About the Author

Krisanne Smith Roll, M.Ed., Indiana University Southeast lives in English, Indiana, with Jeff, her business and community leader husband of 29 years, and five of their six children—three of whom are adopted.

During her more than 21 years of mothering, she has found time to teach—both in her church community and the public school system; be a co-owner in the family lumber business, be an active advisor for Christian World Adoption located in North and South Carolina, and serve as the founder and parent coordinator for an area wide adoption support group.

Krisanne witnesses grief expressed in others’ lives as she meets families coping with infertility, as well as birth parents who are giving their children up for adoption. She has observed grief in the lives of community and church family members.

Krisanne says, “Experiencing the death of my loved one opened wide my eyes and heart—to that all-encompassing pain of raw grief. But even when swallowed up in grief, one eventually comes to realize that grieving does not take us away from the delight of our everyday living. It does, however, open us up to profound other worlds and significant truths that previously went unknown or unnoticed.”