Megan Christofferson: Matt and I have been married it will be 25 years this summer.

And we have 8 children.

Kat is the oldest at 22.

Gabe is 20.

Carsten is 17.

Bo is almost 16.

And Elle is 15.

Griffin is 14.

Mae is 12.

And Eve is 10.

♪♪ Megan: Did I get them all?

Matt Christofferson: You got them all.

You did much better than I would have done.

(laughs) Megan: We're kind of like a beehive.

While there's a lot going on, we generally buzz in the same direction.

Matt: Pretty much.

♪♪ Megan: We try to really focus on each other's strengths and rally around each other.

We say we put each other in the love jar.

So, focusing on the positive of each other.

That's perfect big boy.

♪♪ Megan: So, Carsten loves the family.

His hero is Gabe.

Gabe is his best friend.

♪♪ Gabe Christofferson: Did you enjoy bowling today, buddy?

Carsten Christofferson: Yes.

Gabe: You got a spare, didn't you, at the beginning?

Carsten: Yes.

♪♪ Good spare!

Carsten: We're brothers.

Gabe: We are brothers, yeah.

Carsten: I was born in 2006.

Gabe: You were born in 2006.

Carsten: How about you?

Gabe: Do you know when I was born?

Carsten: No.

Gabe: 2003.

Carsten: Oh.

Bo, Mae, Elle, Mae and Kat -- five of them born in China.

Gabe: Yeah, we have five siblings who are adopted.

Gabe: I think anybody who has younger siblings will relate to wanting to be there for them and do right by them and protect them.

♪♪ Megan: Carsten is now 17, so about 10 hours after he was born my hospital room fills full of doctors to tell us that they believe he has Down Syndrome.

I say Carsten rearranged my stars.

So, he changed everything.

And we really switched at that time to a new trajectory of just loving every moment, loving every ounce of extra that everybody brings and seeing the beauty in it.

And also started my journey in advocacy around children with special needs.

Carsten just wants to be included, involved.

He wants his opinions known.

He wants to be sure you know about him.

♪♪ Megan: He is just really good too at reading a room and knowing who needs him.

It's just kind of incredible how he picks up on those things.

Matt: And I think one of the nice things about Carsten too is he focuses on what he thinks is important.

All of the other things that sometimes we get caught up in and get worried about, he just lets those go.

♪♪ Megan: Over Christmas, Kat and Gabe were back from college.

We had them home for a whole month, so all eight little birdies were back in the nest and we did our annual gingerbread contest during that time.

♪♪ Griffin Christofferson: When Kat and I were doing the gingerbread house, I came up with ideas and she'd put them on the house.

That teamwork together made us win.

So, always remember to work as a team.

♪♪ Megan: So, Griffin is amazing.

When he was little, I would call his name and he wouldn't respond to his name.

And that kind of set the wheels in motion.

We got one diagnosis of mixed expressive receptive speech delays at that time.

But, when he was nine, we got the official diagnosis that he is on the Autism spectrum.

We were already plugged into the services that we needed to be plugged into.

I also think that places like ChildServe have really enabled our family to be the family we are because we're not having to hunt and peck for all of these different services.

It's all under one roof.

There's a bishop here, you can't take it.

Megan: We felt really lucky that we found Johnston Community Education and the chess club and he really enjoys going to that and being a part of the club.

Matt: He likes to win.

Megan: He does like to, a quiet win.

Matt: Griffin will bring the energy to the room.

It's just Griffin and it's fun.

He keeps you on your toes.

Megan: He's a fun kid.

Matt: He's a great kid.

Megan: I just, his sense of humor is hilarious.

He's very logical.

He's the keeper of an insane amount of knowledge.

♪♪ Griffin: What's your favorite part of your days?

Eve Christofferson: Usually like right then, right now.

Griffin: Yeah, right now, eating food with family.

Eve: Being around my family, yeah.

Mae Christofferson: I've learned to be more patient and be more inclusive with the others and to just be nice.

Griffin: Just because you're a little different doesn't mean that we're all not the same.

We're all the same.

Some of us are just a little different.

(Bo beatboxing) Megan: Bo came popping into our lives when he was six.

And I like to say that Bo is a luva, not a fighta.

♪♪ Megan: He and Carsten, while they share a diagnosis of Down Syndrome, are quite different on their personalities, very different personalities but very, very fun people to be around.

Matt: Carsten is a little more discerning on who he wants to spend his time with.

Bo wants to spend time with anybody that he can wrap his arms around.

Megan: He loves Sparkle Squad and cheering with the cheerleaders.

Megan: He loves beatboxing for us.

That's his primary joy in life.

Matt: Yeah, he's the showman.

(Bo beatboxing) Bo Christofferson: I love pie.

Elle Christofferson: You love pie.

Bo: I made tacos in school.

Elle: In school, yeah.

A few days ago, yeah.

They were a bit spicy.

Kat Christofferson: I think most importantly like as a family we are able to have fun as a family.

Family is also fun, family is love, I think that's what family should be.

Right Bo Bo?

We have fun?

Bo: Yeah, kitty.

Kat: Yeah, kitty.

He calls me kitty sometimes.

♪♪ Kat: I don't know, we just fit together really well.

Everybody has got their personalities and what they're good at and they just, they just use whatever they're good at and then help each other out.

Elle: It's like a little bit of everything.

We complement each other really well.

♪♪ Elle: Everyone brings everything to the table and everyone is just amazing and it just brings the whole family together.

No one is left out.

Everyone is here and important.

♪♪ Megan: I'm hoping that Matt and I have lived our lives and demonstrated to our kids the importance of being the voice for others and just create a better, brighter place for everyone to live.

♪♪