This week, K and I received the news we've been waiting to hear for a long, long time. Exactly 13 months to the day of waiting...not that anyone's counting ;)
It was about 10am on August 7, and K was coming to wake me up (first time in a LONG time I've slept that late) when I heard him repeating "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh." Earlier this week my grandma passed away somewhat unexpectedly, so my emotions were shot at this point. My sleepy mind started racing to all of the negative possible completions of that sentence when K thrust his phone in front of me with an open e-mail on the screen. The first words I read were "Congratulations! You have been selected to report to the California Highway Patrol (CHP) Academy for Cadet,CHP, training." It had come!!! That long-awaited invitation that we had cried and sweat over for what seemed like ages had come! (Well, I did most of the crying, K did most of the sweating...) We then proceeded to jump and dance around the room like spazzes, because when you wait this long for such a life-altering answer, all composure kinda goes out the window, you know? It feels as though our CHP journey has FINALLY begun, although many events have led us to where we are today. This is my first time blogging, and I have a hodgepodge of reasons for wanting to start. Mainly, I want to document this journey. I want to look back years from now and re-live the moments that carried us through life. I want to go before other hopeful CHP families and share our experience so they don't have to feel so alone in a very uncertain process. I also want to create a space where our friends and family, near and far, can keep tabs on the happenings in our life. K and I just celebrated our two year wedding anniversary on August 3rd, and we have already walked through so much together in two short years. It was God's love that brought us together, His faithfulness that got us through many uncertainties, and it is His unending grace that will continue to carry us forward in our journey as a family.
That being said, let's start from the beginning.
Here is a quick recap of how we made it this far in the process. There are a lot of dates and abbreviations, but I mainly write this for the inquiring applicants and their families out there who, like myself, are grasping for every little bit of a timeline they can get during this crazy process!
It was sometime around the fall of 2013 that K decided he wanted to pursue a career with the CHP. Since then, It has been a crazy rollercoaster of testing, interviews, and lots of unknowns that have gotten us to where we are today. The CHP recently opened their application to the public indefinitely, but it hasn't always been that easy to get your name in the hat, so to speak. When K applied back on July 7, 2014, the initial application period was limited to a three day window about once every three months. We waited 10 long weeks before he would experience his first 'in person' period of the application process. On September 20, 2014 I dropped K off for the Physical Abilities Test (PAT), the first of two tests required within the same weekend in order to move on to the background investigation. This test includes push ups, sit ups, long distance and short distance running (you can find more specifics here), and K passed with flying colors...with a partially broken wrist might I add! But that is another story for another time! Upon his completion of the PAT, he next had to take the CHP written test which took place the following day, September 21 (we highly recommend you use a study guide for this; you can get them online or at Barnes & Noble). After that, we waited about a month for his results from the test, and on October 15 we got the news that he passed the written test. At this point, K was given a little less than two weeks to fill out and submit his Personal History Statement (PHS), a huge packet of questions and information he was required to fill out for his background investigator to use in his investigation. After about another month of waiting, K was contacted for the first time by his background investigator (BI) on November 13 who gave him instructions on certain documents to be gathering in preparation for the Background Investigation Questionnaire (BIQ). K ended up scheduling his BIQ for November 26, and this meeting basically involved re-writing all of the information he had previously provided in his PHS. After filling out the BIQ, we had to wait until February 4 before he would be contacted again. On this day his BI reached out to tell him his initial interview would take place on February 9. Finally, seven months after he applied, he was scheduled for his initial interview in the background investigation process!
If you haven't guessed it already, the overarching theme of the CHP application process is waiting ;) Here is a chance to test your patience - keep an eye out for a follow up post and I'll go into what the second half of the application process looked like for us. Whoever you are out there, thank you for your interest in my blog! I hope this helps someone who may just be a few steps behind K and me in this crazy CHP journey!
Blessings,
D
