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As the kids climb into bed and Fall Out Boy’s “Save Rock and Roll” plays in the background, Alex Socorro and Julie Baldwin prepare for their wedding.

The two are to be wed June 8, or as Julie would say, four weeks and six days, not that she’s counting. The couple said they could not be more excited for 75 of their closest friends and family to join them at the outdoor, intimate Sunday ceremony.

While the two come from different backgrounds, Alex said they always know what the other is going to say and pick up one another’s slack.

“You lose things; I find them,” he said, as Julie followed and said, “No, no, no. You forget things; I remember them.”

Setting down one of the many Steampunk-themed corsages she has been working on all day, Julie closes a window to reduce the sound of whining puppies from their no-kill shelter next door.

Their more than 25-acre property within the Shawnee National Forest in Murphysboro consists of a brown, one-story home, nearly three dozen dogs, eight cats, three horses, multiple chickens, several fish and two children.

Julie’s daughter Madyson Cato, 9, and Alex’s daughter Ava Hecht, 4, have been playing in the woods together ever since the couple met at a drag-show benefit for AIDS in December 2012. Julie’s first daughter Taytum Pearce, 14, lives with her father in St. Louis and visits occasionally.

Julie was raised as a Southern Baptist in Harrisburg while Alex was raised Jewish in the suburbs of Chicago. Alex, who is transitioning his sex from female to male, said he loves southern Illinois because the people are more welcoming than back home.

“You can’t talk to people in Chicago like you talk to people down here,” he said. “You will lose your job – or your life.”

Every Thursday night Julie gives Alex, who started hormone-replacement therapy 13 months ago, another testosterone injection. Julie has given him his weekly shot since day one.

Alex said he began cross-dressing a year and a half before choosing to transition.

Alex has not yet received a new driver’s license since his legal name change officially went through April 21. His birth name, Amy, is still displayed on his license, along with an image of him years ago with long, blonde hair.

“Being carded in bars where you don’t know anybody—that’s really interesting,” he said. “That’s probably the most discomfort I’ve ever felt.”

Alex said everyone has an awkward stage while transitioning, and his was figuring out which bathroom to use.

“I didn’t let any facial hair grow until it was noticeable, so I just kept it shaved and just stuck to using the ladies room,” he said. “Now it’s a little more awkward so I don’t do that.”

Some hormone replacement treatments can come with negative side effects, and some clinics do not offer heavy counseling. Alex said he knows people whose transition experiences have not been as smooth as his.

“I know a lot of people that are going through it who have some emotional side effects from it, so I always preach counseling,” he said. “They go back and forth a lot like, ‘Do I want to keep doing this? Do I want to stop?’ You have to talk about it.”

Julie said Alex is the third person she has known to transition and has also had a friend with emotional difficulties through the process.

“He would go through moments of rage and [was] totally upset and crying,” she said. “You know, ‘I’m such a freak and people look at me funny all the time,’ and that wasn’t necessarily the case, but that’s just how he felt.”

Alex said transitioning is not something that happens overnight, although Julie remembers the moment she realized Alex’s voice had drastically changed.

“Our work phone has his previous voice on it before any hormone therapy, and I don’t remember why I called that phone but I got the voicemail,” she said. “I was like, ‘Whose voice is that? Who recorded this for you?’ and he’s like, ‘That’s me,’ and I was like, ‘Oh my god. This is what you sounded like when I met you?’”

Alex said day to day, he never noticed his voice change, although his now-lower voice may help while shushing their many adopted, barking puppies.

Often working hand-in-hand with the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri in Cape Girardeau, Mo., the couple adopts roughly 30 animals a month, almost an animal for each day of the year, to be sold through their no-kill shelter.

As the two drove roughly 45 minutes to the Humane Society, they shared a kiss at 12:34 p.m., like they do every day, twice a day.

A guard dog greeted them when they pulled into the driveway, before the animals were fed, bathed and photographed at the couple’s shelter, just several feet from their home. Their animals are displayed for adoption on their website, www.dogsfrommars.net.

Every other weekend, the two drive to Buffalo Grove to hold events in a hope to find homes for the animals.

The two charge a $300 adoption fee for dogs and $35 for cats, along with any expenses from additional care such as medical, grooming and transportation. Adoptees receive a microchip and one month of pet insurance.

Julie said she and Alex, who started the shelter in 2009, use adoption fees to pay their utility bills.

“Normal people have a nice water bill that’s not too bad for a family of four, which is what we are, but then you have to consider the horses, our dogs, shelter dogs, the cats,” she said. “I couldn’t even tell you how many gallons of water we use a month.”

Alex said while the job is not a glamorous one, it is rewarding and allows him and Julie to spend every waking moment together. He said because they’re always together, they know each other like the back of their hands, literally.

Julie has a keyhole tattoo on her wrist with roman numerals of the day Alex asked her to marry him. Alex, who has the key tattooed on his arm, has been tattooing since 2004 and has done all of his own body art, along with three of Julie’s tattoos.

Alex said their key and keyhole tattoos resemble their relationship.

“You know that honeymoon period that everybody goes through and it’s exciting, like, ‘Oh my god I can’t wait to see that person,’ sitting, waiting for them to get off work, hoping they’ll call you,” he said. “Yeah, that just never ended.”

On weekends off from rescuing animals, Alex and Julie perform drag shows as Riley James and Faim Lee Jewls.

As locals, regulars and performers, the two often go to Two 13, also known as Club Traz, in Carbondale. Their next show is Friday. The two also travel to St. Louis, Cape Girardeau, Mo. and Paducah, Ky., to perform.

Julie, who has been in and out of drag for nine years, said she enjoys performing because it is natural. She took the stage for the first time in Carbondale.

“I had a friend of mine [who] said, ‘Oh I’m getting ready to do a drag show and the song I want to do has a male part and I don’t know anybody that does drag king,’ and I jokingly said, ‘Oh, you know I’ll do it,’” she said. “Of course I toyed with the idea for a couple days and I called him back and was like, ‘You know what? I will. This could be fun.’”

Bringing the first drag show to Harrisburg, Julie said her favorite part about putting on shows is seeing a community of good people converge.

“I think it really helped opened people’s eyes to the gay community,” she said. “It wasn’t just entertainment; it was entertainment, bringing friends together, getting people together who didn’t feel like they belonged at the locals bars because ‘Oh well, I’m gay, and I don’t belong here.’”

Alex said getting ready for shows can take multiple hours, and drag kings usually don’t get the acknowledgement they deserve.

“I’m not sure why but a lot of people when a drag queen is in makeup and wearing a wig, that they call that person her or she,” he said. “However, when a female is in drag and dresses in male wearing applied facial hair and dress the part, they still say she.”

While there are people out there with varied marital opinions, Julie said she hopes they will expand their views.

“When I was a kid, I could remember being with my grandmother or something and other people would say things like, ‘Don’t talk to that person; they’re gay,’” she said. “Hopefully someday a lot more people will accept it than shun it.”

Julie said it was difficult when previous relationships did not accept “the drag life,” and being engaged to another performer is like killing two birds with one stone.

She said her family, Alex’s adopted family and his birth parents all greatly support their marriage and are eager to see Alex in his top hat and tails at the wedding.