Dave and Jenny Marrs' 5 Kids: All About the HGTV Stars' Sons and Daughters (Including Who Has a Knack for Home Design!)

Yahoo

28-01-2025

Dave and Jenny Marrs have a full house with their five kids: Nathan, Ben, Sylvie, Charlotte and Luke.
The Fixer to Fabulous stars wed in 2005 and welcomed twins Nathan and Ben Marrs five years later in 2010. Before their birth, Dave and Jenny always knew they wanted to adopt a child and, after a long and arduous process, were able to do so with their daughter Sylvie Marrs in 2013.
While the couple awaited Sylvie's arrival, Jenny got pregnant with their younger daughter, Charlotte, who was born in 2014, a mere eight weeks before Sylvie moved to their Arkansas home. Dave and Jenny's youngest child, Luke, arrived in 2019.
As a family of seven, Dave told PEOPLE in November 2019 that their family was 'bursting at the seams,' though it wasn't always a smooth journey welcoming more children into their household, from infertility issues to adoption.
'It was a transition. I would never say it was the easiest, most perfect thing, 'cause it wasn't,' Jenny said. 'But it was also something that I look back and I can just see the bonds that were forged throughout that time, and now they're all so close, and they defend each other.'
While Dave and Jenny understand that their family may 'look a little bit different than most, what people would consider a normal family,' they're committed to showing their children "we're the exact same," Dave told PEOPLE in April 2023.
'Adoption is a part of our family,' Jenny added. 'It's a part of our story, but they're all just our kids.'
From their adoption story to which child loves home design, here's everything to know about Dave and Jenny Marrs' kids.
Dave and Jenny welcomed their twin sons, Nathan and Ben, on May 29, 2010.
Two years earlier, after navigating infertility issues, the pair decided to look into the adoption process. But they eventually decided on 'one last ditch effort with fertility treatments," Jenny said in a 2016 interview with Kelly's Korner, which led to her becoming pregnant with twins.
Despite being ecstatic about the pregnancy, Jenny faced a difficult journey when she went into pre-term labor at 29 weeks. The mother of five opened up about the 'worst-case scenario' in a December 2023 Instagram post, detailing how she had to be airlifted to a larger hospital to receive additional medical care following 12 hours of medical intervention.
'[We] were told the boys would certainly be born within the next twenty-four hours,' Jenny wrote. 'We huddled together on the hospital bed and prayed and cried and begged God for another hour for the boys to grow in utero.'
Four weeks later, Nathan and Ben were born and spent nearly a month in the hospital.
'They had an equally terrifying entrance into the world and then were cared for with immense love and compassion for four more weeks by the NICU staff at our local Mercy Hospital,' she continued.
As Nathan and Ben have grown up, they've shied away from appearing in their parents' home renovation shows.
Dave explained in a March 2022 interview with Closer Weekly that they 'don't really have a desire right now to be on TV' because of their older age. Nonetheless, he commended the Fixer to Fabulous: Welcome Inn production team for working with their family's various filming preferences.
'Production and HGTV does such a great job of allowing our kids to be part of the show or part working in the shop with me when they want to on their terms,' he added.
Dave praised his elder sons, sharing that Ben was 'an artist' while Nathan was 'more the builder, like hands-on.'
Before Dave and Jenny welcomed any children, they knew that they wanted to adopt. After the twins reached 18 months, they decided to 'go ahead and open the [adoption] file back up," Jenny told PEOPLE in April 2023.
They came across Sylvie, a newborn from the Democratic Republic of Congo, in 2012. The Marrses told PEOPLE in November 2019 that they instantly felt a connection with her and knew 'this was our girl.'
It wasn't until August 2013 that their adoption was finalized. However, a month later, the Congolese government shut down, preventing her from exiting the country and coming home to the Marrses.
'I remember exactly where I was when we found out. I'll never forget,' Jenny recalled. 'I was constantly refreshing my email ... then, we got that news, and it was crushing.'
Despite her adoption being finalized and Sylvie obtaining a passport, Dave explained in 2023 that 'there was nothing we could do' to bring her to the U.S. at the time. During this period, Jenny was unable to travel to Congo due to her 'high-risk pregnancy' with their second daughter, Charlotte, so Dave visited her on his own.
In July 2014, Sylvie came to the U.S. when she was about 2 years old. While the couple were overjoyed to be with their daughter, Jenny told PEOPLE in 2019 that it took time for Sylvie to adjust because she had been 'taken from everything she'd ever known" and 'everything was new."
Dave remembered giving Sylvie her first bath, during which she 'freaked out' because 'she'd never had a bath in warm water.'
'Two years after she came home, we would find food hidden under her pillow, because I think subconsciously, there's a fear that, 'I may not have food tomorrow, so I need to hoard some; I need to save some,' ' Dave added. 'So there's those struggles, but there's beauty in those when they get overcome.'
Despite being faced with much change, Sylvie immediately took to her baby sister, Charlotte, who was born eight weeks before she arrived.
'That's just who she is — it's just her heart. Even as a 2½-year-old, she was so doting on Charlotte,' Jenny said in 2019. 'They have the most precious bond.'
The Marrses' second daughter, Charlotte, was born on May 16, 2014.
While Jenny was looking forward to welcoming Charlotte, she admitted she 'wasn't able to really rejoice in the amazing news' following the shutdown of the Congolese government that prevented Sylvie from coming home, she told PEOPLE in April 2023.
Of all their children, Charlotte has a knack for home design like her parents.
Jenny recalled to Closer Weekly how her younger daughter replicated the inn showcased in Fixer to Fabulous: Welcome Inn via her own dollhouse.
'She spent hours, hours setting up all of the furniture and making sure everything was perfect,' Jenny told the outlet. 'And so she really loves it and she loves to help me pick pink colors and that kind of thing.'
To commemorate National Daughter's Day in September 2024, Jenny posted a heartfelt Instagram post spotlighting her daughters.
Referring to them as her 'two beautiful, strong, loving, generous and kind daughters,' the HGTV star celebrated their sisterly bond with a series of photos of Sylvie and Charlotte throughout their childhood.
'God knit our family together in the most miraculous way and the bond these two share is deep and true,' she wrote. 'He knew that, together, they would go on great adventures and that they would be a pair of bright, shining lights in this world.'
Dave and Jenny's fifth child, Luke, was born on June 11, 2019 — four months before Fixer to Fabulous debuted its first season on HGTV.
Growing up around such a large family seemingly attributed to Luke's personality, which they joked was 'like a 2-year-old wildfire running around' in a March 2022 interview with Closer Weekly.
As the baby of the family, Luke is incredibly close to his brothers and sisters. Jenny opened up about his 'inseparable' connection to Sylvie in an April 2020 Facebook post, highlighting that 'he absolutely adores his big sister' and 'she beams with pride when he is in her arms.'
'I don't think there's ever been a better depiction of love than these two,' she captioned a series of photos of Sylvie and Luke. 'Born on different continents and brought together by the very hand of a God who still performs breathtaking miracles.'
Read the original article on People