Opening Up

Alright guys, I decided to take a bit of a turn on this blog. I've decided to open up about a few things going on in my life that I have mentioned, but have been too afraid to talk about since I mentioned them in case they don't work out, in case I fail, in case we don't get picked. But you know, sometimes you just have to get them out, so I'm going to talk about two things that are pretty important in my life right now, but I've been too afraid to further mention to most people, because let's face it, it sucks telling people who are rooting for you that it didn't work out, that you got rejected. Rejection sucks so bad, but everyone has to face it in their lives. Hopefully this will bring us bloggers closer?

The First? Is the Peace Corps. Hal and I applied back in April for the Peace Corps. I've mentioned it on here a few times, but after we didn't get chosen in the June nomination I stopped talking about it to most people. Actually, I haven't wanted to know what day our recruiter is making his decision because I don't want to dread that day, after last time. And I don't want to tell people a specific day so they wouldn't ask me all the time if I had heard anything yet. So...I have been working my butt off since the last round of nominations in the hopes that we'll be nominated for the round that opens up....sometime this month...

For a little over a month now I've been volunteering as an ESL tutor. I have been so surprised by how much I enjoy volunteer teaching for an hour and a half each week. I really enjoy talking with my students and helping them to learn something that's SO hard. I didn't reach the amount of hours that I needed, but hopefully that doesn't effect us too much, because I think I have until we would leave to get the hours? Maybe that's a misconception, but I hope not.

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The other thing I have been working hard at is the main thing that will increase our chances of being nominated. I have talked about it before, you can read it here if you missed it. I have to take the dreaded CLEP Spanish exam. Yikes. I have been studying for months. Months. Maybe not as diligently as I should, but this last month I've been working pretty darn hard. I passed my two Peterson practice tests that I took and I was feeling pretty good, but then I took my first REA test on Friday, and I failed. I? me? I don't think I've ever failed a test before. I took another one last night and I failed. BUT, my score went up by 5 points. I think I was 10 more points away from passing. SO I'm hoping that I can pass. I've done some research and it seems like the Peterson practice tests are closer to the listening portions on the CLEP and the REA is closer to the actual reading section on the test. I've also read that the REA tests are usually harder than the actual CLEP. I'm really hoping so, because I'm not the best at standardized tests.

It's hard to be on the edge of finding out if months of studying and hard work are about to be put to use, or go down the drain. The anticipation is killing me. After I failed the first test Hal suggested that I push back my test date, I decided not too. I'm all in at this point, I just want to get it over with. So, I'm going to just let everyone know my date so you can share in my failure or triumph. I'm taking the test this Friday. As in 3 days from now. EEEKK! I chose that day because the next day is our anniversary weekend, and I wanted to be able to relax and have fun without a test looming over my head.

So please pray for me. Send me good thoughts all day Friday. Send me good grammar thoughts.

And please, if you've ever taken the CLEP test, give me any advice you have. I've heard to bring your own headphones because the quality is so bad on the listening portion, and to also take notes during the longer listening section. Any other advice?

P.S. today would have been my mother's 59th birthday. I've decided to make it a tradition to post a picture of the flowers I put on her grave. happy birthday mom!