I did it!

When I was 10 years old I saw an interpreter at my church. I thought Sign Language looked like the coolest thing to ever learn!

"Daddy! I want to learn how to do that!"

So my parents bought my "The Joy of Signing" and because I was home schooled, I was able to spend lots of time flipping through the book and learning words!

I loved it and for a couple years I studied this book, bought some other ASL CD-ROMs and met a very nice Deaf couple in our town who were very patient :)

When I was 13 years old my parents realized that my obsession with ASL was not going away and that a book was not going to suffice.

"Mom, wouldn't it be so cool to interpret for the President of the United States!"

"Mom, I love signing music, wouldn't it be awesome to interpret for Jaci Velasquez?!" (she was my fave at the time) hahaha

"Mom, Wouldn't it be SO COOL to be a NATIONALLY CERTIFIED INTERPRETER?!"

So they called Mott Community College in Flint, MI and explained our situation. The head of the department was willing to meet with me and she decided I could start taking classes there! I was thrilled! So mom and dad took turns driving me to Flint about twice a week for almost 4 years!

~~~~~Fast Forward to now~~~~~~~

I graduated Bethel this past May and on June 30th I took my National Certification Test (NIC).

Yesterday I got the good news...I passed! Holy Crap! Could this really be true?! I feel like such an adult....even though I am as giddy as a little kid on Christmas morning! I've wanted this for 10 years!!

{{Check it out! Just type in my name!}}

I have to give HUGE amounts of thanks to my Parents, Jim & Connie Sherrill, Stevie Naeyaert, all my BC profs, all the wonderful terp friends and deaf friends I have known over the years, and Jesus of course! Who has been my one true rock and leader and gave me the strength to go on!

Thank you!!!

I am so excited to see where this new door will lead me to and I can't wait to continue learning from and working with mentors and other Minnesota Terps!

And even though I haven't listened to Jaci Velasquez in about 7 years....maybe one day I'll get to interpret for the President!

***UPDATE***

We put an offer on this house, the sellers counter offered today, and we accepted!
As long as the inspector doesn't find anything terribly wrong (which he shouldn't) then we will be closing September 16th!!!

The house is on 1 acre of land, it has 2 bathrooms and 4 bedrooms. It has an attatched two car garage and a detatched 2 car garage.

Spiritual discussions, Kubb, and Brownies

Tonight we had our church small group at our house. I am really enjoying getting to know these new friends and believers. Every time we meet, whether there is a planned passage of scripture or if we pick one last minute, we always end up having the best conversations! Our group varies in spiritual maturity from new "baby" Christians, to those who are grew up in church and have taken college bible classes. I appreciate the openness and willingness to talk about things among the group. Tonight we read Matthew 5:1-20.

After we had our study, and prayer time we decided to go outside and play Kubb. We had even teams (3 on 3) and it was quite a long game, but a lot of fun. After the opposing team won and after I had thoroughly been eaten by the mosquitoes, we came inside and enjoyed brownies and pop!

It was a good night had by all and I hope God was able to look down on us and be pleased by all our activities.

Looking back...

I was just reading a friend's blog (on a different site) and realized how long it had been since I used that site and how outdated that profile was. I already have been using this site so I closed that other account. I wanted to reflect on some minor and major changes in the past couple years....

Last time I updated on that site...I was:
- Dating Dave
- Still in high school, just starting college
- Living in Michigan
- Living with my parents
- Aspiring to become an interpreter
- Aspiring to take my NIC

Now, August 2009 I am:
- Married to Dave (over 2 years)
- Living in Minnesota
- Graduated from college
- House hunting
- Interpreting {almost} full-time
- Took my NIC and awaiting the results

Geez, I'm not sure if life just passed me by because I wasn't paying attention or if I've been so busy, but now that I am looking back and thinking about it...God has brought me through so much and I am so blessed! Granted, it hasn't been an EASY couple years, but they have been so good.
I enjoyed college so much and I LOVED all the people that were in my life...and now I am so excited for the next few months!