You could call Rob and Dana Hofmeister adoption experts. They've been there and done that twice and are on the way to their third. They adopted two boys, Kyle, 4, and Nik, 8, from the Ukraine and have begun the process to adopt a girl. They spent Saturday helping others gather information about adoption and foster care at the First Assembly of God Adoption and Orphan Fair.

"We felt like God was calling us," Dana said about the decision to adopt.

The Hofmeisters adopted Kyle in 2004, when he was 15 months old, and adopted Nik in 2006, when he was 6. They used Lutheran Social Services for home studies and adopted the boys from an orphanage.

"They say that adopting an older child is like getting married on the first date," Dana said. "You are committing to someone that you don't know."

Traits such as whether the child wets the bed or if they like to be coddled or left alone when they are sick are all new things to learn quickly, she said.

"With an infant - it's diapers," she said, laughing. "You just have to learn their personalities."

With Kyle, discovering a personality was not a problem. Friday night at home, he zipped in and out of his bedroom, through the living room and back to his room, dragging his latest T. rex model behind him. Then, he was on Rob's lap, back to the bedroom to pull a pair of shorts over his head and then back to the living room to talk, talk, talk.

"He talks nonstop from the moment he wakes up," Dana said, laughing.

Nik, on the other hand, is more of an observer, she said. He eventually followed his brother out to the living room and watched quietly, grinning as his brother did somersaults on the carpet.

Nik's transition into the English language and American culture was fast, Dana said. They placed him in kindergarten within three days of his arrival to the U.S. because they thought immersion would be the best way to learn the language. School and a brother "of many words," Dana said, helped him get caught up. He was at a normal grade level academically by first grade.

The Hofmeisters talk about the Ukraine with the boys and have told them the stories of their parents and how they were brought to America.

"It was little bit hard, at first," Rob said. "But everyone told us to tell them from the get-go. The more we did it, the easier it was to tell."

For Kyle, adoption seems to be the way all children end up where they are. Dana said he recently asked one of her friends with a newborn, "Where did you get her from?"

If Nik and Kyle ever wonder about what their parents went through to adopt them - which included multiple visits to the Ukraine, lots of money and lots of prayer - they can visit www.thehofs.com and read all about it.

Dana and Rob documented the process both times and will keep posting through the next adoption. It's also available for the public to visit for information about adoption.

Dana and Rob's advice to parents considering adoption is in one word: Pray.

"Without God's help, it's a difficult task," Rob said.

Contact Kayla Gahagan at 394-8410 or kayla.gahagan@rapidcityjournal.com