I was thinking today about how my friends have a LOT of different jobs. Cool Jobs, random jobs, fun jobs. And NONE of them work in a field even remotly related to mine.
Nikki: I'm a teacher. I teach fifth graders about spelling and try to make them love reading books as much as me. As a bonus I can infiltrate them with Dr. Quinn stories unntil they are as passionate about it as I am.
Bethany: Is an Out-tripper. She takes people rock climbing, and camping in the bush, and kyaking and white water rafting, and caveing. Her bonus is that she gets to be all buff and pretty.
Tiersa: Is an Administrative Assistant for the Continental Singers. She does paperwork and books hotels and flights and makes posters and brochures and gets to do awesome things on the computer. Her bonus is that she gets to live in California part of the year.
Tom: Is a fish wrangler. He wrestles fish out of the water in rivers all over BC so that the gov't can know what types of fish are in what rivers and in what quantity. His bonus is that... he gets to play with fish all day.
Mike: Walks around the bush (and there is a lot of it here) and maps out cut-blocks for logging companies. His bonus is that he gets to be as back-woodsmany as he wants to be and no one can say anything. And he gets to take his dog to work with him.
Ferin: Is a clothing store manager. She gets a sweet discount.
Bowen: Is a miner. I don't know exactly what he does. But neither does he half the time. His bonus is that he gets paid a lot.
Erik: Works Rockey Mountaineer Vacations. He serves and is in a musical. His bonus is that He is in a musical!
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Thursday, August 02, 2007
My Inspiration
Yesterday was an awesome awesome day. My sister Bethany and I headed to the Shuswap with her friend Rita for a day on her boat on the lake. (Side note, where do British Columbians go to trade their shoes??? the Shuswap)
We boated on her speed boat in 37 degree weather with no clouds and a bright sun. We stopped on a random beach for lunch, stopped at a store that floated in the middle of the water so you could only get their by boat, we found an awesome swimming beach. We boated some more and then swam off the boat with a waterfall tumbling down the mountain on my left, and a view of the coastal mountains and rocky mountains on my left. Amazing. We boated some more and then went over to Copper Island in the middle of the lake where people often cliff jump. I hummed and hawed about doing it, because it was really high and dangerous and you had to free rock climb to get to the cliff. But then I thought to myself "You just swam at the base of a waterfall looking at the Rockies. You have to do this! You are in BC. This is an awesome opportunity that might not come along again."
So I jumped out of the boat and swam toward the rock cliffs jutting out of the water. I climbed to the top of the cliff very carefully, knowing that a) i was wet and b) the crevaces in the the rocks would mean broken bones for sure if I slipped. Very treacherous. I got to the cliff and stood there looking out over the lake and the mountains and then I looked down. And it was VERY high. Very high. I stood there for a few minutes getting my courage up and the yelled to my sister that it was too high and I couldn't do it. i climbed down a bit. Bethany started heckling me. "Nikki, theres 10 year olds jumping off the cliff. You are a teacher you should be the example DO IT!"
Her pressure made me climb back up. I looked down. It was too high. I climbed down again. Bethany continued heckling me. I climbed back up. It was freaking high. VERY high. I climbed down again. This time Bethany said something that really stuck with me:
"NIKKI! IF DR. QUINN CAN DO IT SO CAN YOU. SHE JUMPED OFF A CLIFF THAT WAS WAY HIGHER THAN THIS ONE."
It was so true.
"You're right!" I yelled back. "She did! I'm doing it!" Seriously, if Dr. Quinn could do it, so could I. I climbed back up and jumped realizing on the way down that Dr. Quinn jumped off a cliff because some crazy renegade Indians were trying to kill her AND Sully held her hand the whole time. I had a) no indians chasing me and b) no handsome backwoodsman holding my hand. Even ONE of those would have been a better reason for jumping than just doing it for 'fun'.
But I did it. I can officially call myself a cliff jumper.
Seriously, Dr. Quinn IS my inspiration. Time and time again she inspires me to do different things, move west, jump off cliffs, have crushes on boys with tight deerskin pants, just wonderful wonderful things.
We boated on her speed boat in 37 degree weather with no clouds and a bright sun. We stopped on a random beach for lunch, stopped at a store that floated in the middle of the water so you could only get their by boat, we found an awesome swimming beach. We boated some more and then swam off the boat with a waterfall tumbling down the mountain on my left, and a view of the coastal mountains and rocky mountains on my left. Amazing. We boated some more and then went over to Copper Island in the middle of the lake where people often cliff jump. I hummed and hawed about doing it, because it was really high and dangerous and you had to free rock climb to get to the cliff. But then I thought to myself "You just swam at the base of a waterfall looking at the Rockies. You have to do this! You are in BC. This is an awesome opportunity that might not come along again."
So I jumped out of the boat and swam toward the rock cliffs jutting out of the water. I climbed to the top of the cliff very carefully, knowing that a) i was wet and b) the crevaces in the the rocks would mean broken bones for sure if I slipped. Very treacherous. I got to the cliff and stood there looking out over the lake and the mountains and then I looked down. And it was VERY high. Very high. I stood there for a few minutes getting my courage up and the yelled to my sister that it was too high and I couldn't do it. i climbed down a bit. Bethany started heckling me. "Nikki, theres 10 year olds jumping off the cliff. You are a teacher you should be the example DO IT!"
Her pressure made me climb back up. I looked down. It was too high. I climbed down again. Bethany continued heckling me. I climbed back up. It was freaking high. VERY high. I climbed down again. This time Bethany said something that really stuck with me:
"NIKKI! IF DR. QUINN CAN DO IT SO CAN YOU. SHE JUMPED OFF A CLIFF THAT WAS WAY HIGHER THAN THIS ONE."
It was so true.
"You're right!" I yelled back. "She did! I'm doing it!" Seriously, if Dr. Quinn could do it, so could I. I climbed back up and jumped realizing on the way down that Dr. Quinn jumped off a cliff because some crazy renegade Indians were trying to kill her AND Sully held her hand the whole time. I had a) no indians chasing me and b) no handsome backwoodsman holding my hand. Even ONE of those would have been a better reason for jumping than just doing it for 'fun'.
But I did it. I can officially call myself a cliff jumper.
Seriously, Dr. Quinn IS my inspiration. Time and time again she inspires me to do different things, move west, jump off cliffs, have crushes on boys with tight deerskin pants, just wonderful wonderful things.
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
I feel bad because I totally have sucked at blogging this summer. I know facebook has taken over my personal internet life, and I know that other blogs have fallen by the wayside in the wake of this new fad, but I have to remember that there are people out there who do not have facebook and want to read my oh-so-amusing stories. (Seriously though, doesn't everyone have facebook now?)
AND SO, lucky you, I am blogging 2 times in less than 24 hours.
I feel the need to share something a little more serious today. But joyful too. I've been thinking over the past few weeks about how incredibly filled with joy I am. I just have joy bubbling up inside of me. I love to laugh, and smile and have fun and be friendly and live the life here in Kamloops that God has called me to live. I like my jobs (all three of them) love my family, am appreciating more and more my good friends, and am growing very attached to my church. I am relaxed (usually), busy and serving the Lord in ministry and it has blessed me abundantly.
Today I sat beside a pool on the banks of the South Thompson River (don't ask me why you put a pool beside a body of water - but it was super nice), Anyways, I was sitting by the pool with a couple of friends just talking and swimming, and reading and discussing and as I sat there in the glorious sunshine I thought to myself that this is fully, without a doubt, where I am supposed to be. I looked at my life and realized that I am a fun, mid-20's, single female with a good job, great family, friends, social life, ministry and a nice car. Am I living the all-canadian single girl dream? Yes. I am. And it makes me happy. It makes me happy that I know that it is a gift that HE has given me. It fills me with joy knowing that this is just another great section in my life that God has blessed me with.
Serving and following Christ is not a barter system - I'm not working in a church or Christian school because I want Him to bless me. I'm doing it because I am called to - and some days it is really really hard. Some days I can't understand for the life of me why I am working in ministry. The by product of the work I try to do for the kingdom is that I am generiously and graciously blessed.
AND SO, lucky you, I am blogging 2 times in less than 24 hours.
I feel the need to share something a little more serious today. But joyful too. I've been thinking over the past few weeks about how incredibly filled with joy I am. I just have joy bubbling up inside of me. I love to laugh, and smile and have fun and be friendly and live the life here in Kamloops that God has called me to live. I like my jobs (all three of them) love my family, am appreciating more and more my good friends, and am growing very attached to my church. I am relaxed (usually), busy and serving the Lord in ministry and it has blessed me abundantly.
Today I sat beside a pool on the banks of the South Thompson River (don't ask me why you put a pool beside a body of water - but it was super nice), Anyways, I was sitting by the pool with a couple of friends just talking and swimming, and reading and discussing and as I sat there in the glorious sunshine I thought to myself that this is fully, without a doubt, where I am supposed to be. I looked at my life and realized that I am a fun, mid-20's, single female with a good job, great family, friends, social life, ministry and a nice car. Am I living the all-canadian single girl dream? Yes. I am. And it makes me happy. It makes me happy that I know that it is a gift that HE has given me. It fills me with joy knowing that this is just another great section in my life that God has blessed me with.
Serving and following Christ is not a barter system - I'm not working in a church or Christian school because I want Him to bless me. I'm doing it because I am called to - and some days it is really really hard. Some days I can't understand for the life of me why I am working in ministry. The by product of the work I try to do for the kingdom is that I am generiously and graciously blessed.
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