It always amazes me how much I learn by having kids around me. Just this week me & my Miss Neenee have had some pretty good conversations. You know she is in 6^th grade, this time around. The kids are stuck in the preteen years. They don’t know whether to play with dolls or be boy crazy. Some of them are both. They are also so very silly. There is a little girl, that’s just come to school this year. They have named her, “Bacon”. Miss Neenee talks about Bacon all the time. Everyday Bacon says something or does something new. It’s always something goofy or weird or obnoxious. You know YOUR PRETEEN YEARS in a nutshell. Any the whoo, one day Miss Neenee & I was talking about school this year. I asked her about some of the kids from school. Some that just so tee-totally got on her last nerve last year. (Which is funny, because she was probably getting on their nerves just as bad.) She said that they really didn’t bother her so much this year. She said it was all good with them. I told her perhaps they grew up some over the summer.

She replied, “No, I did.”

What a grown up thing to say! Sometimes we get so up in arms about how other people act, that we forget to look at ourselves. My Papa Clyde always said, to have friends, you had to first be a friend, yourself. I think that lesson has hit home for my Miss Neenee. She is becoming a mature little lady. I wish I could be as understanding & compassionate as she is.

Proverbs 18:24 A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.(NKJV)

Maybe she is learning the world is not all about her needs, but the needs of others. Hopefully, she is growing to have the heart of a servant. To be kind & tenderhearted, like the apostle Paul talked about

Ephesians 4:32

And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.(NKJV)

Relationships are important. I am glad to learn from my 6^th grader that love, forgiveness, & mercy can come through from any age. And speaking of mercy, we talked about the unmerciful servant in my Wednesday night class, this week. I asked the class what they thought unmerciful meant. One little girl said she knew exactly what it meant. She said when she played basketball with her brother & his friends they just kept trying to beat her down & not let her have the ball. She said that was very unmerciful. These kids tickle me to death. We had promotion Sunday a couple of weeks when the school year started back. This is when the kids move classes, since they are advancing in grades at school. I MAY or may not have a couple of kids that do NOT want to advance out of my 1^st & 2^nd grade class. We just have so much fun in there. If one of the elders is reading this, I sternly told the kids they had to move up next Wednesday night, no exceptions. Then, I gave them a bunch of candy.

Hope you are having a wonderful week. Summer is back. If you haven’t heard. It’s just weather in Mississippi. Hot, cold, air conditioner, heater, all in one day. You just never know. I hope you had a great long weekend. We did. Lots of food, family, friends, & fellowship. Until next time I have to be going, because I should be washing clothes.

My favorite quote of the week.  Don’t worry about saving your money.  You don’t need a penny to do this-