My wife and I are going to be issued a license from the state of Maine to be foster parents, probably on Monday or Tuesday of this week. Ordinarily this wouldn't be such a big deal as for me to write about it, but this has been SUCH a long process, mostly due to the incompetence of a member of middle management in the licensing department, that it was made into a big deal, by them, over nonsensical issues. I won't bore you with all of the details because that isn't my goal in writing this, but I truly believe that they finally got off of the stick to issue this license due to the fact that they finally realized that I was willing to go (figuratively) to war to insure that our license was issued and not denied for ridiculous, petty and largely nonexistent issues.

I am going to be 60 in June. My wife is younger than I but will be 53 in July and our son will be 15 this coming Tuesday. We have asked for our foster child be a baby or toddler. We know that there are 3 possible scenarios that may play out. One is that the child will eventually be reunited with his or her own family, which is a VERY desirable outcome. Another is that he child is eventually adopted by a family, which is good if it's a stable, nurturing and loving family. The other scenario is that this child will be with us for good.

A GIVEN is that our family will love this child, regardless of whichever of the above scenarios plays out. I include our son in that as he is really looking forward to having a baby or little one in our house. He's always been terrific with little ones, even when he was little himself. My wife and son are OK with either gender. So am I, but I'm not so secretly hoping that we get a girl.

In the event that this child will be with us permanently, I have to confess that both my wife and I are excited about the prospect, even though it's pretty rare for people our age to have a baby in the house. That being said, we are a YOUNG 60 & 52. We think and look like younger people and, where I may not have the energy, and DO have way too much arthritis to play in the father/child softball or touch football game, my wife and I DO have a great deal of stability, maturity and love to offer this child.

Almost 15 years ago, my wife and I were given notice of about 18 hours that we were going to take custody of our son the next day and she spent the day cleaning and preparing our place while I was running all over the Philadelphia suburbs getting groceries and baby supplies. This week we anticipate running all over the Central Maine area to get things we'll need to have for a baby in the house...like a crib and a car seat and diapers and formula and wipes and toys and...YIKES!!! Fortunately, last Saturday we made friends with a lady who has a consignment baby and child store just around the corner from our house. She has our number in case some of the things we need come her way and we liked her Facebook page so we can see what's new in her shop.

We know that this is big challenge that we're taking on, but we also know that we are more than up for the task and that we have, as our entire family has a great desire to do, the opportunity to make a positive difference in the life of a child. Thank you for reading and for your hoped for good thoughts for us.

That's my 2 cents, and quite probably overpriced at that!

PEACE!