This is me.

I am  unique person, just like everyone else on the planet.  But I'll be the first to admit that as much as the differences between one person and another can be quantified, the differences between me and the rest of the population are slightly more exaggerated.  i see things differently than you do, whoever you are.  the majority of my life i have done so, and it works for me.  I make only apologies for times when my "me" inhibits your "you", not when you encounter me and uncontrollably raise your eyebrows.  in fact, my wife and I joke that i live in my own little place for most of my waking life.  and like most west asian countries that share a common naming scheme, my own little place is called Keeganistan.  my wife has a temporary visa to visit me there sometimes, but i don't blame her for not wanting to take up permanent residence in that upsidedown nation.
that all being said, i will be posting to this periodical slightly less often than my wonderful and patient wife.  and i am sure she would appreciate that fact sometimes, as will you when you get to know me.
I am Keegan, the husband of Duh.  she goes by this nickname because when she was a little girl, her siblings called her by that name as an abbreviated segment of her legal name.  it's not in any way a comment on intelligence or wisdom, though she is extremely smart and creative, it's just based on her given name.
and me, I go by my name, not because i don't fear being unmasked online, but because it's part of my google profile account, and i don't know how to change it, and i don't care enough to figure out how to change it.
all that being said, my wife and i are licensed to be foster parents in our home state, and we are telling the authorities on the matter that we are ready to do so.  though we all know that a wise person can never be ready for something they haven't experienced before, they can be physically prepared for as much as they can conceive, but never fully mentally prepared for the experience itself.  even if you see somebody changing a flat tire on their car, you'll never be "ready" for it yourself until it happens to you.  it's said that wisdom is something you don't get until after you need it, meaning that you don't know how something will happen until after it already ends.  so too are we trying to prepare for future events that will indubitably happen, but for which we can never fully be prepared.
even after years of having other children in our home, we won't be prepared for the next child, because that child will be different than any others before them.  they may be easier to help, or more difficult, but the experience will be different every time.  so we're not going to say something that everyone knows is not true, we're not going to try to convince ourselves that we're ready for this, just that we're willing to make the attempt after having prepared for as much as that for which we can conceive, knowing that the future cannot be known until it is already the past.  to the universe i tentatively invite, "Hit me with your best shot."

What are we doing?!?!

I don't consider myself a blogger.  Why am I even blogging then?  Several reasons.  First, I've been reading several other blogs about foster care/adoption, and I've found them very helpful, so maybe I'll say something that might help someone else out.  Second, I'm terrible at keeping journals.  I've never been good at it.  I'd like to remember this journey, both with foster kids, and with my biological kids.  Third, while I'm sure they are out there, I haven't found any blogs about people who have taken in foster kids while having small children in the home.  I'd really be interested in seeing that dynamic, but since I can't find it, I'll write about our experiences.  Maybe it will help others.

So who are we?  I'm Duh and my hubby is Keegan.  We have been married 8 years.  Becoming foster parents was kind of always on our radar.  I was told I was unable to have children, so about 7 years ago, we started down this road.  We went to the trainings, had background checks, home study, etc.  At the end, our licensing worker said he was worried that because we had been married such a short time, had just moved to the area, and all our family support was a thousand miles away.  He thought it would be more difficult for us than if we were surrounded by support.  He suggested we wait a year.  It was good advice.  We became pregnant.  Buzz was born and is now 5.  We also have a daughter, Ariel, who is 2.

Several months ago I saw a Wednesday's Child ad on the news.  It wasn't even the video - just the written transcript.  My hubby and I were always interested in older kids/teens.  This ad of a 17 year old hoping to be adopted touched me, and I sent it to Keegan, and said something like, "I know we're not in the market, but these still get to me."  He emailed back and said maybe it was time to start looking into foster care again.  I had just assumed that we would wait until the kids were older.

After talking a lot, we have decided to move forward with it.  We put in our applications, attended intensive training, have been fingerprinted, background checked, and home studied.  We were licensed as of July 5.  We are excited/anxious/scared.  We know we are meant to do this.  We have explained it to our kids the best we could, and they are on board.  They want to help other kids be safe.  Now we're just waiting for the call...