Brandon Passes the Texas Bar!

On the night of May 3rd, my daughter, Ariel, checked the Texas Bar pass list for the umpteenth time that day and discovered that the name 'Brandon John Hemingway' was listed. She ran into the living room where Brandon and I were, screaming, "DAD PASSED THE BAR! He passed!" My two younger ones were asleep so Ariel wrote it on our Study room's chalkboard, adding, "We're going to Austin!" which is where many new attorneys get sworn in. The success, though, seemed sweeter after the many hardships it took our family to get to that point.

Brandon started law school at Texas Southern University's Thurgood Marshall School of Law mid-August of 2007. Since he received his acceptance only a few days before orientation started, he received permission to miss it,and packed up the family and drove to Houston. With my youngest only a 2-yr-old, I did not want to be in two separate vehicles, so Brandon found an affordable moving company, and he drove our car all the way from Boise, Idaho to the Houston area. He was home with us for only two days before starting school in a primarily African-American university where white males were in the minority. Still, he welcomed the opportunity before moving.

When I told a cousin-in-law that my husband was going to law school, she wished me good luck. I never quite understood why until I my husband got busy with school and a part-time pharmacy tech job, leaving me alone with the kids most of the time. Though I did not have any family that lived nearby, I was grateful for the support of my ward family who buoyed me up when I needed it. Finally after three difficult years, Brandon graduated. We took a brief sigh of relief for a few weeks and then Brandon started studying for the Texas State Bar exam which was only two months later!

Though most law grads take the Barbri Bar prep class that costs $3,000, we could not afford it and Brandon could not work while studying and I could not work since he me home to entertain the kids while he studied. Brandon's attorney grandpa and uncle had helped support us though law school, and during the first Bar, so we did not want to ask for anything more. Brandon, then. bought some used books that were used for the prep class and studied at least 12 hours a day for the next two months.

We learned that the Bar exam is offered in every state at the end of July and the end of February and they make people wait four months for the results. Grrr! When the day came for Brandon to take the Texas Bar, he went in with confidence. This three-day test was mentally exhausting. The first day the test is only four hours, the second and third days, it is eight hours and the days are divided up into state and national parts with either multiple-guess or essay.

After four months of waiting, we found out Brandon did not pass, but only missed passing by one percent! He went on to take it two more times, missing the mark by only small percentage points. I tried to reassure him saying that on any other test it would be like getting an 'A+' and that he should be proud to have done so well while studying on his own. Yet, each time he did not pass was like getting punched in the stomach, then left us in frustration and despair on top of having to telling friends and family.

In the mean time, our current bishop, who was the ward employment specialist at the time, found a job opening at a law firm needing a file clerk. Brandon did that for the next two years at the same time he took each Bar. By the fourth Bar attempt, our attorney friends and the partners at the firm Brandon worked at advised him to take the Barbri class. We will be eternally grateful for the many friends and family who chipped in to help pay the fee. Finally, after taking the class, an additional workshop, and getting a hotel room close to the testing site, Brandon passed!

Perhaps the Lord wanted our family to learn something from this journey. I know that I am not the same as I was five years ago, but am a better, stronger person as is Brandon and the rest of our family. I am starting to see that not passing the Bar exam the first few times, was actually a blessing and kept us right where we were needed to help further the Lord's work. During this time, our children progressed, the Mormon Voice blog in the Houston Chronicle began, and we have had many opportunities for church service and missionary work. Each of our trials was like the excess parts of clay that the "Master Sculptor" scraped off to create His vision of a magnificent piece of art.

In a few days we will go to watch Brandon get sworn in and I know that he will be a great asset to the great state of Texas. Now His success through perseverance means more to us than we ever knew it could.