Full Disclosure

I am excited to admit that I’ve been lying to you.

We have no friend named Doug.

Well, actually, we do have a friend named Doug. A very nice fellow with a little baby girl. But our friend Doug has not applied to the US Foreign Service. No, in an effort to keep the job search secret from Uncle H--, Dave assumed a secret identity on this public forum.

Our very own Dave began his application to the Foreign Service last December. And a week ago he passed his Oral Examination, making him a potential candidate with a conditional offer of employment.

This means that although the State Department has decided he is qualified and desirable for the position, he must jump through a number of hoops.

Hoop #1: Medical Clearance
Every member of our family must be given a clean bill of health. Each member of the foreign service must be able to serve in any of the embassies or consulates the U.S. maintains worldwide. Many, if not most, of these are away from quality medical care. I’m not sure how they make this an Equal Opportunity position, but a member of the Foreign Service must have a clean bill of health in order to serve. Their family need not pass with a clean bill of health - but if we prove unhealthy, we will likely spend many years living in different parts of the globe. The government reserves the right to assign employees to stations without their family.

We have already begun the process on our medical clearance. I’ve had a gynecological exam and scheduled the labs for Dave and I to begin on Wednesday. The challenge for us is thus: he must submit completed paperwork within 30 days of acceptance. That is by August 22nd. But all quality doctors leave Shanghai for the summer (also for any major holidays - avoid hospitals during Chinese New Year). So we have scheduled our physicals for August 15. This only leaves 1 week for any questionable results, mistakes on the report or other unexpected problems. Still, we expect to clear this hoop by the end of the month.

Hoop #2: Security Clearance
Dave will need Top Secret Security Clearance by the US government. They will talk to authorities everywhere we have lived for the past 10 years. They promise to track down every family member, and at least one American friend able to vouch for our every address. They will run background checks on every foreign friend. For many people, this process can take a few months. For folks living abroad and maintaining plenty of foreign contacts, this process could take closer to 7 months.

Hoop #3: The List
After being cleared medically and securely, Dave will be placed on the list. This list runs in rank order. At the end of his interview, they gave him a number and a track. The track is Political and the number is in the upper third, with 7 as the highest. As the foreign service needs people in the political field, they draw the highest ranked folks out of the pool. If someone interviews after Dave and ranks higher, that person will be drawn first. Being drawn up from the list could be immediate, and could take a few months. People do languish on the list for 18 months without being offered a job, eventually being dropped again. But in the current climate, someone in the upper third is unlikely to languish long.

Hoop #4: Get the heck outta Dodge
Once the offer comes, we have 1-2 months to move to Washington, DC. Thankfully, the government pays relocation costs including shipment of household goods - which saves us a boatload of money. While in DC on a short-term assignment, they also pay for housing. They post salary guidelines quite clearly. And so we now have a pretty good idea what our life will look like within a year.

I find it wonderfully refreshing to have so many answers. I do not know how long we will wait for the offer, but I know the look of the rest of my year. We plan to stay in our apartment (no more moves within Shanghai) and the girls both plan to begin preschool at a new school near our home. Once we move, we expect to live in a contracted apartment complex in Falls Church, where L-- qualifies for public school kindergarten in the fall. Good friends from Shanghai recently moved to Falls Church and promise to help us get settled, find a good school for S-- and welcome us into their church.

A few major questions still remain.

Timing is the first - we could move in as little as 2-3 months and as long as 12-18 months. We expect Uncle H-- to end our contract at the end of next summer. What happens if we finish here before they’re ready for us? Honestly, I don’t expect that to happen. I’m figuring we’ll move in late winter or early spring of 2010.

The adoption is the second. We can leave China with no consequences. But when we move, we have to update our entire file. And after 1 year, we have to update our entire file. It is possible we will have to update our entire file - lengthy paperwork and costly bills - twice within a few months of each other if the move comes at the wrong time. Unfortunately, this problem does seem a likely scenario.

Uncle H-- is the third. The government will contact Dave’s employer during the security clearance. It seems likely that at least a few decision makers will know about his planned departure. We have no idea what this will mean. As the position has a clear endpoint (next summer), we expect he would not get fired. But makes the first question that much stronger.

Health Insurance is the last. Government insurance begins sometime during training - and is not retroactive. Our family will go from Dave’s last day in his current position to sometime in the middle of training - possibly up to 5 weeks - without health insurance. I had an IUD removed this week, and you may take that as an expression of intent. The wrong weeks without insurance could be amazingly expensive.

I’ve got loads of details which I find amazingly interesting, but the stuff of government documents and employment manuals may not interest each of you as much as it does Dave and I these days. So I’ll leave it at this.

One request. As mentioned above, Uncle H-- does not know. And most people at Uncle H-- will not know until the last minute. Please keep the secret. We kept this story from the blog for the past 8 months in the interest of secret keeping. After much discussion, we’ve deemed it wildly unlikely that any of his coworkers read this blog. And highly therapeutic to be able to share this story and chronicle this journey. Still, if given the opportunity to spill the beans, please refrain.