Say Hello To Corporal Smith!

Great news! Right before our vacation Dale found out that there was an immediate opening for a Corporal position in the Coppell PD (for those of you who don't know what that is, as far as I can understand, it's sort of like a supervisor position that still gets to be on patrol). Dale wasn't sure if he was going to apply because he thought we wouldn’t be back from our vacation in time for the test/interview, but several of his supervisors "pursued" him, and after some coaxing and prayer, Dale decided to go ahead and apply. Unfortunately, the test/interview day was the day after we flew back from Europe, so that meant Dale had exactly 12 days of vacation to study all of the material (and believe me, it was a lot...we had to bring an extra bag just to carry all the books and notes) and prepare a 10 minutes speech. Dale worked so hard, he studied on every train and in every hostel we stayed in...he worked on his speech daily, and with the help of the Toastmaster Dan, he perfected and memorized it. Our 10-hour flight got in late Sunday night, and Dale had to be polished (and I'm talking boots shined, uniform pressed, fresh haircut) and ready to take the 2-hour exam by 9:00 a.m. Monday morning. With Dale's hard work and God's grace, Dale scored the second highest score out of everyone testing, so he was feeling pretty confident when he went to give his 10-minute speech to a panel of supervisors who then gave him a drawn-out interview following his speech. The next day (yesterday) Dale received several congratulatory phone calls and finally the official call that he had gotten the single Corporal position. I'm so proud of my boy! The new position comes with a nice pay raise and a handful of added responsibilities, but I know Dale will be the best Corporal Coppell has ever seen (Dale, don't get mad at me...he'd never let me write that)! The major downfall to the promotion is that he has to go back to the night shift, which Dale is okay with, but of course I'm sad about since I just got him back on the day shift in January, but it's all in God's hands, and we're ready for the challenges ahead!