This is Brian, aka Daddy, aka Mr. Popp. He is my wonderful husband of just over four years. Among other things he is an engineer, a woodworker, a bring-home-the-baconer, an extrovert, a soft hearted people lover, and a man of God with an incredibly positive spirit.
Before you go thinking I've found Mr. Perfect, he also leaves his underwear on the bathroom floor.
...Underwear aside, he is a wonderful Daddy, and I could not ask for a husband better suited for a quirk like me.
Our beautiful girls. Cassandra and Mena came to live with us in September of 2008. Mena was 9 months old and Cassandra was 7. They lived with us until the end of May 2009. Cassandra is just
the most loving little girl you'll ever meet (There are days she forgoes her sweetness to exhibit her pre-teen little self, but don't we all?) Mena is a spit-fire and still calls me Mama to this day - talk about pulling heartstrings, eh? We are so blessed to get to keep in contact with the girls. We've developed a good relationship with the family that adopted them, and they, with their brother and sister, still spend weekends at our house on occasion.
When Mena and Cassandra left, we had decided not to take any more long term placements until after the upcoming birth of our daughter. We had several short-term placements in the meantime - and then God pulled a fast one on us. Our worker called us with X-man. He was 15 months old at the time and weighed 12 pounds. He spend a week at the hospital before coming to live with us in September, 2009 (almost exactly one month before our little one was born). Now X-man is full of energy and ornery-ness. X-man left our home to live with his brothers in February of 2010. We were able to stay in contact with him until May of 2010 when he went home with his Mother.
Sylvia Esther was born on October 6, 2010. She's got her daddy's eyes and her mommy's smile. She lights us up with every giggle, and we are so glad that
for once we won't have to say goodbye. People as us how we think fostering will affect her little life - and we're not sure. But we're pretty sure God's got her in his hands.
In the middle of the night on April 10, 2010 we got a phone call asking us if we could take two boys, ages 8 and 9. We said yes, and three hours later we met Jae and Zee. We loved getting to know the boys. Sylvia was instantly enamored, and thought that anything and everything they did was hilarious. We had a lot of challenges, but they always strengthened our resolve to love these boys. Unfortunately, behaviors continued to escalate - and due to some pretty severe physical aggression, it was not safe for Zee to be with us anymore. This was one of the hardest calls we've made in our fostering journey, but it was necessary. We continue to stay in contact with the boys to be sure they always know that we love them. No matter what.
After the boys left we did a lot of respite and short term placements - not really by design, but that's just how it happened.
On April 18, 2011 welcomed our second daughter by birth - sweet Naomi. She has brought more joy to our family than I could have fathomed. I am so glad that she is here to stay. She makes me smile more every day and I cannot wait to see the little girl, and the woman, that she grows into.
Blessed. That's the first word that comes to mind when I look at this girl.
Bella came to us on July 8, 2011. She came to us a very sick little girl with a very serious diagnosis. After just a couple of weeks here, her health improved dramatically, and she's been getting healthier ever since! We love this little girl more and more every day.
