For a long time Doug has been talking about wanting a career change from band teacher to police officer. I wasn't too keen on it and frankly often though "why leave the job you have right now, jobs are hard to find and the economy sucks." Doug and I have conversations after conversation about ways to make the switch. The conclusion we came to every time was reality; we needed the paycheck to pay the bills.
It was March of last year that Doug called me at work to let me know how his meeting with his principals went. In the conversation he informed me that the school district was not renewing his contract, due to revamping of the teaching position. I was devastated . . .my mind started racing with how are we going to pay the bills, are we going to be able to provide for the kids like we should. After hanging up the phone with Doug I went to the back room at the bank and cried. The entire day I struggled with how we were going to make ends meet.
When I got home that night I remember Doug saying that everything was going to be okay. He immediately started looking for jobs. The next day he found out because he was "laid off" he would qualify for unemployment. The was a HUGE blessing; after discovering this Doug decided it was time to make the change. We took the leap of faith and Doug applied to a couple of different police academies in hopes to get into one. He had immediate success with Red Rocks Community College.
It was a difficult decision to make, as we knew out schedules would be crazy - I worked full time and often hit 50 hours a week or more, and Doug consistently would have 12 hour days or longer plus his homework when he finally got home. Some days started as early as 6am, and occasionally keep him there as late as 10:30. On the really late days, he would stay at my grandparent's house in Lakewood and get up the next day and go to school from there. What a blessing it was that my Grandma and Grandpa Hess were there, ready and willing to take Doug in for those nights.
Our daycare provider, Kim was also seemingly sent here just for us. She moved to Loveland and into our church ward about the same time as we did. She opened an in home daycare shortly after. We quickly became good friends. She watched the kids while Doug was still teaching and I managed the bank. If it seemed our kids lived at her house before the academy, it was even more so once Doug started there. During this time, our home was scarcely more than the place the ate a late dinner, took the occasional bath, and slept. Kim and her husband Tyson proved to be true friends and a blessing to us, just as I'd like to think we were to them. Tyson's business was faltering and was in the process of closing down. Just as much as Kim and Tyson needed the money from our kids attending their daycare, we needed them and their patience with the long hours our kids stayed there, sometimes up to eleven or twelve hours a day.
Ayden patiently waited in the after school care program at Linton Elementary where he attended each day until I could pick him up after I got off from work. usually he was one of the last kids to be picked up. My sister helped me several times a week by letting him eat breakfast at her house and taking him to school, and them picking him up and taking him to the bank for me. Thank goodness for the help and love of family members!
Thankfully Doug qualified for the unemployment which helped to put our minds at ease about paying bills and staying afloat, but we still were unsure of how we were going to pay for the academy. now, I would be lying if I said I was completely faithful through this major trail in our lives, in fact I was as far from it as anyone could be. Another blessing was that with Doug's contract with the Army National Guard he can receive free in state tuition at state colleges and universities. With this benefit and grants that he received we only had to pay about $1700 to the school, plus his supplies. As Doug often says, "God bless the Army."
Once again, I learned that good things come to those who are faithful (I was not fully convinced yet that this was the right way to go.) Just days before starting the academy and Doug making the expensive drive to Lakewood 5 days a week, he received a call from his unemployment case manager informing him that because he was going to school to become a police officer that he was eligible for a 50% increase in his benefits. This was another blessing because we were gonna be putting a lot of money towards gas for his commute. (You would think I would get the picture, right?)
After being accepted to RRCC Doug started looking for agencies to apply for. He had already been through one process for Fort Collins PD (let me tell you that they call it a process because it is a loooooong process, like MONTHS!) He had applies for Loveland PD just before school started. About a week or so before school started Doug received a call saying that they wanted him to come in for a physical fitness test, this so happened to coincide with is first day of class. After long deliberation with his coordinator at school he attended the PT test. Eventually he was placed on the eligibility list, and that was the last we heard from them for a long time.
Throughout the semester Doug was continually looking for jobs; he applied with Colorado State Patrol, Arvada PD, Colorado Springs PD, Fort Collins OD, the list can go on I am sure. I had many times where I was frustrated and felt like we were not doing the right thing; Doug was confident. I put my faith in him and hoped that he was correct.
Finally towards the end of the semester Arvada PD wanted to interview him. He went and conducted the interview which ended in a conditional job offer. we were so excited, finally I felt like I had received the confirmation that I was looking for. A very short time after this Doug was contacted by Loveland to come in for an interview, we bother were very excited for this one (it meant no moving.) Shortly after this Doug was provided another conditional job offer and then a short time later Arvada's conditional offer turned into a full job offer, in which they wanted him to start before the New Year! To add to the decisions Colorado Springs had also thrown in a conditional job offer as well. So then we were torn - what do we do? Do we take Arvada because it is for sure, or do we turn it down and stay with Loveland, hoping the conditional offer would turn into a full offer that wouldn't start until mid to late February. Needless to say we were ecstatic about three job offers, but anxious at the same time!
We found it easy to pass on Colorado Springs, which was not a move we really wanted to make but would have if needed. Plus it involved Doug going through a second police academy. SO it was between Arvada and Loveland. The struggle was that Arvada was a sure thing and he would have started within days of completing the academy and Loveland was still completing background, interviews, and his polygraph test; we were looking at a start date of the end of February. After lots of praying we decided to pass on Arvada and have faith that Loveland would work out. It was a decision filled with angst as Doug called Arvada to thank them for the offer, but turn it down with no firm offer of employment from another agency. It was a time filled with prayers -- lots of them!
Finally, after weeks of waiting, a psych interview here, a polygraph there, out faith was rewarded with an official job offer from Loveland PD - just as his unemployment insurance money ran out. It was a sweet sigh of relief for all of us. Doug started in house training with them in late February, and just three short weeks later, I quit my job. On a side note Kim closed the daycare and moved to Denver and then Montana for a better job for her husband just weeks after I came home to stay with the kids.
On October 4th Doug was officially sworn in as a police officer for the city of Loveland. We recognize that this small test of faith for us is now rewarded with what we needed. List doesn't always turn out the what you think it should; sometimes it turn out better that you ever hoped it would! Here are a few pictures from the swearing in ceremony.
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| Doug taking his oath to serve and protect. |
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| Signing the post certification contract |
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| This is hard to see, but these are the badges each of the kids received to remember that their Daddy has an important job. |
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| Police Chief Hecker "pinning" badges on the kids. |
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| Everyone showing off their badges. |
Thanks to this blog (Ashley always has great ideas!) we came up with a great activity for those crayons. We destroyed them into little bits and then melted them into new crayons. We ended up making around three dozen of these people crayons, now the kids suddenly want to use crayons again!
This was where I think we had the most fun for the day! We finally got all bundled up and went outside to play in the snow. You can see that poor Masyn is standing in the snow and it is up to his crotch. Snowball fights, snow angels, rolling around and taking a snow bath, what can beat that right? Then we decided to build a snowman, which then turned into a snow dinosaur. I don't think it quite turned out the way I thought it would, but pretty good for three kids helping out! You can kind of see his tail and spikes on his back. 
