At a Glance
- Dave and Jenny Marrs adopted daughter Sylvie from Congo in 2013
- Government shutdown blocked her from leaving country for nearly a year
- Twin sons Nathan and Ben were born prematurely at 29 weeks in 2010
- Family now includes five children through birth and adoption
Why it matters: The Fixer to Fabulous stars’ journey shows the complex reality of international adoption and high-risk pregnancies while building their HGTV empire.
Dave and Jenny Marrs transform homes on HGTV’s Fixer to Fabulous, but their most challenging project has been building a family of five children through birth and adoption. The couple’s journey included a devastating adoption delay that kept their daughter trapped in Africa for months and a high-risk pregnancy that nearly ended their twins’ lives.
The Adoption That Nearly Failed
The Marrses always planned to adopt, even before having biological children. After their twin sons reached 18 months, they reopened their adoption file and connected with Sylvie, born January 16, 2012, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“This was our girl,” they told News Of Los Angeles in November 2019 about their instant connection to Sylvie.
Their adoption was finalized in August 2013, but tragedy struck a month later. The Congolese government shut down, preventing any adopted children from leaving the country. Despite having a finalized adoption and passport, Sylvie couldn’t come home.
“There was nothing we could do,” Dave explained to News Of Los Angeles in 2023.
During the separation, Jenny was pregnant with high-risk complications and couldn’t travel to Congo. Dave visited Sylvie alone while they waited helplessly for the government to reopen exit permissions.
Sylvie finally arrived in the U.S. in July 2014 at age 2, eight weeks before Jenny gave birth to daughter Charlotte.
Premature Birth Nearly Took Twins
Before adoption entered the picture, the couple faced infertility struggles. They tried “one last ditch effort with fertility treatments” in 2009, Jenny told Kelly’s Korner in September 2016, resulting in her twin pregnancy.
The celebration turned to crisis when Jenny went into pre-term labor at 29 weeks in 2010. After 12 hours of medical intervention, she required emergency airlift to a larger hospital.
Doctors warned the boys would be born within 24 hours. Jenny and Dave “huddled together on the hospital bed and prayed and cried and begged God for another hour for the boys to grow in utero,” she shared in a December 2023 Instagram post.
Nathan and Ben Marrs were born four weeks later on May 29, 2010, spending nearly a month in the NICU.
Building Their Blended Family
Today the family includes:
- Nathan and Ben, 15 – twin sons born in 2010
- Sylvie, 14 – adopted daughter from Congo born in 2012
- Charlotte, 11 – daughter born in 2014
- Luke, 6 – youngest son born in 2019
The children have largely stayed off-camera as they’ve grown older. Dave told Closer Weekly in March 2022 that Nathan and Ben “don’t really have a desire right now to be on TV” at their age.
Charlotte inherited her parents’ design passion, spending hours perfectly arranging furniture in her dollhouse replica of the Fixer to Fabulous: Welcome Inn property.
Overcoming Early Trauma
Sylvie’s adjustment proved challenging after her African orphanage experience. She’d never had a warm bath and “freaked out” during her first one, Dave remembered.
“Two years after she came home, we would find food hidden under her pillow,” he added, showing how trauma manifested in hoarding behaviors.
Despite the rough start, Sylvie immediately bonded with baby Charlotte when she arrived eight weeks later. The sisters remain exceptionally close, with Jenny calling them “a pair of bright, shining lights in this world” in a September 2024 Instagram post.
Luke, the youngest, formed an “inseparable” connection with Sylvie. “I don’t think there’s ever been a better depiction of love than these two,” Jenny wrote in April 2020, noting they were “born on different continents and brought together by the very hand of a God who still performs breathtaking miracles.”
Family of Seven
By November 2019, Dave told News Of Los Angeles their family felt “bursting at the seams” in their Arkansas home.
“It was a transition. I would never say it was the easiest, most perfect thing, ’cause it wasn’t,” Jenny admitted about expanding their family through adoption and birth. “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.”
The couple acknowledges their family “look[s] a little bit different than most, what people would consider a normal family,” but emphasizes to their children that “we’re the exact same,” Dave told News Of Los Angeles 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.”
