Dallas Cowboy's Linebacker Demarcus Ware,25, and his wife Taniqua,26, have finally become parents after 3 failed pregnancies. The Wares always wanted a large family, boys and girls, maybe twins but it appeared that their dream might never happen after Taniqua had miscarriage after miscarriage. After the third pregnancy came to an end due to miscarriage, fate intervened.
While Ware was picking up his car after repairs at a dealership in Grapevine, Tex., he struck up a conversation with its business manager, Justin Norwood. Months earlier, when Ware bought the car, he noticed photographs of Norwood’s adopted son on the wall and their conversations quickly turned to adoption. Norwood’s father, Jim, the pastor of Oakcrest Family Church in Kennedale, Tex., runs a ministry program for women. A few days later, Norwood called the Wares to say that his father knew a woman due to give birth soon who was offering her child for adoption.
Marley is that child. She was born on leap day, Feb. 29, with a black Mohawk that Taniqua said “you had to see to believe.” The Wares, who were at a wedding in Manhattan at the time, caught the first flight home.
At the hospital, Ware said, he told Taniqua, “You a momma now.” She replied, “And you a daddy.”
They named her after Bob Marley, Ware’s favorite reggae singer. Marley, with an infectious smile, is drawn to lenses, and the Wares document her so often that they run low on memory in their camera and camcorder. She has many nicknames, including Stinker and Daddy’s Little Princess.
Ware “lights up Marley’s day,” Christy Shepard, a family friend, said, adding: “She smiles when she sees him across the room. When he comes in, it’s like nobody else exists.” The feeling appears to be mutual. “That dude is just one proud papa,” Norwood said. “He’s always, always talking about his daughter.”
The Wares plan to try to conceive again, and they have talked about becoming a foster family. Recently, they started working with Jonathan’s Place, a local nonprofit adoption and boarding agency for abandoned and abused children. Ware said he hoped to become a spokesman for the agency.
He would tell everyone how Marley — and his struggle to become a father — changed his life, made him more responsible, fulfilled him in a way that football never had.
“Our little angel,” Ware said.
