Thursday, April 14, 2016

We made contact

Tuesday was a good night.  I had stayed home from small group, the boys were in bed and Jenn and I were cleaning up a bit.  I looked down at my phone and notice a message on Skype from F's social worker.  She had been out of the office for awhile and was just getting on to Skype.  She wanted to know if we might be able to meet some time today.  Umm Heck Yes. Since the Philippines is 12 hours ahead of us today for them meant tonight for us.  We were able to set it up for about 30 minutes later.  We woke the boys up and everybody eagerly awaited the call.  We had no problem connecting this time.  We learned that F like to be called N and she is very shy when she first meets new people.  It was very exciting to be able to see her and we showed her around her room.  We hope to be able to have more conversations in the future to continue to ease the transition.  It becomes even more real and exciting every day.

Sunday, April 10, 2016

Excitement and reality

Just over a week ago we got an email we had been waiting 3 months for, but truly had given up on ever coming.  The email said a Skype session had been set up with F and we would be able to talk to her for the first time.  We were all very excited and had about a week to prepare.



So on Sunday night we let the boys stay up later than normal so we could all get to talk to her.  The scheduled time rolled around and we eagerly hit the call button.  Call Failed.  That is ok though people are often late to meeting especially when technology is involved.  So we waited 5 minutes and tried again. Call Failed. Alright they are still getting set up and this seems like it might be their first time using Skype before. Five more minutes. Call Failed.  This is where I realized it probably wasn't going to work.  The person we were calling also had not yet accepted our contact request.  The request had been sent 3 days prior.  We kept trying though, every five minutes. Unfortunately, we kept getting the same result Call Failed.  Eventually after about 40 minutes we decided it was time for bed.   We still hope to be able to chat with F before we have to travel but we have not yet heard back from ICAB about rescheduling the call.

On the positive side the clock keeps ticking.  We now are two months into our three to four month wait.  Travel plans are being put together. Contacts are being made. Clothes are being acquired.  All that is left is to bring a little girl home.