Definitely a Redhead

Ten days passed and still no phone call.  I stopped keeping my phone on my desk and obsessively checking my email.  After ten months with having children in our house, I was resigning myself to the fact that we just weren't going to be called for a while, that our (my) restrictions of wanting a baby were just too rigid and that I had simply lucked out by getting called before for Baby O, Bram, and W.

For the past six years, I have worked as an English tutor after school and all summer at Upward Bound at MVCC.  I like it.  I get to work with motivated students who elect to put in extra work to give themselves an advantage in school.  Most of my students are either refugees or who were not born in this country.  All of them are first-generation college-bound low-income students.  They inspire me every day.  We have a 100% high school graduate rate and almost all of them go to college.  I am honored to work with them.

I usually tutor two days a week after school, and I was doing just that ten days after Baby O and W went to live with their grandmother.  It was a Monday and I had my second baby-free weekend and I was hating it.  I was helping one of my students with her college admissions essay when the phone rang.  

All my students know that I am a foster mom.  I think it is important to spread the word, to tell them that I foster, to maybe get them interested in fostering themselves someday.  Many of them have expressed interested and I do hope when they are adults and are settled into a career that they choose that path.  

"Maybe it's The Agency with a baby for you," she said.  

I smiled at her.  "Probably not, but thanks," I said.

I reached into my backpack to shut off my ringer when I glanced at my phone.  

It WAS The Agency.  

I hesitantly answered the phone.

The woman in charge of placement told me that they had a little boy, 13-months old, who they needed to find a placement for immediately.  I said, yes, yes, yes, we were interested, but I was at work and couldn't leave until 4:30 at the earliest, an hour later.

She asked me if Tiernen was home and could pick him up. I said I would call her and check.

I frantically called Tiernen.  "We have a baby!" I shouted.

"Oh!  Already?"  She was more surprised than upset.  I told her he needed to be picked up at The Agency immediately and that I would meet her at home at 4:45.  She told me she would have to put a car seat back into her car because she had taken them both out when the boys went to live with their grandmother.  I told her to hurry, hurry!

I called The Agency back and said Tiernen was on her way.

The next hour dragged on on on.  I tried hard to concentrate on my student's admissions essay, but I was distracted.  A new baby already!  I was so thankful!

I knew nothing about him:  his age and his name only.  This is fairly typical of the information you get when you get a foster call.  I had no idea why he was in care, how long he had been in care, or how long we would have him.

I danced around the Upward Bound office.  "I have another baby!"  I sang.

"Congratulations," the full-time staff said to me.  When they realized I was very distracted, my boss let me leave at 4:15 saying, "go see your baby."

Before I even got to the car, I called Tiernen.  She had just gotten home with him and was taking him out of the car seat when I called.

"So," I asked, "what does he look like?"

"Well," Tiernen started, "remember when Bram's hair started to grow and we thought that maybe he was going to have red hair?"

I said I did.

"Well, this one is definitely a redhead!"

Oh!

She snapped a picture of him and texted it to me.

There he was, a little orange-haired chubby boy with bright blue eyes.  

Joshua.