It's been a while...

If anyone still reads my blog, thank you! I am terrible about keeping up with my blog, unless I am really inspired to write about a particular topic.  Well, guess what world? I'm about to do what I refer to as "verbal vomit" (and anyone who knows me, knows what this is).

First, a disclaimer.  If this blog post in ANY way sounds like I'm trying to brag, make myself sound like a super great person, etc, that is COMPLETELY not my intention.  I am hoping that somewhere along the way, a girl happens upon my blog, someone who is struggling with issues, with getting through middle school, with dealing with bullying, someone who feels they are inferior.  I pray that God leads someone to my blog who might need to hear my words.

My youngest minion, my baby girl, just turned 12.  She's in the 6th grade.  Now, back in my day, when the dinosaurs roamed, and I had to walk in 10 feet of snow to school, 6th grade was still in elementary school.  Nowadays, it's middle school.  My girl LOVED elementary school.  She hated standardized testing, but otherwise, she was happy to go to school.  Middle school is the bane of her existence.  She's begged me several times to take her out of school, although she wavers on this because she said she'd miss seeing her friends.  Readers, you couldn't PAY ME enough money to go back to middle school-or, back in the old timey days, we called it junior high school.  It was awkward.  And the kids were just plain MEAN.  I was picked on so, so much.  My clothes weren't name brand, and weren't fashionable enough.  My shoes weren't name brand.  My hair was "weird".  I wasn't super smart (I had diagnosed ADHD back then, thankyouverymuch).  I was made fun of for the size of my (forgive me for saying this) breasts, like that's something a 13 year old girl has ANY control over.  I. hated. junior. high. school.

Now, my baby girl is being subjected to much of this nonsense.  Now, people who know my child know these things about her: she is nice to EVERYONE.  I have taught my kids that, even if they dislike a person, have NO RIGHT to make others feel inferior.  Ignore them, or do the Godly thing and be nice to them.  Luke 6:27-28 "But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you".  I don't want to sound like a martyr, or brag, but it's just something I've engraved into their minds, because of the way I was treated when I was a teenager.  I don't want them to make anyone feel the way those people made me feel.  So, she's very friendly.  She is an extremely loyal friend.  Her best friend has been her best friend since kindergarten.  She has a small group of friends, "the squad," that she mostly hangs out with.  She is very giving, which can be aggravating, because people know she has a hard time saying "no" and take advantage of her.  I tell her, all she can do is pray for those people, and pray that God gives her the courage to finally say NO.

My girl likes to experiment with her hair.  She is really into anime (Japanese animation, for those who aren't familiar), and likes to try out the hairstyles of various characters.  Of course, at school, her hair is made fun of because it's "weird".  I've reminded her of James 4:12  "There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?" I told her that it's hard to just shake off these comments, but she should be proud of herself for not trying to be like everyone else, and that God is the only person who has the right to judge her-and he's certainly not going to judge her over a hairdo!  I told her that she should try to turn the other cheek, which I KNOW is difficult to do, but being just like the everyone else means she's not being herself.  Girls, I know it's so, so hard to not go with the crowd.  I promise you, it's only a short part of your life, and when people are adults, most people do everything they can to try and be as different as possible.