MY NEW BLOG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today is the first day of my new blog. I've wanted to create a blog for quite awhile, but the thought of it was overwhelming to me. Luckily, my sister, Laura, knows what she is doing and is helping me.
The main reason for this blog is for me to write to my family and friends while we're in Korea. I'm happy that I can do this. But until the time comes to travel I'll post some of my journal entries that I've written over the last 2 years. This has been an incredible journey and we've shared it with many of you. I hope these entries give you some insight to just how amazing the Lord has been to us since we started our adoption process. It's a lot to read, so don't feel like you have to read it if you don't want to!


Sunday, July 17, 2005
Yesterday we had our first home study. I finally feel as if we are one step closer to our daughter. I am still in amazement that this is even happening and feel so blessed to be part of this miracle. We have been trying to decide on a name and I’m pretty sure it will be Emalee. It’s a pretty name. Emma means “beloved” and Lee is in both Brian’s middle names and mine. So we combined the two together and will give her Korean name to her for her middle name.
Our caseworker said he thinks we should be on the waiting list by mid/late August. It will still be quite a few months before we get to meet our daughter, but I feel that she has been born in my heart for a long time already. I’m amazed at the love I already have for her and can’t wait to hold her.
There are so many things to do before Emalee comes home. David and Jacob will both be going to school this fall. While they’re in school I’m going to try to get photo albums, baby books, etc. done while I have time to work on them. I’m also trying really hard to reassure the boys that they are still loved by us as much as ever! I think David is struggling a little bit with the idea of another sibling and just needs a lot of love and reassurance right now.

Monday, July 25, 2005
We completed our second home study visit yesterday. Our caseworkers name is Bill G. He said he definitely approved us and will write up his report ASAP! We should hear from our agency, Dillon, in a few weeks. He said that we should probably have a baby by Christmas 2006 just as a general guideline. Hopefully it will be sooner than that. I went to Target today and bought a doll for Emalee. It’s an Asian Fisher Price doll and I just couldn’t pass it up!

Friday, August 26, 2005
It finally came today! We are officially on the girl’s waiting list as of August 22. It’s a relief just to be on the list and to know that this is really going to happen. Now we just need to get our passports, go to Kansas City to get fingerprints done and complete my online parenting classes.

September 19, 2005
I can’t believe that David has turned 10 years old! He seems to be doing very well in school and they are working to help him learn better. Jacob has had to adjust to going to Kindergarten. He’s very smart and likes to learn, but he’s been getting really tired. He misses being home and has been testing the teacher a little bit learning to adjust. I’m sure this will pass!

October 11, 2005
We got our passports last week! So, we’re ready to travel now whenever the call comes. Now I just have to do my CPR and internet classes.
Jacob lost his first tooth yesterday and was very excited about it! He came home from school telling me all about it…that was sooo cute!

October 14, 2005
Ephesians 1:4-6
For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will—to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves.


October 16, 2005
Today has been a good day. It’s been a day full of celebration as my parents celebrated their 40th anniversary today. I’m very thankful for that and am so proud of them for achieving this in their marriage. We held a reception for them at their church and several friends and family came to congratulate them. I think mom and dad had a good time.

November 13, 2005
1 Peter 5:7
Cast all your anxiety on Him for He cares for you.
Today I got a letter in the mail from Shaohannah’s Hope. It said that our request was being reviewed and they asked for copies of our 2003-2004 tax returns. I just hope and pray that something comes from this.
The Lord has been working on me this past week on trusting Him to supply our needs. This subject seems to be a continuing lesson in my life and every time I get through one trial or circumstance it seems like the next one is a little bigger than the last. I know in my heart that everything will work out fine in the end, now I’ve just got to get that message through to my head.

November 21, 2005
Hebrews 10:23
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

A lot of families have gotten their (TC) Travel Clearance this week. It’s been encouraging to see!

January 2, 2006
I can’t believe it’s already 2006! This year is going to bring a lot of excitement to our family as we will get a referral for Emalee and maybe go get her as well. We’re praying that the Lord will supply the rest of the funds that we need. This has been our biggest act of faith since the boys were born. I’m praying for a miracle and believing one will happen! I’m still amazed that clear across the world there’s a baby meant to be my daughter. I never thought I’d have a girl, but it looks like God has other plans. I’m glad His ways are not my ways!


January 3, 2006
I didn’t have much time to write yesterday but there was something I have thought about that I just wanted to write down.
The boys and I were getting ready to go to Walmart and as Jacob turned about to walk out the door I noticed that David had taped a sign on his back that said “$1,000.” I thought that was funny and started thinking that if I were a big brother trying to get rid of my younger brother I would have put “free” on the sign. As I thought about that the Holy Spirit whispered to me, “Heather, you were bought with a price.” I won’t ever understand it, but for some reason the Lord thought of me enough to give His own life for me. He paid the ransom for me. This was a neat thought the Lord gave me to start the new year out on. The next part of that verse is this:
1Cor. 7:23 You were bought with a price, do not become slaves of men.
It reminded me just Who it is that I serve and why. When I think of what He paid for me it makes me feel even more glad to be a slave of God. In the price He paid for me He also set me free. Free from sin (Rom. 6:7) and the law of sin and death (Rom. 8:2)
How gracious and merciful you are to me, oh God. Thank You for adopting me and giving me freedom in You. Remind me that it’s You I serve and not men. Thank You for freeing me from my sin Lord. Thank You for setting me free!


January 10, 2006
I decided to be brave today. I called to check the status of the Shaohannah’s Hope grant that we applied for. The lady I spoke with told me that they had just mailed letters out the day before. She checked on our file and it said that we got a grant! I’m so thrilled! I did some figuring and with the grant, our tax return and savings we have about 65% of our expenses covered. There’s one more grant I’m going to apply for but this one was a HUGE answer to prayer.


January 17, 2006
I’m overwhelmed as I write this because one of my biggest prayers has been answered! Jacob asked Jesus in his heart tonight! He’s been thinking about it for a long time and decided that tonight would be the night! He asked me before supper when a good day would be and I told him any day that he felt God wanting him to would be a good day. A couple hours later he came in the living room saying that he would like to ask Jesus in his heart tonight. So, we all four knelt down at the couch with him and I lead him in prayer. It was a sweet moment.
Thank you, Jesus, for saving both of my sons! I pray that their lives bring glory to Your name. Draw them near to You, Lord, and help me and Brian to guide them and teach them in Your ways.

January 18, 2006
It’s funny how I seem to learn so many spiritual lessons from my kids. Here’s the latest…Jacob came home from school today and as soon as Brian came home Jacob ran up to him and said, “Daddy, I sinned today.” After pondering on that for a couple of hours the Lord spoke to me. “How many times do you run confessing your sin to Me?” So many times I run and hide from my Daddy instead of running toward Him. God reminded me that his love never fails and that He’s always ready to embrace me in His arms and forgive me. I just need to run to Him!
Thank you, Father for Your unfailing love. Thank You for providing forgiveness when I sin. Help me to seek You when I feel like hiding.

June 14, 2006
Another prayer for finances was answered today! I’m so totally thrilled and again in awe of how great our God is. He is faithful. Phil. 1:6 says, “He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it.” That’s just what He has done! Thank you, Lord Jesus, for answering our prayers. "My God is amazing, steady and unchanging; my God is a mountain firm beneath my feet. My God is a mystery, how you gently lead me, now I got this God song rising up in me…Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah! Your love makes me sing!!!"

Sunday, June 18 2006
Today is Father’s Day. It also happens to be the first day of our summer vacation. We’re in Buchanan, Michigan right now getting ready to start our week of “Family Camp” with Life Action Ministries in the morning. It took us 11 hours to get here and we’re all really tired. The boys are trying to sleep, but they’re so excited it’s hard for them to do that. I must admit that after traveling all day I kind of have my second wind and am ready to do something. I guess I’ll go take my shower now.

June 21, 2006
Today was a good day. Actually, I’ve enjoyed the whole week. Yesterday we went to Warren Dunes right on Lake Michigan and let the boys play at the beach. They really had a great time. Tonight was “date night” so Brian and I went to St. Joseph, MI. to sight see. We walked out a pier to a lighthouse. There were a lot of sailboats out and it was really pretty. I was looking at all the sailboats coming in and was reminded of our theme verse for this week:
Matt. 5:16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
I was thinking of how the light was shining and leading the boats into harbor and how when our light shines for Jesus we help lead people to Him. It was a beautiful picture of God’s glory.
This is a good vacation. We’re learning a lot and having fun at the same time. The food is really good and I haven’t had to cook all week! I’m really glad we took this vacation!


July 20, 2006
We are so excited. Today we found out that David is going to the Jr. Olympic National competition in Colorado Springs, CO. I’ll be going with him Aug. 10-13 and it’s an all expense paid trip! He qualified because he was in the top 3 competitors in the United States for his age group and sport. This is really a neat thing to win. He’s really excited because we get to fly…I don’t think he realizes exactly what he’s won. I guess that will keep him from getting a big head.
Yesterday was a rough day. I found out that Korea is making more changes to its international adoption program that may be affecting us. It looks like referrals may take a lot longer to get as a result of the changes. Anyway, Korea is promoting domestic adoptions and beginning in Jan. 2007 they want babies to be at least 5 months old before they are referred over seas. This means that we may have to wait another 5 months AFTER Jan. 1, 2007 to get our referral. I know that this is a good thing for their country and I’m so glad that their government is putting a value on life, but for us it’s very disturbing news. We’ve already been waiting for Emalee 11 months and I just don’t know how I will have the strength to wait any longer. Our prayer is that the Lord will just grant us favor and get us a referral before the end of the year. Of course, I want His will to be done, but it’s so hard to submit my will to His.

August 19, 2006
Our trip to Colorado was just great! It was a lot of fun for the kids although we were completely worn out and had very little rest time. We happened to fly out the same day that the terrorist level was raised to ORANGE due to a liquid bomb terrorist plot. That was a little scary, but we decided to go anyway.
Once we arrived in Colorado we went to our hotel and got our clothes from the Olympics to wear and had a few hours to unpack and explore the hotel and read the itinerary booklet. That night we had an “opening ceremony” and dinner. The kids ran with the torch and an Olympian lit the torch for the weekend. We also attended a speaking engagement where they introduced all the 72 finalists and some Olympians gave speeches of encouragement to the Jr. Olympians.
The next day tennis, basketball and soccer had their competitions. In the evening we went to a place called “Mr. Biggs”. It was a family fun game place. David and I road the go carts together, played mini golf and he played laser tag. We got to bed pretty late that night.
The following morning was David’s track and field competition. He did SUPER! I couldn’t have been more proud of him and his sportsmanship. He got the bronze medal and is very proud of it. He actually beat he silver medallist in the jump and the 50m dash, but the shot- put put the silver medallists score above David’s. Considering he was the only 10 year old and the other two kids were 11 I think David did great! The best part was that he had never flown in a jet before and really enjoyed that experience.

As far as the adoption goes I’ve finally gotten an "official" letter from our agency stating the new changes to the Korea program. It’s nothing I didn’t already know and I still think that we have a great chance of getting Emalee’s referral by the end of the year. The babies that are taken into Eastern’s custody before Dec. 31 are NOT affected by these new changes. Hopefully, she will be in their custody by then. If not then we’ll probably be waiting until around May ’07 for a referral.

August 22, 2006
It’s been one whole year since we’ve been waiting for Emalee’s referral. I can’t believe it! In some ways it seems to have flown by, but in another way it’s lasting for what seems like eternity! I started off the day by being a little depressed, but was quickly reminded that the Lord has this in His hands and in His time table. He has the most perfect baby girl for our family already chosen and picked out for us. He’s still weaving our new family together and I just need to be patient until the tapestry is finished. I’m sure it will be beautiful.

November 14, 2006
Well, babysitting has begun and it is definitely keeping me busy. It’s helping me keep my mind off of the every day wait for our referral. Today though my mind has been on Emalee. I’m so nervous that we won’t get her referral this year and I’m not sure how I’ll do emotionally with that. I say that I trust that the Lord is working things out to His good, but I question if that is what I’m really believing. Do I really trust Him? And if I do, when will I choose to let go of this overwhelming desire to be God’s helper?
At least I can’t deny that God is teaching me some things during this incredible journey that I’m on.


November 22, 2006
Today marks 15 months that we’ve been waiting for Emalee’s referral. Most referrals are taking about 16 to 16 ½ months right now. I did learn that the new laws in Korea won’t affect the babies that are born in 2006…only those born in 2007. Hopefully this will be good news for us. One of my adoption forum friends got her boy referral last week. I’m happy for their family!

December 24, 2006
PRAISE THE LORD AND HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!!!
After all these months we finally know who our precious little Emalee is! I got a phone call Wednesday, Dec. 20th from our agency telling us that they had a file of a baby girl they thought we’d like to look at. I knew in my heart that this would be our baby. Our agency emailed the file to us to review and we said, “YES!” immediately. Emalee’s Korean name is Jeong Eun Hong. She was born November 9, 2006. She weighed 6 pounds 6 ounces at birth and measured 20 inches long.

Part of me is still in shock that this has even happened. I’m an emotional mess right now. Not a bad emotional mess, but a really, really good one! I’m humbled and in awe that the Lord has chosen us to be the parents of this sweet baby girl. I’m just out of words….all I can say right now is that the Lord has been faithful and good to us. He couldn’t have given us a better gift this Christmas! The referral of Emalee has filled an empty place in my heart and will make this Christmas one that I’ll always remember.

We’re hoping that we will be able to go to Korea in 2-3 months to bring Emalee home with us. I spent all day filling out the necessary forms for U.S. Immigration permission and her acceptance paper work. Not what I planned on doing Christmas Eve, but oh so grateful for it!!!

Lord, You are faithful! You have carried us through this process the last two years and I’m so thankful for it! Thank you, Lord for answering our prayers. We asked that You’d reveal Emalee to us this year and You did! We’ve asked for financial provision and You’ve supplied! We’ve asked for peace during the long wait and You so gently gave us the peace that passes all understanding. We asked that You would protect Emalee and You’ve cradled her in Your loving arms this whole time. Thank you Father, for loving us and giving us grace gifts even when we don’t deserve it. Help us to be a living sacrifice for You. And most of all we thank you for the gift of Your son, Jesus. Merry Christmas!

December 25, 2006
My precious Emalee,
I just found out who you are 5 days ago, but I've known you in my heart for two long years. Because of you we had an extra special Christmas this year. We’ve told Nana and PaPop, Uncle Corey and Aunt Kara all about you. We surprised Poppy and Mamaw, 4 of your great grandparents, Uncle Paul, Aunt Valentina, Aunt Heidi, Uncle Jeff, Aunt Laura, Uncle Michael and all 11 of your cousins by having them unwrap your picture for Christmas. They were so surprised and all cried and we all had a special prayer time for you. What a precious time that was... and guess what? We have it all on video so you can see how loved and just how special you are to all of us. You've been the "talk" of every family gathering we've been to and your picture is posted everywhere we look! I can't tell you how special I feel to be your mama. I'm humbled and just taken back at the incredible gift the Lord has given me this week. I thought of you being alone in the Eastern nursery today and asked the Lord to hold you for me today. I dreamed this week of kissing your fuzzy little head and can't wait for that dream to come true in a few months. David and Jacob have "talked" to your picture every day since we've had it and are soooooo excited to have you as their baby sister. Daddy looks at you and says “she’s so cute” I think he's in love with you already! We officially named you this weekend! Your name will be Emalee Grace Jeong Nothnagel because you are our "beloved grace" gift from Jesus! We love you so much and can't wait to get you home. I love you, my precious daughter! Love, Mommy

February 21, 2007
It’s been awhile since I’ve written. We had a major ice storm in January and that put everything on hold in my entire life for at least two weeks. Our adoption is moving rather quickly now. We’re very excited because a lot has happened in just the last few weeks.
January 26 we received our legals for Emalee ,February 17 we received emigration permission and today we received passport permission. We’re only waiting on one thing….her visa issued by the U.S.A. Korea is done with everything on their side. We think we have another 2-3 weeks before we travel to get her. I can’t believe this is finally almost over and I’ll have my sweet baby home.
I only have 2 more days left to babysit and then I’m going to shop like a maniac to have everything ready for our trip. There’s a lot to get done still and I hope to get the majority of it done before we leave.


March 5, 2007
We found out that Emalee’s visa has been approved!!!!! I’m so excited! We were just told a few days ago that it might take another 6 weeks, so this is definitely an answer to prayer. It looks like we’ll be traveling in roughly 2 weeks to go get her. I still have quite a bit to get done before we travel and am starting to get a little bit overwhelmed, but it’s a good feeling too! I’ll be holding my baby very, very soon! All I’m waiting on is a phone call from our agency giving us permission to travel!!!