My New Christmas Album from Amazon!

My computer savvy friend Naomi saw my FREEBIE Amazon post and went there herself and discovered that if you went to the bottom of the page you could see what other people have been downloading for FREE ($0.00). So instead of having to wait all 25 days for your new Christmas songs, you can start doing it NOW.  Here is my new Christmas Album.  Its been fun listening to it today as we decorate the tree and get our Christmas cards ready! :-) 

WARNING: I did not download all the songs, one said it was "explicit".  I definitely don't recommend putting that one on your playlist!  

"Silent Night"                                                                                   

BY: Sixpence None The Richer

"Joy To The World"                                                                       

BY: Casting Crowns

"Winter Wonderland"                                                                    

BY: Point Of Grace

"The Coventry Carol" 

BY: Mediaeval Baebes

"God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen"                                 

BY: Jars of Clay

"O Come, O Come Emmanuel"                                         

BY: Annie Moses Band

"Oh Come Emmanuel"                                                                 

BY: Aliqua

"Hark, the Herald Angels Sing"                                                 

BY: Carola 

"I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day"   

BY: Casting Crowns

"I Celebrate The Day"                                                                    

BY: Relient K

"Do You Hear What I Hear (Featuring Patrick Wilson)" 

BY: Mary McBride

"O Come, O Come, Emmanuel"                                                    

BY: Big Daddy Weave

"Pat A Pan"                                                                                      

BY: Mannheim Steamroller

"Silent Night"                                                                                  

BY: House Of Heroes

Amazon: 25 Days of FREE Holiday MP3 Downloads

Amazon is offering 25 Days of FREE Holiday music downloads from now until Christmas.  Be sure to visit Amazon every day for a new download.

I've already gotten my first one Casting Crowns "Joy to the World"!

Desk-Top Discoveries...

The following three posts are from over TWO years ago. I discovered them while "cleaning up" our desk-top. Even though they are "old", I thought they were a lot of fun and couldn't resist posting them on here.  :-)

"Funny Jillian September 2007"

Brad created this video the month before Faith was born. I don't think anyone besides Brad or I have seen it before. I hope you enjoy the great songs Brad chose, as well as the fun content of our little girl Jillian.

  

A Three Part Video--

-Running around the courtyard with neighbors at Clare Hall
- Mommy and Jillian sharing a conversation- We talked about swings, cars, and lots of other fun things. I was also trying to wean her from the paci before baby sister was born! It wasn't working that well at the time, but she doesn't use it anymore! :-)

- Jillian's God-parents, Jen and Mike over at our flat playing with us! 

Harvey Fellowship Bio 2007

If you have ever wondered what Brad is specifically studying, here it is in Brad's own words as well as some other interesting things about him too. He wrote this for the newsletter that is distributed to Harvey fellows recipients. It warmed my heart to read his description of our favorite things to do as a family!

Brad Holmes is a PhD student in the NIH-Cambridge Graduate Partnership Program. His research is focused on the role of the ribonuclease H1 protein in mitochondrial DNA replication and maintenance. At the NIH, he is under the supervision of Dr. Robert Crouch in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Disease (NICHD), and at Cambridge, he is under the supervision of Dr. Ian Holt in the Medical Research Council’s Dunn Human Nutrition Unit.

Brad graduate summa cum laude from Texas A&M University in 2004 with a BS in biochemistry and a minor in computer science. As a national merit scholar, he was supported by the President’s Endowed Scholarship and was a 2004 Goldwater Scholar. He spent several years as an undergraduate fellow with Dr. Jerry Tsai, predicting protein structures from genetic information. Six months after graduation, he married his wife, Lauren, and during this time he wrapped up his research with Dr. Tsai. In all, he was able to publish four peer-reviewed articles.

Raised as a Christian in his native Dallas, Brad attended First Baptist Church, Bryan in college, where he led a Bible study with Lauren, went on short-term mission trips to Las Vegas and Costa Rica, and lead weekly on- and off- campus evangelism. While in high school, Brad coordinated youth support for Rip Parker, a church elder who distributed food, water and clothing to the large homeless population of downtown Dallas.

Since moving to Cambridge, Brad and Lauren have made Eden Chapel their home church, and officially joined in 2007. Lauren leads a weekly women’s Bible Study while Brad meets and mentors a young college student. They both have been tremendously blessed by the message preached each Sunday, and by the humble and God- glorifying way by which the church worships, teaches, and ministers to the world.

Lauren spends her days at home with their two beautiful girls: Jillian Laurelee, born during Brad’s first year as a PhD student in Maryland, and Faith Elizabeth, born during Brad’s third year in Cambridge. On nights and weekends together, they enjoy dancing to Steven Curtis Chapman, cycling together to the store, counting to ten, and discussing strange British habits. While living in a different country has at times been daunting and difficult, they know that God has forever changed their lives through it.

God has given me a passion and calling for the sciences, and this is the single most important factor in the pursuit of my vocation. It is a great privilege, and an act of worship, to discover something new about His design, and this is another factor that motivates me to work diligently. One lesson I learned as an undergraduate came from Psalm 111:2, “Great are the works of the Lord; they are studied by all who delight in them”. My Christian faith informs me that He is honored by the study of His handiwork and that He continues to reveal His creation in greater detail through scientific study.

Routines for Jillian 2007 :-)

I made this routine for Jillian for Cambridge friends, just in case I went into labor on their watch!  Finding this in a file on our desktop today brought back so many happy memories of that time in our life. It also gives a glimpse of how things were a little different in England.  :-)

ROUTINES FOR JILLIAN!

Jillian’s common words:

·       Kitchen

·       Paci (dummy)

·       baby

·       stroller

·       outside

·       shoes (to go outside)

·       cheese (would eat a whole block if given the chance, but do not let her do that!)

Jillian’s Schedule

Between 6:00 and 6:45 AM: Typically stirs once, cries out “Mommy”, and goes back to sleep.  Sometimes helps to give her dummy to her and press play on the CD player.  Sometimes, she is just ready to get up.

Around 7:15, up for good.  Typically likes to keep her 2 lambies with her.  If we are not around, she will want to check each room to find out where we went, and may be upset.

Pour her a small bowl of Cheerios.  She can have as many as she wants.  Usually shares Daddy’s cereal of Raisin Bran/Rice Krispies.

Plays inside until 10:00 or so.  Loves her kitchen, to play bubbles (in top right kitchen cabinet) color (long brown wicker basket near dinner table), push toy stroller around, and sometimes enticed to read.  As a morning snack, a sliced apple or banana is yummy!

At some point, she gets dressed and goes outside to play.  She likes to play with her 3 cars that are kept in the back private garden or we walk frequently to Llamas’s Land to play at the park! She LOVES the swing, slide, seesaw, horsey, and boat! Another idea, is to just take her to town to feed the ducks, she does really well with long walks. 

Around 12:30 she eats lunch. IDEAS for LUNCH: peanut butter crackers, boxed macaroni and cheese, apple sauce or apple (or yogurt) if not given before, left-overs in the fridge.

Nap time: She lays down between 1 and 2 for an afternoon nap.  She needs to lay down at least an hour, even if she talks to herself the whole time.  She can sleep up to 3 hours, but usually just 2.  She needs her dummy, 2 lambs,  music, and 1-2 books read to her.  She sometimes likes to snuggle and cuddle a little too.

Desperate Times call for Desperate Measures:

Paci—there should be a paci on top of the microwave on the serving tray, or there may be one behind the CD player in her room!

Boz DVD (or Miss Patty Cake)--If it is raining or its not good weather to be outside (or even if you have just run out of ideas), Jillian LOVES the DVD of Boz. The laptop is stored in our (Brad and Lauren’s) bedroom in a black case, the power cord is white and should be on the left bedside table.  Connect the laptop to the power cord and there is an adaptor in the wall ALL READY for you to plug in.  I ordinarily only let her watch one 12 minute episode and perhaps a music video to go along with it. But use your discretion, undoubtedly, Jillian will say “AGAIN” when the episode is over! The DVDs are on our bookshelf in the bedroom. 

***“Michal (soft ‘ch’, a 3 year old girl) and “Sha-zad” (6 year old boy) are around outside if not in school, as are other neighbors. 

Thanksgiving

We had a terrific Thanksgiving this year and are so thankful for God's many blessings to us.  We started out our day by volunteering to help serve Gaithersburg low-income families at a Thanksgiving dinner organized by our church.  There were a estimated 300 people served in the three hours that lunch served, as well as another 250 home-bound who had food delivered to their house.

It was a lot of fun for us to get to interact with some of the people, as well as serve them by getting them a drink, pumpkin pie, or just taking their trash.  The girls were big helpers and some of the older, single individuals who were there absolutely delighted in them.  The highlight for me was meeting a woman who was a "military brat" and had lived in Killeen, TX (Fort Hood) for a time.  She thought it was really neat that was where my grandfather was stationed (and still lives) and my mom went to high-school in Belton! 

The girls all ready for their Thanksgiving Dinner.  We had a traditional dinner of turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes (with lots of yummy stuff inside), green bean casserole, and Schubert rolls.

Our friends the Meagher's came over that evening to have dessert and play games (while the kids were sleeping).  Lindsey made adorable & delicious chocolate covered marshmallows with a cookie on bottom to resemble a pilgrim's hat (a craft idea from our MOPS meeting on traditions).  

Jillian and Faith giving Evan hugs. 

Here the "big girls" are escorting Evan to the living room....

Only to give him lots more hugs!!! LOL! 

Both Jillian and Faith thought Evan was wonderful! :-)