One day after getting an email, Roman Gokhman paced. The handsome man, now a proud father, still remembers what he was doing just before the mail came: painting a wall in the Concord, California home that he and his wife, Jennifer, share. Prior to the birth of their first child, a young woman in Michigan sent the couple an email. She said she was having a healthy girl and that Roman and Jennifer would be terrific parents.

 
She came to this conclusion after reading their adoption website profile. Roman paced back and forth after receiving the mail as he considered whether or not they were ready to have two babies arrive just a few weeks apart.

The pair made their decision to move forward in a matter of hours. The two fell in love after taking a journalism course together at the University of Oregon in 2002. After four years of dating, they got married with the hope of having children they could show off to the world.

Both of them were unprepared for the subsequent reproductive challenges, but they continued down that road, and two babies soon after arrived.

In-vitro fertilization resulted in the conception of son August, who is seven, and adoption resulted in the arrival of daughter Isabel, who is seven.
THEY FIRST DISALLOWED medical intervention.

When they discovered that having children of their own would be nearly impossible, according to Jennifer, their journey began. The couple was forced to seek medical attention, which they initially thought would be too expensive.

After he was born, the boy was given an autism diagnosis.