Hi @Jshanks21,
Thank you so much for sharing your journey. Loving reading your progress so far.
I suggest using OpenZeppelin Test Helpers for big number support. Performing Complex Assertions has an example of how to use (this is with OpenZeppelin Test Environment but can be used with Truffle too). The OpenZeppelin Contracts tests are also worth looking at.
I really like OpenZeppelin CLI for the interactive commands and now with OpenZeppelin CLI 2.8: Release Candidate it supports regular deploys.
Feel free to ask all the questions that you need, and please keep sharing your journey, it is great to follow.