Prayer for Peace

I woke up at 5AM this morning wondering what was going on with Zoe's EP. Why haven't we heard anything? You see, this roller-coaster we are on is like a game...a game of Hurry up and wait, Hurry up and wait. Well, I've been frustrated that I'm the only one who seems to hurry up and I'm doing a lot of waiting too. I know no government worker here in the US or in Korea is in a hurry for my baby to get home. I (and Michael and the boys) have a specific interest in Zoe coming home. I know our friends and family do too, but it doesn't effect anyone else other than us. But then I thought... God gets it. He knows. He knows how frustrating this is and I was reminded of how frustrated He must be when we go our own way and we don't just come home. I was reminded that while we were once so interested in our own sin that we chose not to see Him, but He patiently waited. He knows the pain of the wait for His children to come to Him. He has a specific interest in each one of His children. He knows the pain. The waiting. The frustration.

I also needed the reminder that God is in control. He didn't look away. He did not fall asleep at the wheel. Do I REALLY trust that He knows what is best? Do I REALLY trust Him with my life? Do I REALLY trust Him with the life of my children? Do I REALLY trust Him to work ALL THINGS for my good? Do I need to obsess over something He's already handling? Especially this. Adoption. It's at the center of God's heart. He adopted us. He has this. And I - I pray for peace for the rest of this journey. Knowing God is in control. Not me (as much as I might try...I'm just spinning my wheels).

God, give me and our other adoption friends peace for this journey. I trust you and I know at whatever time you choose to deliver Zoe safely into my arms is all part of your perfect plan. You know what's best. Help me show love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control while I'm waiting. Not of my own strength, but Yours.

~paula

Teach Me Something Tuesday: Seoul Tower

Okay, I haven't done a TMST in a while, so I thought I'd do one today and teach you all about The Seoul Tower.The North Seoul Tower is one of our must-see sights in Korea. N Seoul Tower is a communication and observation tower located in Namsan Mountain, central Seoul, South Korea. Built in 1969, and opened to the public in 1980, the tower has been a symbol of Seoul and measures 777 ft in height (from the base). It has also been known as the Namsan Tower or Seoul Tower. After the tower's original owner merged with the CJ Corporation, it was renamed the N Seoul Tower (official name CJ Seoul Tower).

Many visitors ride the Namsan cable car up the mountain, and then walk to the tower. The tower features a gift shop and restaurants on the ground floor. Visitors may go up the tower for a fee. There are four observation decks (the 4th observation deck, which is the revolving restaurant, rotates at a rate of one revolution every 48 minutes), as well as gift shops and two restaurants. Most of the city of Seoul can be seen from the top. Close to N Seoul Tower is a second lattice transmission tower.

Seoul tower is a very popular place for couples to get engaged in Seoul. I mean, seriously, who wouldn't want to get engaged with that magnificant view? The couples then attach a lock to the railing and then toss the key off the mountain signifying that they will be together forever and that the lock can never be undone. However, since there is a danger that someone under the terrace may be unexpectedly hit by a key, they have now placed boxes for couples to dispose of their keys in a safer manner.

Since this tradition has become increasingly popular, many adoptive families make their treck up to the Seoul Tower to put a lock on the railing or the fence signifying that their family is forever. We plan to make our trip up there and put our lock on too. Depending on when we go to Korea and what the weather is like at the time will determine if we go by ourselves or if we'll take Zoe with us.

I can't wait to see my girl and to be in Seoul with her! I can't wait to put our lock on the fence to signify that our family is forever! (and I promise not to throw my key off the top causing some passerby injury... I'll put it in the box.) ~Paula

Wishes for the week...

This week we are wishing our friends heading to Korea happy and safe travels to get their babies and for us, well, it's simple... we want a WBC (Well Baby Check) for October and some news on our EP. Come on EP, this mama is about to lose her mind.

A sweet mama and her son are in Korea right now and went to visit Miss Zoe at the Reception Center yesterday (Monday in Korea). Here are some of the pics from that visit... enjoy!

No News.

Still haven't heard anything on our EP. I have nothing but tears. Please pray that we hear of our EP submission and approval soon. Without it, Zoe can't come home and I'm (we're) getting weary! This makes no sense to me. None. At. All. WHY the hold-up? These are babies who are already matched with families and coming home anyway, why continue to keep them there? It's not what is best for the child. It is not what is best for the family and it can't be what is best for Korea since they have to continue to care for them and we all know that isn't cheap.

I am weary. Really weary. I'm worn out. There is a fear that Korea will run out of EPs and we have to wait until January... I just want my girl home. Like now.

We're asking our friends and family to pray.

~paula

Getting Zoe's Room Ready for our Korean Princess

Well, the title says it all. I know the real reason you're here is for the pictures, so here they are.
I would like to say a BIG thank you to Buffy for coming over to help put the crib together and other details that I didn't have to do alone.
AND a HUGE thanks to the talented Cassandra Senter for coming to paint the beautiful murals in Zoe's room. What an amazing gift to our family and for Zoe. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
God has blessed us with wonderful people in our lives and we are so thankful to God for each and every one of them!

Without further ado, here's Zoe's room so far!

white shelf with a few toys

Zoe's closet

Zoe's crib (we don't have her mattress yet)

Zoe's door (the letters I cut from adhesive vinyl)

Zoe's beautiful mural... this is our "girly" take on a Korean Palace. Cassandra is so amazingly talented. It's even better than I imagined.

That is Zoe's Korean name in the window of the palace

The mural again... b/c I LOVE IT so much!

Zoe Grace painted above her crib

Sticky Sloans

We're having so much fun with this adoption blog, we thought we'd start one for our family. Eventually Zoe will come home and this "Bringing Home Baby Sloan" will come to an end (and we plan to make it into a book for her). We will continue here until she is home.

Sticky Sloans is our new Family blog. http://stickysloans.blogspot.com/ Here you will find posts about our adventures as a family and life together. It'll give a more complete idea of what our family is about and other randomness floating around in my head.

Enjoy!

NVC In and Out!

Well, now that our I600 is approved, they forwarded our file to the National Visa Center. I called today to check on it's status. I've never called before. Not one single time during the I600 process. Since we received our notification last Friday, I figured I'd give it until Thursday of this week before I called and became "that parent".

Thursdays are always CRAZY busy for me. I take Andrew to preschool, go to church to pull supplies for all the children's classes that meet on Sunday, grab lunch, do school with Robert (today add that we went to Hope Market - a craft fair that we go to each year), pick up Andrew, come home for less than 2 hours, head back to the church to teach my Thursday night class. I feel like I run all day long on Thursdays.

So when we got home, I got the boys settled doing an activity and I got set to call the National Visa Center to check on Zoe's status. Well, I've never called before and I don't know how to call. Um, thank God for Mary Leigh! She reminded me that there were "hints" listed on the Korea forum and I was like "oh, stupid me, of course!!!" and I was off to call the NVC. I read the hints thoroughly 3-4 times and decided I was as prepared as I could be and I dialed the number. Busy. dialed again. busy. and again. busy. Finally, I got through. Listed in the hints, it says "press 1 and then press 5", so of course my finger was all ready to press one.

On the other end of that line was an automated system. It said "For Haiti related inquiries please press 1". Um, no, I don't think so. Did she say 'Haiti'? As in the country? That can't be right. What do I do, what do I do! I don't know what to press. I'm supposed to press 1. Click. So I call Mary Leigh (AGAIN) who this time is totally laughing at me. She was like "yes, they mean Haiti as in the country. New feature after the earthquake since so many people are calling to check on the visas of their orphan children in Haiti." Oh, gotcha. Let's try this again, shall we? Thanks for the help Mary Leigh!

I call again. Press 2 (for non-Haiti related issues), then 1 and then 5 and after waiting for about 20 minutes, a friendly man on the other end confirmed that yes, not only have we been logged IN to the National Visa Center, but we have already been logged OUT and it's been sent to the Embassy. This is good news.

Now our file has been forwarded to the Embassy in Korea for Zoe's passport. Things are moving right along.

I'd feel a lot better about this if we had an Emigration Permit, but for now we wait. We're in the home stretch now and if we had an EP, we'd be in Korea in a matter of weeks. Unfortunately, without the status of the EP, we are just very unsure. Either way, it was good news to hear that we had some movement.

This sweet girl is ready to come home! She needs her mama!