A little bit at a time

We are getting bits of contact, but no nothing substantial.

We were emailed last week to send our updated resumes to the placement office, and try to tailor them as much to what we expect to be doing as possible. We have responded with updated emails and Josh has sent his final transcripts since graduating. I can't imagine there is anything else left to do. I feel like we are sitting on the edge of something not knowing whether to go or come. Suspense is exciting. Oh, the possibilities..............

Almost there.......wherever "there" turns out to be

     So, we've been away for a while. Living life, and so on. Once I wrapped up my loose ends with my physical that had the unfortunate suspicion of a UTI in my lab work (which turned out to be a weird fluke), it wasn't long before we heard back from headquarters.  We got letters a week later. They state that our legal, medical and dental have all been cleared. Our files have now been forwarded to the placement office. From what we understand in all the conversations and letters/ paperwork, this is where we will get our green or red light.  This could take some considerable time, because the next departure is not until September, as they only depart in Feb and Sept each year. So, we have missed Feb. They will have to match us with someone who is ending their service at that same time, in an area that we qualify for and that has a spot for BOTH of us. It is a complicated situation when you are serving with a spouse. We are really hoping for a "GO!"
     We are taking steps in our personal lives to ensure that can leave at anytime. Our lease ends at the same time we approximate we would leave. Our new apartment is working out gloriously in helping us save money to pay down debt. We have paid off 3 of our major debts and have 1 to go, which we will have paid by June. We are then debt free and have no strings attached. It is pretty crazy to think that come summer/ fall our lives will never be the same no matter what. Either we will go half a world away and be dumped in a whole new world to sink or swim, or we will leave Savannah and find our place somewhere else in the US. I can't wait to get an answer so I can finally tell everyone and do some explaining about what must seem like erratic behavior on our part. We have become grinches who refuses to spend any money (to save more), I quit my job that was going just fine to get a dramatically better paying one at a competing agency (thus making some enemies), and we moved from our apartment in the nice part of downtown to a small gray one in suburbia. From the outside I am sure people wonder if we are bipolar. Life is changing very quickly no matter what. I'm not sure what to hope for. The Peace Corps was high on my to-do list for life. But, if we get turned down it was obviously not meant to be and I can carry on and put it out of my mind; Never to be one of those people with regrets who later tries to live vicariously through her kids.

Update on health review

Got a call from the Screening Nurse at Peace Corps. She said everything looks good for both of us. She is sending out letters in the next couple of days. One small hiccup though- my urinalysis was funky and had a leve that indicates I may have a UTI. I have to get an additional set of labs to make sure and then send them in if they are fine and then I'm done. If it is still abnormal I have to show proof that I am taking action, such as beginning antibiotics. Other than that, it seems all else is fine. I will get on that and have it turned in by end of week hopefully. Can't wait to get our letters and see what they say. That's all!

Reimbursed

I don't know how much this says about our progress through things, but we got our reimbursements in the mail today. This is partial reimbursement for cost of physical and dental exams. I am hoping that this is somewhat indicative that our files are being actively examined. This is all we know right now. But, it is nice to get some money back. More waiting.....................

Under Review!!

     I checked my email this morning before going to work. Peace Corps has received my (our) packet(s) and it is "under review". It says they received it yesterday (over a week later???). It goes on to explain that if our scheduled departure is within the next 4 mos, we will be notified very soon, but that if our departure is farther away than that, we will not be notified until closer to that time. I do remember my recruiter telling me that they have departures in February and in September, so I am pretty sure we will not go until September due to having not turned in our packets until now.
     I am excited to see some progress and to know that someone is rummaging through all of my personal medical records, hopefully even as I type this :)

Signed, Sealed and probably delivered by now!

We mailed off our packets on 12/19/2011. It has been a week now. I checked out online toolkit with Peace Corps but no update yet on whether or not it has been received. We read our official documents that state it is 1-6 mos after you turn in your packets before you get an official invivation. We have successfully moved into a new apartment and are gearing up for our new year of working toward leaving. We are.....excited, scared and motivated all at once! If you have not checked out all the places we can go in Central Asia, go here:

http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=learn.wherepc&cid=map

You can also check out videos that others have posted about their experiences and see where they live here:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=peace+corps&oq=peace+corps&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=8046l11968l0l12265l13l12l1l0l0l0l250l1846l0.8.3l11l0

We will keep you updated on this long but rewarding process!

Medical packets nearly complete

Post by Jenn:

     So, after some waiting and process, we are very close to completing our physical/ medical/ dental evaluations. As a word of caution if you plan to do this, check all your forms before you go to the doctor. Check them before you leave the doctor's office as well. I missed some forms with the doctor. They are simple and can be easily completed, but I will have to wait until next week, as today is Friday. A little preparation could have saved that. We both have our dental exams done. There are a LOT of x-rays to do. We are now waiting on copies of the x-rays and that is done. After all of the currently missing paperwork is done, Joshua will need to complete his physical. Another bit of wisdom is that you can offer to have the Peace Corps reimburse your doctor for your visit if you can't pay out of pocket. They reimburse for men under 50 up to $165 and women up to 40 get $125. This can help if you don't have insurance as well.
     It is moving along now. I feel like we are making progress now that most of the appointments have passed and nobody is sticking needles in me anymore. Now that we are almost past this stage, we are now doing finacial planning. We are moving to a cheaper apartment next week to save $200 monthly. They require you to show a plan for how your debt will be paid while you are deployed. You can have your student loans deferred while serving, but all other debt must be paid before you leave or you must show how others can take care of it for you once you are gone. So, we are moving to save money so we can knock out our little credit card balances. I have also started couponing for about a month now and have found that it saves quite a bit of money. So, we are using this tactic to stock up on toiletries and non-perishables to last until we are set to leave in July 2012. The more we are stocked, the less we have to spend on these things and can put even more toward debt. We also plan on selling our car as well, because no one can care for it for 2 years. It is very exciting to start making all these changes as it gives a renewed sense of momentum and purpose. I think of how quickly November came once we started this blog, and realize that July will come quickly as well. It can be scary as we think about this being a major life decision. However, we keep finding new people in our path that reaffirm our decision and encourage us. We will post again when we mail our things and then it is a waiting game to find out our country of service. The wait can be a 4-6 mos wait we have been told. This is why we want to mail things ASAP, so that we have time to prepare before July. Also it gives us time to amend any mistakes or missing information from our medical packets. Will post again soon!!!