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Program Open and Guest Introduction
Coming up today, we'll meet a former Ukrainian orphan who went on to become Miss Mississippi 2025. Anna Leah Jolly and her mother Kelly Jolly will tell us about the challenges of adopting a child who's gone through trauma and how a personal relationship with Jesus makes all the difference
Anna Leah Jolly For me, I'm just trying to survive like I was just came to a whole new different country and I don't even speak their language. So it's like you can only imagine how scary that is.
Kelly Jolly So if I'm trying to get close to her in a way that feels uncomfor, she's gonna push me away.
Anna Leah Jolly And then the biggest part was me becoming a Christian and I was able to build a true love connection. And if you don't have that in your life, it's gonna be very hard for the two to attach or connect or anything like that.
Jeff Chamblee It's the weekend of November 14th and 15th. I'm Jeff Chamblee and this is the Stand Radio. Welcome to the program for today, November is national adopt and it's a time to celebrate and recognize the families who welcome children into their home through foster care and adoption. And in honor of that, there's an inspiring story in this month's the Stand magazine about a couple in Mississippi who adopted an 11 year old girl from Ukraine who had a very traumatic childhood. However, the story didn't end there. This little girl went on to become the first person born outside of North America to be crowned Miss Mississippi in 2025 and placed 11th in the Miss America. And today, Anna Leah Jolly serves as global ambassador for the Christian adoption agency Lifeline Children's Services, while also attending Belle Haven University in Jackson, Mississippi. Both Anna Leah Jolly and her mother Kelly are joining us. Welcome, ladies. Good to have you.
Anna Leah Jolly Good to be here.
Kelly Jolly Yes.
Jeff Chamblee This is an amazing story. Kelly, I will start with you just a little bit. all of this began with a dream that you had when you were just a little girl that led to the adoption of Analia. Tell us about that if you would.
Kelly Recalls Her Adoption Dream And Meeting Anna Leah In Mississippi
Kelly Jolly Yes, I would say, you know, early on, maybe as early as nine years old, just was motivated to adopt. I don't I feel like that was God given just, to adopt. And I remember I did have a dream that, that I was married. And, I had a child that was fully clothed, walking. And, just. It's almost like, that kind of was a foretelling of what was to come.
Jeff Chamblee Yeah. So you and Jay, your husband, wanted to adopt. Now tell us the time that you first saw Analia. Where were you? Where was she? What was going on in that situation? That
Anna Leah Jolly was a funny story.
Kelly Jolly It is. You know, the first time I saw her was actually. It was, they had some posts, on a website and, that they were coming in town and immediately I was drawn to her. So Jay and I wanted to adopt. Jay. you know, we were praying about it. We had been praying about it for quite some time and it had been over a year since at that point that we had even discussed it again. But so we knew a church was bringing in a hosting group from Ukraine. And, it was one of those, moments that we had not really addressed it. And I went to Jay and I was like, are we going to pursue this? We are getting a little bit older. And, what are you, thinking? And he's like, And he was giving me a little bit of pushback. He just wanted to pray about it more. This is what he agreed to. He goes, fine, we will, the next quarterly meeting that they have at Pine Lake for adoption. We will, go to that meeting. The next quarterly. It actually was the next day we got the email. It was our quarterly meeting. And at that meeting there were pictures of the hosting group that was coming into town from Ukraine. From Ukraine. And so I just saw them and they're like, well, if y' all will help us, we need vehicles just to take them, transport them to different events. And I said, okay, great, well, let's go do that. at the time I was not really. I never really thought about international adoption. So I was like, well, this will be a good warm up for us a little bit. And, but we got in the group and I started seeing, you know, we joined the little social media group. And that's when I started seeing pictures of Analia. And so I was like, well, we would love to meet this little girl. You know, we're here to help out, but love to meet Anya. And that was her Ukrainian name. And he's like, okay. And then a little while it passed, and then I see, him over there kind of waving his finger at a young lady. And that was me.
Anna Leah Jolly So what had happened was it was a pre Jesus moment. And this kid that was also an orphan, so I didn't feel bad for her, took my seat, and she was being a brat about it, and she wouldn't get up. So I picked her up. Picked, her up by her collar, and I gave her, like, a nice punch. She's, like, bleeding. It was, again, a pre Jesus moment, and I didn't know, you know, anyone was watching. and she was, like, bleeding and told on me. And then I'm being, like, cussed out and rushing by this guy that was in charge of us. And then my. My parents apparently saw the whole thing happen and say, y. That's our girl. She's got spark. She's got spunk.
Kelly Jolly Yeah. I mean, it didn't deter us at all. and because we were just kind of drawn to her, but at the same time, we were just letting the Lord, steer us in the whatever direction that he had for us. Even though I was interested and, Jay and I were praying about it and seeing it through. Even at that moment, we weren't like, 100% like, okay, now we're pursuing this because we really wanted to walk through this prayerfully. And even though they were going to be here for a few weeks, and then Jay and I were talking, and we're like, yes, we do want to pursue this. But then we did find out that there were other people interested. So what we said, we don't want to interfere with anything that God may be doing in your life. So we pulled back and we waited a full seven days. And after that seven days, M. No one had come forward to kind of step up and say, hey, if you want to sign up to kind of adopt her and start the process, no one had come forward. And we're like, okay, we want to do this.
Anna Leah Describes Childhood Abuse And A Prayer For Deliverance
Jeff Chamblee Tell us about your childhood in Ukraine, because that was a pretty traumatic part of your life. And you were young. So what do you recall from those times? And you were in an orphanage in Ukraine. What was that like?
Anna Leah Jolly Yeah, I remember actually a lot from childhood. Like, I. So my biological mom was a single mom, and she was kind of very, very young, too. And I just remember she was just kind of, like, unstable as far as, like, she was very abusive, like, physically. So I was. I remember being, like, in and out of, a place called Internet, which is not an orphanage, but it's kind, of like a. Like a boarding school governed by the government. Okay,
Jeff Chamblee okay.
Anna Leah Jolly Where it's like, if you can't Take care of your kid or, like, you're. I think it's like if you're like, in jail for like a year. Because I do remember, like, having friends that, like, their parents were like, incarcerated for, like a year or something.
Jeff Chamblee Okay.
Anna Leah Jolly And, that's just kind of like a place where kids can stay but you still have parental, like, rights. And I remember being in and out of that since I was, like, five. And my mom just kind of like dropped me off at a gate of an. Basically an orphanage. And then someone, like, saw me that was working there. And, like, are you just, like, sitting here like, what happened? I'm like, I don't know. My mom just dropped me off. I was freaking out. And, it was just kind of like that, like, my whole life she'd, like, keep dropping me off there and then picking me up. And then, like, I remember just being in and out of hospitals. Like, she was just very, very abusive. And then eventually I had a really close friend. I missed school for, like, way too long than what I was supposed to. and when I came back, like, I had, like, I guess, bruises all over me or something. And so my friend told, I think it was like our principal at the school or something, like, hey, Analia is like, covered, you know, and that's when, like, legal action was actually taken. And so I just remember when I was 11, it was that same year. That was like, when I was officially. Okay, we are pretty sure parental rights are going to be removed. but I haven't been through the court process yet. It wasn't until after the trip to America that I went through the official, like, hey, do you want this person to be your mom or not? Kind of situation. And honestly, I remember thinking right before it all went down, like, right before my friend recognized that I was being abused. I remember, like, praying and not knowing it was prayer. I thought it was just something like, you know, kids make stuff up all the time. And I just kind of thought, oh, I just made this up. Like. But I remember thinking, like, hey, like, if there is anything bigger than this life, like, if there's somebody out there that's, like, making the world go around and, like, sees me. Like, I was basically asking God to take me out of this situation. Now in my mind at the moment, I was just thinking, like, out of the, like, family situation. But, like, God, pretty quickly that same year took, like, put me on the whole other side of the world. Gave me a brand new name, a brand new start and brand new identity. Which is like so crazy to me, like looking back on it now of how insane that prayer was. Like I didn't know it was about to be, you know, answered in that kind of way.
Jeff Chamblee So as a young child, did you have any knowledge of God at all in the Ukraine? What was, what was your knowledge of him?
Anna Leah Jolly so I, I do remember there being like a lot of cathedrals there and it's a very ah, Catholic environment. But I don't, I don't remember actually hearing about God. I do remember hearing about like Jesus. They worship Mary primarily. And so I just remember it being very religious, but I didn't know what the whole point was.
Jeff Chamblee Okay.
Anna Leah Jolly and I do remember having a neighbor that took me to church one day when I was even younger than 11. I don't remember how old I was, but I remember it was, I was very young. And I remember the preacher like looked at me and said, and I'll never forget this, like basically prophesied over my life. And I don't even know if he knew what he was doing, but he was like, you're gonna do big things one day. Like I don't know what it is, but there's something special about you and you're gonna like change people's lives. And I never understood like, I just kind of like, okay, one ear out the other. But I do remember that like it was kind of like one of those aha, moments in your life, like one of those core memories. And then I didn't think much about it, but it wasn't until like I came here and heard about the gospel that I was like, oh my gosh, I thought this was something I made up. Like I didn't know it was real and I didn't know how like Jesus got tied into this at all. Like I thought that was kind of two different things. so learning about the gospel was just kind of very life changing and life healing.
Kelly Explains Trauma Informed Parenting And Releasing Expectations
Jeff Chamblee So the adoption happened eventually and nine
Anna Leah Jolly months
Jeff Chamblee later and Analia came into your home. Kelly, what were, and it was, I'm sure overjoyed having her there, but there were some difficulties as well. What were some of the most difficult things in your mind that you remember having her first come into your home?
Kelly Jolly Yes, I think part of it, going into it we were a brand new parent. At the same time we were adopting an older child. And so I think each adoption, story is so different. We were with the hosting group and 14 other children got adopted alongside Analia through different parents throughout Mississippi and so one thing, you know, we bonded together, that group did as we went, through, you know, to Ukraine, through the process, different times, but some of us were able to catch up while we were there. And, you know, we were all just so excited. You know, you go into it, these kids are engaged, engaging, you know, just beautiful children that are coming from hard places. And you just kind of feel like, yes, okay, Lord, I will follow you. And we are doing this. And knew, that he would equip us. We did, dig in early on. one of the first things that we went to was a Karen Purvis. this is before she passed. It was a seminar that she gave over the course of a weekend in Birmingham. Even though going through the seminars, reading the book, it's really hard to put yourself in that situation because you're just so overjoyed and you're like, everything's going to be fine. And then you hit a problem, you know, we've got a little impasse here because, you know, there's going to be different times where things don't go like you picture and going into it. And that is the first thing I feel like I learned was, okay, adopted a child. And, you know, you have, the ideas of what a mom looks like and what it will be like. I think that's the first thing to let go of. Because I don't think you can have an expectation on a child from a place that you really don't know of and put an expectation on her to be like this. There's no way she's going to understand that. And, you're just going to continually be disappointed. And so I feel like that is the first thing to let go of. It's just truly what you think it should look like, what you want it to be like, and just completely remove that and then look to the Lord and just say, okay, okay, but now what is this? So now how do I do this? Because, there were many great times. It was Analia, I gotta say, as a child, she is so much fun. I mean, just her personality, I mean, it was, it was fun, but the hard moments were hard. And when, because she's so engaging and you just love her. There are moments where a child that's been through trauma is going to push you away. Because wait a minute, you know, her biological mom did hard things to her and she is scared of things that I don't even know. So if I'm trying to get close to her in a way that feels Uncomfortable. She's going to push me away. And that hurts. I mean, I think with a mom that hasn't let go of expectations, the hurt of that can turn into anger and can really spoil the relationship that God has for you. Let me tell you that that lesson was not easy to come by. You know, we're meant to be born into a family that you bond with your biological mom, and you really, build that connection. And when that wound is developed and when that is broken, there, there are legitimate, rewiring that happens in the brain. And so, I would say that moms that are looking into adoption, moms that are in adoption, moms that are doing foster care, you know, go into this with your eyes wide open. And even though it's not what you think it's going to be, it can be immeasurably m more than what you think it can be.
Jeff Chamblee Yeah, there's so many things. And I know that you had to learn a lot. but you did a lot of things right, you and Jay, and you had, you know, from reading your story and the magazine and hearing you, you had the humility to know that you didn't know what you needed to know. And so you were teachable.
Anna Leah Explains How Patience Communication And Faith Built Trust
So, Anna Leah, let me ask you this. When you were coming into the home, what were some of the things that your parents did to make that transition easier for you?
Anna Leah Jolly Actually, every time I speak on, like, my community service initiative, limitless, I always say, like, I think the difference between those 14 adoptions not working out and this one did is because of the therapy that they went to to learn how to raise a child that has been through trauma, which I think is a lot of parents don't do that. Like, I think they. They try. They might get like an hour in of like, three. Something that they are supposed to do because it's part of the course. But it is not like my parents did even after I was adopted. I would say one of the things that my parents did excellent at is they did so much therapy themselves of how can they be the best parents and not try to, like, fix me necessarily, but just understand me. And one thing that we're so, like. Like, she was talking about of, like, building a connection or attachment. That was their goal. That was never my goal. Of course. I'm a kid. That's not my, What do you look at that, like, your. Your end goal or whatever? You're something you're striving for. They're striving for attachment, Correct connection, feeling Like a normal family. We just adopted a kid. Everything's perfect. Everything's, you know, rainbows and butterflies. But for me, I'm just trying to survive. Like, I was just came to a whole new different country. I have these parents that, ah, I have no, like, nothing about, Like, I know nothing about them. And I. And I don't even speak their language. So it's like, you can only imagine how scary that is. And then on top of that, they're telling me, like, trust me, trust me. And I'm like, I don't know, you might like, take my organs and sell them on the black market. Like, I don't know who you are, you know, but like, you just kind of. You just kind of go with it. but that was also one of my, I guess, strengths and weaknesses, was the fact that I've been hurt so much throughout life that I didn't have that attachment. So I could just leave a country, not care about it. I can move to a whole new country and it's not scary for me. So for me that was very hard. And I think it felt, suffocating. When a parent is trying to be like, be my, you know, be my, kid. Be my kid. And you can. And yeah, it's easy. There's something like, in my head saying, like, alarms going off, like, hey, that's. That's weird. Like, why is she wanting to be so close to you? Or why do they want to be so close to you? They're setting all these rules and all these things and like, it just feels suffocating, especially to an older child that's being adopted. Because in a way, I've had a lot of freedom in Ukraine. Like, no one cared much about me, you know, so to come into a family into that dynamic was very difficult. But they did really good with communication, so they established communication and that builds trust. They did a very good job with not overreacting, explaining why it is important not to do it and like, what the consequences can be. They were really good at like, painting consequences. And then on top of that saying, hey, this is not what we believe. This is the Bible. If you don't trust us, go look it up yourself. Like, they weren't like, oh, this is just. I said so. You know, I think they had like, maybe one season of I said so. And it just didn't work on me. I'm like, I'm not trusting. I said so. You know, like, I'm gonna need the Lord himself to tell me. so they were like, yeah, look, it says in the Bible right there, don't do this, this, this and this. And so it kind of helped me that I had. I didn't. I don't know. Like, they always explained why they, for the most part, why they were saying what they were saying.
Jeff Chamblee Okay.
Anna Leah Jolly And that helped me, like, like, build trust with them. But I know you can't do that with every single child. I know it's, like, different for everyone, but for me, that, like, established trust. And then the biggest part that I think no one talks about, like, my parents did so good with, like, understanding, hey, she's been through so much trauma. How can we not just make her, like, like, adjust to our lifestyle? How do we. How do we, like, help to become a. Basically a brand new family? And one of those things was me becoming a Christian. And I was able to build a true love connection. And it might have not been this scientific, you know, birth thing that we have. It doesn't mean it's love. I'm, not saying that, like, parents don't love their kids. They do, but it is a different. It's a chemical attachment. Love is different. Love is all the things that the Lord lists as love is. You know, love is God. And if you don't have that in your life, it's gonna be very hard for the two to attach or connect or anything like that. So I think that was a key component in our relationship. Relationship.
Limitless Power To Connect Emerges From Anna Leah’s Personal Experience
Jeff Chamblee We're speaking with Anna Leah Jolly and her mother Kelly. Anna Leah was Miss Mississippi in 2025. And there is a wonderful article in this month's the Stan magazine that we want you to check out, titled A Dream and a Prayer, written by staff writer Stacy Singh. We'll put a link to that on our podcast page. So much wisdom in what you all are saying today. communication is so central. Analia, tell us about limitless power to connect, because that whole initiative came out of your experience. Tell us goal is for that organization.
Anna Leah Jolly Yes. So I, competed for Mississippi in 2024, and it's the Miss America program that, you know, you have to compete for Miss America. And I remember thinking, like, okay, if there's any initiative that I could advocate for, what would it be? And you can literally pick anything. I talked to mom about it. I was like, mom, I don't know what to do. And at the moment, all we had was the word limitless. That's all we had, like the word limitless. And then, started kind of like, like digging of like, okay, look, let's look at my life, and I've honestly always kind of shied away from picking adoption or foster care just because it's something that was kind of traumatic for me. So I just kind of didn't think that I would have anything valuable to say about it or anyone would care, you know? And I didn't know that it would be, I guess, needed until I did my research. And that's when I found casa, which stands for a Court Appointed Special Advocate. It kind of started with me just partnering with them and be like, hey, hey, what do y' all need? Sure. And they needed, like coloring books and different things. And they, needed more advocates and they needed, they needed, honestly, Mississippi. To even know, like, what is advocating for a child in court even, like, looks like. So they needed someone to just speak out about it. And that was me. I just shared my personal story of, like, coming from Ukraine not speaking a lick of English at 11 years old. you know, becoming a dancer, ballet was like, my life. I remember thinking like, okay, if I could help one child, what would it be? And I realized that it wasn't giving them more food or giving them, you know, like, whatever. It was both the child and the parents both need to learn how to, like, connect. Connection was like the big next thing. I was like, okay, if we were to help kids and parents to connect, what would that look like? And what. And we just kind of like, we're like, okay, what are the things that we did? Right? You know, we're just starting talking about like, okay, what was the correct thing? And I was also. So that same year, it was in a really bad, like, car wreck, and I went to a therapist, which was big for me because I was so, like, against therapy for some reason. And I went to a therapist and it was just the best experience ever. And she talked HM, about like, the. The emotion wheel a little bit. And then mom brought it up later so that I kind of like, remembered the therapist talking about, the emotion wheel. And then I remember mom, and it just kind of like came together like, okay, we need. We need kids to be comfortable, to share emotions that can later lead into them sharing trauma experience. Because I had such a hard time with therapists and therapy, I was like, how do we bring therapy to a child and to the parents without making it feel like it's therapy? And so that's when Limitless Power to Connect was born. My website, so it's literally limitlesspower2connect.com and it just Talks about to the parents, kind of explains the emotion wheel and how to use it and how, like, little kids might not even know how to put words to what they're feeling. And then breaking that down into kind of connection, I guess. Breaking it down to, like, okay, this is what you're feeling. This might be why. And, like, keep asking why, why, why, why, why? Until they get to the actual like, okay, that's why. And hopefully it, helps to build a stronger bond.
Children’s Books Encourage Emotional Expression And Parental Listening
And then for the kids, the kids don't want to do all that. You know, they kind of feel like it's therapy. So my thing was books. So, like, if I was to release a book, what would it be about? one of them was Annalia, the Limitless Ballerina. That one was just about, like, literally achieving your dream. But then the other one was Theodore, the little bear with big feelings. And that's the two that came together, the website and the theater book. Theodore was this little bear that gets adopted, and he doesn't know what to do with his feelings. Everything's brand new. It's kind of like the Goldilocks story of, like, everything feels different. And, the mom in the story brings the emotion wheel and kind of says, like, hey, this is an emotional wheel. This is kind of how to use it. And he was able to express, like, how he felt about things, and they were able to connect. And the whole thing at the very, very end is that the parents listened, and the parents didn't do anything necessarily about it. They just listened. And that was kind of the. The whole thing is like, hey, the, emotion wheel is not for you to, like, fix your child. You know, the emotion wheel is just to get you to hear your kid. When I look at those adoptions that didn't work out, and I'm friends with so many of those kids, that came from Ukraine, I see both sides. I see the kids that are like, I didn't know what to do, and I felt like I didn't belong. And these parents had other kids, and I felt like I was just, like, the odd one out or whatever, you know, like, they. There were so many feelings. Feelings. But then I also saw the parent side of, like, not that they were trying to make them normal, but they were trying to make them like their kids. But you can't necessarily treat them like your kids because they have a whole different past. So I've saw the. The struggle in both, and so Limitless was born out of helping both.
The Host Thanks Guests Promotes Resources And Closes The Program
Jeff Chamblee well, thank you so much for sharing that. We just rejoice in what God has done and we'll pray for you in the years ahead that he would give you more and more opportunities, opportunities to point people to Him. Kelly, thank you for coming and thank you for sharing your story and encouraging the people who are interested in adoption and some of the things that they might need to look into.
Kelly Jolly Yes,
Jeff Chamblee thank you so much for being here. And don't miss the article A Dream and a Prayer by Stacy Singh in this month's the Stand Magazine. And coming up next week, we'll have a best of edition of the Stan Radio with author Perry C. Brown. He'll take us on a journey into what motivated King David's worship and the transforming power of a grateful heart. Today's program is available as a podcast at afr.net or on Spotify or itunes. And a free trial subscription to the Stand magazine is available to you when you visit thestand.net thanks for listening and join us again next time on the Stand Radio.
Listener Support Comments
Jeff Chamblee Hello, I'm Jeff Chamblee. Did you know that this content is listener supported? Without people like you, this podcast wouldn't exist. That's why we need you. A generous monthly gift of any amount will help sustain American Family Radio and specifically this podcast. Please consider becoming a monthly financial partner today by visiting afruh.net give that's afr ah.net give
Program Open and Guest Introduction
Coming up today, we'll meet a former Ukrainian orphan who went on to become Miss Mississippi 2025. Anna Leah Jolly and her mother Kelly Jolly will tell us about the challenges of adopting a child who's gone through trauma and how a personal relationship with Jesus makes all the difference
Anna Leah Jolly For me, I'm just trying to survive like I was just came to a whole new different country and I don't even speak their language. So it's like you can only imagine how scary that is.
Kelly Jolly So if I'm trying to get close to her in a way that feels uncomfor, she's gonna push me away.
Anna Leah Jolly And then the biggest part was me becoming a Christian and I was able to build a true love connection. And if you don't have that in your life, it's gonna be very hard for the two to attach or connect or anything like that.
Jeff Chamblee It's the weekend of November 14th and 15th. I'm Jeff Chamblee and this is the Stand Radio. Welcome to the program for today, November is national adopt and it's a time to celebrate and recognize the families who welcome children into their home through foster care and adoption. And in honor of that, there's an inspiring story in this month's the Stand magazine about a couple in Mississippi who adopted an 11 year old girl from Ukraine who had a very traumatic childhood. However, the story didn't end there. This little girl went on to become the first person born outside of North America to be crowned Miss Mississippi in 2025 and placed 11th in the Miss America. And today, Anna Leah Jolly serves as global ambassador for the Christian adoption agency Lifeline Children's Services, while also attending Belle Haven University in Jackson, Mississippi. Both Anna Leah Jolly and her mother Kelly are joining us. Welcome, ladies. Good to have you.
Anna Leah Jolly Good to be here.
Kelly Jolly Yes.
Jeff Chamblee This is an amazing story. Kelly, I will start with you just a little bit. all of this began with a dream that you had when you were just a little girl that led to the adoption of Analia. Tell us about that if you would.
Kelly Recalls Her Adoption Dream And Meeting Anna Leah In Mississippi
Kelly Jolly Yes, I would say, you know, early on, maybe as early as nine years old, just was motivated to adopt. I don't I feel like that was God given just, to adopt. And I remember I did have a dream that, that I was married. And, I had a child that was fully clothed, walking. And, just. It's almost like, that kind of was a foretelling of what was to come.
Jeff Chamblee Yeah. So you and Jay, your husband, wanted to adopt. Now tell us the time that you first saw Analia. Where were you? Where was she? What was going on in that situation? That
Anna Leah Jolly was a funny story.
Kelly Jolly It is. You know, the first time I saw her was actually. It was, they had some posts, on a website and, that they were coming in town and immediately I was drawn to her. So Jay and I wanted to adopt. Jay. you know, we were praying about it. We had been praying about it for quite some time and it had been over a year since at that point that we had even discussed it again. But so we knew a church was bringing in a hosting group from Ukraine. And, it was one of those, moments that we had not really addressed it. And I went to Jay and I was like, are we going to pursue this? We are getting a little bit older. And, what are you, thinking? And he's like, And he was giving me a little bit of pushback. He just wanted to pray about it more. This is what he agreed to. He goes, fine, we will, the next quarterly meeting that they have at Pine Lake for adoption. We will, go to that meeting. The next quarterly. It actually was the next day we got the email. It was our quarterly meeting. And at that meeting there were pictures of the hosting group that was coming into town from Ukraine. From Ukraine. And so I just saw them and they're like, well, if y' all will help us, we need vehicles just to take them, transport them to different events. And I said, okay, great, well, let's go do that. at the time I was not really. I never really thought about international adoption. So I was like, well, this will be a good warm up for us a little bit. And, but we got in the group and I started seeing, you know, we joined the little social media group. And that's when I started seeing pictures of Analia. And so I was like, well, we would love to meet this little girl. You know, we're here to help out, but love to meet Anya. And that was her Ukrainian name. And he's like, okay. And then a little while it passed, and then I see, him over there kind of waving his finger at a young lady. And that was me.
Anna Leah Jolly So what had happened was it was a pre Jesus moment. And this kid that was also an orphan, so I didn't feel bad for her, took my seat, and she was being a brat about it, and she wouldn't get up. So I picked her up. Picked, her up by her collar, and I gave her, like, a nice punch. She's, like, bleeding. It was, again, a pre Jesus moment, and I didn't know, you know, anyone was watching. and she was, like, bleeding and told on me. And then I'm being, like, cussed out and rushing by this guy that was in charge of us. And then my. My parents apparently saw the whole thing happen and say, y. That's our girl. She's got spark. She's got spunk.
Kelly Jolly Yeah. I mean, it didn't deter us at all. and because we were just kind of drawn to her, but at the same time, we were just letting the Lord, steer us in the whatever direction that he had for us. Even though I was interested and, Jay and I were praying about it and seeing it through. Even at that moment, we weren't like, 100% like, okay, now we're pursuing this because we really wanted to walk through this prayerfully. And even though they were going to be here for a few weeks, and then Jay and I were talking, and we're like, yes, we do want to pursue this. But then we did find out that there were other people interested. So what we said, we don't want to interfere with anything that God may be doing in your life. So we pulled back and we waited a full seven days. And after that seven days, M. No one had come forward to kind of step up and say, hey, if you want to sign up to kind of adopt her and start the process, no one had come forward. And we're like, okay, we want to do this.
Anna Leah Describes Childhood Abuse And A Prayer For Deliverance
Jeff Chamblee Tell us about your childhood in Ukraine, because that was a pretty traumatic part of your life. And you were young. So what do you recall from those times? And you were in an orphanage in Ukraine. What was that like?
Anna Leah Jolly Yeah, I remember actually a lot from childhood. Like, I. So my biological mom was a single mom, and she was kind of very, very young, too. And I just remember she was just kind of, like, unstable as far as, like, she was very abusive, like, physically. So I was. I remember being, like, in and out of, a place called Internet, which is not an orphanage, but it's kind, of like a. Like a boarding school governed by the government. Okay,
Jeff Chamblee okay.
Anna Leah Jolly Where it's like, if you can't Take care of your kid or, like, you're. I think it's like if you're like, in jail for like a year. Because I do remember, like, having friends that, like, their parents were like, incarcerated for, like a year or something.
Jeff Chamblee Okay.
Anna Leah Jolly And, that's just kind of like a place where kids can stay but you still have parental, like, rights. And I remember being in and out of that since I was, like, five. And my mom just kind of like dropped me off at a gate of an. Basically an orphanage. And then someone, like, saw me that was working there. And, like, are you just, like, sitting here like, what happened? I'm like, I don't know. My mom just dropped me off. I was freaking out. And, it was just kind of like that, like, my whole life she'd, like, keep dropping me off there and then picking me up. And then, like, I remember just being in and out of hospitals. Like, she was just very, very abusive. And then eventually I had a really close friend. I missed school for, like, way too long than what I was supposed to. and when I came back, like, I had, like, I guess, bruises all over me or something. And so my friend told, I think it was like our principal at the school or something, like, hey, Analia is like, covered, you know, and that's when, like, legal action was actually taken. And so I just remember when I was 11, it was that same year. That was like, when I was officially. Okay, we are pretty sure parental rights are going to be removed. but I haven't been through the court process yet. It wasn't until after the trip to America that I went through the official, like, hey, do you want this person to be your mom or not? Kind of situation. And honestly, I remember thinking right before it all went down, like, right before my friend recognized that I was being abused. I remember, like, praying and not knowing it was prayer. I thought it was just something like, you know, kids make stuff up all the time. And I just kind of thought, oh, I just made this up. Like. But I remember thinking, like, hey, like, if there is anything bigger than this life, like, if there's somebody out there that's, like, making the world go around and, like, sees me. Like, I was basically asking God to take me out of this situation. Now in my mind at the moment, I was just thinking, like, out of the, like, family situation. But, like, God, pretty quickly that same year took, like, put me on the whole other side of the world. Gave me a brand new name, a brand new start and brand new identity. Which is like so crazy to me, like looking back on it now of how insane that prayer was. Like I didn't know it was about to be, you know, answered in that kind of way.
Jeff Chamblee So as a young child, did you have any knowledge of God at all in the Ukraine? What was, what was your knowledge of him?
Anna Leah Jolly so I, I do remember there being like a lot of cathedrals there and it's a very ah, Catholic environment. But I don't, I don't remember actually hearing about God. I do remember hearing about like Jesus. They worship Mary primarily. And so I just remember it being very religious, but I didn't know what the whole point was.
Jeff Chamblee Okay.
Anna Leah Jolly and I do remember having a neighbor that took me to church one day when I was even younger than 11. I don't remember how old I was, but I remember it was, I was very young. And I remember the preacher like looked at me and said, and I'll never forget this, like basically prophesied over my life. And I don't even know if he knew what he was doing, but he was like, you're gonna do big things one day. Like I don't know what it is, but there's something special about you and you're gonna like change people's lives. And I never understood like, I just kind of like, okay, one ear out the other. But I do remember that like it was kind of like one of those aha, moments in your life, like one of those core memories. And then I didn't think much about it, but it wasn't until like I came here and heard about the gospel that I was like, oh my gosh, I thought this was something I made up. Like I didn't know it was real and I didn't know how like Jesus got tied into this at all. Like I thought that was kind of two different things. so learning about the gospel was just kind of very life changing and life healing.
Kelly Explains Trauma Informed Parenting And Releasing Expectations
Jeff Chamblee So the adoption happened eventually and nine
Anna Leah Jolly months
Jeff Chamblee later and Analia came into your home. Kelly, what were, and it was, I'm sure overjoyed having her there, but there were some difficulties as well. What were some of the most difficult things in your mind that you remember having her first come into your home?
Kelly Jolly Yes, I think part of it, going into it we were a brand new parent. At the same time we were adopting an older child. And so I think each adoption, story is so different. We were with the hosting group and 14 other children got adopted alongside Analia through different parents throughout Mississippi and so one thing, you know, we bonded together, that group did as we went, through, you know, to Ukraine, through the process, different times, but some of us were able to catch up while we were there. And, you know, we were all just so excited. You know, you go into it, these kids are engaged, engaging, you know, just beautiful children that are coming from hard places. And you just kind of feel like, yes, okay, Lord, I will follow you. And we are doing this. And knew, that he would equip us. We did, dig in early on. one of the first things that we went to was a Karen Purvis. this is before she passed. It was a seminar that she gave over the course of a weekend in Birmingham. Even though going through the seminars, reading the book, it's really hard to put yourself in that situation because you're just so overjoyed and you're like, everything's going to be fine. And then you hit a problem, you know, we've got a little impasse here because, you know, there's going to be different times where things don't go like you picture and going into it. And that is the first thing I feel like I learned was, okay, adopted a child. And, you know, you have, the ideas of what a mom looks like and what it will be like. I think that's the first thing to let go of. Because I don't think you can have an expectation on a child from a place that you really don't know of and put an expectation on her to be like this. There's no way she's going to understand that. And, you're just going to continually be disappointed. And so I feel like that is the first thing to let go of. It's just truly what you think it should look like, what you want it to be like, and just completely remove that and then look to the Lord and just say, okay, okay, but now what is this? So now how do I do this? Because, there were many great times. It was Analia, I gotta say, as a child, she is so much fun. I mean, just her personality, I mean, it was, it was fun, but the hard moments were hard. And when, because she's so engaging and you just love her. There are moments where a child that's been through trauma is going to push you away. Because wait a minute, you know, her biological mom did hard things to her and she is scared of things that I don't even know. So if I'm trying to get close to her in a way that feels Uncomfortable. She's going to push me away. And that hurts. I mean, I think with a mom that hasn't let go of expectations, the hurt of that can turn into anger and can really spoil the relationship that God has for you. Let me tell you that that lesson was not easy to come by. You know, we're meant to be born into a family that you bond with your biological mom, and you really, build that connection. And when that wound is developed and when that is broken, there, there are legitimate, rewiring that happens in the brain. And so, I would say that moms that are looking into adoption, moms that are in adoption, moms that are doing foster care, you know, go into this with your eyes wide open. And even though it's not what you think it's going to be, it can be immeasurably m more than what you think it can be.
Jeff Chamblee Yeah, there's so many things. And I know that you had to learn a lot. but you did a lot of things right, you and Jay, and you had, you know, from reading your story and the magazine and hearing you, you had the humility to know that you didn't know what you needed to know. And so you were teachable.
Anna Leah Explains How Patience Communication And Faith Built Trust
So, Anna Leah, let me ask you this. When you were coming into the home, what were some of the things that your parents did to make that transition easier for you?
Anna Leah Jolly Actually, every time I speak on, like, my community service initiative, limitless, I always say, like, I think the difference between those 14 adoptions not working out and this one did is because of the therapy that they went to to learn how to raise a child that has been through trauma, which I think is a lot of parents don't do that. Like, I think they. They try. They might get like an hour in of like, three. Something that they are supposed to do because it's part of the course. But it is not like my parents did even after I was adopted. I would say one of the things that my parents did excellent at is they did so much therapy themselves of how can they be the best parents and not try to, like, fix me necessarily, but just understand me. And one thing that we're so, like. Like, she was talking about of, like, building a connection or attachment. That was their goal. That was never my goal. Of course. I'm a kid. That's not my, What do you look at that, like, your. Your end goal or whatever? You're something you're striving for. They're striving for attachment, Correct connection, feeling Like a normal family. We just adopted a kid. Everything's perfect. Everything's, you know, rainbows and butterflies. But for me, I'm just trying to survive. Like, I was just came to a whole new different country. I have these parents that, ah, I have no, like, nothing about, Like, I know nothing about them. And I. And I don't even speak their language. So it's like, you can only imagine how scary that is. And then on top of that, they're telling me, like, trust me, trust me. And I'm like, I don't know, you might like, take my organs and sell them on the black market. Like, I don't know who you are, you know, but like, you just kind of. You just kind of go with it. but that was also one of my, I guess, strengths and weaknesses, was the fact that I've been hurt so much throughout life that I didn't have that attachment. So I could just leave a country, not care about it. I can move to a whole new country and it's not scary for me. So for me that was very hard. And I think it felt, suffocating. When a parent is trying to be like, be my, you know, be my, kid. Be my kid. And you can. And yeah, it's easy. There's something like, in my head saying, like, alarms going off, like, hey, that's. That's weird. Like, why is she wanting to be so close to you? Or why do they want to be so close to you? They're setting all these rules and all these things and like, it just feels suffocating, especially to an older child that's being adopted. Because in a way, I've had a lot of freedom in Ukraine. Like, no one cared much about me, you know, so to come into a family into that dynamic was very difficult. But they did really good with communication, so they established communication and that builds trust. They did a very good job with not overreacting, explaining why it is important not to do it and like, what the consequences can be. They were really good at like, painting consequences. And then on top of that saying, hey, this is not what we believe. This is the Bible. If you don't trust us, go look it up yourself. Like, they weren't like, oh, this is just. I said so. You know, I think they had like, maybe one season of I said so. And it just didn't work on me. I'm like, I'm not trusting. I said so. You know, like, I'm gonna need the Lord himself to tell me. so they were like, yeah, look, it says in the Bible right there, don't do this, this, this and this. And so it kind of helped me that I had. I didn't. I don't know. Like, they always explained why they, for the most part, why they were saying what they were saying.
Jeff Chamblee Okay.
Anna Leah Jolly And that helped me, like, like, build trust with them. But I know you can't do that with every single child. I know it's, like, different for everyone, but for me, that, like, established trust. And then the biggest part that I think no one talks about, like, my parents did so good with, like, understanding, hey, she's been through so much trauma. How can we not just make her, like, like, adjust to our lifestyle? How do we. How do we, like, help to become a. Basically a brand new family? And one of those things was me becoming a Christian. And I was able to build a true love connection. And it might have not been this scientific, you know, birth thing that we have. It doesn't mean it's love. I'm, not saying that, like, parents don't love their kids. They do, but it is a different. It's a chemical attachment. Love is different. Love is all the things that the Lord lists as love is. You know, love is God. And if you don't have that in your life, it's gonna be very hard for the two to attach or connect or anything like that. So I think that was a key component in our relationship. Relationship.
Limitless Power To Connect Emerges From Anna Leah’s Personal Experience
Jeff Chamblee We're speaking with Anna Leah Jolly and her mother Kelly. Anna Leah was Miss Mississippi in 2025. And there is a wonderful article in this month's the Stan magazine that we want you to check out, titled A Dream and a Prayer, written by staff writer Stacy Singh. We'll put a link to that on our podcast page. So much wisdom in what you all are saying today. communication is so central. Analia, tell us about limitless power to connect, because that whole initiative came out of your experience. Tell us goal is for that organization.
Anna Leah Jolly Yes. So I, competed for Mississippi in 2024, and it's the Miss America program that, you know, you have to compete for Miss America. And I remember thinking, like, okay, if there's any initiative that I could advocate for, what would it be? And you can literally pick anything. I talked to mom about it. I was like, mom, I don't know what to do. And at the moment, all we had was the word limitless. That's all we had, like the word limitless. And then, started kind of like, like digging of like, okay, look, let's look at my life, and I've honestly always kind of shied away from picking adoption or foster care just because it's something that was kind of traumatic for me. So I just kind of didn't think that I would have anything valuable to say about it or anyone would care, you know? And I didn't know that it would be, I guess, needed until I did my research. And that's when I found casa, which stands for a Court Appointed Special Advocate. It kind of started with me just partnering with them and be like, hey, hey, what do y' all need? Sure. And they needed, like coloring books and different things. And they, needed more advocates and they needed, they needed, honestly, Mississippi. To even know, like, what is advocating for a child in court even, like, looks like. So they needed someone to just speak out about it. And that was me. I just shared my personal story of, like, coming from Ukraine not speaking a lick of English at 11 years old. you know, becoming a dancer, ballet was like, my life. I remember thinking like, okay, if I could help one child, what would it be? And I realized that it wasn't giving them more food or giving them, you know, like, whatever. It was both the child and the parents both need to learn how to, like, connect. Connection was like the big next thing. I was like, okay, if we were to help kids and parents to connect, what would that look like? And what. And we just kind of like, we're like, okay, what are the things that we did? Right? You know, we're just starting talking about like, okay, what was the correct thing? And I was also. So that same year, it was in a really bad, like, car wreck, and I went to a therapist, which was big for me because I was so, like, against therapy for some reason. And I went to a therapist and it was just the best experience ever. And she talked HM, about like, the. The emotion wheel a little bit. And then mom brought it up later so that I kind of like, remembered the therapist talking about, the emotion wheel. And then I remember mom, and it just kind of like came together like, okay, we need. We need kids to be comfortable, to share emotions that can later lead into them sharing trauma experience. Because I had such a hard time with therapists and therapy, I was like, how do we bring therapy to a child and to the parents without making it feel like it's therapy? And so that's when Limitless Power to Connect was born. My website, so it's literally limitlesspower2connect.com and it just Talks about to the parents, kind of explains the emotion wheel and how to use it and how, like, little kids might not even know how to put words to what they're feeling. And then breaking that down into kind of connection, I guess. Breaking it down to, like, okay, this is what you're feeling. This might be why. And, like, keep asking why, why, why, why, why? Until they get to the actual like, okay, that's why. And hopefully it, helps to build a stronger bond.
Children’s Books Encourage Emotional Expression And Parental Listening
And then for the kids, the kids don't want to do all that. You know, they kind of feel like it's therapy. So my thing was books. So, like, if I was to release a book, what would it be about? one of them was Annalia, the Limitless Ballerina. That one was just about, like, literally achieving your dream. But then the other one was Theodore, the little bear with big feelings. And that's the two that came together, the website and the theater book. Theodore was this little bear that gets adopted, and he doesn't know what to do with his feelings. Everything's brand new. It's kind of like the Goldilocks story of, like, everything feels different. And, the mom in the story brings the emotion wheel and kind of says, like, hey, this is an emotional wheel. This is kind of how to use it. And he was able to express, like, how he felt about things, and they were able to connect. And the whole thing at the very, very end is that the parents listened, and the parents didn't do anything necessarily about it. They just listened. And that was kind of the. The whole thing is like, hey, the, emotion wheel is not for you to, like, fix your child. You know, the emotion wheel is just to get you to hear your kid. When I look at those adoptions that didn't work out, and I'm friends with so many of those kids, that came from Ukraine, I see both sides. I see the kids that are like, I didn't know what to do, and I felt like I didn't belong. And these parents had other kids, and I felt like I was just, like, the odd one out or whatever, you know, like, they. There were so many feelings. Feelings. But then I also saw the parent side of, like, not that they were trying to make them normal, but they were trying to make them like their kids. But you can't necessarily treat them like your kids because they have a whole different past. So I've saw the. The struggle in both, and so Limitless was born out of helping both.
The Host Thanks Guests Promotes Resources And Closes The Program
Jeff Chamblee well, thank you so much for sharing that. We just rejoice in what God has done and we'll pray for you in the years ahead that he would give you more and more opportunities, opportunities to point people to Him. Kelly, thank you for coming and thank you for sharing your story and encouraging the people who are interested in adoption and some of the things that they might need to look into.
Kelly Jolly Yes,
Jeff Chamblee thank you so much for being here. And don't miss the article A Dream and a Prayer by Stacy Singh in this month's the Stand Magazine. And coming up next week, we'll have a best of edition of the Stan Radio with author Perry C. Brown. He'll take us on a journey into what motivated King David's worship and the transforming power of a grateful heart. Today's program is available as a podcast at afr.net or on Spotify or itunes. And a free trial subscription to the Stand magazine is available to you when you visit thestand.net thanks for listening and join us again next time on the Stand Radio.
Former Ukrainian orphan Anna Leah Jolly’s life took a remarkable turn when she was adopted at age 11 by Kelly and Jay Jolly. In this episode, Anna Leah and Kelly share the journey of adoption from a childhood marked by abuse and instability to a new home, a new faith, and an unexpected future: Anna Leah became Miss Mississippi 2025 and placed 11th in the Miss America competition.
They speak candidly about the realities of adopting an older child who has experienced trauma, including the importance of patience, preparation, therapy, communication, and letting go of expectations. Anna Leah explains how trust grew through honest conversations and how her relationship with Jesus formed the basis of a deeper connection with her adoptive family.
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