Page 32 - eBook Living Water 2

couples. That eliminated a huge number of people who had either had
one child already, or had successfully become pregnant or had
adopted through other means. This decision pushed us up to the front
of the waiting line. They had just ended a parenting class with eight
couples waiting for their babies. They wanted to know whether we
were still interested, as we could be included in their next class of
eight couples. We most definitely were!

So the door to adoption was opened and becoming a mom was
finally in sight. 1978 turned out to be a banner year for adoptions and
their placements were moving quickly. Four months after our class,
the agency called Fred at work to inform him that he could possibly
be a father to a new little baby boy. This baby came as a surprise to
them, as the mother hadn’t contacted the agency prior to the birth. It
would only be official after she was released from the hospital and
came into the agency to sign the necessary release papers. However,
days passed by and the mother never showed up to sign the papers,
not even returning their phone calls.

We were told that we had a choice to make. We could choose
to take the next baby in line, which had already been born, a little girl,
or we could take the baby boy home, with the chance that the mother
could always change her mind and decide to return for him.
However, if she did come back and sign the release papers, he would
be ours. If they didn’t hear from her, though, we would have to wait
three months and then go before a judge who would finalize the
adoption in our favor.
We both agreed that this little boy was meant to be ours. We
had already named him – Joseph Sherman Huhn. Joseph was Fred’s
dad’s name and Sherman was my dad’s name. “Jo” in Joseph and
“Sh” in Sherman spelled Josh. So, we called him Josh. We brought
our little premature 4 pound 16 ounce miracle home and this agnostic
mom began telling everyone that he was a “gift from God”!

We remained in a three month limbo, waiting to see if the
birth mother would come in to sign the papers, or maybe even decide
that she wanted him back. My mom declared that there would be no