Did You Know?

When we first told people we were considering adopting a child with Down syndrome, many people were concerned that we realized what a commitment that could be.  I think, what some didn't say, was that they were concerned about all of the things Katie wouldn't be able to do.  Here are some things I bet you don't know about people with Down syndrome.

Did you know. . . 

• That 1 in 5 children with Down syndrome (DS) play a musical instrument? For children older than ten, that number doubles. 
• One of five children with DS sing in a choir or vocal group, for children older than ten, it is every one in three...
• Two out of every three children with DS like to draw and/or paint pictures
• Approximately 9 out of every 10 individuals with DS listened to someone read a book more than three times a week between the ages 2-5
• Approximately 7 out of 10 children w/ DS use total communication (signs, etc) between the ages of 2-5
• Approximately 7 out of 10 kids with DS saw a speech therapist two or more times a week between the ages of 2 and 5
• Approximately 1 of every 3 children with DS older than ten rides a bike without training wheels
• Seven of every ten individuals with DS older than ten participates on an athletic team through Special Olympics
• Two out of every five individuals with DS participates on an integrated athletic team.
• According to their families, 3 out of 5 individuals with DS know how to operate a computer.
• One of every three individuals with DS older than ten with DS reads the daily newspaper on his or her own
• Seven of ten individuals with DS older than 10 read books on their own for personal enjoyment
• One of two children with DS go to school in a mainstreamed class.
• 3 of 5 children with DS participate in school activities that are open to all students.
• According to their families, 1 of 5 children with DS talk on the phone with friends more than three times a week. For children older than ten, that number doubles.
• One of three children with DS write email regularly
• Two of three children with DS over age ten have a boyfriend or girlfriend!
• Approximately 7 of ten children with DS pray on a regular basis.
• According to their families, approximately 7 of 10 individuals with DS imitate characters from a television program or movie
• Approximately 2 of 3 individuals with DS older than 10 prepare their own breakfast each morning.
• Three of four individuals with DS older than 10 make their own bed in the morning.
• One of two individuals with DS (older than 18) work in a non sheltered workplace
• One of five individuals with DS (18 or older) lives on his or her own.

Chris and I choose, with all of our children, to focus more on what they CAN do, not what they cannot.  I cannot wait for Katie to be able to do these things!  

Thanks to Sarah, who posted this list!

Miscellany

Itemized, for Misty.

1.  After the boys ran this morning we went to a huge craft fair.  (Or, yard sale on crack as Kirk's wife calls it. . . much more appropriate than "craft fair").

2.  I *may or may not* have gotten Katie Ruth four headbands and a hair clip.  And a Halloween hair bow.  Oh and I *may or may not* have also picked up the cutest embroidered Halloween shirt for her.  The only other items we purchased?  Dog bones (from the people who had that pony dog) and food.  Funnel cakes, kettle corn, a corn dog, and about a gallon of lemonade that was "so fresh, if it was any fresher you'd slap a lemon."

3.  I also *may or may not* have gone to Hobby Lobby tonight to get some supplies to make the cute little felt hair clips I saw.  Because I can wield a hot glue gun like it's nobody's business, and I wasn't going to pay $7.50 for that when I can make it myself.  And not keep the glue strings on it when I'm done.

4.  My debit card number for our adoption account got stolen.  I found that out when I attempted to pay for our spaghetti dinner for our runners.  And my card was declined.  Twice, because you know I did what everyone else who has a declined card has ever done and said, "What?  That's not right.  Run it again please."  HeLLO!  It was declined again.  So I called my bank.  Reason number 7294056720 I like using a small bank.  They know me by first name when I call.  I had changed my PIN the day before, in the branch, and wondered if there had just been some mix up when that was done.  My girl Adrianna (and a runner on our team!) called the fraud department, and there was a hold on my card.  I called and they asked if I had been to Italy lately. . . Um, no.  A plane ticket had been booked in Italy and reservations made at the Crown Plaza hotel.  Right.  I wish that had been me!  There were also six other charges that were attempted and declined because the bank realized it was fraud.  Sooooo, my card cannot be used and has been cancelled.  A new card has been ordered, and we will get our money back after a fraud investigation, etc. is done.  Inconvenient?  Yes.  The end of the world?  Absolutely not.  It could have been much, much worse.

5.  In all of the excitement, I haven't posted that we GOT OUR GOLDEN TICKET!!!  All we need is our apostilled FBI background checks back (which were sent almost three weeks ago) and we are ready to submit!!!  

6.  Tomorrow?  Benefit concert in Massachusetts for Katie.  The circus for us.  I wish we could be at the concert and cannot wait to hear all about it!

Run For Katie

The Murfreesboro Middle Half was today.

This was our Run for Katie day!

We had our Run for Katie dinner last night.

And I didn't take any pictures!

We had a great time, and the runners raised $1,781.73 for Katie!

Our grand prize winner was Misty, with $665.00!

The kids did the fun run this morning at the Half.

I LOVE this picture of Misty's daughter Ella with the boys.

They all ran together.

David, Henry, & Ella proudly ran wearing their Run for Katie shirts.

The kids run was a mile.

Please note the size of the boy next to David.

I'm pretty sure David finished with 10 and 11 year olds.

Who started two corrals before David.

He was fast!

And Miss Ella was right behind him.

She did a great job.

And I'm SO proud of Henry!

He did a really great job.

David is more of a natural runner, and Henry has to work at it.

He was so determined, and he stuck in there and finished really well!

He did SUCH a great job, and wants to do more runs!

They are so proud of their medals!

My parents and my sister were there to support our Run for Katie team, and the kids running.

Chris' parents came to support our team and the kids too.

We had a great, great morning.

The spirit at the race was fabulous, and we will definitely do it again.

Katie's family - all of us! - is so thankful for our runners and the great fundraising they did! 

Thirty-One Fundraiser for Katie!

Kelly, the cousin of my friend Erica's husband (did you follow that?!) has generously offered to host an online only Thirty-One fundraiser for Katie.  You place your order online, and Kelly will donate her entire commission to us for Katie.  That is 25% of the total sales from the online party.  Have you seen Thirty-One products?  They are CUTE!  I went to a party last month and got some really cute goodies.  The things I purchased are:

The Cross-N-Fold Tote

The Fold-And-Go Organizer with Notepad

The Rolling Tote (This was a hostess special, but my hostess didn't want it so I bought it.)

I also got some teacher gifts, which I'm not going to post here. . . just in case!

Some things I love?

The 5th Avenue Bag.

The Cindy Tote.

The Hang-Up Home Organizer.

The Hostess Apron.

The Picnic Thermal Tote.

The Medium Rosette Clip.

The Small Rosette Clip.

The Zipper Pouch.

I actually got two of these at Erica's party, but I'm too lazy to move the photo up. . . 

To purchase Thirty-One items for our fundraiser, CLICK HERE:

The Thirty-One products are great for teacher gifts, birthday presents, and Christmas!  

And remember, 100% of Kelly's commission goes to Katie!

This fundraiser will run through October 22nd.  

Thank you!

If Katie Were Here Now. . .

It's not a secret I love to shop.  I love to shop for anything.  Houses.  Cars.  Electronics.  Home Decor.  Office Supplies.  Clothes.  Dog Accessories.  Seriously, I'm not picky.  For the last seven years I've shopped for boys.  Have I mentioned I'm very conservative?  I don't like clothes with pictures on them.  For boys that pretty much means they wear polo shirts or striped shirts.  And khaki, red, navy, green, or orange shorts.  Or seersucker.  Shopping for a girl?  Excuse me, but that's a whole different ballgame.  If Katie were here now, she would have the following, in no particular order:

I'm obsessed with Puddle Jumpers shoes.  I love the polka dots!

I would like this coat for myself as well. . . 

Girlfriend will need all the help in the hair department that she can get.

I love little nightgowns for girls!

So cozy.  We'll have bunches of these.

Our Expenses So Far

So much of this journey to Katie is about money.  How much money something will cost.  How much money we've raised.  How much money we need.  Planning our fundraisers.  I thought I would break down what we've spent thus far, and what we've spent it on.  Most people know adoption is expensive.  The expense, thankfully, is not paid all at one time.  And I'm so happy to say that although it is very expensive, when we've needed the money for something, we've had the money for it already and haven't had to wait to raise it.  Certainly at the start, before we started our fundraising, the costs were paid from our savings.  Since we've started raising money, we haven't had to use savings again, and we are so thankful for that!  I pray that continues to be the case!  So to date this is what we've done:

• Homestudy application fee - $50.00
• Kim - multistate background check (because I haven't lived in TN for 10 years) - $28.95
• Chris' birth certificate - $20.00
• Kim birth certificate - $54.50
• TBI Background checks for both of us - $58.00
• Chris' medical exam paperwork fee - $25.00
• Reece's Rainbow commitment fee - $275.00
• Chris TB test - $25.00
• Kim medical exam - $25.00
• Marriage Certificate copies x5 - $28.50
• Passport photos - $19.98
• Fingerprinting (rolled prints) - $10.00
• FBI background checks - $36.00
• Passport applications - $270.00
• Adoption education classes - $149.00
• I-600A application - $870.00
• Postage - $36.60
• Homestudy fee - $1,500.00
• Psychiatric evaluation - $775.00
• Chris - medical paperwork fee.  Again.  $25.00
• Hawaii apostilling charge - $21.00

Total spent to date:  $4,302.53

Getting Katie Ruth home to us?  Priceless.

Read All About It!

There is an article in today's edition of The Gardner News about our efforts to raise money for Katie!  www.thegardnernews.com. ‘Coins for Katie’ add up Templeton native’s family receives support from across the nation in effort to adopt eastern European girl with Down syndrome

By Mark Haranas - Reporter Published On Saturday, October 08, 2011

Enlarge Photo Photo By Photo Submitted First-grade students at the Forest Avenue Elementary School in Hudson hold up their “Coins for Katie” cups, part of an effort to help a Templeton native’s family adopt a special needs child from Europe. Templeton native Kimberly Simpson says she understood adopting a child from overseas would be difficult. What she could not foresee was the enormous support she would receive from family, friends and complete strangers from across the country. “We’ve just been completely overwhelmed with the generosity and support from people close to us — people I haven’t talked to in years, and people we don’t even know,” said Ms. Simpson, who now resides in Wartrace, Tenn. “We’ve received donations from literally people from all over the United States.” Ms. Simpson and her family — her husband Chris, and their three sons, David, 7, Henry, 6, and Jack, 3 — have been trying to adopt a young girl from eastern Europe who has been diagnosed with Down syndrome. They have already named her Katie. The amount needed to bring Katie into the Simpson household is roughly $30,000. “When a child (in eastern Europe) with special needs reaches the age of five, they are transferred to asylums, which can often end tragically,” Ms. Simpson said. After much deliberation and research, the family collectively decided that they wanted to adopt the young child, and started collecting loose change in plastic sippy cups in their home to begin the process of raising some money. Little did the Simpson family know that within months from the first coin they collected, over 200 similar cups would be in homes, schools and offices around the country. Word soon spread of the Simpsons’ desire to bring Katie into their home — through social media websites, word of mouth and Ms. Simpson’s blog titled “Coins for Katie.” Her local community in Tennessee, as well as her former community in the Templeton, started to contact Ms. Simpson and ask for similar sippy cups with Katie’s pictures on it for their homes and offices. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for this little girl,” said Erin MacKay, who grew up in Templeton and graduated from Narragansett Regional High School in 1995 with Ms. Simpson. “Kimberly is the right type of person to share her life with someone who needs that type of help.” Ms. MacKay is a first-grade teacher at Forest Avenue Elementary School in Hudson, and for this year’s community service learning program, the entire first grade at the school has joined in the cause to bring Katie into the Simpson family. Around 90 students at the elementary school brought home sippy cups titled “Coins for Katie” to fill with change. The students also write to the Simpsons’ children, becoming pen pals over time. The students use the drive in other curriculum studies, including graphing how many cups and coins are brought into the classroom, as well as studying the different makeup of families across America, according to Ms. MacKay. “ Our students are creating a journey with them,” said Ms. MacKay, who is also a former Templeton Center teacher. “Even my two-year-old daughter is trying to fill a cup anytime she finds money.” Multiple staff members at the elementary school have also brought the sippy cups home to fill. The Simpson family inspired local Gardner High School student Brandon Hursey, 15, to help in the cause. Brandon has organized a benefit concert taking place at the high school auditorium. “I figured it would just be a good idea to get money for the family to adopt the girl,” he said. “All the money is going to go to Katie.” Brandon gathered his own band and other local musicians to perform at the event, scheduled from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Oct. 16. “I’m so proud of him,” said Kathy Hursey, Brandon’s mother and a childhood friend of Ms. Simpson. “He can’t even clean his bedroom, but he can do this? I am shocked.” Ms. Hursey reconnected with Ms. Simpson through Facebook, one of the multiple social media sites Ms. Simpson used to spread the word of her family’s mission. Dozens of families across the country have donated items to the family to raise money at silent auctions and yard sales. There is also a team running a marathon in Tennessee next weekend to raise funds for the effort. “There’s no way we can say thank you to all the people for the things they have done,” said Ms. Simpson. “This woman I never met all the way from Canada has a ‘Coins for Katie’ cup at her work office.” There are currently “Coins for Katie” cups in Texas, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Ohio, Florida, New Hampshire, Maine, Illinois, Rhode Island, North Carolina and Vermont, while various areas in Massachusetts, including Fitchburg, Hudson, Westminster and Gardner, also house the cups. Once a sippy cup is filled with coins, participants send a check to the Simpson family, which has thus far raised nearly $6,000 in less than two months. “The premise behind this is that a little bit of change from everyone adds up,” said Ms. Simpson. “A lucky little girl is going to come home to a family and community that has already supported her so much.” For more information or to have a cup sent to you, visit Ms. Simpson’s blog at www.TheSimpsonSix.blogspot.com mharanas@thegardnernews.com