Today is a pretty important day for my family. Today Andrew takes his GRE. This test will help him as he spends the rest of this semester talking with potential graduate advisers and filling out applications to various grad schools all over the country. This test is an important factor in determining where we will be in about a year from now.
Getting to this point
When Andrew first went to school he made a lot of mistakes (and he'll admit to them, so don't think I'm a jerk!) haha. It was one year and one semester into his college education that we became engaged the day before Christmas Eve, and life took another exciting turn.
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| This was taken the day we got engaged December 23, 2007 |
That last semester before our June wedding was an interesting one. Andrew and I began to talk about his career goals, and he told me that he really had a passion for cooking. He always has from helping his mom in the kitchen growing up. Andrew really struggled with his career decisions because he wanted to be the provider for his family. (Andrew's traditionalism is something that I absolutely love about my husband, but it took me a long time to explain to him that I would much rather him find a way to provide that would make him happy rather than just financially secure.) So before school started again for the Spring semester we were looking at Culinary school options for the Fall.
Unfortunately, with Andrew's mind on Culinary school he sort of forgot that he was still attending school. He stopped going to classes, and then missed the drop date. He was stuck with a 15 credit hour semester of F's. But what did he care? This wouldn't effect culinary school!
Fast forward three years, Andrew is about to finish his Associates in Culinary Arts and has been working at various restaurants to support us (well mostly me as I finished up my Bachelor's degree). He's unhappy working in the kitchen, and feels the need to at least get a Bachelor's degree. For a while we talked about a business degree, or may nutrition to accompany the culinary degree....but another passion of Andrew's kept popping up. His love of animals.
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| Andrew's graduation from Culinary school (2011) |
One of my favorite stories that Andrew's mom tells, is how she and Andrew's dad had to sit down with Andrew as a boy and explain to him that not everyone wants to talk about lizards all the time. haha This is so my Andrew! He's one of those people who will study something with all of his energy if he is truly interested in it. It may seem like Culinary school was a waste of his time, but I think it really showed him that he was capable of being great at something. (And who would complain about their husband getting a culinary degree?! I often say it was our best investment!)
I have now watched Andrew put in two years at Weber State University in the Zoology program. He has helped with numerous research projects and even secured a grant to study bees in Southern Utah. He received several awards and scholarships this year based mostly on his enthusiasm and efforts both in and out of the classroom. The grades from that fourth semester of college still present him with challenges. Especially now that he has decided he wants to go to graduate school. But it has only made him work harder to get good scores on his GRE.
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| Andrew's Zoology Service Award 2013 |
I can't explain fully the change in Andrew from high school to now. I know that he has never in his life studied so hard for a test as he has for his GRE that he is taking in a few hours. I know that this is the first time he has worked hard at something not directly related to his passion. (There isn't any biology on the GRE.) And mostly I know that I am lucky to have been by his side to watch the transformation. Many people look down on us for getting married so young, but I know that I have really gained so much from watching my partner become a godly man and leader.
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