Officer Woodland

On April 30th, my wonderful husband graduated from the police academy. He started back in September at the police academy at SLCC, and continued to work part time as he attended classes in the evenings and on Saturdays. While we were dating, he would come over after class and many times fell asleep in my lap. :) Then the first four months of our marriage, we only saw each other in the mornings and late evenings, as he continued to pour his whole heart and soul into his studies. His face lit up each evening as he told me what he had learned and I even got to attend one class, which was to help the spouses not to worry too much about our officers when they took to the field.

The night of graduation, Josh looked so good in his uniform! The ceremony started out by each cadet pledging to the honor code of the police officer. It was so neat as it talked about how they would protect the community and keep themselves of the highest conduct. There were several speakers and then awards were given. Josh won the fastest shooter, which we knew he would, as it was a contest he had won earlier in the semester.

But the surprise of the evening was when he won the second award, the highest academic performance. He had no idea and neither did we. As soon as his name was called, the crowd erupted in cheers; no where louder than where his mom and I were sitting. We both started crying and I thought I would burst with how proud I was!

After the ceremony, a class picture was taken, which I've put at the end of this blog. With this economy, only a few cadets have been hired, and Josh is still looking. We've been praying and keeping our fingers crossed that he's able to be with a department in the valley. I know wherever he goes, he will be an amazing officer! He's been chomping at the bit ever since he graduated to get out and make a difference.

The other night, we decided we needed a place to put all of his police memorabilia, so we made a "police wall" in our front room. We bought a shelf to display his hat and awards and hung up the class picture and his certification. As you can all tell, I'm very proud of my husband and I hope you won't mind if I brag about him every so often. :)

Thank you to everyone who came to the graduation and supported Josh! His mom and brothers came as well as his aunt and my family. And a big thank you to the Bishop and Deb who contributed to the cheering section; it was great to see you! Now you all need to come over to our apartment so I can show off our "police wall".