Rolling with the punches

So it seems like life is throwing a few curve balls our way lately...
1. The surprise of our daughter coming this December.
2. CHP getting rid of 12 hour shifts as of Jan 1, 2018, and the state only allowing 8 or 9 hour shifts till they can figure out this 10 hour thing.

If it was just one or the other I think I would be able to manage a lot better but both at the same time is really making things hard! I currently work as a part time high school teacher. It is awesome! I only work 2x a week and I get to do what I love (outside from being a wife and mom of course). This works perfect with my husbands schedule. Hes on 3, off 4 or on 4 off 3 and we just make sure that days he has off are the days I teach. Perfect right?

Now I knew I was going to take 6 months off when my daughter is born. Taking care of 2 under 2 does not sound easy and I want to get as adjusted as I can. But now with the changes I feel like life after Jan 1st is completely up in the air. If his office is going to 8 hours, that means working 5 days a week. There is no way I will be able to work. I am not sending my kids to day care just so I can pay for it teaching. That makes no sense. And honestly my husband and I already decided that we wanted to raise our children. We are blessed to live perfectly comfortable on his income that there is no reason we should be having someone else influence our children so early on. But I am so torn! I love being mommy! It is really the best feeling in the world but it really is the hardest job ever. Being a teacher gives me a break from mom to remember I am something else. Although my commute is awful, its a really great feeling. The idea of not coming back to it for longer than 6 months has me feeling so stuck.

Maybe it is because so much is still all up in the air with them trying to decide if they are really going to let them do 10s and if my husbands office is going to choose that too. I just really wish someone would make a decision already so I can move forward with things! I am such a planner and life after Jan 1st so not decided and it's making me crazy!


So I keep trying to recite this verse in my head
Jeremiah 29:11 11For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

I know that God has great plans for this family, and for me specifically. I just have to be all trusting in what lies ahead knowing that He has it. Actually, yesterday my pastor was talking about this too and used the analogy of a parade. When you are there you only see float by float but God is overhead and can see the whole things and knows exactly what you are in for. Thought this was such a great visual. I have to stay excited for the next float that is coming our way. This float has been great but what could be next?

Grave shift- It's a love/hate relationship

So we are on our 4 week of the lovely graveyard shift and most of the time I absolutely hate it! But ask me again in about 3 weeks and I will probably be one happy camper. lol You see something my husband and I truly value right now is the time we get to spend together. Since we do not have kids yet and I have the choice of working my jobs part time we really have gotten use to spending like 3-4 days together every week. But with graves that has really been cut. Right now he has been working Thursday nights- Sunday nights (not including when he gets called to court). I teach Monday, Wednesday and Friday and try to work my business on the weekends. So here is how our schedule have been going...

Friday he gets home around 6-7a in which I get up for work at 6a and im out the door by 7:30a. I go teach and work till about 2p I get home just in time to have a meal with my husband (maybe) and then he is off to work which starts at 5p
Saturdays are nice because he comes home around 6-7a so I get to enjoy a few hours in bed next to my husband but I am a morning person so I get up so he can sleep and do whatever I need to, which sometimes can be an appointment or delivery around the time he gets up for work so we may not get to see each other.
Sundays he gets home around 6-7a and I have to get up and get ready for church. About the time I get home from church he is getting up and ready for work, get to kiss him goodbye.
Monday he gets home around 6-7a in which I get up for work at 6a and im out the door by 7:30a.
Tuesday we get to relax together but sometimes he had court, sometimes I have deliveries.
Wednesday I teach till 3:30 but then we do stay up late so that he can stay on his nights awake routine which can be fun.
Thursdays he could have court before he has his actual shift and if so he goes in at about 12:30p, if not he could go in at 5p or have an 8 hour shift where he doesn't go in till 9p, all depends.

Then the cycle starts all over again.

Now some people are probably thinking "why would he even go to court then that take away from his sleep and down time". Yes but the CHP get overtime for court and that is some easy overtime so why not. Especially when we are currently saving to buy a home this month. This week alone he had 12 hours of overtime just for going to court. Plus he did a 9 1/2 hour overtime detail ( I was out of town on business so he figured just keep going). So this week alone he did 21 1/2 hours overtime. That is a good chunk of change! This is where my love relationship for graves comes in. He already get an increase in pay for doing graves and then top it off with the amount of overtime he can get too! We will have that down payment for our home by the end of the summer!

So not only is his paycheck going to be more, the overtime that will be coming is will be so much more as well. But I really do not like not seeing him for much during the times he is working but giving up a little bit now while we don't really need to care too much about it so that we can have what we want by the end of the year. Hopefully we are only suppose to be on grave till the end of Sept so 3 months to give up is not too bad at all. The hopefully he can go up north for 2 weeks and get this motor things going too!

Up all night update

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:15-17 NIV)

So for some reason I cannot sleep tonight and it has been awhile since I have posted something so I figured I would open my Bible app and see what God was putting on my heart before I could close my eyes.

Many people struggle with the journey we are on. We are trying to understand what God has created us for and which way, which path will lead us there. I can honestly say that for the first time in my life I feel like I am EXACTLY where I am suppose to be and this feelings is amazing! I recently stepped down from a management position with my business and it was really scary to do so. I had worked really hard to get there and my pride didn't want to let go. But I knew God had other plans with my teaching and my family so I had to move forward. Not move on, God no! I will have my business till the day I die. My clients are the best! I actually ended up having my best sales month in a long time which just reaffirmed this all. I knew God had a different plan for my business and I shared that with everyone I could talk to about it and He sure blessed me for that. I also received an additional position at my teaching job. It is absolutely amazing what God can do when you really do listen to Him and just step out in faith! 

Now on to my husband. He has been training for about 2 months now with this motor training. Well, training wise, it has been great! He is getting better day by day and I love seeing his excitement. But he had a little "oops" last month and The Sargent made an example out of him for sure. See he scratched the car on a guardrail trying to squeeze by traffic to get to an accident. So the consequence for this was 3 days of training with a senior officer riding with him all day long. At first my husband was devastated. He is not your typical "a type" personality cops so when he doesn't do a good job it hurts him instead of pissing him off. But we prayed about it and I kept telling him it was going to work out for the better for him. We were so right! The officer that was partnered with him for 3 days was the motor officer that is training him to be a motor! So honestly it gave them 3 days of bonding that they haven't had a chance to really have. 

So this peace I feel, about my career choices and my husbands, couldn't be better. I am not saying I am perfect at all. God knows this woman is an emotional  wreck most of the time about something I can't control! Lol but when I get a chance to breathe and really see all that God has blessed us with and the journey I know is a head of us, this peace calms my heart, my head and my soul. So breathe it all in! And I pray God's peace over you too! 

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

So if I have not mentioned it before, I am a high school teacher. Honestly, I do it because I love it. I love inspiring my students and seeing them connect with a new language and culture. I have my business to help financially and I teach because I believe it is my calling. God knows teachers do not make enough money and these past few weeks really reminded me of that.

With all that has been going on with law enforcement, the protest and everything, I find myself angry. Angry that people think that these officers that have had to use force to stop a situation and had it turn into the death of the suspect is something that these officers just take lightly is ignorant. OFFICERS DO NOT WANT TO USE THEIR WEAPONS! THEY DO NOT WANT TO TAKE A LIFE! THEY ARE HERE TO HELP PREVENT ALL OF THIS! But people break that law. People do not listen to the authority. Or what I should say is people do not see the authority that officers should have and just blow them off and then things escalate.

Well one thing I am learning is its not just officers. People are not being taught to respect people anymore. In the past 2 weeks I have had to have 2 conversations with students on what it means and what it looks like to show respect to their teachers and the staff on campus. At first one of those students wanted to argue with me and tell me that was just who he was until he realized that it was not just one person they were upsetting but a majority and it is okay to make people feel that way. But THIS IS NOT MY JOB!!! When did it become a teachers job to teach our students respect. I swear that my children will know how to honor their parents, respect their elders and authority of their teachers, their bosses, law enforcement, etc. I am not saying my future children will not know how to stand up for what they believe in, but they will do it respectfully! They will follow the law, rules on their campus and if they doesn't believe it they will have the right discussion with the right people to make change... not trash an area, not yell or throw things to get their way.

These comics are so true and its horrible! When did this change? And how to get it back?

And if someone wants to say that respect must be earned... hows this for earning it:

Teacher- 

1. Must have bachelors degree (meaning focused enough in high school to get into college, maybe on scholarship or maybe by getting in debt with student loans)

2. Must have teaching credential (meaning another 1-2 years of schooling/meaning more student debt if necessary, about 8 state tests which we have to pay to take, at least 6 months of UNPAID student teaching working 7-4/5 days a week)

I hate that people say that teaching is a backup plan because if doing all this is your backup plan than I would hate to know what you couldn't get through to do what you really wanted to do!

CHP officer-

1. Basic written test (comparable to college entrance exam, not too bad)

2. Physical Abilities test (at least 24 push up/minute, 31 sit up/minute, 300 meter run/70 sec, 1.5 mile run/13.55 mins, again not too bad)

3. Background paperwork (OMG! Was this a pain in the butt! It was like this 200 questions packet and if you said yes to ANYTHING you had to hand write a paragraph explaining it.)

4. Background investigation

    a. interviewing EVERYONE- your investigator talks to friends, family, neighbors, previosu co-works and bosses, etc...)

    b. panel interview

    c. lie detector test

    d. psychological evaluation

5. physical evaluation

6. Welcome to Academy!

    a. 6 month live-in academy (you are there from Sunday 11;59p- Friday 6-7ish)

    b. 2-4 POST test a week

    c. physical tests

    d. driving tests

    e. range tests

    Don't pass the tests (you get 2-3 tries) YOU GO HOME  and start the process all over!

7. Graduation... to the road you go!

    a. 3 Months of field training (with 3 different field training officers) Don't pass, you start the process all over again!

I know I have missed a few things here and there but you get the idea. This is not something anyone can just get into! If I remember correctly something like 30,000 people applied the day my husband did... I don't remember how many took the written test in his division but the physical abilities test had about 2,000 people... he was 1 of about 150 who went to the academy from those application, and only about 20 of them were from his division. Out of the 150, 93 graduated to officers! And I think they lost 3 more after field training. So easy right? Anyone can do it? 

Day 4... My breakdown

So it's official, I had my breakdown. So I thought that keeping busy was a good thing. Monday when I got home from Sacramento I went straight to my Mary Kay meeting, back to work! All day Tuesday I had training for my new ASL teaching job, 3 ASL tutoring session and a MK delivery. Gone from 9a till about 7p. Wednesday went to the gym, made a MK delivery, finished training and started teaching my 3 students, soroptimist meeting then home. Gone from 10a till 8:30p. Today I went to Zumba, came home did Mk work (booking, selling, coaching, ya know) networking lunch in Santa Fe springs, grand opening chamber event in Bellflower, then went to a LA MK meeting with a new consultant. Worked from 8:30-10:30p. And the breakdown happens when I was trying to leave the LA MK meeting. During the meeting I realized I had missed Johns call tonight but I knew it would be okay and I was doing what I needed to do. But at the meeting they forgot to tell the new people how to get our parking validated and how to leave the parking structure. So first I can't find my way out. I'm tired. I'm confused and I just want to get home. Finally find my way out but it won't let me because its not validated. While trying to figure out what in the world I needed to do John called me again. So I'm trying to not be frazzled because he doesn't need to hear that. But I can't help it, I just started crying. The guy I asked for help from first was rude and wasn't willing to even try to help me out. Then the next woman was rude and all of this is going on with John on speaker phone. I finally decided to just go back up to the meeting room but first I have to go back down to park and one guy who worked their and saw me leave stopped me and asked what I was doing, nicely. Now I lose John on the phone  and just start crying again. But this guy was amazing he ran through the parking structure so he could guide me out. Absolutely above and beyond what he needed to do but he could see I was going through something. When I finally got out all I was thinking was how much I wish I could just run home to John, cuddle and cry because I knew he could take care of everything. He's my rock! But right now he can't be, that's not an option. I must be the rock. Tonight, I truly missed him. If this is just week 1, I cannot even imagine how I am going to handle another 10 weeks before the wedding and then 15 weeks after that. God must think I'm one strong woman... I could really use some Ben & Jerry's right now.

Anyway, let talk about John. He had his first PT today. He didn't say much about it so he must have been able to handle it. He says he is going to get yelled at tomorrow because he messed up his shirt he had to make tonight. I didn't understand why he just didn't make a new one. You can tell he is feeling a bit overwhelmed. He is a perfectionist, an over analyzer. So he said he is getting tripped up on the little things. He said he wanted to go take a driving school thing one weekend, I told him it could have been a good idea before he left but for now just knew that they are going to teach him all he needs to know. But you can tell the retreads are scaring him a bit, not on purpose, but because most of them fell out during driving. But most make it through! I honestly and truly believe that God has prepared him for this a long time ago. This dream was put on his heart for a reason. I don't know how else to change his head that he is going to fail out of this. They had to pick their insurance today and he said he opted out to just stay on his parents till we get married. That way if he doesn't make to through... Seriously! If he keeps having this mindset he won't make it just because he think he wont. But I can only tell him so many times that he has this, he will make it and he just needs to focus one day at a time.  So I keep trying to and keep reminding him that I love him.

So we need prayer and lots of it right now. This is much harder than I thought it was going to be. But I know we can do it!

And if you can/want to send John letters of encouragement please do! Just no packages, nothing that stands out. We don't want attention drawn to him but encouraging letters would be great! Feel free to send them to

Cadet Kimble

CTC III-12

California Highway Patrol Academy

3500 Reed Ave.

West Sacramento, CA 95605