Us

I guess I should introduce our family so you have a better idea of who we are! We are: Daniel - Chemist, soccer enthusiast, German (so guess how much of the World Cup we watched this year given the two previous facts?), and ultimate DIYer (sometimes much to my chagrin); Amy - SAHM, former trademark/copyright/domain name paralegal, bibliophile (I have a feeling my free time for reading is about to be significantly reduced), and wanna-be gourmet chef; Miss Bibs - caught in-between toddler and little girl age, fiercely independent and sassy, tender-hearted, loves all things Dora and unicorns, and fantastic big sister; Buddy - little man, maker of the best funny faces, loves giving hugs and kisses, soaks up everything (and gets into everything!), our new-perspective-giver who rocks his extra chromosome. (We also have two dachshunds who think they're people. They're crazy, particular, big on licking faces, and they hate snow and rain.) I'm including a picture of us taken last year. If you want more up-to-date pictures, please follow our family on Instagram! User name is thethomps. I'll be honest - I'm much better about snapping a picture of our everyday life on my phone than I am about busting out a real camera to capture things. It's not a great trait, but it is what it is right now.

I've asked Miss Bibs if she would like a new brother and she said, "A new brother? I think that's a GREAT idea!" I'm not sure she really understands what we're saying, but she adjusted pretty well to her little brother, so I think her response is pretty spot-on. Buddy has no idea what we're talking about if we ask about a new brother, but I think he'd love to have an additional playmate in the house.

That's us in a nutshell! Here is our family one year ago. I'll post more updated family pictures soon.

Big pile of paperwork #1

We sent off our official application for adoption today, along with the addendum for adopting from China, and many other legal pages (it's a good thing I used to be in the legal field and am used to reading contracts!). Whew! 

Now we're on to filling out paperwork for the home study and getting things ready for all of the required background checks. We also got some books in from Amazon that we'll need to start reading as part of our pre-adoption education requirements.

Here's a picture of some of the paperwork we sent off today!

With anticipation,
The Knueppels

I can't believe it

After months of praying and discussing and praying some more, we have decided to start the adoption process. I will try to chronicle our journey as best I can, realizing that we have lots of paperwork ahead of us, fundraising to do, and keeping life as normal as possible for our kids. I am excited, nervous, scared (hello list of fees open on our computer!), and anxious to know who our son will be. We will be adopting from the Waiting Child program in China, which means we have to have our home study and dossier completed and logged in with the Chinese government before we can be matched with a child. In the meantime, we are covering our future son in prayer. If you would commit to pray for our family during this process, we would greatly appreciate it. I know we will need to be covered in prayer as much as we can be!

With anticipation,
The Knueppels