Good Little Worker Bee

Since you don't want to hear about all the details, here is the super short- devoid of emotion (mostly)- version of why we are here. (In DC, not earth. That would be way too involved.)

It has been a long road. But we are here, and I am incredibly proud of Nate. He started the process of becoming a Foreign Service Officer about 2 years ago. There are tests. Lots. There are applications. There is a lot of waiting. There are more tests. And a lot more waiting. But he got through. Only a small percentage of the people who try this succeed. We are very proud of him.

First day of work...

We got a bid list in the first few days of class. It is a list of all the places Nate could get posted. We researched the places and gave each place a rating of high, medium, or low. It was a great list. There were only a few places I really really didn't want to go. There were more I wouldn't have been happy with, but lots that would have been really great.

June 7th was Flag Day. There is a small group of people who get together and decide where another, much larger, group of people will go for work for their first post. Then they have a small celebratory ceremony where they tell everyone their assignment. I had a lot less anxiety that day than I expected. I worried more about being on time, getting the boys where they needed to go, getting clothes ironed, things like that.

Contemplating where we will go...
They bring out all the flags for the countries that are available. They call out a city and country, then call the person's name who is going there.

The girls came. The boys didn't.

Oh, Nate's dad came. That was really cool. We were happy to have some family there.
I had Rhon go and take a picture of the flags. Nice work!
I thought for sure Nate would get called like 85th out of 95. I just knew I would have to sit there almost the whole time wondering. But he wasn't! He was called 8th-ish. I was almost not prepared for it because it happened so fast. We saw the red and white striped flag. (Red on white, not white on red. That's Poland.) They called out...

Jakarta, Indonesia

And then they called out Nate's name. It was as simple as that. We all cheered. We were very excited. From then on, when flags came up from countries I didn't want to go, I didn't have to worry. I was not disappointed about that.

Then on Friday there was the Swearing In. They all have to take an oath to protect and support the Constitution and a few other things. There was another ceremony-type thing. This time it was downtown. I didn't want to take the kids this time. I was glad I didn't. It was a lot quieter in tone, and more formal. I was glad I got to go. It is a really cool thing. Again, I am very proud of Nate.
Getting ready for the group picture...

I thought this picture was cool because it looks like everyone else is moving, but Nate is still, and looking right at me. I didn't plan it. I stink at picture taking.

Congratulations Nate. And by the way, you look freaking hot in your suits.