I Love Being A Dad

I became an instant father when I got married to Ayen in 2001. Just a brief background on our unique family set up. I am the second husband of Ayen who was previously married to nobility. She has two beautiful children prior to our marriage. When I first met them, Mariella was 7 and Hasan was just 3 years old. Mariella was sweet and quite shy while Hasan was a ball of energy. They were very happy and grounded children. When Ayen and I decided to get married in 2001, we told the kids about our plans and we were pleasantly surprised when they were both happy about the news. Even before we got married, Mariella and Hasan asked me if they could call me “Dad” instead of “Tito Franco”. I couldn’t hide my tears when they asked me that. I knew then that they accepted me with open arms.

Right after our wedding, I worked on adopting Mariella, within the year the adoption was approved and Mariella became my legitimate child.

In 2002 Ayen gave birth to Angia. It was one of the best days of my life witnessing the birth of my first biological child. Angia’s birth made our family complete. And for the next eleven years we were a happy family of five then in 2013 on Father’s Day we found out that Ayen was pregnant. Now that was the best Father’s Day gift I ever got. And in 2014 Sofia was born. She came at a time when we all needed healing in our lives. And what a joy it is to see her grow everyday with wisdom, grace and so much energy.

We thought Sofia would be our youngest child since Ayen and I are in our mid-40’s already. We really thought that everything was set and that we can now plan our lives being a family of 6. But then God really loves to surprise us, during our trip to Osaka, Japan last April, Ayen told me asked me “What could be the weirdest thing that can ever happen to us?” I looked at her bewildered and I said “Why, are you pregnant?” She just gave me a blank look and immediately so many thoughts came into my mind like how can this happen, she had the contraceptive IUD in her and it was supposed to work for 5 years. I bought a home pregnancy test and as soon as she used it, the positive sign appeared. Yes it is confirmed we are having another baby and with the new Panorama test we found out while she was 11 Weeks pregnant that we are having a girl. Ayen is due to give birth to our fifth child on the first week of December.

Everyday is a growing experience and a learning process.

It is in the journey of discovering so many things about your children and how to deal with them at the different stages of their lives.

I love my children with all ly heart and I am extremely proud of what they have done and what they are about to achieve. I thank the Lord for blessing me with a gorgeous wife and four, whoops soon to be 5 beautiful, talented and loving children.

My children bring me so much joy and I am so blessed to have them in my life. I may have become a father in an unconventional way but I know God has His ways of making things work out for the BEST that is why I love being a Dad!