anticipate there will be many more media creations in her future. Additionally, she is picking up more HTML words and phrases. She is even thinking of attending  ‘computer kindergarten’ classes. There are always new and exciting things to learn and discover. When she was born, Twitter didn’t even exist! Now, she not only Tweets, but is also learning to cellular text post, and has fun connecting on her Facebook . Baby Mo is living in an exciting digital world. Her future will involve continual change, improvement, and limitless possibilities.

takes a villageA big THANK YOU to everyone who has visited and supported Mormon Soprano through her formative development! Your friendship is priceless, and your comments are always treasured. There are exciting things in store for Toddler Mo! However, her growth and continued survival cannot happen without your help.  Because, as we all know, “it takes a village to raise a blog“.

A Birthmas To Remember

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Birthmas Tree (and dog)

The Birthmas Tree (and dog)

Today is my husband Peeps birthday. His greatest love in life (other than moi and the kids) is Christmas. In fact, it is a bit of an obsession. He plays Christmas music year round. He makes sure he owns a red car. He even managed to get married at Christmas and have his first child arrive the following Christmas. For the past (nearly) 19 years of our marriage Peeps has been begging for our family to put up the Christmas tree on his birthday, and then leave it up for all of our birthdays (which would mean it couldn’t come down until Feb 6th). Needless to say, I’ve resisted this plan.

Until today.

I made sure I got home before he did so Continue reading →

Happy First Birthday Blog!

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One Year Old!

One Year Old!

Today is the official one year birthday of MormonSoprano.com!

Like every doting parent, I am throwing a little virtual “birthday party”, and walking down memory lane.

In October of 2007 I started receiving a recurring thought that I needed to “build a blog”. This was a bizarre idea because I didn’t have a clue what a blog was! OK, I had heard the term (after all, I don’t live in a cave) – but I was Continue reading →