Weekend in Deutschland

So I headed to Frankfurt a week ago to work on opening a new Ukrainian visa and to see some dear friends.  The first goal of the trip didn't work out so well, but the second one was fabulous!  Apparently I was missing a very important document, and despite my arguing, the kind Ukrainian official did not want to hear all the reasons why he should accept my documents and give me a visa.  It's a long story, but the short of it is that I am still able to be in Ukraine without any problems for the next couple months, and I now know what documents I need to gather to have a more successful meeting with the consular officer next time. They like to keep up on our toes for sure.

Not getting my visa only allowed me to explore the beautiful city of Frankfurt more (gotta look for the positives, right?!)  What a beautiful city it is too! I'd been to other parts of Germany before but never Frankfurt- and it was better than I anticipated!  Though I don't really love traveling by myself, I do enjoy a day alone to explore and just be alone with God and my thoughts and prayers...and my camera!  I was finishing up my online photography course, so my camera and I had a delightful time exploring the sites and sounds of Frankfurt.

After some exploring, my friends Kristina and Chris picked me and took me away for a wonderful weekend with their family in the German country-side.  They adopted 2 kiddos from Ukraine about 3 years ago and I had the joy of getting to be a part of their process while they were in country.  We've been 'forever' friends since and it was awesome to reconnect.  Little Natalia loved her 'ukrainian' headdress that I brought her, and wanted to wear it the entire weekend.  Our weekend included a picnic at a castle, making home-made indian food, bowling, pedicures and a family-photo-session!

It's always nice getting a break in a new city- and with good friends it is a bonus!

Our conference for adoptive families is THIS week, so back to preparations for that! More on that later...