Paperwork submitted

To officially agree to the post in Africa, Ken and I needed to send in a bunch of forms. The program director wanted skill code sheets that list the different experiences Ken and I have already with different stuff (healthcare, agriculture, etc) The last form was for us to electronically sign and state that we agree to the post, and are willing to be sent off to the middle of nowhere to live in a mud hut for two years. All of the forms were signed and sent off yesterday afternoon. I got an email from Erin today saying that she would get everything ready on her end and submit our paperwork by early next week. Things are rolling!

Exciting news!!!

So, I finally heard back from Erin today. She called around 1:30 to talk about the Latin American program. So she got word from the program director that they weren't going to allow any sort of flexibility with the Spanish requirement, so I officially turned down that program (Ken and I had discussed this prior, don't worry). Since the Latin American program wasn't really a viable offer, she agreed to resubmit our applications for review. The next review period isn't until late November/early December so we ended our conversation with the understanding that we wouldn't hear from her for a couple of months. Cool, good, this is what I was expecting, but I was bummed that everything was going to be on hold until the holidays.

ONE HOUR LATER, she called back and left a message on my cell phone. I saw that she had called and was really confused because she had just told me that I wouldn't hear from her for months. I listened to my message, and it was her telling me that we are being considered for a program in Africa! That was quick! I don't know the country or specific region, but it is a non-French speaking country and if everything goes as planned we will be leaving in August 2010. Ken will be doing work in agriculture and I will be doing health education with a focus on HIV. To accept the proposal, we have to fill out a bunch of paperwork listing our skills/signing our life away, and are expected to email them back by Friday. I'm so excited about this offer. It is exactly what I wanted to be doing, and where I wanted to be going. I would have gone to Latin America and been excited about the program, but it just didn't feel right. This feels so right it's a little terrifying. It's one of those "Oh God this is really going to happen, do I really want to do this? If I say yes, it's really going to happen, and my entire life is going to change" kind of moments. Terrifying, but exciting and we're going to say yes. So, wish us luck. I'll obviously update with more information as soon as we get it.

A little progress....

So, we're still waiting to hear from Erin about the Spanish stuff, which is frustrating. But, Ken got ahold of someone else in the office who said he would get on her to call us back. Apparently she's been doing a bunch of travelling, recruiting and been out of the office for most of the last few weeks. So it's nice to know she just hasn't been totally ignoring our pleas for information, and good that someone else is seeing that we get out answers.

STILL waiting to hear from Erin

So, I'm getting kind of irritated. It's been two weeks since I asked Erin if we could use some sort of alternate Spanish-learning method, and I still haven't heard back. I've sent her a total of three emails about the situation and nothing. NOTHING. I just want to know either way. If it's a "no", sure I'll be disappointed because we wont get to go to that post and will have to wait for a new assignment, but I want to know. And I feel like I should have known two weeks ago. Grrrr.

Waitin' to hear from Erin

So we are still waiting to hear back from Erin about the alternative Spanish learning options, that we are hoping will be accepted by the program director about the Latin American position. I was expecting to hear back from her today, since the program director was going to be back in the office, but I'm secretly glad I didn't since it was my birthday and we are most likely going to get bad news. Realistically, they are going to want a couple who has much better Spanish skills, and they probably wont go for our Rosetta Stone idea. So when we hear from Erin it will probably be to inform us that our proposal was denied, we wont be going to wherever in Latin America that job was, and that our applications will be held for 3 months until the next review period. In some ways that would be a good thing, because Ken and I are less excited about Latin America than other places, but we really don't want our applications to be held hostage for three months, because that means three more months of waiting before we get to leave. We are already looking at next September, and I would really rather not leave too much later than that. When we first applied we assumed that we would be leaving sometime this fall/winter, not late next summer. But we have faith that whatever is supposed to happen, will happen. Maybe our location isn't ready yet and we need to wait for it. If that's the case, we will. I have so much faith that God is guiding our application process and placement, I'm not worried about it. I want to know where we are going and am impatient about that, but I've never been worried that we are going to be sent to the "wrong" place or a "bad" place. We are going to be sent exactly where we should be sent. We will learn what we are supposed to learn, and do what we are supposed to do. I've been praying a lot about our placement lately and have such a strong feeling of peace and assurance that God is with us, and will be with us wherever we go. I had "He Knows My Name" stuck in my head the other day, and it's one of my favorite church songs, and I was humming the line that goes He'll never leave me, No matter where I go, and it really made me pause. I've never been far away from home, the farthest I've ever moved was to Corvallis. I've never had to think about if God was going to be with me where I was, because I've never been far from home, where I know he's present. But wherever we go will be far, and separate from everything I've known and loved, except for God, because he will be there, just as he is with me now.
So basically, I'm glad I didn't get bad news on my birthday, and I'm glad that God has our backs with this crazy adventure we have decided to pursue.