Job news, but it's not what you think...

Quick update:
So after about 8 months of searching we finally felt like I should look for a job.
The search was actually a little stressful for me because out here in Philly there aren't a lot of nursing jobs. I applied to places all over! In the city and near us in the burbs. We went to the temple and prayed about whether or not I should take a job out here or if we should move, but we felt like I should try to get a job here. When we got back out to our car I had a message waiting for an interview.
I ended with 3 interviews in the same week and got the job that I really wanted. I was really worried that I would have to work in a scary place in the city, but I will be working in a hospital aobut 2-5 minutes from us in a med/surg floor just like the one where I worked before. It's not easy work, but they really need people who care and so I'm excited to work there. I will be working full time nights (which as a nurse is just 3 12(7pm-7am) hour shifts). Even though I don't love the idea of working the lord has provided the best possible job for me and our family!
I will be starting in May right after David finishes classes. On the same day that I was offered the job I also got an offer to teach violin at a music store. It will just be a few hours on Saturday. I am up to about 12 students with the possibility of 3-4 more. I feel so blessed to be able to do what I love, which is teach violin. Helping sick people isn't so bad either :)
We prayed for work and the lord has provided it, just not in the way we expected.
We are still hoping and praying that David gets a job soon, but in the mean time at least we can live comfortably here. Plus now we don't have to leave Philly so soon! It really is an awesome city. Come visit us!!
Hopefully I'll get some posts up soon. Maddie had a really fun 2 year old birthday party and we have a hamster. More to come soon I promise.

Just for fun!

Gigi and Madeline love playing with their friends Ada and Simon. Their mom Jenny and I often switch off running together and so our kids are super close. On a recent visit I captured these sweet shots of them:



Then they became really silly:



I think this one of Simon is my favorite! He still has the cheese cracker evidence in his mouth.

At first Madeline just laughed at me when I asked her to stick her tongue out.

She finally figured it out :)
I guess I got a little silly too:

Just thought you might want to see our awesome tongues :)

Oh I decided to put this one up of Gigi. I love flinging my kids around. Don't worry I don't do it with anyone else's kids I promise!

Gigi violin update

Gigi has been practicing really hard on the violin lately! We usually get in 30-45 minutes a day during Madeline's nap. She has just learned O Come Little Children. Here it is for your listening pleasure :)

New TV

A few weeks ago we had a major snowstorm and we all decided to just hunker down for a day or two. The girls and I decided to play the wii and after about 5 minutes half of the screen went blank. Frustrated we went to David. He determined that it was not worth fixing it since we only paid $50 for it 5 years ago. It was a good friend to all of us, especially when it enabled me to get a few naps in here and there.
David thought it would be fun to take it apart for FHE so the following Monday night we tried to open it up. We couldn't find the right sized screwdriver though so my manly husband just yanked the thing apart. Then he gave us about a 20 minute lesson of what each part does. It was quite fascinating! Give us a call if you have a tv for us to destroy :)







So for the new TV we really weren't sure what type to buy. Flat screened tv's have become so cheap that we were considering buying a nice new one, but we didn't feel right about spending that much money right now. Then we thought about buying another junk one on craig's list, but we didn't really feel right about doing that either. In the meantime Candy and Tony were awesome enough to lend us their 19 inch flat screen. We fell in love with it. Then Candy offered to sell it to us for a pretty awesome price so we bought it! Even though it is quite small because of the quality of picture we can see things so much better. It even has a dvd built in. All of these are cool features, but the best part is being able to carry it with one arm :) Our old one was a struggle for David and me to carry together.
Feel free to stop on by to watch a show on our new awesome tv :) Just don't bring Jan and Michael Scott over or we might have a problem. (Did anyone get the reference? Thanks people!)

Gigi's workout routine

I haven't posted in forever, which means that just thinking about posting is overwhelming. I hope this random video will inspire me :) Since my marathons I have been rather sick of running so a friend of mine lent me her copy of 30 day shred with Jillian Michaels. It is 20 minutes of pain people! Anyway on Saturday evening David and I still had not worked out and we hadn't had our FHE for the week so we decided to do the shred as a family :) It was pretty awesome. Gigi was seriously into it and didn't quit once! Afterward she wanted to keep going and I was able to get a bit of her workout for all of you to see:



I also have to share this bit of really exciting news: My mom came to town a few weeks ago and treated me to something I have wanted for years...boots! I love them!!! Everytime I slip them on my feet I feel fancy. I guess I really am still 12, but I don't care! I love them! Thank you SO much mom!! I don't actually have a picture of them on me, but here are both of my girls enjoying this truly girly and luxurious item!!

at the dinner table

Madeline's either a math genius or just really likes saying the number 2. You decide :) Grandma Payne notice the green smoothie on Madeline's tray, she LOVES them!

Richmond Va

This post is a bit long and emotional so feel free to skim :)
So it sounds a bit crazy I know, but last Saturday I ran another marathon.
Let me explain: The night before my last marathon David gave me a great blessing promising me that I would be able to run the entire marathon and that I would have a really spiritual experience and be able to work through some of the emotions that I have been having. For those of you who don't know, David didn't get an offer for employment from his summer internship, so we have been looking for a job since August. It is a long, hard process and I have really been struggling with faith.
Well during the marathon I sort of gave up. I walked quite a bit and didn't have faith in the promised blessings I had been given. When I finished I felt that the lord was disappointed in me. I also felt like it was the same problem I had been having for months of not having faith in God. So I decided that I needed to run another marathon to prove to God that I would trust him. So I trained and 4 weeks after my last one I ran another one.
The hardest part was that I had to go through it all alone. We were going to make a weekend trip of it since Richmond is 5 hours away, but David realized a few days before the marathon that he had a big school function that he was in charge of on Friday so he couldn't go. That also meant that the girls couldn't go since I couldn't watch them. My amazingly sweet and kind friend Jenny watched them all day for me and then David had them until I got back.
I really don't like doing things alone. I'm horrible with directions and get scared pretty easily so I was pretty terrified of making this trip alone. It turned out to be a good experience though. I took a few books on tape, prayed a lot and didn't have any trouble with directions. I got to the hotel fine, slept great and got the start line with plenty of time to spare. I pushed myself really hard. My goal was to not stop through the entire race to prove to God that I would trust in him. It was dang hard! Around mile 13 I got horrible blisters all along my arches and had to run the rest with them. I really felt like giving up, but I persevered. God strengthened me and I had a pretty incredible experience. Around mile 18 I decided that I was going to call David at mile 20 for support and right after I crossed the 20 mile mark my phone rang. It was David! He said that he had a feeling that he should call me. The lord was really with me. It felt so great. I did end up walking some after mile 20, but I put everything I had into it. Ironically I only finished about 5 minutes faster than my last marathon, but this time I gave it my all. When I finally crossed the finish line I started crying and the woman giving me the medal asked if I was okay. It was just such an emotional experience. I felt so strongly that God accepted my offering. Even though I didn't run the whole way I did my best and it was enough. It was hard not having anyone there to greet me at the end, but God was there and that was the point.
Since I went alone I don't have any pictures to show, but I did take a picture of my blistered feet :)