Montana ? A couple in their 70s have adopted the woman’s five great-grandchildren, four girls and a boy – ages 3 to 8.

“At my age, I’m on my knees to God every day asking, ‘Please give me the energy for another day,'” said Virginia Crawford, 71.

She and her husband Charlie, 76, adopted the children last week.

Virginia Crawford has cared for the girls intermittently for several years.

Child-welfare officials told her that the children were neglected and that they would be placed in a foster home. She offered to take them instead.

The Crawfords, married for 27 years, had moved to Idaho but returned to the northwestern Montana town of Columbia Falls and took foster-parent classes. Virginia Crawford has identified relatives who will take over raising the children if she dies, but she expects to see the job through. “I’m perfectly healthy, as far as I know,” she said.