Everyday I ask myself the million and one questions about this adoption. How long is it going to take before we can get our dossier put together? How long will the home study take? How long will it take before we get a referral? Will we be referred twins like we are hoping? Will they be boys? Will they be girls? Will we be referred a single child? How old will the child/children be? How long before we are able to lay eyes on them? How long will we wait for a court date? How long will we be leaving our child in Ethiopia after our day in court while we wait for an Embassy date? What will they look like? What will they smell like? What will their laughter sound like? What will their cries sound like? Will Josiah, Kallista, and Jenna just fall in love or will it be a process for them? What will it be like to have a fourth, possibly fifth child? I could go on and on with all my questions and thoughts... The one thing I can answer for certain is that none of this is in my control. A scary and comforting reality all at the same time. I am so excited to bring home at least one new baby Narunsky and I am waiting with great anticipation to see how it all unfolds. We are so fortunate to have been able to adopt once and what an honor to be able to do it a second time!


Josiah's adoption was a lifesaver, for me especially. I struggled time and time again to maintain a pregnancy with no success. My doctor, whom I love dearly, suggested adoption which I refused to consider adamantly. I was convinced it would never be an option that I could live with. It was getting closer and closer to Christmas and I was out buying Christmas gifts for my nephew, Ty. I was devastated to think that I was not going to ever have a child. It was such a sad thing to think that I would never buy a Christmas present for my own child. I would never hear a child of my own scream with glee on Christmas morning seeing a beautifully decorated, lit tree with gifts underneath just waiting to be opened. I remember clearly coming home and telling Roy that it was time and I was ready and let's do it. Let's adopt. We were both so excited to get started. We applied to an agency located in Texas on December 21, 2002 and officially adopted Josiah May 12, 2003 bringing him home on May 16, 2003. Our entire process moved very quickly. We worked through our paperwork quickly. We were in process of our home study and had gone shopping to USA Baby to get ourselves even more hyped and excited for our adoption. I picked out the most expensive crib and dresser in the place and it was on back order. Apparently, it was one of the most popular as well. When the sales person told us that we would be waiting about 16 weeks for the arrival we stated it would not be an issue at all since we were adopting and had been warned several times by the agency that the process takes about a year on average. We left happily knowing we had picked out what we wanted and knew that we were one step closer to having a child in our home. The following week on a Friday night we received a call from our adoption agency that they had a referral for us. They would be emailing us a picture of a seven month old little boy that had had a healthy birth. This particular boy was listed as healthy and having blue eyes and gray hair (translation problems). We had been told by so many adoptive parents that the first referral was not one to accept because there was always a glitch. Some kind of information that was left out or a health problem not included, etc... We raced to the computer and stared at the photo of this child... he looked okay, his statistics sounded okay--- what was the glitch? We called the agency and they gave us until the following day to think it over and make our decision before they offered the child to another couple. After a restless night, we got up a bit later than normal the next day and were just getting breakfast and having coffee when the phone rang--- It was USA Baby to tell us that our crib had come in! What an amazing way that we were directed! Of course, we immediately called the agency and accepted our first referral and then it was on... we needed to hurry up and finish our home study so we could go and meet our son for the first time in Smolensk, Russia.


--- Jill