Wahoo!

For those that don't know...Dan and I have been struggling through him trying to pass his sciences classes in order to get his associates degree for almost a year now. When we met almost 3 years ago he had EVERYTHING done for his associates except for his sciences classes...he was a major procrastinator is all I can say! Science is definitely the hardest subject for him to comprehend and he often gets overwhelmed with the class before it has even started.

For the first year and a half of his Air Force career he was unable to go to school between being in Basic Training, then Tech School, and finally having to complete a ton of required Air Force classes. He had planned on getting back into school last fall but when he deployed we were afraid he would have to put it on hold once again. We decided to have him study and try to pass the Science CLEP test instead that would give him enough credits to graduate. He studied hard his entire deployment and so did I. He would email me with a long list of questions he had while studying several times a week. I then would spend several hours studying in order to be able to answer his questions. It was a lot of work for both of us but also drew us closer together because it was the one thing I could do to help him when he was so far away. Anyways, after 3 months of studying he took the test and didn't pass. We were both very disappointed because that meant he still had to take 3 science classes.

So I quickly signed him up for school for Spring Semester this year through Weber State's online program. We signed him up to take a Nutrition class. He missed almost the first month because he was coming home from a deployment so he had a ton of makeup work to do. That semester was very challenging because we were always trying to get him caught up with his work and we quickly learned he definitely prefers learning in an actual class setting.

This summer he took a biology class on base. The teacher didn't have a book, only lectured. Dan would bring a tape recorder to the class and record everything the teacher said. The man was like 90 years old and he always sounded like he had a frog in his throat. His voice would drive us both nuts as Dan studied at home! The class was a challenge once again because we were out of town a lot during the summer and biology was just a hard concept in general for him to grasp, let alone the teacher's teaching methods adding to that.

This semester he is taking his last class in order to get his associates degree and we are beyond thrilled to have this done and over with! Well at least until he starts on his bachelors (hopefully that will include absolutely NO SCIENCE CLASSES!!!!). It is a slow process to take only one class at a time but I guess you have to do what you have to do. He is taking an Astronomy class at a local college and is doing great! He has taken two tests in the class so far and has gotten the high in the class! Today he called me and told me his newest test score was posted on the Internet and he wanted me to look it up for him. He got a 97% on it!!!!! He was so excited and couldn't stop shouting "Wahoooo" in the phone....hee hee. If it weren't for the fact that he was driving at the time I know he would have been jumping up and down with excitement! He said that he can't remember ever getting a score that good on a test in his life, let alone on a science test!

Anyways, the point to this whole story is all all the torture from this past year feels like it is FINALLY paying off. This past Thursday was my birthday. Dan took me out to dinner and then we stayed home for the rest of the night so he could study for his test the next morning. I did my own thing for most of the night but then helped quiz him for about an hour before we went to bed. I was slightly disappointed with our evening plans but knew that is what needed to be done. He had been gone for 4 out of the 7 days of class that he was being tested on. He had been on temporary duty for the Air Force during those class days. So he was quite stressed for the test after having missed so much...so getting a 97% after just that alone was extremely exciting to both of us!!!! Then you add all of last year on to that....and that only intensified our excitement!

Dan asked me if we could go out and celebrate...I told him we could go to the corn maze tonight (we were already going anyways for our church youth activity tonight). I don't think he liked my joke too much...I will have to think of something fun to surprise him with for doing so good another day when we aren't so busy....