Q: Where did the dog come from that is in the picture?

Asked by Mom

A: We're not really sure. This picture is from when we were in Chile taking a tour of the salt flats in the Atacama Desert. We climbed to the top of the sand dunes to get a good view, and that dog followed us all the way up and ended up in the picture.

Ask brianbeckmann a question.

He Said: What I'll be Doing

Well, the time for me to leave Minnesota for our new adventure begins soon. On Sunday afternoon I'll be catching a plane to Washington, DC to begin my training for the Foreign Service. In these few short days there's a lot to accomplish. I seriously cannot believe how quickly time has passed since I first got "the call." I joke that every day brings about a new logistical task to accomplish. I didn't think it was so funny when all of the planning and action wore me out to the point of getting a cold! How can I be sick when I've go so much to do?!?! Oh well, I guess this will be good practice for learning to roll with the punches... I'm sure there will be much of that in my new job. What's left to do this week? Well, I tie up the last loose ends for work tomorrow; I have to finish putting out my personal affects (the things I want access to in DC but am not taking with me on the plane) for the movers to pick up on Friday; I'm trying to have one last nice dinner with Steph before we spend a large amount of time apart; brunch with Steph's family; and a birthday party for my twin nieces turning 1 and their 3 year old sister. It is definitely going to be a full end of the week and I'm sure I'll blink and Sunday will be here. I've heard the first two weeks of training are fairly intensive, so I'm not crossing my fingers for things to slow down anytime soon.

Since we've been sharing the good news that I've been accepted into the Foreign Service, many people have been asking me about what I'm going to be doing as a FSO and what the training consists of. I wanted to direct you to a couple of really good explanations of what the future holds for me and for Steph and me as a couple. As for the career part, I was accepted into the Foreign Service under the Public Diplomacy cone (job track). The blogger. The Hegemonist is in the process of explaining what all five of the Foreign Service cones are and what a career within those cones looks like depending on your time in the diplomatic corps. I thought his description of the Public Diplomacy cone was particularly good, and you can read it by clicking here.

Starting on March 4th (the first two days in DC are spent handling employment processing), I will begin my training as a Foreign Service officer as a student in the A-100 class. The class, named after the room it was first held in at the State Department back in 1924, consists of seven weeks and is chock full of the general diplomatic training any new FSO will need. I've heard it consists of many different things from etiquette, to American policy, to public speaking, and basic skills necessary for living and working abroad. There's a fairly generic description of the course on Wikipedia. I've linked to it here. The best description I've found thus far though is a firsthand account written by a FSO who took the course back in 2004. While some of the days have changed, I'm guessing this is most likely what my next seven weeks will look like. Mike Edwards is the author of this recap (from WorldAdventurers.com), and you can read his accounts here.

I hope that this information is interesting and helpful to you that are curious about what we'll be doing over the coming months. Its exciting to know that some of it is a mystery. I look forward to sharing my own accounts through the blog here and to let you all know what is going on. I'll be sure to keep my posts as often as possible. If you have any questions along the way, feel free to use the askablogr feature on the sidebar of the blog where it says "ask Brian a question." Well, its off to bed for me as tomorrow is another full day!

She Said: Key Dates

We finally got some dates, and for a day I was relieved. Then I realized that March is next week, that Brian leaves me on Sunday, and that every minute of our life up until that point is scheduled. It is stressful! I didn't anticipate it would be like this. I am loving getting to be with family and of course there are tasks that we just have to get done, but it's a lot to deal with emotionally too. I think it's going to be kind of a tough week. For those of you who have to see me in the coming weeks, I apologize in advance for any crying or crabbing you may have to put up with

Anyway, like I said, we finally got some dates nailed down. I will leave the details for Brian to share with you about what each key milestone means, but the two most important days to me are flag day (when we find out where we're going) and swearing in (when Brian graduates). Flag day will be held April 10th and Brian will be sworn in on April 17. I am sure they will sneak up on us before we know it. Time seems to be literally flying by these days.

I just bought my ticket to join Brian for part of that first week in DC for spouse training. I think it will be very useful in helping us define our timeline and making a decision about when I will move out to DC with him. I can hardly wait. I am very excited about the first week, because that is when we will get the bid list and have a chance to research and rank them. That will give us at least a rough idea of where in the world we might go. Fun stuff!! Looking forward to seeing some of you this week. Take care!

She Said: Intro. to Foreign Service Community

Hi all,
This week will be a whirlwind. They are coming to pack 250 lbs. of Brian's "stuff" on Friday for his move out to DC. He leaves on Sunday. It is going to be a crazy week, so even though it's late I thought I would take the time to post tonight.

Tonight we had the opportunity to meet one of Brian's new co-workers. They will both be starting training in DC together. He and his wife live here in Roseville and they are going through a lot of the same process that we are. It was really fun to be able to chat with someone who really understands the stress/excitement of this whole process. They were very interesting people and we found ourselves wondering out loud in the car about how we got to where we are and feeling a little inadquate in contrast to someone who speaks SEVERAL languages and has lived all over the world. I'm sure this will not be the last time we feel that amongst a group of 80 or 90 high achievers who are interested in representing our country abroad. Oh well, we'll get over it. In any case, I was reminded tonight how much the foreign service really is a community. We exchanged phone numbers and emails and Kristina and I agreed to stay in touch. She is not going to DC for spouse training, so I promised to bring back any important materials for her, and I'm sure at some point in the future, she will be a resource for me. It is really strange how this one small common thread can weave you together like friends so quickly. It made me feel very excited to meet the other members of Brian's class and their families. Can't wait for the first week in March to be able to share with all of you.

We were able to get a "subscribe" feature added to our blog tonight. You probably noticed it in the top right corner. It is run through feedburner, but I don't think you have to have an account or that they'll spam you. I signed up for it myself so that I can monitor. I already subscribed immediate family. Feel free to add yourself via feedburner if you would like to get an email when we post new entries.

He Said: The Ball's Rolling

Well, it has been a while since I've last posted, so I figured it was about time for an update. Time has definitely been flying over the past week, as many of you can probably imagine. Our existence these days seems to be a delicate balance of dealing with logistics, scheduling time with family and friends, maintaining some level of consistency (or normalcy) in our day-to-day lives, and making sure that each day Steph and I have a little time to talk and just catch up. I imagine that the coming months will continue to be a whirlwind, but my hope is that we'll at least fall into a bit of a routine and some of the anxiety will drift once my training begins... oh, which is less than a week and a half away!

Today I was able to check off two major "to-do's" before my impending move to DC. I was able to lock down an apartment and get my ticket to DC booked. I'll be living in Rosslyn which is a neighborhood in Northern Virginia directly across the river from DC. I chose this location because it's only two blocks to two Metro lines (we're leaving the car with Steph, so I'll once again be reliant on public transportation), close to DC, the shuttle for training picks me up a block from my apartment, and finally because I found a swim team that trains two metro stops and a 5 minute walk away! It was strange to consider so many "conveniences" in my decision, but at this point I really wanted to be able to maintain some consistency in life while we still had a little bit of control. I think I'll enjoy being back in DC, but will definitely miss many of the routines Steph and I had developed in Minnesota. In addition to locking down an apartment, I was also able to get my ticket for March 1st booked. I have to say, it was definitely the easiest travel arrangement I have ever made. With one simple call I basically was given a list of flights to choose from and once I decided they took care of everything else (including adding my frequent flyer account). Maybe it's just because things are so crazy right now, but the fact that I was able to knock out a major task in such a short time gave me a true sense of satisfaction. Maybe a little sad, but you gotta go with what you've got at this point, right?

In my life I've come to truly believe that things in life happen for a reason. I imagine that years from now Steph and I will look back and realize why we were called to accept this adventure. At this point we just trust it's the right thing to do and dive in head first. This past weekend was definitely a moment in which I know it was "meant to be." As Steph mentioned in her previous entries, my brother Dan and I went to the Daytona 500 with my dad this past weekend (those of you on Facebook can see some of the pictures). For as long as I can remember, my dad has always said that the two things he wanted to do before he died were to see the Indy 500 and the Daytona 500. This year, we were able to make the latter a reality with some major assistance from my mom. It truly was an amazing experience and hopefully not a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity with my dad.

I say that I think this trip was meant to be because it had been planned since late last year (we surprised him at Christmas), it coincided with his 60th birthday, and because I was still able to do the trip before I headed off to training. I imagine that under any other circumstances this trip might not have happened or not had as much meaning, but what a way to go out! If my memory serves me correctly, the last time my dad had any time with just his boys, it would have been about 14 years ago when all of us were at boy scout camp for a week in the summer. Dad still has a picture of all of us after a huge storm hit the camp in the late afternoon and then we were blessed with an amazing sunset. I love that picture, and think that the joy I experienced then was as strong as I felt this weekend. The weekend was filled with time to bond, enjoying some good stock car racing, and just really having a ball. None of us had seen racing at that level before, so it was quite the experience. I think all of us would really like to do that again. I know that when I go I will look back on that trip and smile. I am so glad I was able to spend that kind of quality time with my dad and brother, and will look forward to a time that we can do it again. Those kinds of opportunities are definitely something I will miss, but I'm confident that another one will present itself in the future.

I continue to think how blessed Steph and I are to have so many special people in our lives. As we continue to notify people about our road ahead we are constantly reminded of the great friends and family we have. It will be hard to leave it all behind, but I am confident that the strength of relationships we have developed with all of these people will serve as a foundation for moving forward, and give us strength in the almost imminent tough times that may surface.

She Said: Medical Clearance

Today was another new experience, probably my least favorite since Brian got "the call." I had my state department physical in order to get my medical clearance for travel. Those of you who know me probably know that I am not particularly fond of needles. Today they did lots of blood work (needle), took a chest x-ray, and did a mantoux test (needle). On Thursday I will go back for a cholesterol and blood sugar test (12 hour fast, needle). All of this is part of the preparation for our journey. The journey is exciting. It hasn't changed the way I feel about needles.

Brian comes home from Daytona tonight and I'm sure we will start right away with planning his last two weeks in Minnesota. It feels very strange to think that before long he will be back in the place we just moved away from and I will be here in the place we were settling.

For those of you who may be wondering (and I will send a communication to family specifically about this), Brian and I will come back from DC one last time before we leave for our overseas post. My sister tells me there will be a lovely sending off celebration and it will give us the opportunity to see everyone before we go. I hope this helps ease some worries about trying to fit in a visit with Brian before he heads to DC. The short time between our decision and his move has made it nearly impossible for him to be able to see everyone he would like. In any case, feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions.

Finally, on the note of questions, we have added a new feature to our blog. I'm not quite sure how it's working yet because noone has tested it, so I would love it if someone would give it a shot. It is the "askablogr" feature. If you click on the box on the upper right hand side it will take you to a separate window that will send a question to our blog. My understanding is that the questions and answers will post on the blog. Our intention is for people to post questions they have about anything related to this adventure so we can share with all who are interested and answer any questions people might have. Anyway, give it a shot.

That's all for now. Looks like I will be heading to Washington for "spouse training" March 5th and 6th...more on that later.

She said: Craziness Continues

I didn't think I would write tonight, but it has been such a whirlwind that I decided to share my thoughts. Eventually we intend to share this on the web with all who want to view it and I think other "foreign service spouses" might appreciate knowing that someone felt the way they might at this point.

This week has been absolutely crazy! Since last weekend we decided that Brian will be back in DC March 1, that we will eventually go overseas, that I will move to DC sometime soon and that I will go to DC for the meeting with the career development officer and part of the bid process. I scheduled my physical to get my medical clearance, Brian started looking for housing for his first few weeks of training and I am looking at plane tickets and when I will go out to DC. It is a bit overwhelming as you can imagine!

I was contacted today by Natalya, our contact at the FSI Transition Center. She was super nice and told me about spouse training during the first week that Brian is in DC. I am still deciding whether or not I should go. It's a delicate balance between taking vacation from my current position (which I would like to keep until I move to DC) and participating in this whole process. Will share more when I know more.

He Said: It's Official

Well, it's finally official. After six days of shock, deliberation, excitement, and waiting, my official offer from the State Department came via FedEx this morning. The three pound packet arrived this morning and I couldn't wait to get in and get the official papers signed and returned. After this whole process started on Thursday, I have to admit I've been a little neurotic. I guess with a change this big, you would never actually believe what's about to happen until all the i's are dotted and the t's crossed. Steph has been absolutely AMAZING during this whole process. I realize every day how lucky I am to have her in my life. I can not wait to share this journey with her. I guess the fact that we are able to do this together was the final sign that perhaps this was meant to be.

After signing the appropriate forms I headed over to Kinkos to submit them by fax. Of course, the first three times I tried to send them I got a busy signal... ahhhh!!! Ten minutes later I had officially accepted an offer to become a Foreign Service Officer with the US Department of State! A major weight has been lifted off my shoulders at this point. I've got a mound of paperwork to finish filling out, and Steph and I have much planning to do. These next few weeks will likely go very fast. I'm going to try to live this time as normal as possible, but I know we'll be trying to fit in some "last times" for many things.

For those wondering, I'll be heading out to DC for training on my own. The first day of training is March 2nd. We're trying to figure out when Steph will be moving out, but it's tough to decide without knowing where we're going to be posted. We'll be sure to keep you posted on major decisions, updates, and changes through the blog.

She Said: Our Journey Into the Unknown...

Wow! The past few days have been an absolute whirlwind. Although Brian and I have made many big decisions together, specifically decisions about moving far away, never have we laughed, cried, smiled, talked, and "mulled over" a decision as much as we did this one. After all of this, we have made our decision to embark on a new journey and we are EXCITED!!!

I really never thought about what it would be like to have your husband say he got "the call." Generally I only hear that from people who are married to pastors, but the impact on our life and the feeling that it gives you is probably very similar.

When Brian called me on Thursday evening to say that he had received "the call" to join the U.S. Foreign Service, so many things went through my mind. I think the first was "God, why are you doing this to me? I am just getting comfortable in Minnesota. We love it here! I love my job, my apartment, being close to family, quality of life, below zero weather, hotdish, my church, my friends, how can you do this to me now?" While we will never know why God led us to Minnesota, only to present us with a choice less than six months after our arrival, we are inclined to believe that it may have been to give us that quality time with our families before we headed out on our adventure.

Tonight I am so excited about all that lies ahead for us. I am not sure what the next step in my career looks like, but I know that there is something in store for me. Most of you know of my love for international travel, culture, language, policy, and basically everything foreign. I think most of you also know of Brian's love for everything politics and policy related. For those reasons alone, this is the opportunity of a lifetime. I am so proud of Brian for being one of the few chosen to represent in our country and to build relationships across the world in a time when it is so desperately needed!

He Said: The Call...

So here we go... the first post on a blog that will keep track of Steph and my adventures over the next few years. It would probably be useful to give you all a little bit of background, as it's been a pretty crazy five days since this whole adventure began.

On Thursday, February 5th I was working at my client's office, getting ready to give a presentation. I was reviewing the file of the group we would be meeting with, and I needed a little break, so I checked my personal e-mail to get a short mental breather. Since I get about 75 spam messages a day, I usually check through the e-mail pretty quick. This time I was about to whip through the junk, when all of a sudden I saw a name that I recognized, but I wasn't sure from where. I looked at the e-mail and it was an appointment notification for the Foreign Service; they had reserved a seat for me in the March 2nd A-100 class (the training course you take to enter the Foreign Service).

Flashback: In April of 2006 Steph and I both sat for the Foreign Service Written Examination, the first step in entering the Foreign Service. We thought that if either or both of us got in that it would be such an amazing opportunity. For those of you who are not fully aware of what the Foreign Service is, it is the goverment corps that staffs and runs all of the US embassies and consulates across the globe. More information can be found at either the Department of State website: http://careers.state.gov/officer/index.html or of course on one of my favorite sites, Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Foreign_Service

About 5 months after taking the written test, we received our scores. I had passed the test. In February of 2007 I moved on to the next selection round, the Oral Assessment. The OA is a day long examination of the skills that the government deems as paramount to a Foreign Service Officer's (FSO) success. Broken into three parts, the day consists of a group exercise, a writing test, and an interview. At the end of the day I was notified that I had been selected as "eligible for employment" and that I would now need both a medical and security clearance.

Moving forward a few more months, both my medical and security clearances came back with flying colors (or at least I like to think so...). In the summer of 2007, I was officially on "the Register," the official list of applicants that are eligible for duty in the Foreign Service. When you finish the oral assessment they give you a score that sets your place on the register. If someone scores higher than you, they sit above you on the list; pretty simple. With my score, I was fairly confident that I would never be called. I did all of the necessary things to keep my candidacy alive, but I never really made a plan for if it actually did happen. In fact, at the end of the OA, one of the senior officers gave us a piece of advice. He said, "If I can tell you one thing to make this easier, it would be to go home and live your life as if today never happened. Be ready for the call, but if it doesn't come, you'll be much happier." I took this advice to heart, as Steph and I continued down the same path and never looked back.

Back to Present day: So here we are, almost 3 years after first taking the written test, and I've just been offered the chance to represent my country overseas. I was honored, shocked, excited, terrified... and I had to give a presentation in a half hour!! All I could do was stare at my computer for 10 minutes or so to gather my thoughts. I went into the meeting, but my mind was definitely somewhere else.

On the way home that night, Steph had forgotten her keys to the apartment for the first time since we've moved in. We usually don't talk while I'm driving home, but tonight since she was stuck in the lobby I figured we had the time to chat and this might give her an opportunity to think before we really "hashed it out." After telling Steph that I had gotten "the call" neither of us really knew what to say. To top it all off, we had church group that night, meaning we went tubing until late and never had a chance to really talk... in fact, neither of us were really ready to consider if this was even an option for us anymore. After moving away from DC and being in Minnesota for 6 months, we had a really good life. Were we willing to really give that up?

The next morning, after very little sleep for both of us, we began the conversation. We wrote down what questions we had, and figured out if answers to those would be available over the weekend or if we'd need to call someone in Washington to get the answer. Thus began the weekend of the big decision. We spent the entire weekend mulling it over. We talked to our parents, our siblings, our friends, and our pastor. It seemed that every hour or so we'd have to just pause and check with each other where we were at. In the end, on Sunday, we decided that the right decision for us was to go for it. We were excited, relieved, nervous, and TIRED!!! A short celebration dinner at my parents' house and then on to a new week.

Monday was the day I submitted my verbal acceptance. I actually replied to the offer e-mail on Sunday night to make sure I was the first one in on Monday morning. After a few hours, a voicemail message, and another e-mail that included my resume and salary information, I finally heard back from the State Department... my information had been received, but they hadn't yet reviewed my files. I think I had an upset stomach from Monday morning until Tuesday AM when a copy of the official offer came in e-mail (the actual letter is coming via FedEx tomorrow). When I finally read the offer, a sense of real peace came over me. We were finally there.

This has definitely started off as an unconventional journey, but I am confident there will be many more exciting stories to share. I'll keep posting about what's going on leading up to my first day of training, March 2nd. The time is already going fast, but Steph and I are excited to head down this new road together.