and received...

it's out of our hands, and our assessment specialist has confirmed receipt of all documents.

recruiter? can you hear me? call us!

pluck

we put the forms in two piles and forgot to mail one of them.

le sigh.

ah the joys of those whom you meet in your local police station...

last week i drove, and directed chris to, the wrong address for our police station.  you see, they've moved but not yet updated the website.  ah yes.

last friday, we were finally succcessful.  we met after work, quickly grabbed our forms and hop, skipped, and jumped across town to get sludge rubbed over my finger pads.

it's becoming quite fun to answer such questions as:

"purpose of fingerprinting?"

"we're applying for the peace corps!"

somehow, this answer rarely garners the same excitement as which it was disposed. lame.

we met a family at the station, where the father was also getting fingerprinted.  it was unclear as to why, and i didn't press the issue.  instead, i enjoyed a children's book that told a folk tale in brilliant illustrations.  something about a bird that is tricked to turn over some colorful feathers?

after securing a notarized letter from my 'rents about a student loan, we're ready to keep chugging.

we've now shipped all documents and cross our fingers we'll soon have a recruiter and INTERVIEW!

dun dun dun

we also were asked to submit answers to a couple's questionnaire.  we spent two days both typing up our thoughts, but also ensuring our minds were in the same place.  i found the questions pretty useful, as they did help us clarify why we're doing this, why we're doing it as a married couple, and express verbally the struggles we know we're bound to have.

from how we handle stress, to how we'll handle being seen as one entity by many, we dissected so much of how we interact with each other and how it impacts our day to day.

this is actually happening...

it's real

today we received contact from an assessment specialist. a glorious government format letter, all my own!

we were both told to submit college transcripts, statements about our financial obligations and our marriage license.  i also need to send my teaching certificate and chris his scuba cert.

chug, chug, chug...

it's amazing...

that a hefty little brown envelope can have you jumping like a five year old.  today we've received the illustrious fingerprint forms and background check forms.

these posts are quite boring.  i pity the world if i decide to publish them.

since submitting...

it's all i can do to focus at work.  i still love my job, but chris and i have recently discovered the peace corps journals website and it's addicting.  they're my new wedding blogs.  my five minute brain breaks, my lunch time snap out of it break, i'm on this website, pouring over fellow applicant's blogs.  they have timelines, and stories of nominations, and lots of restless applicant syndromes.

check them out here: Peace Corps Journals- Applicants

here we go, down the rabbit hole.  we should be getting log in information for our applicant online toolkit and instructions for fingerprinting and the like soon.

so we decided...

a long, long time ago in a city far away...

little ten year old kate decided she loved a certain president. said president was handsome, noble, of good lineage, and also dead.

luckily, before he was shot, wonderful idyllic president created a wonderful program that she just HAD to join some day.

and thus began my desire to join the peace corps.

------

chris and i have both long desired to join the peace corps.  when we first met, this mutual interest was just one of many shared ideals that brought us quickly together.

now, three months after our marriage, we've hemmed and hawed long enough. it's time to apply.

after going back and forth for two months, tossing around this year, or next year, one year married, or two years married, we're jumping in feet first.

doing is scary.

not doing is terrifying.

last night, at 12:21 am eastern, we clicked submit on our applications.  that sucker is long and definitely created to ensure you REALLY want to do this.

ten minutes later, our health survey was also submitted.   we celebrated, and then went to bed.  we had to work today, after all.