One Decision Made

The Foreign Service holds training courses for them incoming officers about every 6 weeks or so. Invitations have already been sent and accepted to the January and February classes. The March class will begin on March 29. I would be 33 weeks pregnant. The following class begins on May 18. We expect to have a 1 week old baby at that time, so the May class has been off the table for nearly 5 months now. The June class begins on June 21.

We had been hoping that Dave would receive his Security Clearance in enough time to be invited to the March class. This is still a possibility. The crew in charge of clearing Dave have finished their investigations, and placed his file in a pile called Adjucations. This is the period of time where they decide whether or not to clear a person. People with clean records skip Adjudications, and go straight from Investigations to Cleared. People with foreign spouses, extensive travel, and connections in China tend toward Adjudications. With two of them three, Dave has already spent 5 months in Adjudications. We don't expect him to spend much longer here - Security Clearance could come any day now. We feel quite confident he will have his Security Clearance within the next 2 months - by March.

So, the question often arises for us. If offered a position in the March class, will Dave accept? The advantages are many:

- Dave moves out of a job he doesn't like, and begins his new career sooner.
- We deliver Jake in the states, at a hospital with a low infant mortality rate, and near our family.
- We can attend Dave's family reunion in May.
- We have all of our baby gear nearby, and easy access to stores which sell Pampers and Enfamil.

But would I rather move at 30 weeks pregnant, or with a 3 week old child? New moms may be amazed, but the old pros would agree - the 3 week old child is much easier. Plus, the advantages of delivering in Shanghai are many as well:

- Although Dave would be in a great new job, he would also have zero days of vacation. Think unpaid family leave, where we would have to reimburse the government for our housing on a daily basis. Here, he looks forward to nearly 3 weeks of vacation for the new little one.
- I have a great support group here. Although I look forward to meeting up with some wonderful friends in DC, I have some wonderful friends here as well. They will help with my kids, they will surround our family with prayer, and they may even cook for us sometimes!
- Wendy. While in Shanghai, we have someone who cooks and cleans for us, does all of our laundry and dishes, can pick up the girls from school and even get them dressed in the morning. Wendy knows our routines, she knows what we like, she knows our family and she knows how to help. In the states, our bathrooms would get filthy and our laundry would pile up at the arrival of a newborn - but now here!
- Tiny Tots. Lilly and Sophia can continue to attend school every day, offering a basic piece of continuity in their lives while they adjust to the new baby. That way we put off moving until school finishes for the year. Were we to move to DC early, I face delivering a baby with 2 children out of school. We move over the summer, and we've got better chances and seeing them each begin school in the fall, and meanwhile finding plenty of summertime playmates.

The list is certainly longer on the Shanghai side. Add to that how comfortable I am with my doctor, and that my hospital meets all Western accredidation standards. Our healthy baby will greet the world with no problems at all.

So, we've settled on the perfect timing. Dave's security clearance has 2-3 more months to come through, and then he can be invited to the June or July classes. If we're lucky, we might even make it back in time for the family reunion!