Ich bin ein Berliner

It's been a few weeks since an update, and truthfully, not much has happened on the adoption front.  We are still trudging through a mountain of paperwork.  When we first received it, I thought I could tackle it in a week! Boy, was I optimistic.  We have made a good dent in it, just not quite enough to turn it back it.  We're running into the problem that there is just not enough time in the day. We're down to just the paperwork that Cory needs to do.  Between work, school, and keeping himself sane, it just has not happened.  On top of that, we still haven't gotten our FBI clearance or Cory's finger print card done. They are both appointment based, but the only appointments are available Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm.  It's a little hard to make those times when you are also always working! I'm trying not to feel overwhelmed and impatient, but those are just two emotions I'm great at!  I have a new goal to get all the paperwork finished by this time next week, and all of our clearances started by the next.

Now, I really shouldn't complain about it taking us so long to finish this stuff up.  We did get to take and amazing week off playing tourist, avoiding responsibilities, and just having fun. Last week we spent a beautiful 5 days in Berlin, Germany.

The Brandeburg Tor

We had been planning this trip pretty much since the day we got married.  This trip has actually been planned 3 separate times.  The first time was after we had been married a few years.  We were going to use buddy passes from my brother (I didn't work for an airline yet), go through Paris, and take an amazing adventure. With that one, life got in the way. We went to Disneyland a bunch, and ended up buying a house a few years later.  Last year year we had the entire trip planned including hotel, rental car,  and train tickets booked.  We were scheduled to fly standby into Amsterdam, and take a train to Berlin. Everything was perfect and set to go. That is until 5 days prior I fell down the stairs at work and broke my foot in 5 places. Not my smoothest move, and the trip got shelved again.  Last summer my airline had a total meltdown.  It was a disaster. Crews and passengers were stranded for days, people will sleeping in airports, and flight attendants were getting lost in the system; stranded for days at a time.  As a thank you, the company gave all employee's positive space passes (real, free tickets) to anywhere we fly.  A few months after that, they announced we were going to start a direct route to Berlin just for the summer. It was a sign! A few months after that we booked the trip, and painful waited the few months for it to arrive. The wait was worth it!

You might ask though, why Berlin?  Before we were married, Cory served a 2 year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. If you aren't familiar with the process, they don't get to pick where they go, and they are in full missionary mode for two full years.  Doing service, proselyting, and spending all of your time teaching the gospel and spending time with members there.

  

Some of the first pictures I saw of Cory before we met where these pictures.  Can you blame me for falling for him?  For as long as I've known him though, he's always spoken so lovingly of his time in Germany.  Don't get me wrong, he often talks about how hard it was, but he still looks back on it fondly.  He has always wanted to go back, and with my work just putting the opportunity in our laps, we couldn't not go. 

It was the trip of a lifetime!  We actually didn't spend much time in areas that he actually served in, so we didn't get to meet any people he knew,but we did get to spend a week playing, exploring, and reminiscing. We did four days throughout Berlin, and a day in Potsdam exploring the old Prussian Palaces. Here are some of my favorite pictures. 

Sanssouci Palace

The Reichstag Buidling

Sanssouci Guest Home

The East Side Gallary

The Berlin Zoo

The Pergamon Museam

The Siegessaule

Inside Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church

Checkpoint Charlie

The Berlin Cathedral

The Berlin Wall at East Side Gallery

 I'm already ready to go back again.  I don't know what it was about this city, but i'm in love!  I already miss the green landscape, history down every street, affordable Haribo gummies, and most of all the Mezzo Mix. I want to go back and bring an entire suitcase full of the delicious orange coke back to the states with me.  You can still buy Mezzo Mix in the state, but only at World Market.  I want it in every restaurant, and in every vending machine!

#bringmezzomixtotheUSA

While it may have slowed our home study down by a week, I wouldn't trade our week in Berlin for anything.  It was the perfect break, and we needed the time just the two of us.  I hope that one day we can bring our future family back, and get to share a part of something Cory, and now I, love so much!