Quick update...

I'm ready for a weekend. Seems I get tired easily...who knew? This was a busy week for me and Nathan, but it was good, at least for me. It was encouraging in a number of ways. Encouragement is always welcome. Anyways, here's the update:

Tonight Nathan's mom is stopping in at our place for night, so that should be fun. She's on her way back from Ontario where she got to see her mom for a day or two (and pick up her car and drive it back to Saskatchewan).

Also, tonight and tomorrow we are having a training weekend at our church, led by the pastors and maybe some other people too, and it is open to the whole church. I plan on being at that tonight and tomorrow. Hopefully some other people show up too, because Nathan has put alot of time into his session, as I'm sure the other pastors have.

Starting Monday, both Nathan and I have an entire week off!!! I'm so excited! Nathan is using it to do prep for the class that he's teaching at the end of November, so he'll be working a bunch, but at least he'll be at home where I can see him and maybe sneak in a cuddle or two every hour. It seems like we haven't really had much time to see each other this week. I don't like weeks like that. I like my husband. Alot.

So yeah, that's just a quick update on us. We're living, we're breathing, and learning and growing and loving life. How 'bout you?

Steve Bell...

Last night, Nathan and I drove out to Winkler for a Steve Bell concert.
It was amazing...
For those of you who don't know Steve Bell, his show is him and his guitar becoming one for God.
And, he is a very gifted musician. We were in the front pew and you should have seen Nathan! He was leaning forward, practically drewling (how do you spell that word???) because of how Steve Bell's fingers were moving on the guitar! It was great!
I really enjoyed it too. At the end, I felt like Nathan and I would be driving back to Bethany because it was so much the same inspiring experience that so often happened while we were at school there. Things like that just don't happen nearly as much in the real world. That's one thing I miss about Bible school...when I was at Bible school, I was inspired on a regular basis. Many more things made me stop and think. Many more things made me want to try new things or gave me ideas for things I could do in or with my life. I've come to the conclusion that the real world is fairly routine and, dare I say it, boring. It was such a good feeling to come out of there having been led into the presence of God and feeling encouraged and uplifted.
Now, I realize that life isn't all about feelings and feeling good. I know that there has to be routine and there has to be normal-ness. But something about the Bible school setting just keeps your mind and soul working and alive. Even if you're not enjoying being there and just want to get out (and get married or whatever else), it's still a stimulating place and a place where God is very real, and a place where encouragement abounds. That's what I miss about Bethany. Encouragement...stimulation...inspiration...no chance of your soul going into hibernation.
Is it wrong of me to say these things, even though I'm a pastor's wife, even though I attend church regularly, even though I love life and love God and feel incredibly blessed? Am I wrong to think and feel like this?

She's back!

I'm back! It feels like I've been gone from the blogging world for so long (It's been a week, if I'm not mistaken)...wonder if that means I'm working again...??? : )
When I quit at Friesens at the end of June, I stayed on as casual, so about a month ago they called me and asked if I could work for three days, full time, doing a project for the invoicing department. No problem! It was something to fill some hours with. So I went in Wednesday, Thurdsday and Friday.
That Wednesday, the HR department asked if I could work the next week full time because the HR department was needing some extra help. Good, sure, no problem. The whole next week, I worked mornings at reception while the other receptionist helped HR and in the afternoons, I worked on the invoicing project.
I show up on Friday of that first week and there is a message for me to call Nathan at home...I had gone out for breakfast with the other pastors' wives so I hadn't seen him much yet that morning. He says, "Good morning. Guess what?" I say, "What?" He says, "Remember this morning when I thought it was raining like crazy and then I stepped outside and it was dry?" I say, "Yeah..." He says, "Well, I went downstairs to turn off a light and the floor was wet so I looked at the water heater and it is split down the side and water is pouring out." My first reaction, "Ok."
So, I suddenly realized why I was working all those unexpected hours! It was to pay for the new water heater! God really knows what he's doing, eh?
Later that day, the morning receptionist comes up to me and sheepishly asks me if I can work mornings for the entire next week because HR wasn't quite caught up. No problem! We'll need this money to pay for the water heater! So I work the next week, thinking, "This has to be the last week!"
Well, Friday of that week rolls around and another sheepish morning receptionist asks me for another week of my time. I figure that I've worked this long, I may as well keep going and pay off the car while I'm at it. So, another week under my belt...and there's no way they'll need me for yet another!
I was wrong. One more week. I emailed the HR manager, asking how much longer she figured this would go on, because while I don't mind helping out, I would love to be able to make plans and not always be wondering if I'll be working or not. So she says, this week, maybe next week too...Ok, so now I have some idea. It must be drawing to a close. Thursday comes..."Niki, does Monday, Wednesday and Friday work for you?" SCORE!!! No problem!
So, the point of that story is to say that it finally looks like my working schedule is drawing to a close. I really enjoyed being back, but some mornings get pretty long when all I have to do is read my book and answer the phone. Tough life, eh?

The "Before"...

The other day I had a craving to get my hair cut...and dyed...
This is what I looked like the other day before my craving was satisfied:

The "After"...

So here it is, my newest look. I was sick of having basically the same hair (different variations of the flipped out look) for the past... um... five years?...so I took the plunge and got a straighter style and some new professional color. My hair had never been dyed professionally so I was pretty excited about that. I didn't know it would be that expensive though!

I thought $60 at the most and, well, it was more than that! Oh well, it was a nice change, and it's MUCH easier to do in the morning, so that's a huge plus. I don't even have to do anything to it if I don't want and it still looks great! Well, there you have it...the new me.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This weekend has been a time for me to miss having family close by. All but three of my 21 thanksgivings have been with family, and I miss the fellowship and joy of being with a huge group of family around a table playing games, visiting and eating together.

Nathan and I have enjoyed having our own thanksgiving weekend. We were talking this morning, and he mentioned that us living this far away from our families is our chance to make our own thanksgiving traditions. So here are the traditions we started this year:
Saturday night: Pantom of the Opera (this is one tradition we'll just have to continue!)
Sunday morning: church
Sunday afternoon: Nathan watched football and I napped
Sunday evening: supper with Ben and Cindy at their place with two other families without family close by.
Monday morning: slept in
Monday afternoon: yard/house work; gave Lennox his first bath in our house...he was very good and is now a clean, sweet-smelling, wonderful dog again...he's also looking more grown up with just a collar and no harness; take-out Chinese food for a late thanksgiving dinner; Nathan watched a movie while I napped (again)
Monday evening: more relaxing!

That said, as much as I'd love things like Phantom of the Opera to become tradition in our house, I think we'll need a couple more years to figure out what our traditions will become. I'd love it if someday we could go back to spending thanksgiving with our families and spending the weekend with them. As much as it's nice to have a long weekend to ourselves (because we're still newlyweds), it would be nice to be thankful with those we love. Mom, Dad, Alicia, Andrew, Mom, Dad, Karis, and Josh, we love you and would have loved to have seen you this weekend. We're thankful for you! God bless!

The Pantom of the Opera is here!

Today is finally the day that Nathan and I have been looking forward to for a long time! This afternoon we're heading off the big city and we're going to go out for supper (probably at Arby's because we're cheap young marrieds) and maybe do a bit of shopping at St. Vital, and then go to the Pantom of the Opera! And you know the best part? Remember back a couple weeks ago when I posted a list of my favorite things (Skittles, Alf and Ecclesiastes) and number 27 said, "dates in the city that cost a lot but are sponsored by a third party : )"? Well, this one is definitely sponsored! (Thanks Steve and Dianne!) Nathan really wanted to go and we wouldn't have been able to go otherwise.

It really humbles you when people do things like this for you, eh? We've had those humbling moments a number of times since moving here. The people in our church are so generous! When we first moved here, we had one man come up to us and say that if we ever had a tight month and just needed a couple hundred dollars or whatever, that we should just go and talk to him. And another man asked what we needed most for our house and took it upon himself to find that for us (that's how we got our deep-freeze)! It's amazing how giving people can be! I'd love to be able to do things like that for young couples/students. I hope that Nathan and I can afford it. I think, though, that we'll do what we can, whether we can afford it or not. Something about feeding the poor and clothing them too...although I think just making them smile would be something Jesus would do, too.

A New Take on the ol' Eggo Waffle...

So those of you who were at St. Laurent with me this summer know that my favorite way of eating Eggo waffles is with one chocolate chip in each hole. Mmm...if you haven't tried it, you should! And while you're at it, try my new version: alternating white and brown chocolate chips! There's no better way to start your morning than with chocolate! (Notice my bowl with chocolate milk in it from Nesquik cereal in the background)
Chocolate, chocolate chocolate! Yum!

Nathan's little surprises...

So Nathan tried to surprise me. I have to write "tried" because it never seems to work out that he actually surprises me. It's never his fault that I'm not surprised, but I'd hardly say it's my fault either. :D
See, what happens is I'm a girl, so I notice things. I don't mean to, it just happens. For example, about this time two years ago, I just happened to notice that Nathan's car was missing one day from the dorm parking lot. Naturally, I thought, "Oh, he must have gone into Saskatoon to pick up my engagement ring...why else would his car be gone and I not know where he went?" This is a classic example. It happens every time (so far). I didn't try to figure out why his car was gone...it just made sense! Why else? -Oh, wait a minute...I can't say every time. This one time, while we were dating, Nathan made me a wonderful steak dinner, served in his parents' basement (because there was no where else), and there were candles everywhere and he had to tell me before we started eating that he wasn't going to propose that night so I could relax enough to enjoy myself. That time I was surprised! Anyway...
This time, I happened to notice an email from my friend Marsha in Nate's junkmail. He was scrolling through really fast and I wasn't even really watching, but how can you not notice your best friends' name??? It's so familiar!!! I asked him about it and he said they'd been emailing a bit. Of course I pressed him, because why would they just randomly be emailing when I hadn't been getting any emails from Marsha myself? It just didn't make sense! So, finally Nathan told me that he'd simply sent her an email thanking her for calling me on my birthday (and making me feel special) and that was that. Sure, that sounds like something Nathan would do, and I would have left it at that, only he said that there was something secret in his email so I shouldn't be looking AND he wouldn't tell me if it was work-related or what, so I started thinking, like any girl would, that he was keeping secrets, just because. I kinda brushed it off though, thinking it was nothing really.
Then, when we were waiting for the doors to open at Blue Like Jazz Live (VERY good, by the way) and he said that something else was a secret and that he couldn't tell me. That really made me upset because why, just for no apparent reason, did he all of a sudden have all these secrets? And all he would say about them was "Don't worry about it." Don't worry about it?! So I sat there, while enjoying the performance thoroughly, also thoroughly ticked at my husband who was suddenly hiding things from me.
When we got home, I let him know how upset I was (he was shocked and had no clue what he did). I asked him if he would please tell me why he had all these secrets. He told me they weren't work related or just because, so the only other thing was that he was planning a "surprise" for me. Once I knew that, I put it together with the random email from Marsha and asked him when she was coming. He just hid his face under his pillow (because he couldn't lie with a straight face) and asked me what I was talking about. So then I knew. That's how I figure his surprises out. It's just as disappointing for me as it is for him, let me tell you. I just appreciate SO much that he tries! He's such a wonderful husband! I wouldn't trade him for anyone else! It's been an unbeatable year and four and a half months of marriage!
Needless to say, once I realized that he was flying my friend out to me as a surprise (and with his own allowance), I felt horrible about being so mad at him and ruining his surprise. It bothered me ALL day. Talk about embarassing! My poor Nathan took it really well though, and says that in another two years he might try to think of another surprise for me.

For Nate's version of the story, visit his blog by following the link on the side of my blog, or go to officehourthoughts.blogspot.com. Enjoy!