I have a minute or so of quiet while the kids nap, so I thought I would update everyone on what's going on with the Benisch family.
We are 90% done with the initial paperwork for LFS to start our homestudy, I am hoping to mail it off tomorrow. We had our fingerprints done last night, Charlie wanted to know why he couldn't get his fingerprints done too! We also have signed a dozen forms, completed all kinds of questionnaires and made copies of every certificate we have. I just got done calling my sisters, dad and grandparents asking for their ages, height, weight and medical history. So not only do we have to tell them all about us, but all about our family too!
Today, I got a call letting me know that the last thing I have to do before being accepted into Regis University's MBA program is interview with my adviser. It took over a month for UCD to send off my transcripts, but yeah!, I am on my way to getting my MBA. I thought this would be a great use of time while we wait to be matched with our child.
Charlie is a character, we played outside all morning, he found some old cable in the yard and it is his fire hose. The yard by the gate was the fire house and the rocket launcher my dad brought from Illinois was his fire truck. His is very imaginative.
Here are some more pictures of us!

Doug and Charlie goofing off at home.

Charlie Doug and Alex

Charlie and me reading before bed.

The Paper Chase

We received our packet of information from LFS on Thursday. There is a total of 28 items we need to complete. Including such items as birth certificates, marriage certificates, fingerprints, credit reports, questionnaires etc. Once I got over the initial shock, I think I will be able to get it in the mail back to LFS on Thursday !!
As I was gathering the information, I realized that I no longer had a copy of my divorce decree, it was over 13 years ago! So on Friday I gave Charlie to my mom and Alex and I headed to the Arapahoe County Courthouse, a 45 min drive from my house. Only to discover, we had filed in Jefferson County, only a 20 min drive from my house. It was a crazy morning, but Alex was a trooper!!!
I unfortunately came down with a nasty cold on Friday, so I have been laid up all weekend. hopefully I will be able to get somethings done today for the adoption.
Charlie is doing well, just as funny as ever. He loves to pretend he is a scary lion or a big T-Rex and scare mom and dad. He loves to build beaver lodges, "fires" and lions dens using the couch cushions. Since the weather has been so nice, he is also a huge fan of playing outside!

Thailand

You may have noticed a new background to our blog. It is a beautiful picture of Thailand. Doug and I have decided to adopt from Thailand. We are going to use Holt International as our adoption agency, with Lutheran Family Services providing our homestudy. The map to the left of Thailand is also permanently located on the left side of our blog.

Here is a link to the history of Holt International http://www.holtintl.org/historical.shtml
It is pretty neat how they got started.

You know you are an adoptive mother or father (or you should be!) if

I saw this on another blog and liked it!

1. The fact that there are 143 million children without a parent to kiss them goodnight has ever made you lose sleep.
2. You realize DNA has nothing to do with love and family.
3. You can't watch Adoption Stories on TLC without sobbing.
4. The fact that if 7% of Christians adopted 1 child, there would be no orphans in the world is convicting to you.
5. You spend free time surfing blogs about families who have experienced the joy of adoption.
6. It drives you crazy when people ask you about your adopted child's "real" parents.
7. You have ever been "pregnant" with your adoptive child longer than it takes an elephant to give birth (2 years!)
8. You had no idea how you would afford to adopt but stepped out in faith anyway knowing where God calls you He will provide.
9. You have ever taken a airplane ride half way around the world with a child you just met.
10. You believe God's heart is for adoption.
11. You realize that welcoming a child into your heart and family is one of the most important legacy's you could ever leave on this earth.
12. You know what the word Dossier means and you can actually pronounce it!
13. You have welcomed a social worker into the most private parts of your life.
14. You shudder when people say your child is so lucky that you adopted them, knowing full well you are the blessed one to have them in your life.

Author Unknown

To the zoo

Today we had beautiful spring like weather in Colorado. So my friend Tina and I took Charlie, her son Isaiah, and my godson Alex to the zoo. This is the second week in the row we have been able to take the kids to the zoo. The pictures below are from those two trips taken by me with my camera and by Charlie with his camera.

Charlie watching the pengiuns.

A picture Charlie took of the penguins.

A picture Charlie took of the lions.

Charlie and Alex

Tina and Isaiah

Questions

As we have been sharing our decision to adopt with friends and family, we have been getting lots of the same questions over and over. So I thought I would answer the most common questions here.

1. Why are you adopting internationally and not domestically?
While we think adopting domestically is extremely important, our hearts are drawn to the waiting children in other countries. Some of our closest friends have adopted or are planning to adopt domestically. This has been a wonderful experience for them, as I am confident our adoption will be.

2. Why Asia?
I have had a desire in my heart for several years for a daughter from Asia. Then, after researching our other options, the requirements to adopt from an Asian country fit our requirements. If we decide to adopt again, we will revaluate the different countries.

3. What is the process and timeframe to adopt internationally?
This is the process as we understand it at this time and for the countries we are looking at. Each country is different, so adopting from a country outside of Asia may not follow this same pattern. As we go through the process I will update this blog, so you can follow the actual process with us.
Step 1 - Decide on the country and the adoption agency. Decide the age, sex and if you want a child with special needs.
Step 2 - Complete the home study and mounds of paperwork required by the US, your adoption agency, and the country you choose to adopt from. (3 to 6 months)
Step 3 - Your information is sent to the country you wish to adopt from. (a couple of weeks)
Step 4 - You are matched with a waiting child and sent a referral for that child. Courts in that country finalize the adoption. (6 to 24 months)
Step 5 - You travel to your child's birth country to pick them up. Yeah!!! (3-14 days in country)
We expect it will take about 2 years before we have a daughter at home.

4. Where are you at in the process?
We hope to have decided on a country and agency by the end of next week. We are leaning towards Taiwan, but we are still considering China and Thailand. We have narrowed it down to 5 different agencies.

5. What is the cost?
Our adoption will cost between $20,000 and $30,000. We will get a majority of the money back from tax credits and Doug's company’s adoption program. We will end up having to come up with $5,000 to $10,000 of non-reimbursable funds. We have a Paypal link on this blog, in case anyone feels moved to donate to our adoption fund.

Welcome to our blog

Greetings,


After two long years of infertility treatments, Doug and I have decided to stop treatments. We have made the wonderful decision to adopt a daughter. I have had a strong desire for several years to adopt a little girl from an Asian country. Over the past few weeks as we struggled with the decision to continue or stop the treatments, we felt that God was leading us to adoption.

Charlie is still undecided about if he wants a brother or a sister, but I am sure he will love a sister when she gets here!!!


We are leaning towards adopting from Taiwan, but we are also researching China and Thailand. Within the next couple of weeks we need to decide on a country and an agency. We have a long process ahead of us -- we need to get our butts in gear :-)


This is a wonderful exciting (long!!!) journey for our family, so I have started this blog to share our journey with our families and friends. We are expecting it to take about 2 years before we can bring our daughter home. I will try to update this blog regularly, my goal is once a week, but with life as busy as it is, who knows!!!