My SAT--urday

Hi, everyone! Thank you all so much for your prayers for me and my family this week! It was an incredibly crazy week . . . with various members of our family battling a stomach illness (which I think I have just come down with today) :0(, many different family ventures, me working a 40+ hour week with my business, and of course, taking the SAT yesterday!

Yep, I am glad for a day of rest . . . as I think all in my family are!

The SAT went really well yesterday, despite a crazy day leading up to it. On Friday I left our place at 5AM for the Men's Bible Study my dad and I are blessed to attend, and I didn't get home till 9PM! Even worse, I was out trying to conquer an overgrown lawn basically a hay field with a little push weed whacker my client "graciously" (said sarcastically) supplied for me to use Friday evening. It took all of three hours to get it done, and I got the hay fever really bad and didn't sleep hardly a wink that night!

But still, God is good!

I stumbled out of bed Saturday morning at 5:30AM feeling about as good as I possibly could (which wasn't great), crammed in a few more minutes of study, and then took off for Centralia High School to take the SAT. A Five Hour Energy later (those things are seriously nasty!) and after spending about half an hour wandering around in Centralia to find the High School, I was taking the test!

The first thing I was instructed to do was write an essay. I was asked to explain my take on the saying "If you can't think of anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." I had plenty of interesting ideas to write about, but unfortunately, I was only given 25 minutes to write and I have never been that great at writing by hand . . . So, I spit out about a five paragraph essay really quick! ;0) I think all my past writing really helped!

Next came five more twenty-five minute sections that tested us on English Grammar, Reading Comp., Math, and so forth. Then came two twenty minute sections, and finally, a ten minute section. All in all, the SAT took a little more than four hours. I think it went really well! I was able to answer all but a few math word questions that I didn't quite understand, and I am excited to see my score!

Running out to the parking lot afterwards, I felt like a free man. True to my Scottish ancestry, I barely suppressed the urge to shout "FRRREDOM!" Haha, then I learned that I left my truck lights on . . . that suppressed my exuberance a little bit. Fifteen minutes of wandering around asking people if they had jumper cables later, I finally was free!

I was just in time to catch a game of Frisbee with some friends afterwards . . . It was nice to unwind and just have some fun! However, I started feeling stranger and stranger that afternoon. I am not sure if it was just my nerves catching up with me after the test--maybe the Five Hour Energy wore off?--I don't know. I thought I was keeping myself hydrated enough . . . but I also hadn't eaten anything since breakfast except for a couple of granola bars. Why am I telling you all this? Um, well . . .

Later that afternoon found me inside a gas station pre-paying for some fuel--and I basically passed out in front of the cashier. Life is always an adventure! I didn't quite lose consciousness, but I had to lean over on the counter and then crouch on the floor for a few seconds--all of this in front of a startled group of customers and the less-than-cool and-collected cashier. Yes, I learned my lesson and plan to take better care of myself in the future!

Don't worry, though, the rest of the day passed uneventfully! ;0)

Thanks again for your prayers, friends and family! So, the obvious question: What's next? Well, this summer I hope to fill out my time working as both the boss and employee of Kyle's Clipper--which I am learning is more and more likely the way I have been picking up new customers! This fall (when the grass stops growing) ;0) I will be looking into taking college courses online and also, possibly a part-time/apprenticeship job. That's my plan 1.0 as of right now, but we will see where God leads me!