Oh my gosh you guys,

you are not going to believe this! WE HAVE NEWS!

Yes, I am YELLING!

Ok, where do I start? To keep it short and sweet, or as a favorite comedian of mine said: make a short story boring- we have an interview at the Consulate in Frankfurt!!!!!

Happy dance.

I know most of you are like, yay? Like, what does that mean exactly? Well, that means we are on step 11 of 12!!!!!

(If you want more information on the steps we've gone through, click here. Steps 1-3 took almost exactly ONE YEAR -of them just processing stuff. Somewhere during steps 4-9 we heard the case had been expedited, despite having heard early on that our case would not be expedited due to no evidence that it needed to be- but those steps still took 3 months. And now suddenly we got an email saying 'sign in here and schedule your interview')

A day trip to a lake with crystal clear water- and it was ice cold!

But man, getting that email, with the link to schedule our interview appointment, that was a crazy day... let me tell you. We went from over-the-moon-ecstatic that we were getting to schedule our interview- and soon.... to oh-my-gosh-I-think-we're-being-scammed! Seriously. The website to schedule appointments at the Frankfurt Consulate looks shady. Also, it has horrible reviews on TrustPilot. You also need to pay upfront another fee, even though on every .gov website about this process they say you'll pay at the Consulate/during your interview.... no, this .com website wants you to pay before scheduling.

On a windy hike not far from the place we're staying at in Spain.

Ups and downs. Can we trust it? How can we confirm this is legit? Lots of breathing and thanks to my HeartMath tools and techniques, I think I handled it quite well. Don't get me wrong, I was stressed. But then we figured everything out and scheduled it. For in, like, THREE WEEKS PEOPLE!

That means: cancelling on our next Workaway spot (really bummed about that) and heading in approximately a week or so back to Germany. We had to schedule an examination by a panel physician approximately a week before the interview.

So basically, the next time I write, I'll be telling you HOPEFULLY, how well the interview went and that we'll be traveling soon state-side. I hope!

Trip to the Mediterranean Sea, about 45 minutes from here.

But first, a quick update on our current spot in Spain.

It's beautiful. The sun is shining. Well, we had a couple rainy days but compared to France- it's WAY better weather. There are 3 other kids in the family we're here with, an old pig that came with the place and just wonders around all day, two dogs, guinny pigs, chickens, a trampoline, a pool, mountain views- it's just a really nice spot and once again nice people.

Sebastian has been working, and I have some time off (hence the new logo and sections of the website- what do you think?) to focus on a few things I haven't had time for, the kids and what their currently learning about- and of course all the Green Card paperwork.

Eating outside, playing with animals and swimming in the pool- every day!

Right now the family here is actually gone so we're house-sitting and doing more watering of plants in the garden and feeding animals mornings and evenings. It's been a great opportunity. And it's a bit sad that we had such a strong desire to go to Spain, explore and be here- and now after a total of about month have to head back to Germany. But that's just how things go. Getting this interview is really important and sometimes you just gotta be flexible and change your plans. Anyone who has been following our traveling will know how good we've gotten at that in these past 10 months!

And just like that, in just over a week we'll be doing the 2-3 day drive of 1,850 kilometers (1150 miles) to go back to Germany for two appointments. Yup. That's how it is and I'm grateful for every second of it!