He Passed!

After 3 long years of law school, a grueling 3-day exam and 4 months of torturous waiting, the Bar results finally came out at 6 pm this past Friday. The entire day seemed to go by painfully slow! Jake could hardly concentrate at work and came home early, trying in vain to keep himself busy as 6 o'clock neared.

When the time finally came, Jake raced to the computer to log in while I was in the bathroom. I wanted to film his reaction--for better or for worse--so I shouted at him to wait until I was there to check the results. Moments later I heard a "Yes!" and I knew he had logged on without me! I ran into the office where I found Jake sitting in his chair grinning and pointing at the screen which showed his name in big block letters on the pass list. Apparently, he had clicked the mouse involuntarily....I guess I can't blame him.

My disappointment at not being there quickly subsided as the fact that he had actually passed arguably the most difficult bar exam in the country started to sink in. It was the most intense feeling of relief and happiness I believe both of us have ever felt. The next few hours were a blur of texts, facebook posts and calls. It was the biggest sense of relief both of us have ever experienced. I have never seen Jake so happy--he still hasn't stopped randomly exclaiming, "I passed the bar!" everywhere we go.

This morning, the pass list was made public and according to the statistics, the pass rate for this Bar was only 56%. Jake's hard work truly paid off. I can't explain what an amazing feeling it is to have that one last hurdle to becoming an attorney removed. We are so excited for the future and are so thankful for all the support from family and friends who have been there for us this entire 3 years. We feel like our journey has just begun! Here's to family, friends and Jacob Whitehead, Esq. (that has such a nice ring to it!)

Halloween Time!

It's been a while! We had a fun Halloween carving pumpkins, making spooky treats and attending some very festive parties! Since I was going crazy with school and student teaching, I put Jake in charge of the Halloween costumes this year--the result is what I'd like to call Procrastinating Poor People's Halloween. At first, Jake wanted me to be a box while he would be a UPS guy, but seriously, what girl would want to be a box for Halloween? He ended up masterminding me into a UPS girl while constructing a box costume for himself (to my annoyance, he insisted on referring to himself as a "package" while I was his "handler" --let's keep this G-rated please!) The costumes actually turned out half-way decent--we ended up winning the title "Funniest Costume" at one of the parties we attended and I won a new scrapbooking photo album! Good job on the costumes Jake! The Halloween party was a blast--everyone went all out with their costumes, treats and decor. We already have some great ideas for next year's costumes!
(Photo Credits: Jenn King)

Jake's Night-Before-Christmas-inspired pumpkin

UPS Girl and Package--winners of "Funniest Costume"

I guess it was my night because I also won the candy-corn counting contest. There were 260 candy corns in the jar and I was only 15 off!


I don't think Jake anticipated the lack of comfort of his costume when he engineered it--he constantly looked like he was being choked!

A very blurry picture Jake took from his phone--unfortunately, it's the only one I have of my entire costume

Close-up of the label on Jake's box

Some apple mouths we made using almonds for teeth

Very creepy finger cookies!

The most awesome costume ever--Ipod earbuds!