With Thanksgiving swiftly approaching, I realized it was time to share what I'm grateful for. Since it's the 26th, I decided to do 26 items -- one per day of November. Because that's when gratitude matters the most.
1. I am grateful I have never mixed up the chili powder and the cinnamon.
2. I am grateful for masking tape.
3. I am grateful Elsa made such a beautiful ice palace.
4. I am grateful Daniel Tiger likes carrots.
5. I am grateful for people who respond to emails, for they shall inherit the earth.
6. I am grateful for people who don't, because it reminds me to respond to emails.
7. I am grateful I have never had a traumatic experience in an elevator, just lots of slow ones.
8. I am grateful there are other fonts besides Comic Sans and Papyrus.
9. I am grateful I haven't played Red Rover in years.
10. I am grateful for penne rigate.
11. I am grateful for clickbait articles, because instead of clicking on them I can just bask in my incredulity. I will never believe what happened next.
12. I am grateful for all of the consonants except C, G, W, and Y because they ruin phonetics. Q and X are sort of dumb, too.
13. I am grateful I've still made it this far as a parent without buying any Goldfish crackers.
14. I am grateful for sweet potatoes.
15. I am grateful Kevin and I can forgive each other when we lose each other's games of Hearts on the computer.
16. I am grateful the last time I did a group project movie about DNA was never.
17. I am grateful I have never gotten injured curling ribbon with scissors.
18. I am grateful that there are books in the library about construction vehicles, because I was starting to get embarrassed that I was calling everything a bulldozer.
19. I am grateful that Joseph has learned the names quickly, because hearing him say, "Look, there's a trackhoe" or "Is that a compactor?" is kind of the best thing ever.
20. I am grateful for Internet that does not hog the phone line.
21. I am grateful that tie-dye isn't part of my life.
22. I am grateful for tupperware that is all the same size so I don't have to worry if the lids are going to fit.
23. I am grateful my keyboard doesn't have scroll lock.
24. I am grateful that Wikipedia has synopses of TV shows and movies I never plan to see so I can stay well versed in pop culture.
25. I am grateful for ligaments. And other parts of the body too.
26. I am grateful for Thanksgiving, so I can remember all these things I am grateful for.
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
A couple of Joseph quotes
Sorry I haven't posted much here lately. It's been pretty stressful (most of it self-inflicted, but some of it not . . . long story). So, I've got lots to catch up on at some point.
But in the meantime, here are a couple of things Joseph has said lately to keep us smiling:
K: "Joseph, what does your shirt say?"
J: "You need to go potty." I asked him again a couple of other times, and each time that's what he said. I have no clue why. His shirt actually said "Boy Genius."
(While walking home in the cold)
J: "It needs to stop winding. It needs to slow down." I totally agreed.
(While playing with hangers and having them interact with each other)
J: "The blue hanger is a good friend."
(While watching this old Divine Comedy video)
J: "We don't run in roads."
(I've let myself get worked up over most everything lately, and I think it shows)
J: (kisses me on the cheek) "Now you feel better, right?"
(While just Joseph and I were home)
J: "It's snowing outside, right Daddy? Right Kevin?" (In a low voice) "Right."
(Pretty much daily . . .)
J: "He (some stuffed animal, or his hands, or something else) needs to go into time out! He needs to take a nap!" Incidentally, neither Kevin nor I can even remember the last time he had a time out, so we have no idea where this game is coming from.
.
And . . . there are so many other great quotes all the time. He is astonishingly good at playing by himself right now, and I love hearing the simple stories he makes up. Last night, his hands were interacting with each other, reminding each other to share.
It's also cute how he is a little self-conscious about it, as any self-respecting child would be. "Stop smiling at me!" "Stop looking at me!" Can't say I blame him.
Pretty much, he is just great.
But in the meantime, here are a couple of things Joseph has said lately to keep us smiling:
K: "Joseph, what does your shirt say?"
J: "You need to go potty." I asked him again a couple of other times, and each time that's what he said. I have no clue why. His shirt actually said "Boy Genius."
(While walking home in the cold)
J: "It needs to stop winding. It needs to slow down." I totally agreed.
(While playing with hangers and having them interact with each other)
J: "The blue hanger is a good friend."
(While watching this old Divine Comedy video)
J: "We don't run in roads."
(I've let myself get worked up over most everything lately, and I think it shows)
J: (kisses me on the cheek) "Now you feel better, right?"
(While just Joseph and I were home)
J: "It's snowing outside, right Daddy? Right Kevin?" (In a low voice) "Right."
(Pretty much daily . . .)
J: "He (some stuffed animal, or his hands, or something else) needs to go into time out! He needs to take a nap!" Incidentally, neither Kevin nor I can even remember the last time he had a time out, so we have no idea where this game is coming from.
.
And . . . there are so many other great quotes all the time. He is astonishingly good at playing by himself right now, and I love hearing the simple stories he makes up. Last night, his hands were interacting with each other, reminding each other to share.
It's also cute how he is a little self-conscious about it, as any self-respecting child would be. "Stop smiling at me!" "Stop looking at me!" Can't say I blame him.
Pretty much, he is just great.
Sunday, November 9, 2014
A hymn I wrote
Today, the ward choir performed "Let the Glory of the Lord," a song I wrote. It has been so exciting to hear people practice it and perform it. I decided that it would be sort of fun to explain the story of the song.
First, here are the lyrics:
Q: Why did you write this hymn?
A: I think there were a lot of things that contributed to its creation. I think the first was one time in March when Kevin and I were driving back from the temple and I basically said that I didn't understand the temple any better than I did within a few months of being endowed. Because we weren't able to make it as often as we did when we were childless and 5 minutes away, I had sort of lost the ability to consistently get new insights the way I had previously. And, I wanted that back.
The next thing was the General Women's Meeting at the end of March. There were lots of talks about covenants, and I felt like I was missing something. I actually took the question to Facebook and got a lot of awesome responses, and those helped.
Another thing that influenced me was hearing a recent convert speak at an "I'm a Mormon" devotional. She described how being baptized had brought God into her heart. I loved that imagery, and I wondered how that fit into covenants.
The final thing happened in May when my friend Sarah, the music chair, told me that if I ever wrote a song she would use it as a musical number. That day, as soon as I got home from church and got Joseph down for a nap, I sat on the couch with my laptop, and all the ideas that had been swimming around for a few months just spilled out onto the screen. Just like that, it was there. Over the next few weeks and months, I tweaked things here and there, trying to get rid of cliches while creating a stronger narrative, but the main idea came back in May. In a lot of ways, writing the song gave me answers both about covenants and about what the temple means to me.
Q: What do the lyrics mean?
A: I don't know if I could parse it line by line, but here are some scriptures and ideas that influenced me. You can probably see where they fit in.
D&C 93 (basically all of it)
Psalms 24:3-4
Romans 5 (basically all of it)
Alma 5 (particularly verses 14, 19, and 26-28)
Kafar
D&C 88:50
Isaiah 49:16
Q: How did you come up with the melody?
A: I originally was planning on using an old hymn tune from here. I mean, why reinvent the wheel when there are so many great melodies we don't use?
But after looking through some of them, I realized that I needed to make it my own. For a while I was stuck here because the only melody I could come up with that I liked was from Lord of the Rings -- the gorgeous Shire song. I tried to make different melodies, but when I played them back they didn't work. Finally I decided I could still use a melody somewhat similar to the Lord of the Rings one, and once I had that the rest of the song basically fell into place.
This isn't exactly related to the lyrics or the melody, but this old talk by President Packer influenced me a fair amount in setting the mood for the hymn as well as providing motivation for writing it. (It also reminds me to not be a temperamental musician, which I often become without constant vigilance.)
Q: Is there anything you would change about it?
A: There are notes within the harmonies that I would tweak, chords that I would rearrange, etc. I like the words now, but it wouldn't surprise me if I came up with something better here or there if I thought about it more. Kevin pointed out to me that people whose music makes it into the hymnbook probably feel the same way.
I do wish there was a bit more of an outward focus in the song. It's about bringing God into our hearts, but not really about what we do once He's there. At one point I did have a half a verse that was more outward focused:
It didn't fit with the rest of the song, and I couldn't adapt it to fit, so it's not currently part of it, but maybe it will make it back in.
Q: Why are there so many key changes in the choir version?
A: I feel like certain keys bring out certain moods, and I needed to get back to those keys to capture those moods. But to get there, sometimes you have to go around the circle of fifths a bit. In retrospect, I don't know that going from D to F to E to E flat is the best, because you have to fit in 4 or 5 other keys to make the transitions work. But it was cool. I felt like I was channeling my inner Mack Wilberg.
So, there you have it. My first big choir number. Feel free to use it (or any of the versions of it [no promise of no typos]) for noncommercial church or home use.
First, here are the lyrics:
Let the glory of the Lord
Enter in my seeking soul
Let it bring a mighty change
May it heal and make me whole.
Let the blood which from thee flowed
Cleanse my hands, refine my heart.
Let thy grief upon the cross
Give my soul a joyous start.
Let my heart be free of pride,
Meek enough to follow thee,
Let me cast off all my sins,
Leave no darkness found in me
Let my soul be filled with love,
Growing in thy truth and grace,
Let thy light in me abide
Show thy image in my face.
Let thy glory clothe my soul,
May it cover and protect,
Let me know thy love’s embrace
May I feel its full effect.
Let me then be one with thee
Safe in thee from sin’s demands,
Let this sealing be secure,
Etched into thy holy hands.
Q: Why did you write this hymn?
A: I think there were a lot of things that contributed to its creation. I think the first was one time in March when Kevin and I were driving back from the temple and I basically said that I didn't understand the temple any better than I did within a few months of being endowed. Because we weren't able to make it as often as we did when we were childless and 5 minutes away, I had sort of lost the ability to consistently get new insights the way I had previously. And, I wanted that back.
The next thing was the General Women's Meeting at the end of March. There were lots of talks about covenants, and I felt like I was missing something. I actually took the question to Facebook and got a lot of awesome responses, and those helped.
Another thing that influenced me was hearing a recent convert speak at an "I'm a Mormon" devotional. She described how being baptized had brought God into her heart. I loved that imagery, and I wondered how that fit into covenants.
The final thing happened in May when my friend Sarah, the music chair, told me that if I ever wrote a song she would use it as a musical number. That day, as soon as I got home from church and got Joseph down for a nap, I sat on the couch with my laptop, and all the ideas that had been swimming around for a few months just spilled out onto the screen. Just like that, it was there. Over the next few weeks and months, I tweaked things here and there, trying to get rid of cliches while creating a stronger narrative, but the main idea came back in May. In a lot of ways, writing the song gave me answers both about covenants and about what the temple means to me.
Q: What do the lyrics mean?
A: I don't know if I could parse it line by line, but here are some scriptures and ideas that influenced me. You can probably see where they fit in.
D&C 93 (basically all of it)
Psalms 24:3-4
Romans 5 (basically all of it)
Alma 5 (particularly verses 14, 19, and 26-28)
Kafar
D&C 88:50
Isaiah 49:16
Q: How did you come up with the melody?
A: I originally was planning on using an old hymn tune from here. I mean, why reinvent the wheel when there are so many great melodies we don't use?
But after looking through some of them, I realized that I needed to make it my own. For a while I was stuck here because the only melody I could come up with that I liked was from Lord of the Rings -- the gorgeous Shire song. I tried to make different melodies, but when I played them back they didn't work. Finally I decided I could still use a melody somewhat similar to the Lord of the Rings one, and once I had that the rest of the song basically fell into place.
This isn't exactly related to the lyrics or the melody, but this old talk by President Packer influenced me a fair amount in setting the mood for the hymn as well as providing motivation for writing it. (It also reminds me to not be a temperamental musician, which I often become without constant vigilance.)
Q: Is there anything you would change about it?
A: There are notes within the harmonies that I would tweak, chords that I would rearrange, etc. I like the words now, but it wouldn't surprise me if I came up with something better here or there if I thought about it more. Kevin pointed out to me that people whose music makes it into the hymnbook probably feel the same way.
I do wish there was a bit more of an outward focus in the song. It's about bringing God into our hearts, but not really about what we do once He's there. At one point I did have a half a verse that was more outward focused:
Let me then join in thy work
Bringing souls into thy care
Let me succor as thou would
Make me ever more aware.
It didn't fit with the rest of the song, and I couldn't adapt it to fit, so it's not currently part of it, but maybe it will make it back in.
Q: Why are there so many key changes in the choir version?
A: I feel like certain keys bring out certain moods, and I needed to get back to those keys to capture those moods. But to get there, sometimes you have to go around the circle of fifths a bit. In retrospect, I don't know that going from D to F to E to E flat is the best, because you have to fit in 4 or 5 other keys to make the transitions work. But it was cool. I felt like I was channeling my inner Mack Wilberg.
So, there you have it. My first big choir number. Feel free to use it (or any of the versions of it [no promise of no typos]) for noncommercial church or home use.
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
Covert Operation
The other night, Joseph was playing downstairs while Kevin and I finished dinner, and we noticed something. He was having a conversation with himself!
Except, of course, it wasn't just himself who was having the conversation. It was him with all of his cars, chatting about who knows what, all of it very politely.
Ever since then, I've been dying to catch it on camera. But it's not something you can exactly stage. In fact, no kid ever would perform like this on command. So I've had to be sneaky about it.
And today, I finally got a video! It's pretty much Joseph's favorite video now, so it's safe to say he appreciates my sneaky efforts. (In all seriousness, I do wonder when things like this will need to stop because they'll be too embarrassing for him. Hopefully not for a few more months.)
And, here it is, in all of its closed-captioned glory. Enjoy!
(oh, ps -- the closed captioning only works if you click on the title which takes you to YouTube.)
Except, of course, it wasn't just himself who was having the conversation. It was him with all of his cars, chatting about who knows what, all of it very politely.
Ever since then, I've been dying to catch it on camera. But it's not something you can exactly stage. In fact, no kid ever would perform like this on command. So I've had to be sneaky about it.
And today, I finally got a video! It's pretty much Joseph's favorite video now, so it's safe to say he appreciates my sneaky efforts. (In all seriousness, I do wonder when things like this will need to stop because they'll be too embarrassing for him. Hopefully not for a few more months.)
And, here it is, in all of its closed-captioned glory. Enjoy!
(oh, ps -- the closed captioning only works if you click on the title which takes you to YouTube.)
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