Grammy award-winning gospel artist Israel Houghton and his wife, former The Real co-host Adrienne Bailon Houghton, welcomed their first child on Tuesday via surrogate after nearly six years of infertility.
“Our baby boy is here & we are so in love! If you have followed our love story … you know that our journey to baby has been very challenging – But God is true to His word and His promises. We have quietly prayed while sitting on this most magnificent secret for the last 9 months,” Bailon Houghton wrote on Instagram.
According to CBN News, the couple welcomed their son, Ever James, on Wednesday.
“He is worth every tear, every disappointment, every delayed prayer, every IVF cycle, every miscarriage. Everything. All we feel is joy and overwhelming love & gratitude,” she continued. “Grateful to God, to our angel surrogate and to all of our friends and family who have stood with us for over five years on this journey. He’s here, and we have never been happier to lose sleep!”
The Houghtons, who have been married since 2016, had planned to start a family in 2018. Meanwhile, Israel Houghton already has four children from past relationships.
During the airing of a 2018 episode of The Real, Bailon Houghton opened up about her struggles with infertility.
“I think that as an audience, we should be sensitive to the fact that everybody doesn’t get pregnant right away,” Bailon Houghton said at the time. “I think for myself, I thought it would happen so easily for me, and it just hasn’t happened that way.”
“I’ve had to come to peace with that it’ll happen when it’s God’s timing, and I believe in that, and I have faith in all of that,” she said. “But it can be really discouraging, and it can be really frustrating.”
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Phillip Faraone/Stringer
Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer. He is also the co-hosts of the For Your Soul podcast, which seeks to equip the church with biblical truth and sound doctrine. Visit his blog Blessed Are The Forgiven.