Following Skeptically or wholeheartedly...

When Brian and I heard the voice of the Lord calling us to adopt a child we had some doubts along the way. First of all the timing was terrible. I was in the middle of a health crisis where my doctor was thinking I had leukemia! Second, financially we weren't ready to adopt. Adoption costs a lot of money and since we weren't even planning on adopting we definitely didn't have the finances for it.
During our 2 1/2 years of waiting for Emalee's arrival the Lord was teaching us to trust Him. He's still teaching me lessons on what we went through to get Emalee here.
I've been reading Voices Of The Faithful...Inspiring Stories of Christians Serving Around the World. It's a compilation of stories that missionaries have written. There's one story/devotion per day of the year. One story jumped out at me this week. Actually, it was the prayer at the end of the story. The prayer simply stated that the Lord is worthy of our trust. I thought I'd post the entire story for you to enjoy today and pray that it encourages you as it has me.

Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" Matt. 14:31 (NASB)

Peter took the step of faith. He leaped out of the boat when Jesus called. His feet skimmed across the water. Nevertheless, his strong start fizzled out. He was sinking and afraid for his life. Then Jesus reached out, lifted him up and put him safely in the boat with the loving rebuke, "Why did you doubt?"
So many times, we're tested like this. My supervisor suggested that our team and about 25 other friends should travel to a remote town in western China for Christmas. We planned to share the good news of Christ's birth with our ethnic-minority target group by helping organize a program at the local high school. I was ready to go.
Then the doubts came. I agonized about various scenarios. The trip would require four days there and four days back on hard roads. We would be crossing 12,000-foot passes in December with children and infants. Was this wise? Could the vehicles handle the terrible road conditions, with or without snow? I was taking my focus off Jesus and shifting it to the worst-case possibilities.
The trip finally came and went. We made it safely there and back with no snow. More importantly we got to share God's story through drama and song with 500 lost people in the school. We even performed "Shout to the Lord" on Christmas night at the town square in front of 2,000 people.
I realized that there's no reason to doubt when we're following the voice of the One named Faithful and True (Rev. 19:11, NIV).
--A worker in China

Heavenly Father, when your direction is obvious, help me not to doubt. You are worthy of my trust. I pray that Christian workers will trust you also in seemingly large and impossible projects. Amen.

More coupon savings......

I can't help it, I have to brag again...

Tomorrow I'll walk out of Walgreens only paying $3.25 for
2 3-paks of Scotch tape
2 boxes of Kellogg's cereal
1 Reynold's Wrap Foil
2 Jars Ragu Pasta Sauce
Update: Walgreens was sold out of Scotch tape, but I got everything else! I'll check at another Walgreens later this week.

I'll also go to Dillon's...
I'll get:
2 3-paks of Fleischman's yeast so I can make homemade bread
2 boxes Celestial Seasonings tea (20 ct. box)
After my coupons I'll actually be paid 30 cents just for shopping there!
Of course they won't actually pay me and I have to buy a snack for David's etiquette banquet, but hey, FREE is always good! I'll buy David's stuff (yes, I have coupons for that too) and walk out of Dillons with 4 free items.
The best part is that both of these stores aren't out of my way at all. I'll take the kids to school and stop at both places on the way home....both on the same street!

Resting in Jesus...

I found this post on another blog, but thought I'd copy and paste it here. When Life Action Ministries came to our church a few years ago the women sang this at a brunch one day. I love this song and find myself singing it often.

Are you resting in Jesus today? He tells us in His word that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. He also tells us that if we are weary to come to Him and He will give us rest...

"My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness..." (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Jesus, I am resting, resting,
In the joy of what Thou art;
I am finding out the greatness
Of Thy loving heart.
Thou hast bid me gaze upon Thee,
And Thy beauty fills my soul,
For by Thy transforming power,
Thou hast made me whole.

O, how great Thy loving kindness,
Vaster, broader than the sea!
O, how marvelous Thy goodness,
Lavished all on me!
Yes, I rest in Thee, Belovèd,
Know what wealth of grace is Thine,
Know Thy certainty of promise,
And have made it mine.

Simply trusting Thee, Lord Jesus,
I behold Thee as Thou art,
And Thy love, so pure, so changeless,
Satisfies my heart;
Satisfies its deepest longings,
Meets, supplies its every need,
Compasseth me round with blessings:
Thine is love indeed!

Ever lift Thy face upon me
As I work and wait for Thee;
Resting ’neath Thy smile, Lord Jesus,
Earth’s dark shadows flee.
Brightness of my Father’s glory,
Sunshine of my Father’s face,
Keep me ever trusting, resting,
Fill me with Thy grace.

Jesus, I am resting, resting,
In the joy of what Thou art;
I am finding out the greatness
Of Thy loving heart.

-Jean S. Piggot
photo by Nathan

2 year check up

Emalee had her 2 year check up today. She's 23 pounds, 33" tall and has a 19" head circum. So in other words, she's tall, skinny and has a rather large head. This is nothing that we didn't know already!
She wasn't happy to go the doctor : ( I wasn't happy with the way she behaved either! That's all I'm gonna say about that!

Double coupons at KMart week!

It's double coupons at KMart up to $2! You can find more info. at http://www.moneysavingmom.com/

I saved 67% today by using my coupons!

I paid $7.50 for $12.50 worth of products. A savings of $5.00!!!

Give Thanks With A Grateful Heart

With Thanksgiving being tomorrow I thought I'd post my list of Thanks.

I'm Thanksful:

1. For a loving Heavenly Father that loves me just because He does. Not by anything I've done or do to deserve it, but just because of His grace. Without Him I would be nothing.

2. For a wonderful husband that's loved me through the good and bad. He held me when we lost our first baby, he doctored me when I was on bedrest with both boys and he opened his heart up to the idea of adoption. He's a wonderful husband, father, friend and provider for his family. He also has a wonderful servants heart for others around him. I couldn't ask for a better hubby and am so grateful for our 14 3/4 years together!

3. For 3 great kids! They teach me life lessons everyday and it's fun to watch them grow and discover the world they live in. I love to see their eyes sparkle when they learn something new. I love how the Lord made all 3 of them different so that I can experience the fullness of Him. I love kissing them goodnite, wiping their noses, wiping their tears, playing games w/them and hearing them laugh. They are my blessings.

4. Shelter, clothing, food, a great school for the kids, a wonderful church family, godly girlfriends, a great neighborhood to live in, wonderful parents, etc. So much to be thankful for!

Today's Dillon's savings....

Today I bought a tube of Colgate toothpaste, a 4 roll pack of Cottonelle TP and on Kit Kat candy bar for only .26 cents!
I didn't intend on getting the candy bar, but my total was negative so I had to put something with it in order for my coupons to be accepted.

Colgate was on sale for 2.06 I had a .50 ecoupon and 1.50 paper coupon
Cottonelle was on sale for .99 I had a .50 coupon that doubled.

I'm really not sure why my orginal total was -.26, but that's okay. As long as I'm saving money I'm happy!

DISCOVERING THE ART OF COUPON SHOPPING

My friend Rachel has introduced the idea of "coupon" shopping to me. Yes, I knew coupons existed, I just didn't understand how to use them to the best of my advantage. I went to Dillons yesterday and saved 44% on my grocery bill! I paid $39 for $70 worth of groceries. Without going into too much detail I wanted to share a little of what I've learned this week.
1. Dillons doubles coupons up to $1
2. You can download coupons onto your Dillons card. (who knew?!?!) I explain this below.
3. You can save some major money by using all these coupons when Dillons happens to have the same products on sale. This means you need to do some planning by only shopping for things when they are on sale and you have a coupon(s) for that item.
4. The Kansas City Star newspaper has tons of coupons in it!!! Several savvy couponers suggest that you buy at least two copies so that you have more coupons when certain items are on sale.
5. There's some great sites that teach you how to "coupon shop." The first two sites listed are places where you can print coupons from your computer. The rest are sites that explain coupon shopping in more detail.
Here they are:
http://www.slickdeals.net/
http://www.coupons.com/
http://www.moneysavingmom.com/
http://www.comicalcouponcents.com/
http://www.iheartcvs.com/
http://www.becentsible.com/
http://www.mommystayshome.blogspot.com/ (I really like this site!)
http://www.couponmom.com/ (one of my favorites too)


HAPPY SHOPPING!

Here are 3 sites that I found where you can load coupons onto your Dillons card. These coupons do not double, but can be used along with a paper coupons or coupon you've printed online.

The first site is http://www.shortcuts.com/ just follow the instructions. You'll need your Dillons card w/you so you can enter the number onto the site.

The second is http://www.cellfire.com/ You need to have a cell phone number to activate this one, but you can manage your coupons account from your PC. You also need your Dillons card.

The third is http://www.pgesaver.com/ (thanks Kristin for making this more simple!) You need your Dillons card for this one as well.

I have confirmed with Dillons that at check out you may swipe your card and use a coupon from the newspaper, etc. at the same time for the same product! Woo Hoo!!! I got 4 things FREE at Dillons yesterday by doing this! (EXAMPLE: I had a coupon loaded onto my card for .50 off of toilet paper. I also had a paper coupon for .50 off of toilet paper. The toilet paper was on sale for 1.50. So, with my paper coupon doubling to $1 plus my .50 e-coupon loaded on my card, the TP was FREE!!!

Another site I found today that literally is a tutorial of how to use coupons is:
http://www.ehow.com/
when you get there type in the search engine "how to utilize coupons" and it'll take you to several different articles to teach couponing strategies. This is very beneficial if you're going to do this seriously.

Hope this helps!

~ Heather

I just noticed that I haven't posted anything in a very long time. Life has just been crazy around here. It seems like I don't have enough time to do the things that I'd really like to do.

Jacob and Emalee both had eartube surgery earlier this month. They both came through it really well and Jacob is amazed that he can actualy hear things that he never heard before. Poor kid! Between the two of them and myself, it seems like I'm at the doctor all the time.

David became a teenager last month and Jacob just turned 10. Emalee's 2nd birthday is just around the corner so we've been really busy celebrating lately.

Both boys are doing really well in school this year. David made three A's last week and is really proud of them. Jacob is starting the play the bow on his viola this week and is excited about that too! Emalee's working at giving her bottle up! : /

Here's a photo of Brian, David, Jacob and Emalee at Kennedy Space Center this summer.

The boys started back to school this week. They're glad to be back with their friends and I'm pretty sure that, even though they would never admit this, they're glad to have some structure too! They've both been really great to come home and get their homework done without a fight so far. Hopefully, it'll go this way the rest of the school year.

Last week we finished putting the river rock and landscaping rocks down in front of our house. Now we just need to buy some kind of bushes to put out too. It really looks a lot better than having nothing there! Emalee's really enjoying the river rock too! When outside her favorite thing to do is to take the rocks out and throw them on the sidewalk. We'll have to break her from doing that eventually, but right now it isn't so bad. She's actually pretty good at picking them up and putting them back where they belong.

I'm taking a break from babysitting this school year. I know I've said that before but I'm really going to try and stick to it this time. There's a lot of things that I need to take the time to do plus I'll be able to volunteer at the boys' school more too. I actually get credit toward the boys tuition when I volunteer so that really makes it worth doing! Also, I'm having problems with my Hypereosinophilic Gastritis again and have several doctor appointments so I really don't have a lot of time to babysit, nor do I feel like it. Anyway, I'm really looking forward to spending some one-on-one time with Emalee this school year. I think it will be beneficial for her too.

End of Summer activities

Only a few weeks left and the boys will be in school again. David will be in 6th grade and Jacob will be in 3rd. But before all the homework starts again we have a couple of summer activities left to do.
Next week the boys will go to Baptist Hill for Boys camp. This will be Jacob's first year attending camp. They'll leave on Monday morning and come back Friday afternoon. They're both really looking forward to a week full of fun! I'm looking forward to a week w/o them. Oh, I love them and will miss them, but this mama's ready for a break too! The following week is our VBS at church. So, we'll be there helping with it that whole week. Then the following Monday is the 1st day of school.
This coming Monday I'm going to the hospital to have a gastroscopy done. My stomach has been acting up again so my doctor wants to go explore the inside of my stomach and see what's happening. Hopefully she'll come up with something to give me some relief.
I'm having a garage sale this weekend too.
Well, that's all that's happening here!

Some of my favorite pictures

Thought I'd post these pics. I took them at Roaring River State park last fall. See how much the kids have grown in less than a year!?!? Unbelievable how much they've changed!

We're home!!!

Pictures posted are: Us with Brian's 2nd cousin Pam and her husband Danny....Brian, Jacob and Shamu....David and Emalee on the beach....the storm on brewing on the beach....David and Jacob greeting the ocean....Emalee's first haircut.

We're back from Florida and resting up now. We had a great time while we were away. We went to SeaWorld the first day. The Shamu show was great! The boys really enjoyed the show a lot and I video taped all of it so we can watch it over and over again. It was a long, hot day, but very enjoyable. They have a roller coaster that is is the best I've ever been on. Several loops and twists and very little jerking of the head of body w/it!!!
The second day we went to Kennedy Space Center. To be honest, I was a little bored there. However, the kids seemed to enjoy themselves and had fun riding something that mocked a spaceship take off. I stayed w/Emalee and missed that ride.
The 3rd day we drove down to Brian's 2nd cousin's condo. This was about 40 miles from Miami. We had a great time on the beach w/them and enjoyed visiting. They cooked us a fabulous Mexican dinner and we all stayed the night and went to the beach the next day too. It was a private beach with only about 25 people on it. It was really great because the next day we went to a public beach with thousands of people on it! We also got to see 3-4 water spouts. I thought we were leaving the tornadoes behind, but somehow they followed us! Our last day we went back to our hotel and just rested, swam in the pool, walked around Orlando a little bit, etc. We stayed right next door to the world's largest McDonald Playplace! It was very loud, crowded and very annoying, but of course the kids loved it too!
Emalee did really well on the flight to Orlando, but on the way back she cried about half the way home. Our fight was at 7:50 in the morning and we had to be at the airport 2 hours before take off. We woke up at around 4 a.m., so her routine was really messed up on top of being messed up already!!! She really likes routine and when something messes it up she's a complete pill!!! We had a crib in our hotel and she slept in it really well too! I'll post pictures as soon as I get some time to do that.

7 more days before FLORIDA!!!

Only 7 more days before we board the jet for Florida. We're all very excited! I'm getting a little overwhelmed thinking about what to pack, but I'm sure I'll manage. We've never flown anywhere with all 5 of us, so this will be a new adventure. This will be Jacob's first flying experience!
We'll be going to Kennedy Space Center, SeaWorld and the Beach! Brian has a 2nd cousin that lives about 1.5 hours away from Kennedy and we'll be visiting her one day also! She's working on getting us a condo on the beach for one night also even though we have our hotel booked already.....it'll keep us from back tracking the next day if she gets us a condo. Exciting, huh?

Happy Birthday Brian AND Congrats to David!!!

Happy Birthday to my husband, Brian! You're 15 years older than you were when we got married....and 18 years older than when we first met! wow! How can that be??? I hope you have a great day today and wish you many more b-days! I love you!

Congrats to my Olympian, David! He's been in Fort Leonard Wood w/Brian today at the Jr. Olympic State track meet and just won 1st place!!! Great job!!! If he's 1st in our region then he'll advance to Nationals again. We'll keep you posted!

Oh Where, Oh Where is my Stimulus Check???

According to the IRS website we should have gotten our Stimulus check electronically deposited as of May 16.....Today is May 30 and we not seen hide nor hair of it!!! So, I've decided to write a song to the tune of Oh where, oh where has my little dog gone to humor myself as I wait.

Oh Where, Oh where is my Stimulus check
Oh where, oh where can it be
I've been waiting for months
and it's taking so long
How long, how long will it be?

Oh where, oh where is my Stimulus check
oh where, oh where can it be
I've checked my bank account
for the past 14 days
I think Uncle Sam forgot about me!

Memorial Weekend

We had our Sunday School over last night for a backyard BBQ! We had a lot of fun, good visiting, and of course, food. Two of our newer couples were able to come which is always exciting. The kids jumped on the trampoline or played on the swing set while the growns up all sat in chairs and visited. Emalee just crawled or pushed her shopping cart all over the back yard.
After crawling all over the yard Emee was so filthy that I gave her a bath with Laura Carlton before they went home. Laura's mommy is pregnant and tired, so I thought I'd save her the trouble of bending over the tub for at least one night this week.
This morning we went to church. Kara and I were able to sing the duet we've been working on for a few weeks now. I think it went really well. We made it through w/o crying, but I don't think there was a dry eye in the congregation. Our church recorded it. I'm not sure if it will be on the web site or not, but if so, you can go to www.jabc.net and click on today's sermon to hear us sing. It'll probably take a few days for it to be loaded to the site.
Tonight we're going to a BBQ for David's SS class. It's a farewell to the kids that are moving up to the youth group...David's one of those! I love BBQ's, but I am getting tired of hamburgers and hotdogs. I'll have to cook something complete different for dinner tomorrow.
Well, that's all for now!

Turtles Turn Up On Tuesday!!!

When I was a little girl we had a book in our home (I think it was Laura's) titled, Turtles Turn Up On Tuesday. We all loved that book. If I remember correctly, it was about a brother and sister that had a pet turtle that got lost in the house and couldn't be found anywhere! As you can guess, the turtle was found on a Tuesday.

Well, my children were in the backyard playing yesterday(Tuesday) and came running in the house telling me that they are our neighbor children had "found a HUGE turtle" and that I needed to come see it. I was busy cooking dinner so I decided to look out the window. They were right...it was HUGE! The biggest backyard turtle that I'd ever seen!

I took the camera out to capture the moment. Jacob and our neighbor, Hayden, posed for a picture with the turtle.

I'm not sure where the turtle is now, but next Tuesday I'm going outside to look for it!

Science Fair

Both boys are in the Science Fair at their school this week. David made an Electromagnet and Jacob made bread that is supposed to mold. I don't have a pic of David's electromagnet, but here's a pic of Jacob and his bread!

Happy 1st Gotcha Day to my sweet baby, Emalee Grace Jeong Nothnagel. We love you sooo much! You've changed our lives forever and have made us so proud to be your parents. One year ago we brought you home to an airport full of family and friends that couldn't wait to finally see you in person. We are blessed beyond measure to have the priviledge of watching you grow into a beautiful, silly little 16 month old and look forward to watching you grow into a beautiful, strong young lady. God surprised us with you. We thought we had all the children we would have, but He knew something we didn't know...we needed a sweet baby girl from South Korea! We remember seeing you for the first time. We must have cried a million tears. You were so tiny, so sweet, and an absolute doll in the hat your foster mother had made you! Thank you, Jesus, for giving us such a sweet blessing.

Love forever,

Mama and Daddy

ADOPTION and CITIZENSHIP DAY!!!

Wow! I can't believe that this day has finally come. We went to court today and finalized Emalee's adoption. She was also granted American citizenship and is forever ours! We went to a Korean restaurant afterward to celebrate. These are pics of us in front of the court building and later pics with the Judge.

The Heavenly Perspective

This past month has been extremely difficult as we said "good-bye" to three different loved ones. Two of these departures were somewhat expected, an old neighbor friend that I grew up with since I was 7 months old and a beloved grandpa that fought Parkinson's with much dignity. The other was a complete surprise, a 47 year old deacon at our church that had a massive heart attack. All three men are in the presence of our Lord today!

Of course, things like this make a person stop and evaluate their own life. I've done just that. The one thing that I'll walk away with from this is that TIME really does matter. How we spend our time, who we spend it with, what we do with it. If you're a Christian then the one thing that we're put on this earth to do is to glorify God**. Is that what your TIME says about you? Most of us would think that we should spend more TIME with our loved ones, family, friends, etc. But how many of us would think that we should spend more TIME with God? Yes, other people are important, so don't read this wrong, but in the end developing our relationship with our eternal Savior out weighs all of the rest! When I enter His presence I want Him to know me, but more importantly, I want to already know Him! Give Him some of your TIME today!

** Romans 11:36
Everything comes from God alone. Everything lives by his power, and everything is for his glory.
Proverbs 16:4
The Lord has made everything for his own purposes.

We have a Finalization Date!!!

Isn't this picture precious? This is my Grandpa Smith holding Emalee at Christmas. A picture to treasure!

We're so pumped! Our lawyer called and has set a date for Emalee to be Finalized! This means that she will officially be a Nothnagel and an American citizen as of March 5!!! Anyone is welcome to come to the court house for this hearing...just call me and I'll let you know when and where to come.

While I'm on here I also wanted to give a brief update on my sister-in-law, Kara. She started radiation treatments yesterday and will go every day for 6 weeks for that. She's also having chemo every other week. Thanks for continuing to pray for her.