Jennifer and Jason Miller are fulfilling their dream of rearing a large family in a rural home, though it comes as the result of loss.
The couple of 20 years lost their oldest son, Joshua, at age 17 in a car accident four years ago.
"That was a rough year," they agreed.
About six months after that, "we decided losing Josh was not the end of the world," Jason said. "We had plenty of room in our hearts and home.
"That's when we started down the adventure to foster."
Last month, they finalized adoption of their eighth and ninth children.
In their Clarksburg home, the Miller family includes 15-year-old, Kylie, as well as Kimberly, 5; Isaiah, 4; Jeremiah, 4; Elijah, 3; Audrey, 3; and Josiah, 2. Their daughter Ashley, 18, recently married.
Their new set of children are not a "replacement" for Josh, the couple emphasized.
"But there's a lot to be said about happiness, laughter and chaos," Jason said. "We will always miss (Josh's) voice, and the grandchildren he won't have.
"Being busy, we don't dwell on what's missing."
Jennifer, who has juvenile diabetes, was told she was lucky to have had her third child. So, they took precautions to avoid further pregnancies. However, she had always dreamed of a larger family.
"We knew there were lots of kiddos who need a good home," Jason said.
In Missouri foster care are more than 2,500 children eligible for adoption. And more than 10,000 children total are in the children's division system.
The Millers completed the required training to be foster parents, followed immediately by the training to be an adoptive placement, and later, they added the training to keep behavioral issue children.
They would provide foster care to 16 children before their two sibling groups made them "full" by the division of family services' standards.
The No. 1 goal of the children's division is reunification. In many of the cases, the Millers developed relationships with the parents, as well as the children they were fostering.
"The parents sometimes didn't have the greatest upbringing," Jason explained. "They need role models, too."
A few of the children or families, they still keep in touch with today.
"We're not going to abandon them just because the state says we no longer have an official capacity," Jason said.
As foster parents, Jennifer said it was not hard to let foster children go, knowing they were going back to homes that were working to improve themselves.
"It's refreshing when you see it work out the way it's supposed to," she said.
However, when they received the placement three years ago for two of their children, when they were 16 months old and 4 months old, their path from foster to adoption began.
"When they placed her in my arms, I knew something was different," Jennifer said. "I had to guard my heart."
So, when it appeared those two would be reunified with their biological parents, the Millers began seriously looking into adoption.
Jennifer inquired about a sibling group of four, from just a photo and paragraph about each.
Two years ago, while still fostering the first two, they became foster-to-adopt placement for the second sibling set, ages 3, 2, 1 and 9 months.
"Both sets were here longer than anywhere else," the Millers noted of their short lives.
Yet, having six toddlers who didn't know each other - including the set of four who had been split nearly their entirely lives - required nearly a year to be successful at family outings from the grocery store to overnight camping, Jennifer said.
While out in public, the Miller family can't help but be noticed. Strangers often ask questions or are in disbelief they have so many, so young.
Although the Millers enjoy the opportunity to promote foster care and adoption, they also don't want their children to feel separated by a label.
"These guys will never have a normal life, if we always say 'they're adopted,'" Jennifer said.
That's not to say they don't want them to know their own story.
"It's important to know there are people who need help and people who have room in their hearts to care for them," Jason said.
Jennifer likes to dress the children alike. That makes the beginning of the day easier, when she can grab a stack of four alike shirts for the boys and two for the girls. And they each can find their own shoes.
In the beginning, she had to potty train them all.
Now, only the youngest still is in diapers. Yet, each morning, he knows to bring his own diaper and wipes into the living room, where everyone assembles to get dressed.
"I've learned along the way how to make things more convenient for myself," Jennifer said.
That includes premade breakfasts; lining up for meals after picking up their limited number of toys; and individual daily chores like unloading the dishwasher (meaning they set the dishes on the counter for Mom to put away), sorting the laundry by colors and picking up shoes.
There are no toys in the bedrooms and very few at all. That's by design, as Jennifer said she is a firm believer in imagination and outdoor play.
In a few years, Jennifer expects to home school the newest little ones, as she did their first three.
"I want to educate them as much as I can about life, so they can grow up to be successful," Jennifer said.
For now, three of them will receive an early start from the Special Learning Center (SLC). Their son with autism attended there last year and went from non-verbal to well-speaking. Two others have a genetic disorder and mild cerebral palsy.
"It's been a huge blessing to be home with these kids," Jennifer said. "Our lives will be rocked as the kids go to school."
This fall, all six will be up and dressed to load into their large passenger van to drop off the three headed to the SLC for the morning and to drop off the older sister at the Springhill Mennonite School.
That gives Jennifer a few morning hours with the youngest three before they load up again to pick up the siblings from the SLC at mid-day.
Each Sunday, they bring their "ducklings," as their church friends say, to Bible Baptist Church in Jefferson City. As at home, there's a routine and each child knows where to go and what to do.
"We feel very blessed, we're a well-oiled machine," Jennifer said.
Although the last of the adoptions were finalized in July, she said, "I don't feel different because they've been ours in our hearts the whole time."
"We want to give them a purpose now so they'll have one later," the parents agreed. "We're not perfect; but we don't want them to become statistics."
Volunteering one Sunday each month in prison ministries, Jason said he was surprised at the percentage of offenders who were in the foster system as children.
"Somebody has to give them a chance," he said.
For Jennifer, she feels this is her mission field.
"The Bible talks about taking care of the widows and orphans," she said. "I feel like this is something we can do."