This is our first foster baby (photo is intentionally cropped to protect her privacy). We brought her home from the hospital two days old. Though we did not bring her into this world, you could not have found two foster parents more proud of their foster child than we were of her! We loved her instantly, and our home felt warmer with her in it.
That brings us to the name of this blog. Her name is not Miranda, but that is what she was called at times. Wendy was over one day and I handed her the baby and said, "Here, will you take Miranda?"
"Who?" Wendy said, laughing. "Do you mean ....(baby's real name)?"
Then I laughed, surprised, and wondered where in the world that had come from. My only two associations with the name "Miranda" are that its a street I grew up near, and its also Lenore's baby's name. I hadn't thought about the name in awhile.
"Miranda's" real name had not been flowing naturally off my tongue, and if she were mine I probably would have chosen another name. The name "Hair!" would have been applicable, as you can see! Her hair is awesome!
Eventually, Ray and others accidentally called her Miranda, and I always got a good laugh when they did, seeing what I'd started. No one ever did it intentionally, but maybe that's what her name is really supposed to be?? Anyway, fortunately I don't think she took much offense at the mistake.
Miranda moved on after only 11 days with us. Her mom lived in a different region so they transferred Miranda to a foster family that lives about 2 hours away. Thankfully that foster mom has kept in contact with us and emails photos sometimes.
We went through a dark couple of days after Miranda left us. It was much harder than I imagined it would be. But Ray and I agree that we feel so blessed to know her. She has a nice spirit about her, and we're just trying to remember that saying "It is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all." Our lives have been touched by knowing Miranda, and we wouldn't have it any other way. Unless, of course, if we could adopt her, and then that would be the best! If at some point Miranda does go up for adoption, we have let the foster family and the worker know that we would like to be the first in line to be considered, and we have our paperwork in order to do this. So who knows...maybe someday you'll get to meet her too!
5 comments:
I love that story. Priceless. I especially love that it is recorded for posterity so that you won't ever forget her. And the part about giving her back, I'm glad you included that. I've always wondered what it would be like. Tell me you got another soon afterwards, okay?
Oh Miranda...She is such a cute little baby. I would love to see her back in our family someday too.
Courtney!!! I'm sooo happy to come here and "see you." What a great thing to blog about! I don't think this kind of stuff is talked about enough. I am so excited to get my eyes opened to the process of foster parenting and what comes with it. When I was reading this, it almost made me cry. I hadn't thought about having to say goodbye.
That hair!
I enjoyed the story too. It takes very most special people to be foster parents...to love children enough to give them what they need when they need it. Keep writing and we'll keep reading!
Miranda is an excellent name, whether it is hers or not. We call our baby Mimi, but she was named after The Tempest by Shakespeare.
Is it expensive to be a foster parent? Is it possible to tell us why the parents have to have their sweet baby taken away?
I'm hip to the privacy thing, so change stuff, but I want as much of the story as possible.
I'm going to go hug and kiss my Miranda in the name of Aunt Courtney.
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