Flag Day!

It's finally here!

We are going to Shenyang, China!  It was one of our top choices, one of the ones we added late to our list of highs.  We won't be leaving until April of 2013, which is great.  It's that much more time to get us prepared and spend time with family.  NJ will have a good year of Kindergarten here and we will have plenty of time to have the baby and get settled as a family of 5.  Plus J will be 2.5 years old by then, much more manageable on the plane, I hope!  Baby girl will be 9 months old and NJ will be 6.5.


What an awesome experience.  It only lasted maybe 45 minutes but the energy in the room was contagious and it was so encouraging to see everyone genuinely excited for one another.  They flashed the picture of the flag of the country on the screen, announced the job title, and revealed the name of the FSO who will be going there and presented to them a mini flag of the country in which they will be serving.  I think a lot of people got their high choices.  I am thrilled for everyone.  I even got teary eyed several times because I was so happy for these people whom I don't even know!  Crazy pregnant lady...  Even J had a blast, despite the fact that he was sleep deprived and recovering from an ear infection.  After each person was called, he clapped and said "Yaaaaaay!!" and said "Byyyyyyye!!"  It was nice to have Mom and Dad Lindsey and Cousin Neely join us.  We all went out to Uncle Julio's afterwards to celebrate, since crazy pregnant lady was craving tamales.

We are excited.   The more I research and think about it, the more excited I get!  I've been reading a few blogs written by expat families who are there.  Shenyang is a big industrial hub and there are many international corporations there.  So in addition to meeting Chinese people, we will be interacting with expats from all over the world.

The diplomat and the diplotots

This blog probably won't get THAT exciting until April of next year.  I might have to fill in with stories of the kids and the new baby.  But I'm sure there will be mini adventures along the way as Nathan and I start learning more about Shenyang, start our Mandarin training (can't wait to see my blonde husband busting out in Chinese!) and as we handle the logistics circus.

Done

We did some final deliberation and research and turned in the bid list on Tuesday.  Done!  No more analyzing, no more research, no more imagining the worst and the best (for now).  I won't bore you with details of Places Whatevers we added, but we did add 3 more to our list of highs.  That makes for a total of 17 "high" places, though 3 of them have multiple positions open.  So technically 9 cities.  We are hoping that this makes the CDOs' jobs easier as they take the next week or so plugging FSOs into their first posts.

Now for some more waiting.  2 more week until Flag Day.

The revised list

After much thought, research and prayer, we've revised our list of "highs."

Place "A" still stands, although it requires a really hard language. N is a bit nervous about being able to master it.  Me too.
Place "B" still stands.
Place "C" still stands.  I'm finding that places B and C will be tough as they are very popular.  Many of N's colleagues are bidding them as high.
Place "D" is no longer a high for us.  What were we thinking?  Leave in July/August?  Yes, our baby girl will probably have adjusted to life but we would have had to perform the logistics circus while sleep deprived adjusting to a family of 5.  Maybe someday, Place "D".

Place "E": a bit of a stretch, as it is a "luxury" post.  Great for career, good language, good traveling options nearby, good schooling options.  Easy transition to FS life, a very "Western" country.  Fun place to live, lots of cultural things to check out.  It leaves a bit earlier than the others, not sure if N will have time to get all his training done.
Place "F": I never would have thought to choose to go here, but all things considered, it's a decent post.  Good schooling options, inexpensive to live there, great food.  We have FS contacts with kids who have enjoyed their time here.
Place "G": I'm not totally sold on this place, but again, all things considered, it's a good post.  Great for career, good language, inexpensive to live there, beautiful surroundings (beach!), good schooling options.
Place "H": Good language, good schooling options, great food, lots of cultural things to check out.  Good local traveling options.

I guess all posts will have lots of cultural things to check out, but places A, B, C, E and H would especially be fun.

Is it bad that I'm considering "great food" as a qualifier?

We have contacts in places E and F with whom we can enjoy Christian fellowship, which is important to us.  There are churches in all of the above places.

We meet with N's CDO on Friday to present our case: our preferences, priorities and whatnot. Then all the CDOs get together and make the assignments.  Even though we let them know what are "highs" are, it's not guaranteed that we'll get posted to any of them.  Ultimately, it's in God's hands and I need to stop worrying.  So what if we get sent to PLACE Z, our very last choice?  He will give us the grace and resources to make it through.  It will just be for 2 years.

The List

We've been "in" for a while. N was on the register for one day and got invited to be in the upcoming class the next day. Did I mention that you are ordered on the registere by score? And the higher your score is, the sooner you get called to be in a class? So you do the math... he did AWESOME on the test, though he will never mention it. So I will.

N started the class earlier this week. And we got the (in)famous bid list. This is basically the list of all the places and job openings that are available to us. I can't exactly cut and paste the list and put it here but let's just say there is a variety of places. Some places we would not even consider. Some places we'd love to go, but just are not possible, due to timing or lack of language experience, or both. Remember, I'm due with baby#3 at the end of June and I don't want to give birth abroad nor do I want N to be absent for her birth and first few months of life. There are many places where we'd be required to leave between April and August. We can kiss those goodbye, hopefully. They really try to work with you and I hear most people get their high or medium choices but N did sign many documents saying that he is available for worldwide service, so you never know.

We have been mulling and praying over this list all week. We need to designate our high, medium and low choices and turn them in. Then we meet with a CDO (Career Development Officer) and present our case. The reasonings as to why we want to go where have to be legit. For example, we couldn't say we want to go to France because we love French food. Or that we want to go to Australia because Aussies have such cool accents and we'd love to develop one. I know that God is in control but still can't help but to feel overwhelmed.

We have 4 places in mind as our top choices as of now.
Place "A": Great for career, lots of traveling options nearby, amazing food, inexpensive to live there, good schooling choices
Place "B": Great for career, good language for N to master, awesome location (I think we'd get lots of friends to visit)- natural beauty as well as the convenience of a big city, good schooling options, but expensive to live there
Place "C": In the same country as B, great for career, good language, awesome location (beachfront!), slower pace of life, but expensive and not many good schooling options
And Place "D": Places A, B and C would give us plenty of time to have the baby and for N to learn the language and we would not be rushing off right away. Place D has all the perks of place A but we'd leave in the summer. And no language training for N.

We will find out where we'll be spending 2 years of our lives in mid-April.