Veteran's Day!

Thanks Dad for sending me these pictures of you and Daniel in Washington D.C. over Veteran's Day! I am very proud of my "little" brother Daniel, he has been serving in the Marines for over 5 years now. He works very hard and has made many sacrifices on the behalf of our country.

Veteran's Day-- Flash Back Photos!

Flash Back Photos! Highlights of our Six Months Together in D.C.---



This is a picture of Daniel after he returned home from Iraq! It was the first time that we had seen one another since before I had gotten married or had a baby! It was a sweet reunion. The poster says, "Baby Jillian Loves her Uncle Daniel". I also made him signs that said "Welcome Home" and "Thank you for serving our country" (with an American flag)!

Daniel's number one choice for his pick of bases was 8th and I (in D.C.) because he wanted to be able to spend some time with Brad, Jillian, and me. We got to spend a LOT of time together when he first arrived, because he actually lived with us for a couple of weeks. We had a great time together... we went to museums downtown, shopping at the commisary (LOL, he would beg to differ about that being fun), and played lots with Jillian.

One of my favorite memories of our time in D.C. was Daniel getting the opportunity to meet some of the people who had been praying for him while he was in Iraq. My friend Kristen Schumacher organized an enormous care package for him and even made him a scrapbook of people's letter/pictures from my Community Bible Study Mom's Group!

Daniel was really able to open up and share about some of his experiences he had in Iraq. He felt very blessed that our friends, who didn't even know him before, had faithfully prayed for him while he was gone.


Uncle Daniel has the claim to fame that when Jillian crawled for the first time she was crawling to HIM! :)


Our sweet friends the Rosborough's with Daniel at the parental dedication for Jillian at our church! I love this picture, because when Simran (who was only 3 years old at the time) saw Daniel for the first time, she called him a "Prince!"

Daniel bought me a dozen roses for my first Mother's Day! He delivered them to me at church, so I got to walk all around church with roses in my arms! :)

When the Hoover's (from TX) came for a visit, we all got a tour of the Capital! :) Our many thanks to Carol Elliot for arranging the tour for us and babysitting Jillian! It was such a fun experience and we loved having the Hoover's with us! Daniel especially thought the Hoover Kids were the BEST!!!


The U-Haul and Daniel's truck making trips to the Rosborough's.
Me giving my brother a BIG HUG to thank him the many hours of work he put to help us move out of our apartment.

Saying "good-bye" for a little while at Jillian's 1st Birthday party (the night before we moved to the UK)!

I miss you Daniel! We all love you very much!

Thanksgiving!

We had our first Bible Study again (since Faith's birth) last Tuesday and my friend Jess was thinking about Thanksgiving coming up for us (and there are no cards in England to purchase, so she made her own card for us!). I thought that was super thoughtful!


We spent Thanksgiving just the four of us this year. We missed our family lots and know the same will be for Christmas when it rolls around. But before you feel bad for us, I am telling you... DON'T do it!! It turned out to be a fantastic night for us. We had not used any of our freebie meals for this term, so we got "take-out" from Clare Hall and it was absolutely divine! We had salmon, russet potatoes, brocolli with this incredible creamy buttery sauce (Jillian had the same vegetables but had fish sticks with ketchup instead). As a special treat, we served ourselves some apple juice in wine glasses! LOL (even Jillian had her own glass). And then after the little ones were tucked into their beds, Brad and I had a mini-date of watching the first hour of Sound of Music. We especially enjoyed getting to reminisce about our time in Salzburg and pointing to the places we had been!!

EXTRA NOTE:
We were invited by some other Americans at our church to share Thanksgiving with them, but we have found that 6:30 to 7:00 (when the dinner was scheduled) is one of the most difficult times to settle Faith. And we have "finally" (6 weeks isn't all that long) decided to try to put Faith on more of a schedule, so that is now officially Faith's bedtime. She has a nice, relaxing bath starting at 5:45, followed by a massage with baby oil (she smells "oh sooo good!" and her skin is as soft as peaches!) That is then followed by her bed-time feeding and bed-time; she then sleeps until around 10/ 10:30 for her next feed. I know all of you are impressed! But we didn't make this schedule up ourselves. It is from the Contented Baby Book by Gina Ford. I am really liking it, I don't follow the schedule perfectly everyday, but it gives us guidelines! Up by 7 in the morning, down by 7 at night, and Faith does not stay awake for more than 2 hours at a time during the day (sometimes only taking 30 to 45 minute naps to break up her wake periods).

Salzburg Pictures November 2006:

I entitled our vacation to Germany and Austria, as my dream come true "holiday", because all of it was just incredible and we were able to do things that I had wanted to do for a VERY long time!

We especially enjoyed our day in Salzburg! We did our own self-tour with a map from the Tourist Center, a personal list of the places I wanted to see from the movie, and Brad's amazing navigating ability! :) The Daniel's had been to Salzburg before but we "showed" (LOL- we really didn't know what we were doing either) them places that they had not visited previously. To top all of that, Josiah and Jillian were ANGELS!


"Mirabell Gardens
The Mirabell Gardens were laid out in the 18th century. Maria and the children were seen dancing around the statue of Pegasus, the winged horse, and throughout the gardens singing 'Do-Re-Mi'."

Kristen and I are two very blessed women! Our husbands were terrificly talented at impersonating Maria and the children dancing/ singing (we have it on video as well).

This picture was taken right after we had seen the abbey where the real Maria was a "novice" (pre-nun). The Alps were stunning!
"Nonnberg Abbey
Nonnberg Abbey is the oldest convent in the German speaking part of Europe. Maria was a novice there. The baron and Maria were married here in 1927. The scenes for the movie made here include the opening with the nuns going to Mass and Maria coming too late."

While we were watching the Sound of Music, Brad pointed out a place and said to me "I played chess there!" He is so funny! I think Brad may be as big of a fan of Sound of Music as I am (and it is my absolute favorite movie)! LOL! They say the longer you are married to someone, the more you become alike and I think that can definitely be true in this instance. :)

Our sweet friends, the Daniel's, who made our visit to Bavaria possible! They did so much to make our visit memorable and stress-free (as well as affordable). THANK YOU!!! :) We miss you!

We sent a box to the Daniels from the States and this is a picture of Jillian discovering some of her long-lost toys! :) Isn't she adorable! I can not believe that was a year ago!

Davis Family

Here is a picture of my sister, brother-in-law and our nephew (who is now 5 months old).




We were hanging out, face to face, by way of Skype! We both had video-chat on, and I took a quick screen-shot of the beautiful family of three. During our conversation, they were such an encouragement to us that things will get better with Faith soon, who has not been sleeping as well recently.

We miss them so much, and can't wait to see them in April!! They are coming to the UK to see us! We are very excited.

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! :)

This morning at 7:40 AM, Brad awoke me by saying "Happy Birthday!". He was full of energy, compared to me, who was still in a half slumber. Being wide awake, I thought surely he should know what he is talking about. So I sat there for a few seconds contemplating..."are we still in the month of October... is it really my birthday?" I started to get really worried, that I was so out of it. But I quickly recovered and replied to Brad saying "It isn't my birthday". He gave me his biggest smile with his dimple grin and told me, "its your spiritual birthday"! And he was RIGHT! It is my birthday! Today, November 19th is the day that I made a public statement of faith that Jesus Christ was my Lord and Savior! Many thanks to my sweetheart, who remembered and is celebrating this day with me!

My Testimony:
I was blessed to be raised in a home with two Christians parents who took me to church regularly. I remember from a very young age (four or five) wanting to be "saved". I would ask my parents if I could be **baptized** and they told me that it was a big decision and something I needed to understand a little better before I made it. They were very wise and discerning because in truth I didn't really understand what it meant to become a follower of Christ. All I knew was that Jesus loved me and I loved him. I also knew that I didn't want to die and go to Hell, but I wasn't all that worried about it, because I was a "good kid". I didn't ever get in trouble, and I certainly hadn't done anything to merit me being sent to that "bad place"!

The day I realized that I was a sinner in a need of a Savior, my pastor was teaching about Adam and Eve in the garden. Adam and Eve had sinned against God and then tried to hide from Him. But they were unable to hide from Him, HE knew where they were, and He knew what they had done. It was the first time that I realized that my sins were not hidden from God. I knew I could hide my sins from other people, but I would never be able to hide them from God. He knew all of my selfishness, my "half-lies" and unkindnesses to other people. And yet he LOVED and HE desired me to be HIs forever. He made it possible for me to be His by giving His only Son to die on the cross. Even as I write this, it brings tears to my eyes that he would want me despite me being so unworthy of His sacrifice. I am 18 years old today! God has brought me through many trials and many victories, I am thankful that He calls me His!

A note ** baptized ** -- once you become a Christian, as an act of OBEDIENCE and as a public statement of your faith you are baptized, but your salvation is not dependent on it. The day I was baptized was a beautiful and very special day for me and my family!

This is a song that really touched me today! The Creator of the Heavens loves me JUST as I am. He calls me HIs Beloved.

Your Beloved- By the Tree

Lord it was you
You created the heavens
Lord it was your hands
That put the stars in their place
Lord it was your voice
That commands the morning
Cause even oceans and their waves bow at your feet
Oh God

(Chorus)
Lord who am I
Compared to your glory
Lord who am I
Compared to your majesty

Cause I'm your beloved
Your creation
And you love me as I am
You call me chosen
For your kingdom
Unashamed to call me your own
Cause I'm your beloved

Lord it was you
You created the heavens
Lord it was your hands
That put the stars in their place
Lord it was your voice
That commands the morning
Cause even oceans and their waves bow at your feet
Oh God

(Chorus)

Difficult Times/ Good Lessons :)

Last week we had an "interesting" week (if you have a good memory, you will remember that last time I said that we had an "interesting" time we went to the hospital in an ambulance!). Well this time, it probably wasn't as interesting as that, but it was eventful, nonetheless.

The first event was we discovered that someone had made charges on Brad's debit card! Thankfully, we realized what was happening very quickly (within 24 hours) and immediately contacted our bank, who cancelled the card. Of course, this was stressful for us, but the bank immediatley deposited our money back and is opening up an fraudulent investigation. The good lesson for me was something I need to be reminded of all the time..that our security does not lie in how little or how much money we have in our bank account. God is the one who provides for all of needs.

One Month Pictures

Faith is looking more and more like her big sister Jillian! She has the "Lawson lips" (as Brad calls them!) and I think she has her daddy nose! :) She still has difficulty settling to go to sleep sometimes, but she doesn't mind us changing her nappy/ diaper or clothes (which is completely opposite of Jillian, Jillian fell asleep really easilly but didn't like her diaper or clothes being changed at all!).

I am a little concerned that I am comparing the two of them so much. I told myself I would never do that, but it really is an easy thing to do, especially with the two of them being so close in age! In my family of three kids, I was always the point of reference for my younger brother and sister. So I never thought it was that "bad" of a thing to do. But now that I have experienced being the "baby" on Brad's side of the family, I have discovered that I do not like being compared to anyone else. Isn't that funny? And now I am experiencing it from the parent's perspective. It is hard being parents! You always want what is best for your children, but sometimes its hard knowing what is BEST for them and how to achieve that! I know that is when God's Word and Praying come to be the most valuable!

I would LOVE to hear anyone else's thoughts about being the ELDEST/ BABY!?!? Or your thoughts on being the parents to more than one child!?

The "Pushchair" Test (this last week)

The double stroller our friend from New Zealand generously gave us has not worked as well as we had hoped. Jillian must have grown leaps and bounds since we tried it out this summer, because it was the worst work-out getting the double buggy out. So after multiple times trying it out (both Brad and I), we decided to Free-cycle it to someone else in Cambridge who had smaller/ lighter children. Then, we were left with the terrible dilemma, what do we do in Cambridge, with no car, no double buggy, and two children. Initially, I thought well I will just use the baby carrier and the single stroller and then upgrade to a buggy board later on. But I already find the carrier difficult to do for long distances and I don't think Jillian will be able to do buggy board for miles anytime soon. So, then we decided, I would use our Chariot double trailer with the jogging wheel attachment...but I got so many odd stares and looks (Brad will attest to this too!). It is very bulky and doesn't fit into most doorways (including our own). So you have to leave it outside and lock it up and then go into church, store, or wherever you are going (which I find really annoying, as well as difficult).

So then my quest began for finding the perfect buggy. The logical first choice was another Maclaren, because we have really enjoyed our Maclaren Techno Classic for Jilian. So we went to Mothercare and tried it out and of course, in the store it was great (but that was without cobblestone or without having to "hop" any curves). So that night, after having completed the preleminary testing, I called a friend from church and arranged for me to "borrow" her buggy to go into town! So the next day, all six of us went into town with "my two girls" in the double stroller and her two boys with the single stroller and buggy board (her boys are 1 and 3).

I am so GLAD that I did a test-run because it wasn't as ideal as I hoping. I had to step on the middle wheel to hop curves (which it is not designed for) and it is very wide, so you would have the similar problem that you would have with the chariot. As a small thank you, we went to Starbucks inside Borders bookstore (with our four kids under the age of 3, you can just imagine the sight we were!), and I treated her to a coffee and a muffin! I thanked her for giving me the test run, and she confided in me that if she had a choice she wouldn't get the Maclaren double again, but would consider getting the Phil and Ted's. Well the Phil and Ted's cost about $800! So guess what we are doing!!! We are going to enjoy home delivery of our groceries, friends coming over to visit us at our flat, taking two buggies out on the weekend when daddy is home, and using the carrier and single stroller for short walks! And when a little more time passes...out I will go with the CHARIOT JOGGER!!! Wish me LUCK!

P.S. We do have a baby sling that is especially designed for the Chariot. It was given to us by a friend who no longer needed it! :)

A Lady of Leisure

Okay the title is a bit of a stretch...because my time is now very occupied with being the mommy to two, but I am spoiling myself with now getting my groceries delivered to our flat!!! Isn't that awesome!?! Before Faith's birth, I was going to the grocery store nearly every other day. But I find it very difficult to get out with the two girls now, because if Faith starts to cry and wants to eat, I don't have a great place where I can start nursing her. In the States, when Jillian would get hungry and we were out, I could always jump in the car and semi-privately feed her there (and it was a warm, comfortable place). Unfortunately, I have no car here, and there aren't many benches on my walk to town, AND its getting cold outside, so for many reasons it really is not ideal for me to sitting on the sidewalk feeding my baby!

We had our first delivery this last Saturday, and Brad and I were so excited. It felt like Christmas to us... I didn't have to make 5 trips to the grocery store to get a "regular shop" (compared to what we would get in the US). We split the shop with our sweet neighbors from Switzerland, so we each paid 2.5 GBP ( or about $5.20), but I think that is a STEAL for what you are getting! Also, the selection on-line for Sainsbury's was so much better than what we can get in our city center store. The city store accomodates mostly university students; it is very small and does not have much selection. Online, however, there is a LOT better selection with much better prices and on-line you can check how long an item is on sale too (its not like it is in the States, where the specials change every week). So what I am saying is I am sold on this grocery delivery thing! If any of you ever move to England, I suggest you try it out too! :)

3 Week Faith Photos (Oct. 31st)

Thankfully, we feel like Faith is really beginning to settle into more of a routine. Also, she is now successfully sleeping in the bassinett of our pack and play in the room with us (instead of in the bed with us) ! YEAH! She is a sweet, sweet baby and we all are falling more and more in love with her each day. :)

***HEALTH CHECK-UP***
Faith weighed 8 lbs 7 oz when she was born. At her 12 day check-up we discovered she had gained 6 oz! Then just 9 days after that, (her 3 week check-up) Faith had gained a whole lb, weighing in at 9 lbs 13 oz! She is doing great and is in the 91st percentile right now. :) We are so thankful that she is healthy!

Play Time with Jillian!

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Jillian giving her daddy a kiss on the cheek!


"Peek-a-Boo"! Playing "hide-and-lift-the-blanket-up- and SCREAM Ah!"


We know we are extra cute to mommy! :)



Last night, we were playing in the living room before bed, and all of a sudden, Jillian pointed to the bucket, stood in it, and said "shower"!
(Okay, I know no explanation is needed, but I am going to tell you anyway...Jillian is wearing no pants because I had just changed her diaper, and we were about to put her in her pajamas. I tell you this, only because recently I have found it a lot more challenging to get all of us dressed. So far, we haven't missed a day yet! LOL. Isn't it amazing how your life is transformed by one little person?)


Next thing, you know, she is sitting down! And she says "bath".


The night previous, I had to scrub Jillian's face a little more than I normally do, because she has had so much fun making herself look like a princess EVERY day with her glitter from Annie and Papa. So this picture and the next she is scrubbing her face!




Washing her hands in the shower! :)


My favorite picture is this last one...Jillian realizes that she doesn't have a TOWEL!!!

Annie and Papa's Visit

"Annie" and "Papa" arrived last Sunday afternoon around 2:30. We shared a late lunch together and "oohed and aahed" over the baby, while Jillian napped! And then all of us got to Sunday evening church! It was actually Brad and I's first time to go on a Sunday evening (because there is no "creche"/ or child care) but Marvin was teaching. And we LOVE Marvin (he is the associate pastor). It was an AWESOME message and we were really blessed to be back in fellowship with some other members of our church (by the way, we are NOW members of Eden Baptist too)! Anyway, then we went to Subway on the way home for dinner. I know, that is not very "English" thing to do. But they came to England to spoil us, and we miss AMERICA! And as we always say, "people don't come (or at least shouldn't be coming) to England for the food."

The next day, Brad had to work and we spent most of the day talking and relaxing in one another's company! I have missed seeing the both of them so much, so it was really refreshing to be with them and catch up on life! And then that night, we all went out to eat at Charlie Chan's, a chinese restaurant, that is oh so good! And then because it was Bonfire Night / Guy Fawkes Night, the "boys" and Jillian went to go see the fireworks show, while Annie and I returned with Faith to make chocolate chip cookies to welcome everyone home!

The next day, I gave Annie and Papa a highlight tour of the sights in Cambridge. We first went to King's Chapel, then we went to Trinity College (Isaac Newton and gravity, as well as Chariots of Fire courtyard), and then to St. John's (where we saw William Wilberforce's statue in the chapel and then went to the Bridge of Sighs). We had an INCREDIBLE visit, and I feel so blessed that they came all this way to be with us!



Every time any one of the "grandparents" come for a visit, Jillian is one spoiled little girl! And I have to say I have been very impressed that each set of grandparents have found very unique gifts to spoil her with too! When Annie and Papa came for a visit they were so generous and brought gifts for all of us.

Jilian especially had fun with one of her gifts... her sparkly roll-on perfume. She didn't realize, of course, it was perfume and so she was being very generous and putting it on EVERYONE and EVERYWHERE! The following pictures Jillian is proudly displaying her hand covered with glitter! :)