Jason Cole: Talk about your experience with adopting Marley.
DeMarcus Ware jersey: People really don't realize the blessings you can give another child, but also the blessings they can give to you. When we went to the adoption agency and we had an opportunity to adopt Marley, we were really thinking about what kind of child she was, that this was our blessing, that she is our child and that this is what God wanted us to do. Just from that, Marley is starting to realize just how much we love her and she's showing that love back. She's just a bundle of joy. Just from working with Jonathan's Place, I see a lot of kind of battered kids go in there, looking for shelter. It's a lot of inner-city kids, even some families looking for shelter. The kids will come in there for clothes or toys or whatever they need and then they'll be there for months. Then those kids will get a family to come help them out and you see the way they change from being all scared to blossoming, then getting a job, then thriving. They don't have that fear about what's going to happen to them and that's one thing Marley didn't have. We took all that away, all that fear. We took all that anxiety away from her and gave her a loving family.
Cole: Does she understand that she's not your biological child?
Ware: She's so young that she don't get that right now. We put that in her head, not that she was adopted, but that she was a blessing. We're going to tell her eventually who her mom is, everything. Give her a chance to meet her mom, whatever that may be. The thing is, you can never keep that hidden. It has to all be upfront so she understands.
Cole: You want to make sure she's completely comfortable with who she is.
Ware: Absolutely.
Cole: Your wife is five months along on this pregnancy. That's great, but is there any nervousness about it after the three miscarriages she has already had? That's a lot of heartache.
Ware jerseys: No nerves at all. People sometimes say, "You can't have kids?" or "There is going to be some kind of complication." Then this happens and there is another opportunity to have a child. So why be afraid? Yeah, you do get scared a little more each time. But it's sort of like, what have we not been through? We're taking that mentality and we're taking it as far as it will go.
Cole: A boy?
Ware: Yeah, a little boy. After losing two boys and now being surrounded by women in the house, this is that opportunity to have a little sidekick beside me. It's a blessing.
Cole: Got a name yet?
Ware: No, not yet. He'll probably be a junior, DeMarcus Jr.
Cole: So really, there are a lot of great things coming together in your life at the same time. Does this put a different emotional spin on the season for you?
Ware: I don't think it puts any different spin on this season. It's just about being grateful for the things that you have. It's not that it's a special opportunity; it's just that this is [what] you have in front of you.
Cole: What's up with this plan to have training camp in San Antonio and in Oxnard, Calif.? That sounds like it could be distracting.
Ware: Really, if you ask me in a few days where I am, I don't even really know. Because of the schedule and whatever else we have to do and how tough it is, I don't even know where I am a lot of the time. But I think this way, because of the schedule and traveling around, we're going to have a couple of more days off. On those travel days, we'll get to rest and you usually don't get that in camp. So it's actually a benefit. Usually, you're going back-to-back-to-back for a whole month. You don't get any days off. But now were going to fly to Canton [for the Hall of Fame game], fly to Dallas. Then we're going to fly to Oxnard. And you can't practice those days, so it's an extra day off. Get some sleep. I can sleep anywhere. You give me an opportunity to lay my head down for a couple of hours, it's good.
Cole: What's going to get this team beyond where it has gone the past three years? I know you got your first playoff victory in 13 years last season, but there's much more expected for the Cowboys jerseys.