When Debi Rolfing’s “angel babies” arrive on this Earth, they find a small slice of heaven at her home in Kapalua, Maui.

Waiting for them are loving arms, food, warmth, ocean breezes and a handcrafted curly koa cradle.

For more than four years, Rolfing has provided cradle care for newborns in Hawaii and Montana while they await either adoption or reunification with their birth mother.

“It’s almost storybook,” says Rolfing’s friend Sherel Stosik. “Those babies are loved on in spades.”

Five years ago, at age 47, Rolfing’s life could already be counted a success. A record-breaking real estate broker and developer, Rolfing and her husband, NBC golfing commentator Mark Rolfing, co-developed Hawaii’s most successful real estate development, The Plantation at Kapalua. Their sports marketing company also helped put Maui on the map of the golf world.

Rolfing’s life was travel, luxury and million-dollar deals.

But that life took a dramatic turn during a dinner party at her house when she overheard a conversation about the need for foster parents.

“I want to do that,” she said. And with trademark drive and energy, she set out to become a licensed foster parent.

“I had always wanted to have children,” Rolfing says. “We are so blessed — but that wasn’t one of our blessings.”

Becoming a foster mother seems to be one of those things that was just meant to be. In a strange twist, Rolfing’s role had been foreseen by her sister when she was dying of lung cancer.

“A week before she died, she said to me, ‘I’ll bring you lots of babies, Angel Debi.’”

At the time, Rolfing didn’t know what that meant. But two years later she became a foster mother, and today her dining room wall is a gallery for the photos of the 20 angel babies that have so far become part of her life — 10 of them in Hawaii, and 10 in Montana.

There were the twins Leilani and Noelani. There was Faith, born on Sept. 11, 2001, who brought goodness into a world that had been turned upside down. There were Joy and Hope and Grace. And Will, a beautiful boy with Down’s syndrome who stayed with the Rolfings for more than two months before finding his “forever” home.

More than half of Rolfing’s babies were born with drug addictions — usually to crystal methamphetamine. As a cradle care mother, Rolfing gives the babies the love and help they need while they go through withdrawal.

Hawaii’s crystal meth pandemic is creating even more need for people like Rolfing, says Sarah Casken, executive director of the Hawaii Foster Parent Association.

“There is a desperate need for foster parents,” Casken says. “There are not enough foster parents and there probably never have been, but the number of children coming into care have just continued to increase over the years.”

These days Rolfing is talking about using her business akamai to help address that need. One likely avenue is expanding The Mark and Debi Rolfing Charitable Foundation. Funded solely by the Rolfings, the foundation primarily helps children’s charities. Rolfing wants to expand its role and its donors to help meet the expenses of parents who want to adopt.

Rolfing can always be counted on when she’s needed, says Shirley Chun-Ming, the obstetrics clinical director at Maui Memorial Hospital. “Angel Debi” has even been known to fly back from the Mainland to care for an infant.

"She’s amazing,” Chun-Ming says. “She’s truly amazing. As a foster parent she takes an incredible interest in each and every child as an individual. I can’t imagine any mother would treat their own any better.”

When the word comes that a baby needs her, Rolfing abandons her businesswoman clothes, evening dresses and jet-setting lifestyle. In place, she dons her Kerstin muumuus, straw hat and a mother’s life.

“I drop everything when I have a baby,” she says.

She arrives at the hospital laden down with gear. There is the car seat, the diaper bag stocked with everything the baby might need, leis, a gift for the birth mother and three cameras to record those first moments.

The nursery in her Kapalua home is a cloud of antique white with koa furniture and pink or blue Hawaiian quilts. There is an angel teddy bear mobile. And a complete, new wardrobe for each child is ready on thick satin hangers.

“It’s always been from the heart,” Stosik says. “They haven’t taken a dime. All the travel and the time and extra help that it takes them, they have just been sacrificial with their resources.”

The babies have stayed with the Rolfings for as little as one night to as long as 76 nights. And Rolfing records every moment.

Each baby’s story is put down in a Life Book and a video, which are handed on to their adoptive “forever” parents so they “never miss a moment.”

Into the book go photos, vaccination records, birth certificates, letters, important events and memorabilia, such as the kid’s menu at the Ritz if Rolfing takes the baby there for lunch.

Rolfing even saves the umbilical cord so the parents can bury it, if that is their custom.

When the time comes to pass the child to the adoptive parents or back to the birth mother, Rolfing creates a poignant placement ceremony.

There is always candlelight and music — Kealii Reichel is a favorite. And the birth mother, if she chooses to attend, symbolically hands the child to its new family.

“It can be the most heart-wrenching day for the birth mother and the happiest day for the parents,” Rolfing says.

Each baby leaves Rolfing’s care in a white lace wicker “Moses” basket along with all the clothes and gear. And to signify their angel baby status, there is a white cap and soft white blanket. Rolfing has slept with this “transition” blanket so that it carries her scent while the baby adjusts to its new home and family.

The parting is difficult for Rolfing, although she says she’s getting better at it with time. But there always is separation and loss.

“If you don’t cry your eyes out when they leave, you haven’t done your job,” she says.

She and her husband are godparents to two of their angel babies. And she stays in touch with the families and the birth mothers. There are regular e-mails and phone calls with the important news when a child first crawls, or takes a first step or speaks a first word.

“I now have children all over the United States,” Rolfing says.

This Christmas, the Rolfings are spending the holiday at their fairytale Kootenai Lodge in Montana. A National Historic Monument, the area also was a place of healing for the Kootenai Indians hundreds of years ago.

With the Rolfings are Will and his adopted brother, Daniel, another of Rolfing’s angel babies.

They and the boys’ parents will take them sledding and ice-skating on the frozen Swan Lake. They will go for sleigh rides behind a llama “reindeer.” And on Christmas Eve they will celebrate Mass at St. Catherine’s Catholic Church in Bigfork, Mont.

Around Rolfing’s neck will be a gold chain with a cross inlaid with diamonds that she received from Mark when her sister died. Now added to the chain are miniature gold rings — 20 in all — one for each child and inlaid with that child’s birthstone.

During the service, Rolfing will say a prayer for each of the children on that necklace. For all her Angel Babies.