We are ACCEPTED!!!!!

Friends, what a day it has been! What a long 4 months it has been! I can officially announce that Jace has been accepted into the University of Florida's Graduate Tax program! Gator Nation grew by 2 today and we couldn't be more proud, excited, and thankful!

The process leading up until today has been long, stressful, worrisome, and to be honest, exhausting. Jace applied last October as soon as applications could start being accepted. UF has a rolling admissions process and we knew that our chances of getting in would be greater the earlier he sent in his application. UF quickly sent Jace a followup email saying they received his application, transcript, and letters of recommendation. They informed us within that letter that we should know the admissions committee's decision in four weeks. After glancing at the calendar, we figured we would know by Thanksgiving. With this time line, we hoped to have housing picked out by Christmas and be stocked up on suntan lotion. Oh, were we wrong.

We ate our turkey at Thanksgiving, stayed at home during Black Friday and went back to work and school after the holiday. December rolled around, Jace started studying for Finals, we survived another two week round of finals. It was during Finals that we both had our first freakout moment. Jace decided to email his contact at UF and inquire about the status of his application. We were hesitant on doing this because we didn't want to appear crazy to the admissions committee. We didn't want to negatively affect his application in any way. The contact informed Jace it would January before the committee made their selections due to the holidays and Finals. It was at this point that Jace said it would most likely be the end of the month before we would hear from them.

However, before we knew it would be sometime in January, I had my own personal freakout moment which lasted an entire week. I was obsessive about Jace going to the mailbox and would wonder if today would be the day? Today would we receive the letter that would determine our future? Obsessive, y'all, obsessive! After acting crazy for an entire week I let it go. I put our future in God's hands and like that, I was worry free. I didn't bring it up with Jace because I knew we couldn't do anything about the waiting period. We were going to have to wait. Wait on someone else's timetable. Worrying drains me and I didn't want to be miserable. I don't want this to sound cocky, but I knew deep down that everything was going to be fine. I knew we would go to UF. When I though about Jace's qualifications, his work ethic, his grades, his rank, his work experience-why wouldn't they take him? However, that confidence waxed and waned during the waiting process. Some days were better than others. Yet, this last week was the worst in the waiting period.

I have no idea what law school is like but Jace tells me that everyone has jobs lined up already with firms and know their starting salary. Every where he turned people were asking him what he was going to do post graduation. In like manner, everyone who knew me were asking if we had a back up plan, you know just in case...I know people asked that because they care about us but to be honest, we didn't have a back up plan. We gambled on this life decision. We put all our eggs in one basket. To be honest, it was maddening at times to answer the back up plan question over and over again.

Without telling me and wanting to talk about it, Jace was worried sick. His worry was consuming him and it wasn't until last night that I realized the magnitude of pressure he had put himself under and his worry about our future. He was worried about providing for our family, knew without a doubt he didn't want to be anything but a tax attorney, and didn't want to go anywhere but UF. However, with worry comes fear and he was afraid he was going to have to make some quick decisions. By that I mean, if we hadn't heard by the end of January we would be between a rock and a hard place. It would be almost too late to apply to another school. So yesterday, Jace researched Georgetown and the University of Boston.

This posed a problem for me. We had discussed Georgetown in the beginning but had ruled it out because it would cost an arm and a leg for us to live in DC for one year. We hadn't talked about Boston before. I didn't want to live in Boston because they wouldn't understand my accent and I wouldn't understand theirs'. I would also have to carry around Sweet-N-Low to sweeten my tea and you know that isn't favorable in restaurants. Nonetheless, Jace researched these programs just in case he need to submit his application asap! We went as far as to discussed last night if he should request transcripts this week! The whole Boston and Georgetown talk and Jace's fear and worry lead to a argument last night (yes, we have arguments!) and it ended up being one of those nights that you pray its all better the next day.

Today was just a normal day. I had a lengthy to do list at work, Jace started a new job at the library, and I went to the gym tonight. I was still upset over last night's argument with Jace and knew a good run would work everything out. I started out my run tight and my feet were heavy. I was about half way done with my run when I got a text from Jace that read "GOT THE LETTER!!!!". While running, I called him and asked if we got in. He said yes and I asked him to read me the letter. While he didn't read the entire thing I heard, "Mr. Stamper we are pleased to inform you...". With that I started to cry. Here I was looking like a HOT MESS on the treadmill, crying, while little undergrads were looking like gazelles without a bead of sweat. It took everything within not to scream, "my fiancé just got accepted into UF!!" I knew I needed to resist the urge because then I would be that crazy, sweaty, crying girl in the gym.

As soon as I walked out of the gym, I called Mom and the crying ensued. I then called Jace and the crying got worse. Happy tears and snot overcame me. The feelings in that moment were very similar to when Jace proposed. I was excited, in shock, grateful and thankful for the moment. Tonight we Skyped and at times we didn't say much. We simply smiled and knew that all our hard work had paid off. Jace let me get all my happy tears out and there came a point when I didn't cry saying UF anymore.

Jace's dreams are coming true. He is going to the 2nd best school in the nation for tax law and I get the blessing to watch him achieve his dreams. It has been an exhausting period waiting for someone to tell us our future. However, I never lost hope in Jace and his abilities. Even though we worried , the Bible says we need faith and it can be as small as a mustard seed. Thanks be to God for hearing the words on our hearts when we couldn't even muster a prayer.

Jace--I am so proud of you. Thank you for being an example of what it looks like to chase after your dreams. Let's chomp on baby! Praise God we are staying in the SEC!