am i suitable?

I got my security clearance in August. Have been in the final suitability stage since then. It's almost October. Hope to know something soon.
Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Hopeful...


How long did your final suitability reviews take? Any info is appreciated.

Good News/Bad News

Ok. So the good news is this: I spoke to a very nice lady in the final suitability dept. today and she told me she had just received my packet and should have an answer for me next week. That's exciting, right?
Then came the bad news...
The next specialist class that will have spots for health practitioners is MARCH!

Apparently there is a class in January, but they have no allotted spots for health practitioners. Bummer. She also told me there are several health practitioners already on the list. I am not positive, but I think she said there are openings for 4.

This really could take forever.

Woot! Woot!

I decided to bug the security folks again today, to see if they had made any progress with regards to my clearance. The nice gentleman who answered the phone verified
my name..."yep"
birthdate...."yep"
ssn....***-**-"****----yep"
then he says, "hang on a second"
and then, he informs me that my Security Clearance was issued yesterday.

Glad I called.
This made my day.
Now I just wait on the final suitability. Hopefully that goes quickly.
Then, Bfiles, I'll take mine to go, and myself can share a celebratory bottle of wine in DC in January!

Option #1

Well, it would appear the Case manager chose option #1.  Need. More. Info.


My ex husband called today and says he has a meeting with the security agent on Tuesday. Apparently the case manager discovered he did not have anyone interview my ex. Hopefully this will be the last interview.

I was really hoping for the email.

Dear Mrs. Burkett,
We are pleased to inform you that we have issued you a TOP SECRET SECURITY CLEARANCE. Additionally, we will be sending out a package that will welcome you to the Foreign Service, and provide further details on your start date.


Regards,
Mr. Top Secret Issuing Case Manager

Thought for the day

I have nothing funny to post. Nothing really even that interesting. When I read some of the old posts from other Fs'ers, it seems that we all get into this 'holding pattern' that gives us really nothing to blog about.
So, I'll blog about some of the things that happened this summer that I couldn't really blog about until now.
Audrey learned how to do 2 back handsprings in a row this summer. She is very proud of herself. I always wanted to learn how to do that. Now, I think I may break in two pieces, or maybe more when I hit the ground. Probably not a good idea.

I did say two in a row...not three. Not yet.

Tyler had fun in Africa. We are seriously considering sending him on another mission trip this fall. Our church is offering one to Mexico for 5 days. This one would be without me or any other family. It is a high school mission trip through the church. I had been more excited about it until I read about the killings of the 6 Americans in Afghanistan...now, I am not so sure. Not that I am comparing Mexico to Afghanistan, but, well, Mexico has developed a not so safe reputation lately. At least here in Arizona. 


We lost our dog, our sweet friend, Lucy this summer. Right before I left for Africa, actually. It happened to be on our wedding anniversary. Boo. We miss her terribly. She was only 4. A great family friend and pet. We had an A/C guy out to work on our system, and unfortunately, he left our gate open, unlatched, as he left. When we arrived home, we found our dogs missing. We looked for hours, then found our female boxer lying on the side of the road. She was alive, but her back was broken, and sadly, we had to put her to sleep. On our freakin wedding anniversary, did I mention that? Some present.

Lucy Burkett 2006-2010
AKA: "Luter" (for stealing food from our countertops!)
We miss you!

Since then, our male boxer, Dezi, has been grief stricken. As much as we want to get another dog, we are not sure if we should. Why, you ask? Because we may be moving overseas with the FS.  Not sure we want to make a travel commitment to another canine, since we have no idea what the quarantine issues may be. So, for all you Foreign Service Travelers, feel free to advise. How much would having two 60-80lb dogs cramp your traveling lifestyle?

As far as I can tell, my security clearance is in a holding pattern. I called on Monday and was told that the case is in review by the case manager. From there, one of three things could happen. Either the CM will 1)send it back for more info, 2)approve the clearance, or 3)send it through a final adjudications process.  Hmmm.  We are hoping for option #2, please. No news is a good news, right? I am still hopeful to hear something soon.

Next week it is off to Chicago for a work conference, with a brief stop in Indiana to visit some dear friends. After that, it's Labor Day and we are heading to Vegas for Tyler's soccer tournament. Hopefully I will have some news after that.  We will see.

In the meantime, here are some more shots from Africa.

And finally, the thought for the day...If I were in the FS in a country where I did not speak the language...how would I communicate?

Mimic, of course!  It works!

Africa

I returned home this weekend from my mission trip to Malawi, Africa. I had an awesome time! I realize that a mission trip is not even close to living in a place for 2 years. I won't even begin to pretend I learned all the in's and out's of Malawi. But I loved it.
We stayed at Children of the Nations in Lilongwe. It was like glorified camping. 6 to a room. A hut, really. With bunk beds and a sink. A community bathroom. With cold water on most days. But it was awesome!
I cannot wait to go back.
I want to work for the FS! I want to MOVE there. Somewhere. Anywhere.

Our team was comprised of myself, a pediatrician, a group of college girls, a group of counselors, 2 professional photographers, a hopeful soon to be pastor, and my 14 yr old son.

The medical team (myself and the pediatrician) saw close to 1000 kids in roughly 6 days. We treated ear infections, colds, coughs, ringworm, scabies, and any other common ailment you could imagine that we have here in the states. We saw many who were HIV positive. We also saw a couple handfuls of adults (most of who were HIV positive) and tried to treat many of the side effects from the ARV meds they take regularly. We passed out a TON of tylenol, ibuprofen, pepcid, and vitamins. We passed out antibiotics to those who needed them. Ointments and creams as a spit in the wind for the tiny scabie and or ringworm infested kiddos.
We operated in small villages, out of suitcases, with medications we brought with us.
Most were happy we were there. "Azungu!" The children would squeal as we approached the villages.
Azungu translates to "white person" in the language of Chichewa.
Cyberbones, you may hear that term occasionally! :)
We prayed with patients, worshiped, sang and danced. A LOT. I learned new songs in Chichewa.
We went to church in the Slums of Mgona. I was inspired. What an amazing worship experience.

I have tons of pictures. I have yet to sort through them. I am so jet lagged, I can't sit down on the sofa for more than a few minutes without falling asleep.
I missed reading all your blogs. I can hardly wait to catch up and see where some of you are going, see if some of you have gotten the 'call', and read about your pack-outs and all the other FS drama. My own FS drama is this: my investigators have submitted my background checks to the case manager. I called Washington to find out where I am in the process. They told me to call back in 2 weeks. The security guy said he was 'pleasantly surprised to see how far my security clearance was in such a short period of time'.  That's good, right? My husband received his worldwide medical clearance. I am still waiting on my 14 yr old's medical clearance because there was an issue with the system not recognizing him, so we had to wait for the help desk to put his information back into the system. As best I can tell, I am in a holding pattern. I feel pretty good about it. It's happening, slowly but surely. Slow and steady wins the race...
I'll post more pictures soon.

missions

I leave on Friday for Malawi. I am going with my church on a mission trip. I will be working with a pediatrician and we will be setting up a mobile medical clinic in a small village in Malawi, Africa. The goal is to provide basic health care and deworming for all the orphans in the village of Chikudzulire --just outside of Lilongwe. Depending on how much time we have, and how many medications we have leftover, we may also set up clinic in the village of Mgona. I'm taking my oldest son, Tyler (14), to help out as well. We are very excited about this opportunity.

(I borrowed this fancy picture from the web, but had no idea how to ask it's author. So, thank you in advance to whom ever took the time to upload this to the internet.)


On a FS note, I have heard back from several contacts that my background investigation is definitely underway. The Arizona agent has contacted most everyone he had on his list, I think. I'm not positive, but I think he may be wrapping things up in the next day or two--**grin** I think the Indiana one is just getting started, however.  I'm hoping that by the time I return in 2 weeks, it will be over. I'm really getting much better at this waiting thing.  At least, I think so.
My family might beg to differ.  Most every sentence begins with, "What if..." or "When we move..."
or "What can we get rid of..."
We did clean out all our closets this weekend.  We carried out 5 bags of trash and several large loads of 'stuff we no longer need.'  I hope I'm not jumping the gun, I am just soooo excited.