It has been a while since we have done a Foreign Service update. So here’s our status currently. We will be here in Bern until July of next year. This August we will be given another bid list. At that point we will narrow it down and make lots of big decisions. Seth and I are able to see a tentative list now and have already begun the process of talking through it. Nothing is jumping out at us at this point. Some are definitely NOT going to make the short list.

Our tentative plan since leaving Bogota has been to return to the DC area post-Bern and to settle down for a couple of tours. We have a variety of reasons for this being our plan. In reviewing the bid list we are beginning to hash out other possibilities and how they may impact our family. This round of bidding will be quite different in that Seth will be lobbying for jobs. They will no longer be directed assignments like Bogota and Bern have been. The other difference is that from here on out most of our assignments will be for 3 years. This is good because it will give us more time to settle in and make a place home but it also brings challenges if you don’t love a place.

This update is basically to say we have no idea where we are headed. We have ideas of how we would like it to play out and we are opening up more options but still don’t have much clarity yet. We are even beginning to talk about what it would look like if we stepped back from the FS all together. GASP. Seth loves his job and at this point we aren’t calling it quits but we are asking the hard questions and really thinking about what our family looks like today and where we are headed. There is a lot of pressure in this job to advance and work the right tours with the right people. We want to make wise decisions for our own family. Thus, we are praying for clarity.

What we have decided is that we will be spending Christmas in Texas with our family this year! By then we will know where we are headed!