My name is Dory Michelle Anthony. I live in Provo, Utah, with my husband, Kent, and our seventeen children, ten, of which, were adopted. I am a stay-at-home mamma and Kent works for the Provo School System; he is a teacher and teaches at the local high school.
We started adopting ten years ago, when our second-oldest child, Camryn, was adopted from Haiti. She's now fifteen; we adopted her when she was five and Camryn has grown into a beautiful young lady with a generous, compassionate spirit. We have since adopted nine more, and that is in addition to our own eight!
In addition to Camryn, we have Caden (19), Corianda (18), Casen (17), Clarissa (16), Cadence (14), Caleb (13), Corey (12), Constance (Connie; 11), Costas (10), Clark and Clyde (9), Carrie (8), Cinthia (7), Cayla (6), Caysa (5), and rounding out our bunch, Carson (2).
We are raising our children to love God and to appreciate all the blessings they have. We don't want them to embrace the things of this world: we teach them godly-inspired values and we teach them that it is okay to pray and to tell others about Jesus. This is one reason why we (I, rather) teach them here at home instead of in public school because Kent or I don't like (or approve) what is being taught in most public schools.
Public schools are raising our kids to be immoral and they are doing everything possible to remove God out. I'm sorry, but that just is not happening in this family! It is no wonder our country as a whole is so messed up.
We have Bible readings every morning and evening and after lessone are over, we have family time, where we talk about what is on each other's mind and if someone has a problem, they know that they can always come to us, their Mama and Daddy, to help them and/or support them. We have taught our children to play music and sing and sometimes we have mini concerts, where the grandparents come to hear the children perform. We always have a wonderful time when my Mamma and Daddy come over!
We dress our children in clothes that are pleasing to God: there are no revealing fashions or name-brands for our crew. What we have is mainly thrift store items and I want our children to appreciate the goodness in listening to things of God, not of the world. I want them to appreciate all that they have and know that there is always an opportunity to serve Him by helping others.
We go to church twice a week. We go to a Baptist church that embraces Christian ideals and teaches the Word in a way that sticks in your head. We love it; we always get so much out of Pastor Bryan's messages!
Some people might find our ways extreme, but compared to many, how we live is nothing. We just want God to be the center of our lives and Kent and myself will do everything possible to make that happen.
Well, it is time to gather the children together for their morning lessons, so I will go. I will write in here again; somehow I feel that this won't be the last of our story! Until then, this is Dory Michelle Anthony saying may God bless you in every area of your life!
~Love, your new friend in Utah, Dory Michelle. :)
