It's Official!

Well, welcome to The Simpson Six. . . It's official!  Chris and I have sent in our paperwork to turn our family of five into a family of six.  If all goes well, we will be adopting a sweet little girl.  Ours will be an international adoption, and we are working with Reece's Rainbow, Adoption Assistance, Inc., and Hand In Hand International Adoptions to make it all happen.  Confused yet about all of the different organizations?  You should see the paperwork!

If you're not familiar with our family, let me introduce you.

We're Chris and Kim, the daddy and the mama.  We've been married for eight years, and it's been an adventure!  Chris was born and raised in middle Tennessee, and is a good Southern boy.  I am a New England girl (a/k/a a Yankee here in the South!).  Somehow, we've managed to blend our very different upbringings quite nicely and make it work for us.  While Chris is quiet and sort of a go with the flow kind of guy, I am talkative and outgoing, and I love some routine and organization!  Chris took a buyout from a major auto manufacturer two years ago and is currently a stay-at-home dad and a student.  I'm a legal assistant for a small but busy law firm in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.  While our sort of unconventional system may seem unique to some, it works really really well for us.  

David is our oldest child.  He is seven and will be in second grade in the fall.  David is very, very smart (really, I'm not just saying that because I'm his mother!).  He loves science, reading, the solar system, swimming, the Black Eyed Peas, jumping on the trampoline, Star Wars and Indiana Jones, Legos, playing outside, mango juice, and Kraft macaroni and cheese.  David has had a few bumps in his seven year old road.  (You can read more about his special needs in detail here.)  He was diagnosed with apraxia of speech as a toddler and went to several years of speech therapy at Vanderbilt's Bill Wilkerson Center.  He has also been diagnosed with Tourette's syndrome, Sensory Processing Disorder, PDD-NOS, and possibly high functioning autism.  While this certainly seems like a lot to deal with, we really try to make it as minimal a part of our life as possible.  He goes to occupational therapy with an A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. therapist.  He love, love, loves her and has developed an amazing relationship and trust with her.  We have seen enormous progress since he started OT, and will continue as long as he needs it.  

While I expect that we will have more bumps down the road with David, we will take them as they come.  He certainly faces some challenges that most of us don't have to deal with, but he's going to be just fine.  We are 100% committed as David's parents to ensure he has every available resource to help him, and he's done remarkably well thus far.  We don't make a big deal of his "special needs" and they are not something that we think about all day every day.  We live life where we are - David is special for many, many reasons that do not need diagnosing.

Henry is our second son, born less than 13 months after David.  He is six, and is just a joy.  I wish everyone could have a child like Henry.  He's smart, silly, snuggly, and just a good boy.  He loves baseball, swimming, reading, David, Legos, taking pictures and making movies, Star Wars and Toy Story, learning, drawing, painting, being creative, helping in the kitchen, and helping other people.  He is a little love, and is the first person to help someone when he thinks they're sad or need help.  He is exceptionally close to his brother David, and he would do anything for him or for Jack.  Henry is sensitive, friendly, and loves everyone.  He is truly the easiest child, and if I could have ten just like him I would.  

Happy Jack is our baby.  He's three years old and makes every day exciting.  He's N.A.U.G.H.T.Y.  He is into everything, and goes 100 miles an hour twenty-four hours a day.  He's so silly, happy, always smiling and doing something for attention.  He does not slow down from the minute he wakes up until the minute he goes to bed.  He wants to do anything his brothers are doing, but is likely to destroy it.  He's smart, sensitive, silly, fun, loud, energetic, curious, sneaky, and full of mischief.  He and his daddy are especially close.  Jack is always smiling or laughing.  If I had a dollar for every time someone told me, "I love him!  I want to take him home!" we could adopt six children.  Jack is full of life and drinks up every minute of every day.  He talks non-stop, tells creative stories, and will love a sister with every fiber of his little body.

This is "Chloe", and we desperately want to bring her home to our family.  I don't know nearly as much about "Chloe" (which is not her real name, and is not the name she will have when she is a part of our family) as I do about my boys.  I cannot wait until I can tell you more about her.  I want so badly to know what she likes to do, and what foods she likes to eat.  I cannot wait to show you pictures of her at the park or at her school.  I am so excited to bring her swimming and out on the boat.  I can't wait to have silly pictures of her with her brothers and to give her a big hug.  It will be a long, expensive road to bring her home, but I know we will do it.

Please sign up to follow our blog and follow our adoption adventure.  You can help to bring our girl home - we will be doing some fundraising and we will hopefully raise enough money to make her a part of our family.  Please join the journey with us!