This past spring, Mr. Rayne painted a commissioned mural inside Evermore, an occasion which re-introduced the pastor and the artist—who had loved each other quietly, in secret, painfully and from a distance, for a number of years.
Mr. Rayne’s mural featured an Eden scene.
The couple wed this summer in a private elopement, but eloped a second time, to Las Vegas, to legalize their nuptials in mid-August. The same week, they began fostering an infant.
Today, the McDowells announce the adoption of their first child, Eden Helena McDowell. Eden is six weeks old.
Pastor McDowell and Mr. McDowell say she is the first of many children in what will become a very large and happy family.