James Van Der Beek Shares New Family Pics after He Helped Save Wife's Life & They Moved to Ranch

• "Dawson Creek" star James Van Der Beek lives a dream life with his wife of 12 years, Kimberly Van Der Beek, and six kids on a ranch.

• Kimberly was teetering on the brink between life and death after five miscarriages, and James helped bring her back to a healthy life.

• The couple surprisingly welcomed their sixth child after deciding to leave Los Angeles for "healing" Texas.

TV actor James Van Der Beek and his wife of 12 years, Kimberly Van Der Beek, are celebrating their third child's milestone. The couple marked their daughter Annabel's ninth birthday – whom they welcomed in 2014.

The proud dad of six paid homage to the birthday girl on Instagram and penned a lengthy post accompanied by several pictures of the father-and-daughter duo.

"Nine years old today. Nine years of getting to live in the same house with sweet, loving kindness personified." the doting father of six wrote.

"Keep shining, kid. Keep dancing, keep laughing, and keep expressing every feeling as it comes up for you. [...] I love you."

Meanwhile, James's spouse Kimberly also paid tribute to their second oldest daughter on social media. The mother of six posted one photo of the birthday girl, another with her dad, and the last one was the family group photo, including Annabel's siblings. She captioned her post:

"Annabel, beautiful heart fairy princess. I love you. Happy 9th birthday my heaven."

The family of eight now lives on a country ranch after deciding to leave their Los Angeles home. Their lives are now different after all they have been through.

James, after Becoming a Dad of 5

James and Kimberly first met in Israel and tied the knot there. When asked during a joint interview why they love the place so much, Kimberly said: "It's where we met; it's where we fell in love."

While James answered, "It's a pretty magical place. There's an energy, a vibration that transcends any one religion or ideology. You can feel it."

The couple walked down the aisle in 2010 and later welcomed five children, son Joshua and daughters Olivia, Annabel, Gwendolyn, and Emilia.

In December 2020, James talked about how fatherhood has impacted his life, adding that growing their family has "rapidly expanded our ranks." He explained:

"I think fatherhood changes you from the inside out. It's not this thing where you think, 'Oh, I have to be responsible; I have to take more on.' You just want to, almost automatically."

He and his wife settled at their Beverly Hills house after getting married. The newlyweds had such a busy "crazy" life that they did not manage to design their new home:

"We never had the time to focus on designing the house properly before. We just kept having kids and working. Our home was a crazy jumble of pieces from different places we'd lived in before."

Kimberly's "Life Was on the Line" after Five Miscarriages

Having five children did not come easy for James and Kimberly. Kimberly suffered multiple miscarriages before, and as a result, she almost lost her life, the film producer revealed in May 2021:

"I've had five miscarriages in total, but the last two were significant in that they hospitalized me. Those were incredibly difficult, emotionally and physically."

Kimberly believed she was going to die and revealed what she remembered was a blur because she was unconscious most of the time. However, she recalled her loving husband being there by her side and being her pillar of strength. She then credited doctors for using emergency blood transfusions to save her life twice:

"My life was on the line. What saved my life was blood transfusions, people who donated blood."

Meanwhile, James shared that during that ordeal, he kept thinking that he and his wife needed to "take care of each other."

As he witnessed the mother of his kids going through that traumatic experience, he went through "shock, absolute dread, disbelief and then helplessness, accompanied by fear."

Moving to Texas Ranch to Heal

After Kimberly's life got saved, she needed healing, and her dream had always been to live in the countryside. That said, she and her husband uprooted their family to Austin, Texas, where they now reside on a 36-acre property in Hill Country.

"Texas has the capacity to heal. It's expansive, and nature will hug you and heal you," she said. She added her daunting experience was more of a push to start a new life in a different state.

But more importantly, the decision to relocate "came from desire, it came from my dreams." In addition, Kimberly adores the countryside:

"I'm a farm girl at heart who had never lived out her dream. Nature was calling. I wanted to be immersed in nature."

Kimberly shared that life is different in Texas compared to the city. Whenever she is not feeling well, a neighbor makes her something to eat, and whenever someone moves, friends in the community offer to use their vehicles to help out. "It's that hands-on village lifestyle that I've been craving so long," she admitted.

Kimberly and James moved to Austin in October 2020. She gave her Instagram followers a glimpse into their new life by posting pictures of the surrounding environment, including the kids playing in the fields and pet dogs standing on rocks and the trees during sunset.

The doting mom wrote they had a lot of work to do in terms of unpacking their belongings and added, "Moving to the country is a dream I've had for years."

In May 2021, she and James gave an update about the family's new life since moving to Texas and said it had done wonders for them, adding the children also love their new home:

"It's the deepest breath. And the kids love Texas. Moving here helps spread them out and become self-sufficient because nature becomes their play toy."

Meanwhile, the family patriarch revealed his loved ones had found happiness in their new place and had finally healed from their past traumas. "We're happy here. It's very healing," said James.

Surprising Sixth Baby's Birth

After all the Van Der Beek Family has been through, they welcomed a baby boy in 2021 in their new country home. James announced the exciting news on Instagram with a video of one of their daughters holding the newborn, including several other photos of the couple's other kids doing the same, the duo too.

The proud father revealed on his social media upload that the new addition to the family's name is "Jeremiah Van Der Beek."

The Connecticut native explained that because his wife previously suffered two pregnancy losses, both of which were "at 17+ weeks," they decided to keep this pregnancy under wraps. He admitted that he was "terrified" once he learned that Kimberly was expecting another child.

A "Weakened Cervix" caused Kimberly's last two miscarriages, said James. To resolve the issue, she had a "simple surgical cerclage done and removed at full-term." James disclosed his beautiful spouse gave birth to their sixth child on their property "naturally."

The "Varsity Blues" star gave fans a glimpse of his son by posting photos of the father-and-son duo outdoors. James then explained that he and Kimberly were not trying for a baby.

"We were done. But fortunately, this chunky little angel knew better," he penned. He expressed thankfulness for the surprise of a new life.

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