Family has 13 children, including 10 adopted kids

By SCOTT FONTAINE
Tacoma News Tribune
Thursday, November 01, 2007

The first clue is the blue full-size passenger van sitting in the driveway of the Bliss family's home. "No. Not a daycare," the license-plate frame reads, "YES, they're ALL mine!"

A casual observer could be forgiven for initially assuming otherwise.

Rodney and Annie Bliss moved from northern Wisconsin a few weeks ago after a long stay in Utah. With them, their 13 children, including 10 they adopted from five countries. They acknowledge the big family is a lot of work, but they say it's well worth it. And while the devout Mormons believe a divine hand influenced their decisions, Rodney said they simply wanted a big family.

"When people tell us what a noble thing we did, I'll nod and say thank you," the small-business consultant said. "But our motivation was never to save the world. We were interested in our family."

Neither expected the family to grow this large when they married in college 19 years ago. Rodney figured he eventually wanted three or four children. Annie, one of 15 kids, wanted five or six. Neither expected to anything close to the family they have now.

Their family began with their three birth children: Ila (now 18), Katrina (14) and Enoch (7). During the pregnancy that brought Enoch, it became apparent having more children would be difficult; they decided on adoption.

Three months after Enoch was born, they adopted their first child: Isaac, the infant son of Chinese and Korean immigrants living in Pullman, Wash.

About a year later, Rodney and Annie decided to adopt again. They didn't want Isaac to be the only Asian child in the family, so they looked abroad to China. When Annie saw a photo of Ammon, an 18-month-old boy, on the adoption agency's Web site, she knew she found her child.

While researching adoptions in China, Annie found herself dwelling on children in three other countries: India, Haiti and Colombia. They don't believe it was a coincidence.

"We really feel like God led us to Ammon in the beginning," Annie said, "and he pointed us to the other countries because that's where he wanted us to go."

The Blisses next adopted Anuja, a 1-year-old Indian girl and soon added a sibling group of four children from Haiti. The children lived in Cite Soleil, a sprawling slum near Port-au-Prince.

Rodney and Annie met the Haitian children's birth mother during the adoption process. She was poor and unable to provide the basics for her children.

Some might have pitied her; Rodney and Annie respect her.

"How heart-wrenching would it be to make the choice: I can raise the children myself and they will die, or I can give them to strangers and they will live?," Rodney said. "As far as she's concerned, they're on another planet. There's health care and food and they're going to grow up and live, but the cost is that she'll never be able to see them again."

They believed they were done with adoptions. But about two years back, a newsletter came from an adoption agency with a photo of three Colombian girls: Jenifer, Angie and Jesica.

"Katrina looked at them and said, 'Mom, I think they're our kids,' " Annie said. "I told her she was nuts. She said, 'Mom, I really think these kids should be in our family.'"

And eventually they were.

Rodney and Annie encourage their children to embrace their various backgrounds.

The family celebrates holidays from the children's birth countries and incorporates traditions into those celebrations, like a pinata at birthdays. The house also displays souvenirs from the children's birth countries.

While business was the main reason for the move, the cultural richness of this area was a factor.

"Michael Jordan is not a role model for my boys," Rodney Bliss said. "None of my boys are ever going to grow up to play professional basketball. ... I want them to be able to see everyday normal people that they look like, they can look at and emulate."

Thirteen kids means space is at a premium -- Rodney built a three-tier bunk bed, and his home office wedges in a corner of the garage.

Other than that, the Blisses operate like most other families, just on a larger scale.

"On a moment-to-moment basis, there are times where we feel overwhelmed," he said. "They'll come back from school and they'll all want papers and they'll all want your attention. But on a higher level, we don't feel overwhelmed with that size family. It's the right size family for us."

The Family Bliss

Name Age Place of birth

Ila 18 Utah

Katrina 14 Utah

Jenifer 12 Colombia

Angie 11 Colombia

Jesica 9 Colombia

Ammon 8 China

Sabine 7 Haiti

Enoch 7 Renton

Isaac 7 Pullman

Ruth 6 Haiti

Anuja 5 India

Andrew 4 Haiti

James 4 Haiti

E-mail Scott Fontaine at scott.fontaine(at)thenews tribune.com. For more stories visit scrippsnews.com