Off to Kaz- 1 Year Ago

So here I am packing by bags to head to Kazakhstan to meet our son. No wait- that was last year. Yup, exactly one year ago today a frazzled, terrified couple left DC on a plane to Kazakhstan and came back almost two months later as parents. I can’t believe it has been a year already! It’s like someone pushed the fast-forward button and here we are. I still remember so vividly sitting in the terminal at Dulles just sitting, waiting, watching the people around us and wondering where they were going- meeting family (like us!), funeral, vacation, work. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t read, I could barely put two words together and I was so distracted that I was afraid I wouldn’t hear them call the flight. In short, I was a complete mess. Of course, Peter wasn’t exactly calm, cool, and collected himself either but at least he didn’t dump coffee all over himself minutes before getting on the plane for a 20 hour trip like I did. If only I had known that things would turn out as perfectly as they did. Here I am a year later and I have the most amazing, adorable, and loving family that I could have hoped for. I am truly lucky. As the anniversary of our trip to Kaz approached, I have felt kind of like the holidays are coming. And I guess they sort of are. We have so many stepping stones to celebrate- the day we met Rinat, the day the judge announced he was ours, the day we took him out of the Baby House to our apartment, the day we left Astana for good to complete our trip in Almaty, the day we stepped off the plane in DC and were finally home- there are 7 weeks of celebrations as we little by little became his family and he ours. As Rinat grows older, I hope to revisit this time every year and be able to relive the weeks, days, hours, and minutes that brought us together. I know it’ll drive him crazy and I’ll hear “Mooooommm, do I have to hear it again?” But I don’t care- he’ll know the whole story word for word even if I have to tie him down and torture him with it. I hope that you too can find something to celebrate today. Love to all. -m