hi, i’m joan!
Wife, adoptive mom, and a storyteller at heart. I created Chosen & Loved to share what we’re learning as we build our family through love, embrace the everyday adventures of parenthood, and root our lives in faith.
Come along as we share the heartfelt experiences, little joys, and meaningful moments that make this life ours.
Welcome to Chosen & Loved. 🤎
meet our family
Hi, we’re the Maslangs. 🤍
Samuel, Joan, and our little girl, Lorie. Welcome to our cozy corner of the internet.
We’re a family brought together in an unexpected and beautiful way, learning every day that there is more than one way to become a family – and that love has a way of making a place feel like home.
how we became us
Long before Lorie came into our lives, Samuel and I dreamed of building a family. We knew that our family might not come together in the way people traditionally imagine, but we also knew that parenthood was something we wanted to embrace through love, commitment, and faith.
Our path eventually led us to adoption. There were prayers, conversation, paperwork, waiting, and plenty of moments when we simply had to trust that the next step would come at the right time.
Then, in March 2025, we were matched with Lorie.
And somehow, all those months of waiting began to look different in hindsight.
What had once been a hope became a little girl we could finally hold, know, and love. She wasn’t simply someone joining the family we had imagined – she was the family we had been waiting for.
This is the life we once waited for. And now, we get to live it.
life with lorie
These days, our home is a little louder, a lot busier, and infinitely more joyful. There are toddler giggles, toys everywhere, meals shared around the table, bedtime stories, weekend adventures, and the daily negotiations that come with raising a very determined little girl. 😅
We’re learning that family life isn’t about getting everything right. It’s about being present. It’s about showing up, making memories, apologizing when we get it wrong, celebrating the little wins, and choosing love again and again.
Some of our favorite moments are the ones that probably wouldn’t make it into a highlight reel – the ordinary mornings, silly conversations, sleepy cuddles , and spontaneous adventures close to home.
why chosen & loved?
The name Chosen & Loved was inspired by our own adoption story, but it has come to mean something much bigger to us.
To be chosen is to belong. To be loved is to know that you are valued – not because of what you accomplish or how perfectly you fit into someone else’s plans, but simply because you are you.
Our experience of adoption has given us a particularly beautiful window into this truth. But it is a truth we believe speaks to all of us, wherever we may find ourselves in life.
We are chosen. We are loved. And we are called to loved in return.
what we share here
Chosen & Loved is where we document some of the things that make up our life and shape the way we see it.
🤍 adoption journey. The real-life experiences, reflections, lessons and resources we’ve gathered along our adoption journey in the Philippines.
🏚️ family life. The everyday joys, adventures, traditions, challenges, and little moments that make up life as a family.
✨ rooted in faith. Reflections on faith, purpose, relationships, and the values that ground us – including causes and conversations we believe are worth caring about.
our hope for this space
More than anything, we hope this little corner of the internet feels like a welcoming place.
Some post will be deeply personal. Others may simply be observations from everyday life, something we’re learning, or a cause that has made us stop and think.
Maybe you’re exploring adoption yourself. Maybe you’re raising a family and navigating the beautiful chaos of everyday life. Maybe you’re in a season of waiting, discerning what’s next, or simply looking for something that reminds you that you’re not alone.
Wherever you are, we hope you’ll find something here that makes you pause, smile, reflect, or feel encouraged.
Because if our own journey has taught us anything, it is this:
Sometimes the path looks nothing like what we imagined – and yet, somehow, we find ourselves exactly where we were meant to be.
Welcome to our family.
We’re so glad you’re here. 🤎