Isn't technology amazing?

Ok, so I know I'm a few years behind in the video chatting, instant messaging world, but honestly I've never needed it. I knew it existed and I even have a webcam sitting neatly in its original box, unopened. It was given as a gift, and I thought it was a really cool idea, but when you see everyone that you need to talk to at least once a week, the webcam just wasn't really a necessity.

Until now.

So today was supposed to be the day I got to take my kids to the hospital to see my mom for the last time in at least a month. Kids are not allowed on the cancer floor of the hospital because they carry so many germs and many people on the floor have little to no immunity due to chemo. They were making an exception for my mom since she will be starting chemo tomorrow and will not be able to see Owen, Amra, and Wrigley during the treatments.

Needless to say its been an emotional weekend for me thinking of taking my kids up to say good-bye for awhile.

And then Wrigley woke up with a runny nose.

Nothing terrible, not a cough or "yellow snot" just a clear, runny nose. But I noticed. And I also remembered that no one with any sign of illness is allowed in my mom's room.

My heart broke. I cried. My kids can't go up to see their grandma.

It's been a gut wrenching weekend for me, crying out to God, and this just topped the cake.

But then we decided to enter the world of webcams, video chats, and Skype. Oh wonderful, wonderful Skype!!!

My dad just bought my mom a laptop so she can stay connected with the "outside world" while getting her chemo treatments. She is now able to check her e-mail and the encouraging messages on the CaringBridge site. So we set up Skype on her computer and we "called" her today.

The kids thought it was the greatest thing EVER. Of course most of the time was spent with Owen and Amra making faces and fighting over seeing themselves. There were several instances of the kids covering the camera because this is all SUPER fun, right? Wrigley had no clue what was going on and refused to sit on my lap and talk to "grandma on the t.v." Ugh, I was so annoyed. "Sit still kids and talk to your grandma!" But she didn't mind. She enjoys the chaos and fighting, she just sat there and watched and blew kisses and waved. It was wonderful.

So now Skype is our new best friend. He won me over in all of two seconds when my mom's face came on the screen and the kids were vying for her attention.

We can do this. We can make this work.