It's Almost Time....

...for school. My daughter starts eighth grade at a new school next week. Due to district rezoning, she will not attend her old middle school. It has been an adjustment for her, but I am happy to day that we learned tonight at open house that she will be in homeroom and all core classes with her two best friends. Talk about happy!

First semester she will take:
9th grade math
math application
physical science
Georgia history
9th grade language arts/reading
9th grade Spanish
band/guitar

She is excited and so are we! I hope that 8th grade is the best year ever!

Last week of 7th grade

Today starts the last week of Marissa's 7th grade year. She is so ready for summer! I think that after the CRCT, the kids are just done. They are exhausted, frustrated, and as the weather gets hotter they are just ready to be out of school. Unfortunately, our school system has the kids in school until June 11. Thankfully, we do not return in early August as neighboring counties do, we wait until September to return. :)

So today is the last Monday of 7th grade, and also the last Monday that my daughter will attend this school. Due to redistricting she will attend  another school next year, but still in the International Baccalaureate program. She will be closer to home, but she is hesitant to change schools. She is a creature of habit, and very much like her Mama, in that she does not like change of any kind. We like things to be steady, even keeled, and predictable. :) It is also the last Monday that any of the kids at her middle school will actually be in that building for middle school, as it is being converted to a high school this fall. The middle school will move to the elementary school in September. Big changes in our district!

It is just so hard to believe that 7th grade is coming to an end.....seems she just started kindergarten last week!

Another Point of View

Remember a few months ago when I posted about the issues my daughter was having with being bullied at school? Well, tonight's youth group message really hit home with my daughter and she told me she wanted to blog about it. 


She has her own blog, and she will post this story there tomorrow, but I invited her to be my guest blogger tonight. Here is her story. Please comment and let her know what you think!

Tonight, our youth pastor was talking about friends. True friends, cocky friends, temperamental friends, etc., etc., etc. It made me think of the first half of the school year. Most of my class was kids whose parents could no longer afford private school or kids who went to the elementary school next door. Well, I was one of few kids from Pooler.

Everything was fine for a while. Breaking the ice, making friends, learning about people, and the like. I met a girl, lets call her Pop A, she was from Pennsylvania, and so I understood the left out thing. We became good friends. I hurt my knee, and they wouldn’t let me go to school because of the medicine I was taking. So, I come back to school, I think Wednesday, she wouldn’t talk to me. She wouldn’t look at me, talk to me, or even acknowledge me. Before I go on, let’s define friend. According to dictionary.com, friend, noun, means a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard. Ok, moving on.

So, I text her and we had a nice chat. Sorta how it went:
Me- Hey, what’s up?
Pop A- Nm. U?
Me- Same.
Pop A- Cool.

This is where things fell apart.
Me- Why won't u talk to me?
Pop A- Because
Me- Seriously, why.
Pop A- Well…
Me- What?
Pop A- I’m cool and you’re not.
Me- Oh

I went crying to my mom. She told to say something like, “Well, I guess we’re not friends anymore. But, I want you to know I care about you.” So I do that and she said ok. It ended up that we’re not friends, we’re classmates now.

After that, things started happening. Some examples:
-Pop B&C sitting in front of me, look towards me, whisper, and laugh
-Pop D (I only heard a snippet of this one) whispering with some others and I hear her say “like those” pointing at my shoes and laughing.
-Pop E (I had a Hannah Montana lanyard, “kids” shows are put down extremely) Hannah Montana? Laughs and gossips with others.
-All pops- our lunch table was divided. Pretty much into these groups:
*Boys (except for 3 pop boys)
* Pops
* Me and my two best friends.
-So, once my friends and I wanted to see why they were all laughing, and joking and just being happy. So we sat with them. Everyone became silent, ate, a few whispers, and just looked at us. We got the message and never sat there again.

Things like this kept happening. I cried every afternoon. I begged my mom not to make me go to school. My mom finally talked to teachers, counselors, vice principals, everyone.
We had a meeting. It was a Wednesday or Thursday, and I was called in. I could only recall two events before I broke down. They decided to move me. I expected the next day or Monday to be moved. No, they moved me in this period.

In my new homeroom, I walked in and everyone thought I was replacing a girl everyone liked. Well, that was solved. Then 3 boys thought my name was Deborah. Deborah? My name starts with an M!

Ever since then, I’ve had few problems.

A Friend Indeed

UPDATE: Today we had a conference at school, and my daughter was move immediately into another class. She is now with two kids she has known almost her whole life,, in a class without cliques and powerful girls. PRAISE GOD! The amazing thing is that He had it all worked out before we even asked for help. Isn't God good that way????

My daughter is a very studious, serious kid, with little interest in  what's popular or trendy....loves 80's music, thrift store shopping and wears sort of her own style of clothing that is a mix of grunge/Miley Cyrus/hippy chick. She is tall for her age, and very smart. She is not into rap music or partying or skipping school, and she loves to spend time with her family, reading, and watching Food Network which has inspired her to be a pastry chef when she is an adult. She is interested in pursuing a degree in culinary arts. She is active in our church, she helps with the little kids and is on the interpretive dance team and in youth group. Basically, she is everything a parent could ask for and then some. (I may be biased, but I am also right lol)

Lately, my daughter has had some issues with "mean girls" at school. Who knew middle school girls were so brutal???? They tease her and exclude her and say mean things about her shoes and lanyard and lunch box. (They wear uniforms, so they have to find other things to harass her about) This has been going on for a while, and over Thanksgiving break her closest friend in her class dumped her (by text message even) for not being cool enough to hang out with.

WHAT?????? How can kids be so mean? Who is raising these girls to be such snotty cliquish little brats? Why can't they all just go to school and get along and be happy? I blame hormones myself. But I also blame parents and media influences. We all know kids mimic what they see. I am willing to bet their Moms treat people the same way, forming relationships based on what the other person looks like or can do for them rather than what is real and true. And the media...oh goodness. We hear all sorts of stuff there, even from husbands and wives like Tiger and Elin and Jon and Kate. When people are publicized making fun of or trashing their spouse, what dignity can be left? And don't even get me started on Nancy Grace.....

However, my daughter has recently discovered a great friend at church. He is a really sweet kid, a couple of years older than my daughter, raised in a single parent home by a Godly mom. He asked his mom what was wrong with my daughter, what was going on, and his mom told him. He began texting her, telling her how he thought she was so cool and that the other kids didn't see what was really there in her. Then he had her begin looking up scripture verses about how she is so perfectly made, how she is unique and beautiful in God's eyes, and how she is created in God's own image.

A complete turn around is taking place. Yesterday I was fixing my hair in my bathroom, and my daughter was in her bathroom doing her daily chores. Through the wall I heard her singing. For the first time in a long time, my daughter is HAPPY.

The texting is continuing, and she is being encouraged and strengthened beyond anything I could have forseen. I am thanking God for sending my daughter a friend that we have prayed for, for the young man's obedience in what God told him to do, and for the young man's mom for raising such a wonderful son.

I am also thanking Him for unlimited text messaging......:)

Wow how time flies. It seems only yesterday I had a newborn baby girl, all wrapped up in a white receiving blanket with blue and pink stripes stamped with "Balboa Naval Medical Center". It hardly seems like nearly 13 years have passed in the blink of an eye. My newborn baby girl has grown into a young lady, excited about the things life has in store while dealing with preteen drama and the heartache that friendships can cause. Just this past weekend we had an issue with a girl who called herself my daughter's friend.....and then coldly told her they were no longer friends because my daughter isn't "cool enough" to hang out with the "pops". (Lest this girl forget that just last week she was deemed "uncool" by the "pops")

I lie awake at night wondering what the future holds. Many of my readers do not know my daughter personally, so you have no idea of her accomplishments, dreams, goals, gifting and abilities. Let me say that my daughter is the greatest gift I ever received from God, a true delight, special in so many ways. A good friend once described her as a beautiful butterfly with large wings, that never quite fit in 100% with any group on this earth because of her special gifts and talents. We have to remember that Christ was never accepted, even by his own people, and that we are  set apart and destined for greatness by Him. We are warned not to be conformed to this world (and trust me, 7th grade "pops" girls are truly WORLDLY) so this should come as no surprise. But when you are 12, it hurts deeply.

All I can say is that those we reject my daughter and abuse her trust and friendship will be sorry one day. She is destined for greatness. Her day to shine is coming......

Band Christmas Concert

Tonight was Marissa's band concert. She plays clarinet. They played a song called "Twenty Carols in Two Minutes and her band leader (a real character!!!!) made the comment that anyone in the audience who could name all 20 carols after the song was played would win a prize. He went on to say that they had no prize planned, so the winner would get......um....the flute section! Yeah that's it!

Well, they did a great job, and after the concert I told Marissa that we were hoping to name all 20 because then we would get to bring home one of her best pals ( who plays the flute). I told her that seriously, they did a great job and I was very proud of her.

So without skipping a beat, Baby Girl says......

"Yeah, we should rent ourselves out for Bar Mitzvahs and stuff."

You gotta love it!

HONOR ROLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Marissa got her first report card for 7th grade, and I am very happy to report that she made honor roll with a 93 average! We are very happy with that, especially given the degree of difficulty and challenging assignments that this type of school poses. She is doing so well, and we are very proud of her!

I am so proud of my baby girl for facilitating See You At The Pole this year! It had not been done in her middle school in recent years and she happily volunteered to lead the prayer.

Her friends Matthew and Dasnee helped out and we carpooled together this morning.

Even Gram and PaPa got up at the crack of dawn to be there for her.


I don't know who these girls were but they really touched my heart.

Marissa began by prying for our President and Vice President, and then moved on to the school board and teachers and staff, then closed by praying for her friends and all the students at her school. She had a strong unwavering voice and did a great job! We are so proud of her!
If you are not familiar with See You At The Pole, you can read more about it here!

Middle School

Wow....baby girl had a hard day today. She got off the bus and burst into tears as soon as she walked in the door. Being in a homeroom class without any of her old friends is hard. She has not made any new friends yet. She feels left out. I feel so badly for her, and part of me wants to storm the school and beg them to move her to another homeroom, but I just don't know if this is right. She was very upset, and cried for quite a while. She is sad that her old friends on the bus are talking all about their new friends. She feels left out. It was a bad day in 7th grade......

Welcome to 7th grade!

Marissa is officially a 7th grader! We had a good morning. She got up and got moving without much complaining, and we were at the bus stop at 5:50. She hopped on the bus and began chatting with her pals. Jamie and I rode down to the school to walk in with her and give Jamie a chance to meet her teachers since he was working at Open House. We were both amazed at how orderly the students were and how well organized EVERYONE was. WE LOVE COASTAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Marissa was fine riding the bus because she knew her bus driver from last year. We are so blessed to have Mr. Knight as her driver. He loves these kids like they are his own! Because Marissa sits right behind him, he says he is "drivin' Miss Daisy". She loves her bus! She did want us to meet her at the school however to walk in with her. We went in for breakfast with her and after she ate (cheese toast, cereal, mixed fruit and milk), walked her to class. She trotted right on into her homeroom....no tears, no anxiety, PRAISE GOD!!!!!