It's a hot June day in Groveland, Mass., and in this quiet, affluent exurb an hour north of Boston, the only sound to be heard is the twin dronings of lawn mowers and air conditioners.

But on this particular morning, Mary Rocklein is concerned with neither the weather nor the state of her lawn. She's sitting in her darkened living room watching images from a grainy video flicker across a large-screen TV.

WAITING FOR HANNAH: Mary Rocklein reads to her daughter Abby in anticipation of Hannah's arrival.

"That's her! Right there, that's Hannah," she tells her visitors. And momentarily frozen on the screen is a close-up shot of little Anna, captured on camera by a visitor to the orphanage. It's a scene Mary has reviewed now dozens of times, with her husband, Bob, with her mother and sister, with anyone else who cares to watch. [audio]

It's an image of the little girl the Rockleins have decided they need in order to complete their family.

Playing with a doll next to the TV screen is four-year-old Abigail, Anna's soon-to-be-adoptive sister. Abigail doesn't bother to look up. She's seen the video many times before.

Bob and Mary have been married for 10 years now. This is a second marriage for Bob, who works as a mortgage broker and has three children from his first marriage. After Abigail was born to the couple, conceiving a second child proved difficult.

ANNA ON THE BIG SCREEN: Mary Rocklein watches a video of the little girl she will soon adopt. The video, taken by another adoptive parent, shows Anna as an active, curious, functioning child, which helped the family decide to take her even though American doctors warned that she might have developmental problems stemming from her mother's alcoholism.

Bob would have been content to simply continue their lives as they were.

But Mary, adopted herself at the age of 2-1/2, was immediately drawn to the notion of providing such an opportunity to another child.

Despite Bob's lack of interest, she began gathering information about both domestic and international adoptions.

But it was when a booklet from Wide Horizons for Children, an adoption agency based in Waltham, Mass., arrived at her home that the subject acquired urgency for Mary.

That was when she saw a picture of Anna and somehow instantly felt that this little girl was meant to be their daughter. Her coloring and expression reminded Mary of Abigail. She could just picture Anna romping in the backyard, playing on the living room floor, sleeping in one of the little beds " living a new life as their adopted daughter.

This type of powerful emotional response to a child's photo is not unusual, say adoption workers. For Bob also, the picture was the turning point. "Once there was a real child, his heart just melted," recalls Mary. Suddenly he was on board and the process was under way.

The family began referring to Anna as "Hannah," a name they preferred because of its biblical roots, and decided to add as a middle name the Christian virtue of Faith.

PORTRAIT OF A FAMILY: Bob, Abby and Mary Rocklein in front of their home in Groveland, Mass. Mary herself was adopted as a young child and is thrilled to offer the same opportunity to a child without family.

Typically, it's about a year from the moment prospective parents in the United States contact an agency about a foreign adoption to the day they finally hold a child in their arms. There's a great deal of paperwork to be completed, a home-study must be done, and, in the case of Russia, there's at least one trip overseas to be taken, to actually pick the child up.

For the Rockleins, the process looked like smooth sailing - until they ran up against Anna's medical reports. The American doctor who read the remarks of his Russian counterpart recommended that the Rockleins pull back. Anna's problems looked severe, the doctor explained, and the couple would be taking a serious risk. Another American family before the Rockleins had considered adopting Anna, but also backed away when they learned the extent of her potential mental and motor problems.

Mary and Bob underwent days of anguish. But when the answer finally came they felt it was one based on prayer. "We went more with faith and our hearts rather than the facts that were given to us," says Mary. They told the agency they wanted to proceed. [audio]

PORTRAIT OF A FAMILY: Abby proudly displays each dress they have bought for the Russian girl they will rename Hannah, as well as some of her own hand-me-downs.

The Rockleins are waiting, daily expecting to hear the date of their trip to Russia. They hope it will take place this summer. Mary has been busy decorating a room for the girls to share, buying mountains of new clothes and toys for Hannah, filling a box with gifts she plans to take to the other children in the orphanage, and preparing Abigail for the idea of a new sister.

Next: Meeting Hannah