Staying Put

August calls have all gone out, and we are not on our way to DC. In fact, although State will extend invitations to FS candidates on a monthly basis through October, Dave and I see a precedent. He will not be invited to any of the 2010 classes, and we will stay put for at least another 6 months.

Its time to be pro-active. But its also time, sadly, to build contingency plans.

Being proactive - Dave is starting the process over again. He will take the Written Exam on Saturday afternoon in the Economic track. Remember that he is number 41 on a list of 150 or so - this is a list of Political candidates. With this new candidacy, he will enter the list of Economic candidates, which is a much shorter list. He will pass the Written Exam on Saturday, be invited to submit essays in about August, and be invited to DC for an Oral Exam in around November (family - this will be our next trip home, we expect). He will, I assume, pass this exam with flying colors and be placed on the Econ register by January. With the amazingly high score he will receive, he will be guaranteed a spot in the next class.

He is also studying Mandarin. He will take a 15 minute phone test at the end of June, to determine whether or not he speaks and understands at a conversational level. He does not, we realize. But could he trick someone into believing he does in 15 minutes? The possibility exists. Should he not convince them, we will look upon this as a practice test, and he will spend the next 6 months studying intensively so that he can pass the Mandarin phone test in January. Upon passing this test, he will gain an extra 0.4 points, taking his score from 5.6 to 6.0; 6.0 is the highest possible score, and would guarantee him a spot in the next class.

Should neither of these guarantees pan out, we are in Asia for the foreseeable future. He is currently on a 2 year contract, beginning October 1 of 2010. He feels he could maneuver a move to India, which we both see as exciting and a possible route into International Development work simply by proximity. NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations - essentially international non-profits) are severely limited within China, but certainly not within India. Some intense volunteer work and good connections may well foster the career change he has been seeking.

Our hope (and my confidence) still lie in the foreign service, and we hope to see DC within the next school year. But after our prayers for an August move, we are quite aware that God has His own timing. We were reminded of this last night, in reading the final chapter of the book of Job.

Then Job replied to the Lord: "I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. You asked ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know."