Sometimes our plans aren't His plans.

Certification. I promised to write about it eventually. Now I'm going to share my story. 

Let me explain a little bit about certification and the process for those of you that don't know. There is a national organization, RID (Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf), that provides certification and examinations. Simply put, you can take the NIC (for community interpreting) or the EIPA (for educational interpreting).  NIC and EIPA are comprised of two examinations-one written and one performance. 

I passed the written NIC right after graduation (1/2010) but was terrified to take the performance exam. I kind of just put it on the backburner while I worked on starting my career and gained experience in the field.  I decided to take the performance EIPA in October of 2011 and barely missed getting a passing score to be nationally certified. I decided to take it again the following year and prayed over the test, "Lord, if I'm not supposed to be doing educational interpreting anymore, show me. Make me fail."  Some might say that is really bold to ASK to fail, but I was honestly questioning my life and God's perfect will.  I LOVE kids and really thought I was placed at Knox County Schools at my forever job. The job I would keep until I retired. Or so I thought. God is so funny sometimes.  I applied at Sorenson in Nov 2012 and was officially hired in February 2013. I finally received my results AFTER accepting the job, but before officially quitting KCS. I failed again. Of course it was disappointing to fail, but it was like a weight lifted off of my shoulders. Confirmation. An answer to my prayer. My prayer for failure. My prayer for an ok to move on to a new chapter in my life. 

Fast forward to this fall. I had been working at Sorenson VRS and in the community often. I decided to make the leap and schedule my performance test. I scheduled it a month and a half out. November 1st. Would I have enough time to prepare?  Should I take it so soon?  What if I failed?  At this point, I had failed the EIPA twice by the least amount possible. Both times, so close. I knew what failure felt like. I had really grown used to it. So I studied. I worked with some mentors. I talked to those who had taken it and discussed strategies. So much weight and emphasis is put on the NIC performance test. I don't say that to discount the EIPA examinations-it takes a special skill set to be a skilled educational interpreter.  I told everyone I was taking it. At this point, I didn't have any pride to lose. I figured, the more prayers I had going for me, the better. I took the test and honestly-I came out of that room and couldn't even remember what I did. No joke. It was all such a blur!  I just knew we would mail that puppy off and see what became of it. Once the video is mailed, it is spliced and sent to different rater's, hearing and deaf, nationwide. They compile evaluations using rubrics to ensure there is no bias involved in your scoring. It's a rigorous process that typically takes 90-120 days. 

I took the test 11/1/2013. I had people continuing to pray for those raters to see my skills and ignore the nerves. To know that I AM GOOD ENOUGH. I think a lot of interpreters go through a process of gaining some thick skin and learning that our job is ever-evolving. We never stop learning. To me, certification was a huge career goal that I've had for awhile.  Certification can be a scary, scary thing. The one thing I continued to tell myself was that God answers prayers and He knows my heart. I had some major prayer warriors taking it to God and I've never felt such relief as I did on November 1st at 5pm when I had a celebratory dinner with my husband at Litton's that included a hamburger and my favorite dessert of all time, strawberry shortcake.  After that, I just kept praying for God's will and if this was it, to show those raters that I have what it takes. Why?  BECAUSE I AM GOOD ENOUGH. Certified or not, I am good enough. He sustains us and will take care of us. 

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened."  Matt 7:7 

We focused on this verse about a month ago, right after the test. I knew the verse well, but learned a little extra something about it.  God doesn't just want us to pray for our desires, He wants us to seek His will and be persistent in our prayers.  We are to pray often and wholeheartedly. I really learned that and have found such a new peace in prayer and what it means to be a prayer warrior. My BSF class is comprised of 10-15 women, all different ages, and all with different backgrounds. One thing is for certain, when we ask each other for prayer, we get it. It has been so amazing to see how others' prayers have been answered.  

I'm here to tell you, my prayer request has been answered. As of Friday, (Friday the 13th, I might add; 43 days after the test) I am officially an RID NIC certified interpreter for the deaf! I couldn't have done it without all of the prayers, encouragement, and support. Thank you to all of my cheerleaders and prayer warriors!  

Decorated our Christmas tree this weekend. 

Voila!

Love y'all,

Kira