Well, I am seriously wondering if I want to reapply for the Peace Corps! It is something that I have always wanted to do, and now that Matthew is out of the Marine Corps (in another 16 minutes) active duty… I am thinking about it again. But, I am concerned about the mental health piece of it….not sure how to deal with that… But, anyway, I thought I would throw it out there.

On another note, it appears that Matthew and Monique are going to have another girl, and they plan to name her Sorcha (Irish for Sarah)….. they are back on the west coast now, they live in Washington State with her parents. It is only four hours away, but at least they are not on the other side of the country! YEAH!

I only have four more classes left until I finish my Master’s in Psychology (emphasis in Addictions)…I thought that it was going to be over in April, but my completion date is actually June 26….still have no job, but have several federal jobs that are considering me right now….just not sure if I will have one before October. I will have to pay for the last three classes…they cost $1712.50 per class plus $100 technical fees…so I gotta do something pretty darn soon! Still have two grandkids living with us, so we will be claiming them on taxes this next year…I wonder how much that refund will be? Maybe we can get the kitchen done with it….

TTYL

Well, I realized that I still had this blogspot, and had never updated it to say that I was not selected for the Peace Corps due to fact that I had been treated for mental health in the past. So what if it was 20 plus years ago! They did want me to be seen by a mental health professional for evaluation, and due to the outcome there, they felt that it was not in my best interest (or theirs) for me to be sent to a remote part of the world, with an entirely different language and culture and no real personal support system in place. So, they turned me down. This took me a long time to accept, but in the meantime, I continued to work for the Census Bureau (started Nov 1, 2008) and worked there for nearly two years. After a few weeks off, I began working for the Internal Revenue Service. However, I took ill from something someone shared at the office, and missed too much work for me to continue (I was on probationary status and could not go in the hole on leave)…so am back at the unemployed status for now! Also, now I have a total of seven grandkids, and the youngest one was born in May of 2009, so if I had gone with the Peace Corps, I would have missed being there for her birth…I have been at the hospital each time I had a new grandbaby, so why change that now! We have another one coming in mid-September this year.

Michael, my oldest, will be starting his 10th year as a Wildland Firefighter, and is a Crewboss. He will be leaving near the beginning of July to go to his site in southern Oregon (by the California border) for the fire season. He continues to try to see his children when he is able. Makayla will be 13 this month and Isaac will be 5 in July! Jaynee turned 7 in March. My middle child, Matthew has nearly completed his time on active duty with the Marine Corps, as has his wife. They will be returning to the Pacific Northwest in July for good. They have one daughter, Eilidh who just turned 2 and they are the ones with another baby due in September. Sarah, my youngest, continues to struggle with being a mom along with having to look for work and a place for her family to call their own. She has been attempting to find an apartment in the Albany area, but has not had any luck so far. My husband, Jon and I are currently taking care of two of her children, Victoria and Christopher who are 7 and 2 respectively. She has Byron with her (he is three).

As for the “new project”…I am not sure what it is, but I better figure something out soon! I will finish my classes for my MS in Psychology with an emphasis on Addiction Counseling next April, and I want to make it work for me somehow. I cannot go further on my schooling for several reasons (one is that I don’t want to), and I am not sure that without specific experience that this degree will grant me any ability to get a special job, but it does show my stamina and dedication to complete the work!

My hope is to get some sort of work that I enjoy, and that will be government work, so that my previous time with the federal government will count for leave and retirement purposes. Also, I hope to use the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program for my student loans. I will be on an Income Based Repayment plan which can last as long as 30 years, and whatever is owing after that is forgiven; but with the PSL, I can work for 10 years (making the payments under the IBR plan), and after 10 years of making payments while working for government or nonprofit employers, I will have the rest forgiven! I look at this as a sort of Retirement Savings Plan! Ha, ha, ha!

Anyway, who knows when I will write blogs, but I thought it would be good to do it for myself! C’ya!

Me

Well, I sent my medical and dental packet to Peace Corps Headquarters on Monday, October6, 2008! I was really nervous about actually sealing the envelope and putting it in the mailbox! Actually, Jon was kind enough to take it out to that famous Blue Box near the front of the Park…the one I walked to everyday while my son was in Bootcamp!

So…now I have to wait a while to see the updated part of my Peace Corps page to say that they have received it, and then will have a while to wait to see if I get Medically Cleared… Am pretty sure that I will get Dentally Cleared right away…have no further dental to do and had NO CAVITIES! Cleanings for every three months until I leave though!

I do anticipate that they will have some hiccups about my Cholesterol Levels being too high…and I am still waiting for my Mental Health counselor to finish her report…the only thing I had to pay for, and it is taking the longest! I hate that one person has the power to make it so that I cannot go into the Peace Corps…but that is exactly how it is! She has the power to say I can go or not, and I only talked to her for 2.5 hours and paid $150 for the pain of it all! She has had the paperwork for three weeks now…and I am really not very happy that she is still not done with it…but what can I do…I do not want to make her mad, cuz then she might say I cannot handle stress! AURGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

More Later, when I know more!

Today I began the process of the wading through the labrynth of the Medical and Dental Clearances…I recieved shots for Measles, Mumps and Rubella; Polio; Tetanus and the TB test. I also gave a tremendous amount of blood to the lab for a plethera of tests there! I should have all my labwork back by the time I go for my physical on the 18th. I have already had the PAP and Mamogram earlier this year, so luckily, I do not have to redo those!

Then, the big dreaded Dental exam came this afternoon..and guess what! No CAVITIES! Yipee…really good since I have not been to a dentist for at least five years, and it was probably 10 years before that! I have not been told that I had cavities since I was in the Marine Corps! I do, however have to have extensive cleaning and that will run me about $800, but the great news about that is that I can make payments over a 12 month period without interest! And, I have already had half of the cleaning done this afternoon, and the rest will be done next Tuesday! So, it looks like I will have all my medical and dental and optometry paperwork ready to send in before the end of the month of September, and that meets my goal! I hope to get cleared on all of that by the middle of November and then, once I am cleared all the way around, I can receive my invitation. The problem there is that I can recieve my invitation to service no more than six months prior to departure for staging, and as close to that date as six weeks! So, I do not look to be cleared until March!

Will update after I have all the rest done!

Well this last week, I recieved a call from my recruiter! I am NOMINATED for service with the Peace Corps! The location is non-specific other than I will be in either Eastern Europe or Central Asia. I will be teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) to high school students. I will be leaving in September 2009!

Tuesday (Sep 2) I received my medical and dental paperwork packet. I will be going to the VA for my medical portions, and eye glasses portion. But I will have to pay for the dental myself…since I have not been to a dentist for several years…I expect at minimum I will have to pay for several visits for deep cleanings…. hopefully that will be all… and if I have to go flip burgers…I will do it!

I would have a yard sale to pay for it, but I am afraid that there is nothing that I have anyone would want, let alone pay money for! But, it is an option… have a lot of things in storage that have to be sorted before I go anyway!

I will post again after I have more to report…probably after my dentist appt! At least then, I will know how much it will cost! (Trying not to hold my breath!)

So this last Monday, August 11 I went to PSU for the interview that would potentially change my life forever! I can say that I have NEVER been so nervous in all my life…I ran the gammit of emotions from excitement all the way through shear terror…”what am I doing here” was not only asked once, but many times over!

Anyway, when it came time for the interview, I met a really nice, easy to talk to man who is in the same “generation” as I am,and we even talked about how difficult it would be to leave having a set number of grandkids that are a certain age and coming back to meet new ones or seemingly new ones! We discussed the difficulties that my spouse and I may have in communicating and the possible options for dealing with those challenges.

Overall the interview was not that bad..and seemed more to be the “evaluation of where to place the individual” rather than the detemination of suitability. I turned in my Fingerprint cards and off I went, without a nomination but being told that it may take a few weeks for that since I would not be ready to go until Fall of 2009 (after I graduate with my Masters Degree).

I would have posted this info sooner, but my son got married today (with only five days notice) and that took a bit of my concentration to help get that together! Anyhow, today was a nice day, and in the end, my Peace Corps Toolkit was updated to reflect that my interview was done, but still does not show that my Fingerprints have been recieved (how funny is that), but I anticipate that this will occur in the next few days.

I can say without hesitation that once the interview was over, I came away with a great sense of Peace, as I have done what I can to make this happen, now it is truly out of my hands…

More Later!

Well…it has been a little bit since I last posted, and there are many things that have moved forward since then. For one thing, even though I did not ask for Expedited Service on my Passport, it came back to me with the new one and the cancelled old one on Saturday (11 days after I sent it in!)! As for other news, I was right that both Jim and Gary were not able to get to the Recommendations, so I asked Theresa and Mike, and they both have submitted them, last week! So, I had all three Recommendations in and last Friday I sent off all of my transcripts, student loan statement, Serving without Spouse questionaire, Notarized Statement from my husband giving his consent for me to serve… and my NAC (Background for Investigation: National Agency Check) form. The only thing that I have to do now is get rid of the stupid warts on my thumbs so that I can get my Fingerprint Cards done.

FRIDAY: I called my recruiter and let him know that I had all my Recommendations and my papers were all sent (Friday). He told me to call back Monday to set up my interview. I had the choice of going to Seattle, a phone interview or an in person next Monday, August 11 at PSU. I even checked on the cost of Amtrak and the schedule would have worked for Thursday, but would have cost me about $100 bucks including taxi and parking…so I had narrowed it down to the PSU appt with the phone interview as a back up.

MONDAY: I called Scheduling and was told that until all of my paperwork was in, I would not be scheduled…but that the Recruiter Supervisor had some questions for me. So, I talked to her…and she asked also about my papers, specifically the Notarized Statement from my Spouse. I told her it was sent along with the other stuff on Friday…and then, unexpectedly, I was told that my Recommendation from Father Matthew was not what they needed, so I was to get another one that was a close friend, more my peer than my Priest!

MONDAY: (Later) Erich was kind enough to do it for me, and the Recommendation was added this afternoon. SO…my recruiter has me scheduled for Monday at 4 pm at PSU Career Center! I am nervous, but feel that I am making good progress. I will have to have my Fingerprint Cards with me to turn in at that time, and then I get to wait for the answer as to whether I get NOMINATED or not!

I probably will not post anymore until after that interview…. Wish me luck!

Today I sent off my Passport renewal…not happy about the picture, but what can I say? Gathering all of my transcripts, divorce records, spouse statements, background info and fingerprints to be sent off. Have my second recommendation in (thanks Terri), and still waiting for my third. Once that is in, then Peace Corps will contact me to schedule my interview. My goal is to be able to have it before the 14 of August (Sarah’s BDay). We shall see…

More Later!

Today, I received my first batch of paperwork from Peace Corps headquarters! In this packet were instructions for filling out the background info, 2 fingerprint cards, financial status of student loans form, a questionaire for those who are serving without their spouse, and a few instructional notices as well as the letter that tells me that I must submit all of the above as well as copies of my divorce decrees, current marriage certificate, and all transcripts as well as making sure that all recommendations are in by no later than August 7. I am to submit all of this to Seattle, where my recruiter is.

I am hoping to be able to have my in person interview with the recruiter at Portland State University when he comes down on August 11… but have to have all of my paperwork in order before then in order for that to happen! I will have to go to Eugene for my divorce decree from the kid’s dad, and Albany for the rest if I do not already have a copy of them somewhere around here. I have all of my transcripts, and my current marriage certificate. Still no recommendations submitted from Jim and Gary…they may not have time to do these, so may have to ask someone else to do them…will wait until Monday though!

I am a bit bummed that I did not get the paperwork which tells me my password and user id for the Applicants Toolkit, but am sure that this is enroute. IF it does not come on Monday, I will call Seattle.

Well, I am off to get my fingerprints done! Yeah!

I have posted my application to the Peace Corps, received the usual emails from the system telling me thanks for applying, and some further instructions. Amongst the emails from Peace Corps were requested additional forms, which I expected.

Student Loan Forms, Financial Obligation Request, Statement from Spouse and I think that was it in the way of new stuff to work on for now. I am to receive a packet that will tell me how to get to my Toolbox and then will see what my status is.

I have only had one reference (Father Matthew) so far submitted, still waiting for Gary and Jim to submit theirs. I believe that I will have the same recruiter who has been in touch with me thus far, but am not sure.

My issue now, hurry up and wait has never been my favorite thing to do, and I know that I will have a great deal of things to do shortly! My biggest expected delay may be the dental reviews and the work that will surely need to be done (have not been for a very long time!), I do not expect that my medical stuff will prevent me from being offered an invitation, but may take a while to get all of them together and the appt with the VA, but at least all my medical care has been through the VA so that may make things much easier.

I got my passport application filled out, had the aweful pictures taken, and obtained certified copies of Jon’s and my marriage certificates today. So that will be going out in the mail fairly soon (needed to renew passport anyway as it expired in April). I am very nervous, but very excited to be actually doing something about the Peace Corps (I have wanted to since I graduated High School 31 years ago!).

I think that is all for now, thanks for taking the time to join me on this very special, and wonderful journey.