I just plugged Ryan’s iPhone into my computer allowing it to sync for the first time in probably 2 months.

I found he had a lot of cool pictures that I never knew he had. Imagine that.

One was of the last weekend I worked when they were at Target. They were celebrating Dr. Seuss’s birthday and the kids got to meet Thing 1 and Thing 2.

So cute.

E has been really loving Dr. Seuss books, movies, and anything we can get our hands on. I love to hear X read Wocket in your Pocket to him.

Kara has been telling me I how much I need to read this trilogy of books by Ted Dekker: Black, Red, and White.

Because Kara is scary, I listened to her.

All I can say is Whoa! These books are crazy imaginative, creative, and intense. It took a little bit to get into but man, oh man, once I did I couldn’t stop.

It somehow, someway parallels Christianity….it’s just really hard to explain unless you read it.

The best part is that I feel like I gained a re-understanding how God sees His people. Since starting these books I’ve had several occasions where I have felt annoyed or frustrated with people and immediately I’ve told myself to see them as God sees them. Of course we’re all imperfect, but He loves us despite and loves me just as much as the person who is frustrating me.  God doesn’t see our worldly faults, our sins, or our hangups when he looks at us – He sees a child He has created whom He loves.

And God wants us to love as He loves. Without restraint – looking past faults, annoyances, appearances, agendas, differences and difficulties.

Pretty heavy yet completely awesome stuff! I highly recommend it.

This link is for “Book zero” Green (that I’ve yet to read). It has a video clip that kinda gives you an idea of what the books are about.

Today, I….

slept 8 hours

managed to get E back to sleep at 5am

drank a cup of coffee while driving (like an actual cup – not a tumbler) and didn’t spill a drop

played Guitar Hero Smash Hits for an hour at 8am

got 2 hours of online CPR training done in 20 minutes (it helps to have a paramedic sitting next to you)

premade 3 meals (one for tonight’s dinner, others for next week when I’m working)

prayed a lot for X and for a lot of my friends who have big decisions, big trials, and big change in the works

finished White [more on this later]

spent time with a great friend

enjoyed the gorgeous weather while our kids played

ate chocolate cake with fresh raspberries for dessert

enjoyed a glass of wine with Randy and Prem next door  while playing with our cameras and lenses

confirmed the hotness of RD Jr. in Ironman 2 with Kara

**thanks for everyone’s prayers for X. She came home saying she had a good day and there was no drama.

Oh, drama.

Yesterday, the 2nd grade drama rose to new levels. X was called to the principal’s office for a rumor that she had called a girl a b.i.t.c.h. (it was spelled out by everyone who was accusing her).

It turns out that that 12 girls we called in when one girl after another implicated someone else as being the “source” of the rumor. Not one single person admitted to hearing her say it.

Final verdict? After 40 minutes and both the principal and vice principal trying to make sense of the whole story, they all were instructed to write down their part in this situation. Then they all crumbled up their papers and threw them out and told to forget the whole thing ever happened.

I’d like to think that I know X well enough to say that she would never (ever) call someone this – much less that she even has heard the word used in such a way – if she’s ever heard the word at all. She is a child who will look at me with sad eyes when she hears someone say “Oh, my god” and will whisper to me that that person is using God’s name in vain.

And then, after all the girls came home from school and told their moms that they had to go to the principal’s office because of  “X”, more phone calls came into the school complaining about X.  So, come 5pm, I got a call from the principal herself to discuss why X is being targeted in this way.

I say ‘targeted’ because neither the principals nor any of the teachers have ever witnessed X being even the slightest bit mean or doing any of the things that she is being accused of. And based on what we know of her character, Ryan and I can’t believe that she would do any of it either.

I’ve been trying to wrap my brain around this whole thing since yesterday afternoon. I’ve had little success.

I know it’s just a trial and will pass but I fear the long term effects on her friendships may be harder to overcome.

If I can be honest with myself, my main personal frustration is that it’s our “community” that is turning against my daughter. Almost every single of these so-called “friends” who are making up these lies about her live in our neighborhood. And it’s the Mom’s who I’ve met and thought I could trust who are calling the school (instead of me) to discuss “how they cannot tolerate X being around their child anymore”.  This is the neighborhood that we thought was the perfect place to raise children. A place we thought would accept adopted foster children (not make them a scapegoat for all the drama – which is what we feel is happening).

I guess I’m feeling betrayed but really I think I’m just getting a dose of reality. The reality that parents (and their children) live with a sense “my child is perfect” and “my child is entitled to a perfect social environment at the school”. That other kids watch TV and movies and live in homes where they actually know what “calling someone a b.i.t.c.h” means.

I’ve got a lot to learn.

I need this:

Okay, need is a strong word. I really, really want this though.

Randy and I went to the Camera Exchange this morning (he just bought a Canon 5D MarkII).  I was looking into renting a 40D body to try out when the woman convinced me that this was what I needed wanted.

I hate working overtime, but I love this camera.

We had a nice low-key weekend.  I finally managed to get a haircut on Friday and am loving having my bangs back (they were really long before-so long I really couldn’t call them bangs anymore.)

Most of Saturday was spent working on things for church. I am in charge of our big community outreach event: The Big Hunt (a huge Easter egg hunt/carnival the Saturday before Easter held at X’s elementary school). I stayed up till nearly 4 am making signs for my sign-up table on Sunday morning.

While using foam stamps and fun acrylic paint colors sounded like an awesome idea at first, after the 9th sign I was done with it. I had paint stains all over my fingers (despite the entire box of baby wipes I used) and I was starting to see double due to lack of sleep.  End result was good though, my table looked great and I got lots of people signed up.

When we finally got home from church it was 1 pm and we were all starving. Ryan helped me make an awesome lunch of egg tacos, hashbrowns, and fruit. Meanwhile, E fell asleep on the couch. That never happens. It was kinda nice to have him nap on his own.

Last night after the kids were asleep Kara and Maria came over to begin our Daniel study. This is one of the powerful Bible studies I’ve ever done – hence the reason I’m doing it again for the second time.

This morning, in the rain, Randy and I headed out for our first run together since he’s been back. We did 4 miles (in the rain) and it felt awesome.

Looking forward to a super productive yet relaxing week off.

It was kinda a rough week for taking pictures. Not sure why, but I got them all at least.

Sam flew in Sunday morning. We spent the day going to church, shopping, eating at Fralo’s, and watching The Proposal while eating coffee&toffee ice cream.

Sam and I spent the day eating breakfast at Mimi’s, getting pedicures, more shopping, and reading through old High School notes (Oh, what a trip that was!).

When I got to work that night I realized that taking off the 2 (slowest and great for catching up) days before the first of the month wasn’t the best idea. This is what 150 Rx looks like. And that wasn’t all of it.

Small group kids eating gluten free cupcakes.

Straight from work to the Dentist. Ugh.

We went out to dinner with our neighbor friends. Randy & Prim to Chama Gaucha. I was so full I didn’t eat another thing all night at work.

We rented Guitar Hero SMASH HITS from Blockbuster this Friday night. As X and Daddy slowed the show down with  Free bird, E waved his Zippo liter (iPhone app).

I took off work on Saturday so I could be alive and awake when Sam arrived on Sunday morning. It was nice to have an extra Saturday to get stuff done around the house and have fun with friends in the evening.

We went to our friends Cortney & Josh’s house which was guaranteed fun for the kids and the adults.

We packed up the wagon with Pizza, salad, and drinks and headed to their neighborhood park.

E obsessively talks about Tessa and Molly (Cortney’s two girls) after having several swimming play dates this past summer. He is so girl crazy-here he’s pestering Molly (which only continued throughout the night).

Sadly, as soon as we got to the park, E had an accident. We didn’t have any extra clothes in the Odyssey so we borrowed some of Max’s 18mo pants from Cortney. I rolled them up in attempt to make them look like shorts but really they just looked like capris!

Promptly after dealing with the first child drama of the evening, Cortney and I opened a bottle of wine.

The kids played and had a great time. Here Ryan and Josh were encouraging this “Survivor” challenge – seeing who could hand on the longest.

The winner was X.

I gave Cortney my camera to practice and play around with since she’s thinking about upgrading to a digital SLR. The picture above of me playing peek-a-boo with Max and the following pictures were all taken by her – and they are super! Way to go Cortney!

A pouting-I’m-not-getting-my-way kinda face. Cute nonetheless.

And then once I found her taking a bunch of photos of me I took the camera away. (Just kidding.) But I figured since I so rarely have pictures of me to include in posts I would take advantage of it.

The entire beautiful Devine family.

X took this one of us adults. It was hilarious because once she snapped off one picture, she continued taking them one after another (I wonder where she learned that?)

This is us cracking up after 16 pictures and me saying exactly that to Cortney, I wonder where she learned to do that? But look at our good husbands still looking at the camera and smiling!

We got a couple good ones of the kids too. It wasn’t without a little drama though.

Molly walked away from E at one point which resulted in this picture. I think it was truly an accident that he grabbed her hair but its hysterical to see it captured like this.

We finished off the night with some coffee and Apples to Apples for the adults and some serious room trashing playing for the kids.

Thanks for a fun night Devine’s!

I really like decorating for holidays.

It’s one of those things that allows me to be creative in a different way than normal. I also love how much the kids enjoy having the house decorated. I often have X help me in the process, which is fun for both of us.

I pretty much use the same decorations every year….things I’ve accumulated in our 8.5 years of marriage. Most of the things I’ve bought on clearance after the actual holiday (all those trips to Pottery Barn Outlet back in 2006 when we were getting ready to move in this house).

Sometimes I throw my good china into the mix for fun. It deserves to be used, even if we don’t eat with them.

My fireplace mantel. I bought this “N” on Etsy (at the recommendation of Breanna – thank you Bre!) Those candles were Pottery Barn clearance too.

Typically I change this candle holder around so that it has candles that match the season’s colors. I never light them though – it’s completely for show.

This year I decided to use 3 of my Wal-Mart Easter buckets filled with plastic eggs for 3 of the spots. It seems that E (and all other children who visit) have an uncontrollable desire to touch these candles, so I figured – why not add something that can actually be touched?

I found E sitting absolutely naked (I told him to get his pj’s off so we could get him dresssed) on the floor playing with the eggs yesterday morning.  Love it!

E, like many boys, has rubbed his jeans thin in the knees. The other day he busted a hole in both knees at school. He came running up to me when I came to pick him up super excited to show me that “we match” (I had my jeans with intentional holes in them on that day).

Ryan put these jeans back on him the other day. On the way home from school E told me, “I don’t like these pants with holes.”

“We’ll just have to tell Daddy not to put them on you anymore,” I say.

At home, E tells Daddy first thing in his sternest voice, “You need to stop give me these hole-y pants Daddy – I don’t like ‘em.”

Of course, Ryan gave me the “did you tell him to say that?” look.

Here’s a few more from the trampoline….