The Nature of Work.

There have been some times lately where I have had the opportunity to think a bit more deeply about our life.  Some personal goals that I have set involve: Increasing knowledge and Increasing purpose-driven activity.  I am super excited and am doing one thing at a time as to really see the meaning and purpose behind my actions (as is someone stated in goal #2).

Today's photo involves a place of my employment.  There a couple of things that I thought about as I took this picture today, and if you so desire, you can come along with my thoughts below.  Nonetheless, it's a picture capturing the nearly perfect weather we've had yesterday and today!

What do you do?
This seems to be a tough question for me to answer lately.  My first thought is to respond, "what do you mean, what do I do?...I do a lot of things!"  Don't we all right!? :)

I am an American Sign Language Interpreter.  I interpret from spoken English to ASL or ASL to English.  It's a very stimulating and challenging task that I absolutely love.  I went to school and learned ASL though classes and socializing in the Deaf community.  Then, I continued for an additional year to graduate in Sign Language Interpreting.  I then took the state Quality Assurace Screening Test (QAST) the day of my graduation in 2006 and received a II/III- which qualified me to take the next level of the QAST nearly a year later in 2007 and scored IV/IV.  One year later and one month before our eldest was born ( = 8months pregnant), I took it once again, receiving the highest possible state certification- a V/V, and began to plan my path to National Certification and it's requirements. 

Since graduating and becoming a certified interpreter, I have worked in elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, colleges, vo-techs, doctor's offices, physical therapy centers, business training meetings and staff development meetings, corporate conferences, governor's summits, religious gatherings, funerals, weddings, interviews, enrollments, and Video Relay Services (VRS).  I love the variety and ability I have to walk into a situation not knowing what will happen, the setting it will take place, the person I am looking for (besides a name), and if the people invovled have experienced using an interpreter.  Prior to children, I did a lot more freelance work- which put me in a new environment or two...or three a day.  I loved it!  During pregnancy, I signed onto a local university to gain consistency in pay and schedule and did the freelance on the side.  Now with our two little ones, it has transformed into mainly scheduled/ university level work with occasional (like they call me once every few months) free lance work.

I am now in an opportunity twice a week to work at a university as an interpreter.  Every semester and every student is different and I feel so lucky to be involved in opening the doors of communication between two languages and allowing two people talk to each other, or 'listen' to a lecture, or ask questions that otherwise would have not done so as naturally.  The university feel is an inspiring one.  We have been encouraged to "seek learning, even by study and also by faith" (Doctrine & Covenants 88) and athough I don't do the subject matter studying, I feel that I'm learning new concepts and receiving inspiration as I work.

I am a mother and wife.  It doesn't seem fair to group these two together and isolate the interpreter side of me, but these two responsiblities of mother and wife happen mainly in the same place, to a common group of people, and share my top priority AND therefore deserve a ridicuously long, but neccessary run-on sentence.  From THE FAMILY, a proclamation to the world, we read that "The Family is ordained of God." and that "Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children."  I would like to stop there.  Not because I feel that being a sign language interpreter is significantly more important and deserves 3 paragraphs in compared to this 1 about a wife AND a mother- but mainly because this blog in general talks mostly about how much I LOVE being a wife to my husband and mother to our two children and I'm going to use this post to focus on something else.

In March 1986, Jan Underwood Pinborough (assistant editor) wrote an Ensign Article called, "Working Double-Time: The Working Mother's Dilemma."  It's an excellent article on the importance of ALL mothers and letting families make their own decisions.  There has been a good number of comments made to me from different perspectives- some about working outside the home and others about not working enough.  The questioning about why I don't work more..."You have such a skill!"  "You could be making so much money!"  "There is such a need."  "This is a great opportunity for you"  "You would fit this student/employee/etc.  perfectly"......are surprisingly easy to answer which normally sounds something like this. 

"Thank you so much for thinking of me.  I love being a sign language interpreter and am continuing to increase my experience and skill level.  I AM currently working and think that right now my schedule satifies my needs.  My family is the most important thing, and I'm lucky that I have this chance to enjoy both worlds!  We can definitely keep in touch, and if my schedule opens up, I'd love to be a service for you." 

Unfortunatly, there has also been questioning from the side of, "why do you need to work?"  "You shouldn't work, the Prophet commanded us not to."  "It's too bad you feel you have to work, your children will miss your influence."  "You can't give your child what they need if you work."  Mainly comments are easy to brush off, but I generally don't have a verbal response.  From the proclamation, "Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ."   That is what my family is striving to do.  We enjoy the principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational acitivies.  The article above really helped me calm down and realize that we are our own family and what's good for us or others isn't always the same and to not be so stereotypical.

In case you didn't click on the link above, here's bit of the article that I found most interesting,

“Do you work, or are you a full-time mother?” Any woman who has children recognizes the irony in this question. All mothers work, full-time. And motherhood can never be a part-time job. But the messages behind this question can undermine women’s peace of mind and polarize them.

The first message—one that our society often promulgates—is that only women with careers outside the home do work that really “matters.” Women who take care of children and run households full-time punch no timecards. Accordingly, modern society does not credit them with doing valuable work and grants them only minimal status. As a result, many of these women feel undervalued. Although they may know that raising children is eternally important, they receive many subtle cues from the world that they really ought to be doing something more with their lives.

The second message troubles many who work outside the home to help support their families. That message is that women are mothers only when they are at home. Of course, a woman no more stops being a mother when she is at the office than she ceases to be a Latter-day Saint when she is not at church. But some who work outside the home may feel unnecessary guilt, which hinders their ability to enjoy a sense of well-being and convey that feeling to their children. With guilt and apprehension on both sides of the issue, women sometimes become defensive about their choices, perhaps also questioning the wisdom of others’ choices. [underline added].

Read on by clicking the link- it really is a good one!!
In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners." [italics added.]

The second point about the picture was that if you look closely you can see a guy in a white striped shirt standing on a bench "preaching the good word."  It made me think of Joseph Smith's day when there was a "tumult of opinions."  It made me so grateful for the gospel and the knowledge I have of a Father in Heaven and principles of the gospel that allow me to return to Him again.

I'm totally exhausted for tonight, but it's just something to think about. Love others. Don't judge. Like my dad says, "be nice. be happy." :)