CPA

Since we have been married, Zane and I had two "worries" that seemed to consume our lives--how to get a baby and the CPA test. These two things have nothing in common, but for our household, they were always interrelated. After working for Ernst and Young for a year, Zane started to buckle down and sign up for the first section of the CPA test. There are four sections to this test and all of them very difficult. You have to get a 75 or higher to pass, and after you pass the first section, you have 18 months to pass the other three. Zane knew the pass rate was extremely low. Most people take the test over and over again before they pass.

It is very important in Zane's company to pass the test and yet they work you way too many hours and give you very little study time. Zane would work 10-12 hours (sometimes longer) and have to sit down the rest of the night reading chapters and studying. I would catch him asleep a lot! He struggled with passing the first one, and then got very discouraged. His scores were always between 70-74. I thought he would give up many times. Eventually he would pass one test, and we would relax a little before he started all over again on the next section. Somehow Zane kept pushing through despite the discouragment, stress, and lack of time. Once he got a 74 on a test, paid money to have the test rescored (there's short answer, math, and essay questions so we figured he could get bumped up one more point) and the new score came back as a... 74. The week we got that letter, was the same week our last IVF failed. You can't imagine how depressing that was! We first had a doctor telling us there was no hope that we would have a baby and then the CPA scorers couldn't give him one extra point. This seemed way too much.

And yet, Zane didn't give up. A year later we brought Dallin home and that same week, Zane got the letter saying he had passed his final test. Heavenly Father works in mysterious ways. Zane's journey wasn't over yet though. He found out that the CPA office added a new requirement. Zane needed to take an ethics course (thanks Enron). This really wasn't a big deal, but it was frustrating to be slowed down again. This last winter, he sat through a course on how to be honest and then finished up the requirements with a take home test on ethics.

Well, today Zane found out that he passed the ethics test with a 96 (he wasn't worried about this one) and so as soon as the certificate arives in the mail (and apparently we need to pay more money of course), Zane will officially be a CPA.

So the infertility trial and CPA trial were all part of some eternal plan to make Zane and I stronger and closer, but I can honestly say, I am soooo glad it is over.

And Zane, I'm so proud that you never gave up. You are a great example to our family. Dallin and I are so proud of you!