A picture of Frances Herndl in a silver frame sits on the mantel in the family’s living room. She has a crib full of colorful quilts and a variety of toddler toys.

But her parents have not yet met her.

That’s because 13-month-old Frances currently lives in China.

She has been adopted by Carl Herndl and Diane Price-Herndl, both associate professors of English.

“We think that we will have a whole lot more joy,” Carl said.

“We plan on playing a lot more.”

The decision and process of adopting Frances wasn’t an easy one.

The couple acknowledged they are somewhat late in starting a family.

“We waited until we both had tenure to try for a biological child,” Diane said.

“Then, I discovered I had breast cancer, and we decided that adoption would be a good option for us.”

The couple considered many options before deciding what they wanted to do. They did a lot of investigation on the Internet, Diane said, because there were so many things to consider.

Whether they would adopt domestically or internationally was one of their first major decisions.

Because of their medical histories and ages, they thought international adoption was the best fit, Carl said.

“Many times, people over 45 have lots of trouble adopting domestically,” he said, “I’m 48.”

Diane discovered Gift of Love International Adoptions Web site while surfing the Internet.

“We thought, ‘Wow, here’s this place right in Des Moines,'” Diane said.

In the summer of 2003, Carl and Diane went and spoke with representatives from Gift of Love.

The following September, they decided to adopt a girl from China and started the paperwork that would eventually bring them a daughter.

“The paperwork was elaborate to say the least,” Carl said. “Everything had to be documented multiple times.”

They also went through a home study, during which a social worker came to their home four times to determine whether they were fit to become parents.

They talked with her for several hours about everything from their childhood and growing up to their current careers, Diane said.

The couple also needed permission from the U.S. government to bring a foreign child into the country because, once they brought her in, Frances would become an American citizen.

They then waited for the Chinese government to send them the name and photo of the girl who would be theirs.

On Oct. 13, they received that information and had make one of the biggest decisions of their lives.

“It took us about five minutes to decide,” Carl said.

Now, Carl and Diane are on their way to China, where they will meet their daughter for the first time on Nov. 29 — 14 months after they began their adoption journey.

“We plan on having a big party for everybody when we get back,” Carl said.

In the meantime, Carl and Diane are busy baby-proofing their kitchen cabinets and table corners, putting breakable pottery in higher locations and worrying about the same thing all expectant parents worry about — whether they will be any good at raising a child.