Ben Crane being Ben Crane – which is considerate and thoughtful and strong in faith – he appreciates the great intentions people extend to him and his wife, Heather, and their three children.

But it doesn’t seem in synch with the family’s emotions.

“People tell us it’s wonderful, this gift we’re giving Crew. But wait a minute, he is the one who is giving us the gift,” said Crane. “This is the greatest dream we’ve ever been on as a family.”

Crane you likely know as he was a mainstay on the PGA Tour for 18 years before a cranky back slowed him down. Now 45, he’s playing this week at the RSM Classic in Sea Island, Ga., just his 10th PGA Tour tournament since 2019. The issue has been two-fold – he’s making sure his back is able and tournament starts are tough to secure because he’s thin on status.

Ah, but Crane is not thin on character, which is why we can circle back to a young lad with a 10,000-watt smile.

Crew is 2 years old and was put up for adoption before his mother gave birth in the summer of 2019. Crane said the woman had two young boys and “taking care of another was overwhelming to her but she wanted to have the baby” and sought out an adoption agency.

That Ben and Heather Crane were even listed in a data bank and connected to the woman speaks volumes for the essence of their goodness. They are blessed with three children – Cassidy, 14; Brady, 13; Saylor, 10 – and it would have been easy to remain in that tightknit unit.

But when you’re saturated in humility and of enormous heart, you have a burning desire to help and to spread the love. Ben and Heather Crane had served as foster parents to a young girl who had been raised in a tough environment.

“She was unhappy, there was trauma, and she was scared all the time,” said Crane. “It was tough and, yes, we did wonder, ‘Why are we doing this?’ ”

It was a rhetorical question, of course, because Ben and Heather knew the answer. They were doing it because they have massive faith and knew they could help. For a while, they did, too.

“We realized her diet was a huge problem. A lot of time the cheapest food is the worst food and so after a few months, slowly, she changed. She was happy, she ate better food and we wanted to adopt her.”

It didn’t work out. The girl’s mother, released from custody, took the girl back.

“It was really hard on us,” said Ben.

Crew has embraced a passionate tradition with the Crane family -- dressing up for Halloween.

But it convinced Ben and Heather that they wanted to bring another child into the family, that they wanted to adopt and provide a warm home and education to a boy or girl who might not otherwise have that opportunity.

Adoption is a tedious process that required Ben and Heather to create a book about their family, to take classes, to get certified. There was also their family cohesion to be considered. “We’re a family, everyone has a place,” said Ben. “The decision would involve (the kids) and we had to be all together.”

Once connected, the Cranes were all in. They met the woman and her two boys. They were there when Isaiah Crew was born (they call him by his middle name). When there was a sliver of concern that the woman, after spending the night in the hospital with Crew, would change her mind, Ben and Heather did what strengthens them. They prayed.

“When you don’t know what to say, you have to believe that the Lord will give you the words to say,” said Crane.

The words were passionate. The woman would always be in Isaiah’s life, Ben told her. It was emotional, there were tears, but it was beautiful, too. “The woman cried, but told us, ‘God always told me it was you guys who should raise (Isaiah)’ and we told her she would always be his mother.”

Never was it part of the equation that Isaiah Crew was a child of color. Never ever. Ben, Heather and their three children were told that Isaiah’s mother was Bahamian, the father was Jamaican, so the child could be called Caribbean.

But Ben Crane called Isaiah Crew something else.

“He was the greatest gift we could bring home to the kids,” he said. “To see our kids experience joy every day when they see Crew and to see Crew experience joy every day when he sees them is a gift.”

Ben and Heather have brought Crew back to meet his birth mother. They have also re-lived days of diapers and toddlers and first words and have fully accepted that if there were visions of traveling the PGA Tour Champions in five or six years as parents of grown children, well, “we can still do that, but it’s going to be different,” laughed Crane.

Thanksgiving is fast approaching, and Crane agreed it was a fitting time to talk about this beautiful child who has blessed his family’s world. He appreciates with great sincerity all the kind sentiments people extend to him, his wife, and his children.

But truthfully, his family is all about Giving Thanks. To Crew.