Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Moving on...

Another round of good news!!! Andrew passed his polygraph examination today and is moving on to phase 6 and 7, the psychological and medical exam which will take place next Friday (Jan. 30th). If he passes these two phases and is selected by the department, he'll move on to phase 8 which is an intensive background check. This will consist of the department interviewing all of the references he listed on his application as well as neighbors, school teachers, you name it... oh, and me. Unfortunately, he won't get a final offer until May (we're hoping this date isn't pushed back)... so we still have lots of waiting to do. One piece of good news, apparently due to the state budget, the academy was pushed back a month, so instead of starting June 1st it will start July 1st. This means that I would get to spend one more month of summer with my wonderful husband before he would have to go to the academy AND there would only be ~4 weeks between when he would graduate from the academy and when I would finish my semester of classes. I'm not looking forward to being apart from my husband 5 days a week for 20 weeks... but at least our estimated time apart keeps getting shorter. Continue praying he makes it through this process if that's where God wants him. We're both excited to see what happens. Oh and next time you see Andrew, you should make him tell you about his polygraph exam... it's a pretty interesting process. I'm glad it wasn't me! They even read him his Miranda rights before they started! How bizarre is that? Good thing he's not a crook or he might be sitting in jail tonight! Thanks everyone for your prayers through this process, we'll keep you posted!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

The Littlest Daisy

I'm very excited... my sister-in-law Kristen paints these super cute cards and just started selling them on Etsy. Here is the website: The Littlest Daisy. Her philosophy is that even the littlest daisy can brighten someones day. If you need a cute card to make someone smile, you should check them out :)

Monday, January 12, 2009

Holidays and more!

Well, it is time for our once a month blog post...

Andrew and I spent LOTS of time with family over the holidays. We got to see EVERYONE which was wonderful! We ate lots of food, shot Andrew's gun, watched lots of movies, and I even learned how to play the drums! (I'll have to be honest though and tell you it was on a drum set for the Wii, but still... it kind of counts, doesn't it?) Below is a picture of me rocking out on the guitar :)

I started a new semester of school yesterday. It seems like I will have a unique combination of classes this semester. I'm taking a course on world food sssues which will focus on hunger and poverty in the developing world. Then I go to a class on nutrition throughout the life span where I will learn all about the nutritional needs of individuals during infancy, adolescents, pregnancy and lactation, all the way up to the needs of the elderly. Next, I go to a food law class where I will learn all about food laws and regulations and why they have been put in place. Bright and early the next day, I will go to a class about food service organizations (a hotel and restaurant management class) followed by a lab for the same class. From what I understand about lab, each person will move through all the positions found in a restaurant. There is a "teaching restaurant" in one our buildings that is used and the students actually provide meals for paying customers. I'm a little nervous about the whole thing, but I think it will be a great learning experience. My final class is on human and family life development. I'm so used to taking science or nutrition courses, it will be a big change to take a class that focuses more on families and social development. So, in a brief nutshell, that's what I'll be learning about all semester.

Our newest, most exciting news is that Andrew passed another phase in the application process for DPS. He had his interview last week and is now on to phase 5, the much anticipated polygraph examination. He does this next week, so if you think about it, say a prayer for him! There is a packet of information they gave each applicant to fill out before the polygraph. They dig into about any and every area of unlawful activity you can imagine. I'm guessing he'll get drilled pretty hard by the examiner to make sure he's not lying about his lack of trouble making. Fortunately, he hasn't gotten into much, if any, trouble in his lifetime so it should make it pretty easy for him to tell the truth and pass the exam.

Beyond work and school, I've been reading some cookbooks I got for Christmas. If any of you want some good reading, check out any book by Rose Levy Beranbaum. I often tell Andrew that I want to be just like her :) She has a wonderful way of explaining recipes including how to modify the recipe and pointers for success. Maybe some of you will even get to taste my attempts at making some of these newfound recipes :)