The Road Less Traveled

Hey there everybody! Here are my boys at our favorite place (Astana Bakery- yum) giving the big thumbs up that we are going home soon. Don't you love the way Rinat is looking at the statue? I can't believe we're headed home. We came here as a couple and are going home as a family. It's crazy. You know, I am not a big lover of poetry but ever since we started the whole adoption thing I have had that Robert Frost poem in my head. You know, the one that goes something like 'Two roads diverged in a wood and I, I took the one less traveled by'? I'm sure you've seen it on a bumper sticker somewhere or an inspirational refrigerator magnet or something. Well, the other day I was thinking about it again and wondering what the rest of the poem said. I wanted to know what happened when he took the less traveled way- where did he end up?- so I Googled it (gotta love the internet, right?). The final line of the poem say 'And that has made all the difference'. And I got to thinking about how accurate that is. Forever ago, back when I was young I had a plan. I would get married to Peter, we'd wait a few years and have kids, and then we'd go about our happy lives. Well, as anyone over the age of 20 can tell you, life never turns out exactly how you thought it would. But it does usually work out for the best. If things had gone according to plan, I never would have had some of the adventures I've had in foreign countries, never had the two years in AZ to see Peter sort of come into his own, never known how strong our marriage could become, never known the strength that Peter and I have to make it through the last few years, never really known what wonderful friends and family we have to support us, and most of all, never come to the other side of the world to Kazakhstan and met our beautiful son, Rinat. Taking the path less traveled has made all of the difference to us and I wouldn't have it any other way. I feel like we have arrived at the exact place that we were meant to. And that said, I can't wait for that path to lead us home to DC in a few days! We leave for Almaty tomorrow afternoon and then the US on Friday night. I will try my best to keep up the blog while we're in transit but I am not sure how much access we'll have to the internet- I feel sure I can find an internet cafe somewhere along the way. But I will most definitely update everyone when we get home safe and sound. So, bye for now and I'll post as soon as I get a chance! Much love to everyone out there reading this. Thank you so much for your comments because they have been our link to home for this crazy journey. We can never thank you enough. -m