the wrights and the terrible horrible no good very bad Skype call

On Valentine's morning we had an amazing opportunity to Skype call Mercy, from Naomi's Village. I was so excited about it! I had practiced with Joshua and we discussed the types of questions he could ask her.  I explained that she lived in Kenya and could not come over to play with him.  But we could ask about her life there...

• what was her favorite color, food, toy?
• was she liking school?
• does she share a room with anyone?
• do they celebrate Valentine's Day?

I desperately wanted to tell her we love her and are praying for her.  And most importantly, to tell her Happy Birthday! How cool was it that our call happened to be scheduled on her birthday!?!?

Our call was scheduled for 8:00AM.

The morning came faster than I wanted and we weren't prepared. I don't understand much about Skype, I have used it maybe twice in my life. Thinking it was an easy task, I asked Kenny to add Naomi's Village to our contacts, per my instructions from them.  It was 7:50.

He logged in to his account and was almost finished setting it up, when I realized I told them to contact me! We tried switching to my account, and of course I've forgotten my password because I never use this application! Then after further research, I realized I gave them my actual name, not my Skype name. 

It was now 8:10. 

I was heartbroken and horrified at the thought of sweet 4 year old Mercy sitting on the other side of the world, waiting to meet us, and we don't show up.  I said a quick prayer as Kenny tried calling them. 

IT WORKED!

There was sweet little Mercy, and an older girl to translate. (side note: I was expecting an American worker... aka, a white person)

I froze.

Completely, one hundred percent, froze. I didn't remember anything we had talked about saying, I was nervous, and my mouth simply did not work.

After what seemed like an eternity, I said "Can you hear us?" and kept trying to turn up the volume.  The rest is such a blur. I remember saying this is Joshua, Anchor, and Maverick. I held up Anchor so she could see, and we saw her face light up with a smile! Who doesn't love babies!? 

We asked her favorite color, and she said blue. And we asked what she liked to play with. She looked at me with a confused face, but then her translator said she likes to draw.  I then asked what time it was over there, and they said 5:00.  I told Joshua they were ready to have dinner and we just woke up. Both Joshua's and Mercy's jaws dropped... that was priceless!

I couldn't think of anything else to say, and felt retarded. So I just said we love you, we're praying for you, and bye! 

I COMPLETELY FORGOT TO SAY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

We have to be the worst sponsors on record.  My heart is broken over how horrible it was. 

But I trust that God allowed it to work for a reason. It was so good just to see her face and smile. Joshua now know's she is real!  She'll have something to talk about when the other kids talk about Skype-ing with their sponsors. And I'll definitely know better for next time.

I plan to write down my questions and topics to discuss... and remember to take a screen shot picture!  I'll know how to set up the Skype call.  And I'll wait until they are both a little older, maybe six or seven.  I know Mercy is still learning English, so that probably adds to the "shy factor."  

This sweet girl has my heart and I wish that could've come across in the call.  Now we'll just have to plan a trip to Naomi's Village so she can see firsthand how deeply she is loved by our crazy family!