Local family building home with bare hands to adopt five siblings

This two-story addition to his family home, which Mark Goldsmith hopes to complete soon, is only the first project, he said. In the future, he plans to renovate the existing structure’s second floor to expand it for his seven current children and soon-to-be five more.

This two-story addition to his family home, which Mark Goldsmith hopes to complete soon, is only the first project, he said. In the future, he plans to renovate the existing structure’s second floor to expand it for his seven current children and soon-to-be five more.

This two-story addition to his family home, which Mark Goldsmith hopes to complete soon, is only the first project, he said. In the future, he plans to renovate the existing structure’s second floor to expand it for his seven current children and soon-to-be five more.

Beam by beam, Mark Goldsmith has spent the better part of the last year building his own home.

Though he had a few days of assistance, the work has largely been a solo affair, he said. But he is quick to add that it has been absolutely worth it – not just for himself, but for his wife, seven children and the five Bulgarian orphans they hope to welcome into the new space later this year.

The project has been years in the making, Goldsmith said. He himself was adopted at a young age, along with his four siblings, and providing the same opportunity to children in need has always been in his and his wife Tisha’s family plan.

“My adoption wasn’t that dramatic, not like theirs,” he said, referencing his five future children, ” but it gave [me and my siblings] a leg up that we would have never had. We want to help and we have the ability to help, so why wouldn’t you?”