The Roberts Family

8053 US Highway 160, Walnut Shade, MO 65771

417-561-2074

December, 2003
Dear Friends and Family,

Here's my opportunity to be politically incorrect before a good many people at the same time: MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! There, I said it, and it felt good. I think I've heard "Happy Holidays" or "Holiday Sale" or "Holiday Party" just one time too often. No matter what anyone else says, this is the Christmas season, and it's all about JESUS!
Now that I'm off my soapbox for the moment, I do want to update you on the adventures of the Roberts family since. . . wow, since August. As you might imagine, a lot has happened. We are never ones to sit around on our hands, and the past few months have been fairly busy as usual.
In late August and early September, Scott took his first missions trip to China. He traveled over with his mom. The specific purposes of his trip were to smuggle in a video Bible school (on 160 CDs), to personally teach the Bible to groups of house church leaders, and to establish two Bible schools that would continue to meet (using the video CDs) after he left.
Many folks were praying for Scott, and he had great success on all fronts. He walked through customs with a suitcase full of CDs and his luggage was never even searched! He held 17 three-hour Bible teaching sessions in 12 days, in situations sometimes as stealthy as a James Bond movie. Two Bible schools were established, and they have since multiplied into six schools, with over 70 house church leaders and leaders-in-training participating. A local office for the Mission China ministry was rented and furnished, and a full-time staff person has been hired. She is overseeing the administration of the schools, duplicating materials, and translating the Pressing Toward the Mark curriculum into Mandarin!
Scott is in frequent contact with the five-member leadership team there, and he is in the process of incorporating Mission China here in the States. Just in the past week, he received notice that some ministers in another city of China may be interested in having him speak to their churches. So, if you want to know what Scott's been doing in his "spare time" recently, it's Mission China! He is also working as a consultant for ANPAC in Springfield. He drives in three or four days a week and works from home the other one or two. That job has been a huge blessing to our family. [Note: Some of you are on our Mission China mailing list and are receiving periodic updates. If you are not on that list and would like to be, please let Scott's secretary (me!) know.]
In September, Scott and I celebrated 16 years of marriage by spending a night at a very nice hotel in Branson. The noteworthy thing about that was that it was the first time we left the kids here overnight. They had a neighbor to call if necessary, but they did fine alone. Not only that, when we arrived home the next morning, the whole place was totally cleaned up! Boy, were we impressed. They are some great kids.
Speaking of kids, Andrew had injured one of his front teeth a couple years ago. In September, it got infected, and our dentist said it had to come out. However, he was not comfortable doing the extraction, because he was concerned that it may have fused to the bone, and that would necessitate oral surgery. Off we went to the oral surgeon's office. The tooth was extracted without incident, but the way they kept this kid from feeling pain was really interesting. First, an anesthetic cream was applied to his inner elbow. An hour later, they started an IV, and he NEVER EVEN felt the stick! He was laughing and talking with me while they did it. They gave him medicine in the IV to knock him out, so he wouldn't feel the stick in his gum. Then they stuck his gum and pulled the tooth. It all struck me as rather expensive and unnecessary, but they said that they didn't want him to fear dental work for the rest of his life. I guess they succeeded, because he thought it was a fun morning. Now he has the cutest gap in his teeth. Such is life with wild boys.
Andrew's latest and greatest thing is his progress toward reading. Katie is working with him, and he knows a lot of sight words. He recognizes initial consonants, but that's about as far as his phonics ability has progressed. If I had a nickel for everything time he says, "Mom, what does i-n-s-i-d-e (for example) spell?" Scott would no longer need to work at ANPAC.
Josiah has been seeing a neuropsychologist in Springfield twice a week for neurofeedback (biofeedback) therapy. That, combined with the medicines he is taking, has been a big help for him, and therefore for the family. He is better able to focus and follow through on instructions, and he is in general a much happier camper than he was a year ago. He is reading better all the time and has developed his older sister's ability to completely lose touch with the world when reading. This is both good and bad. J His inquiring mind continues to fire out questions at an amazing rate, so I am particularly thankful that now he can look up some information on his own.
Josiah has also begun using the computer. He has his own email address, josiahroberts@ifriendly.com, and he loves to receive and send email. Spelling is a challenge for Josiah, so please be graceful and think phonetically when interpreting what he writes. He's also working through a Mavis Beacon typing program, and his accurate words per minute will soon surpass mine. I will confess that I disregarded my mom's admonition many years ago to learn to type ("typing's for secretaries; I'll never use it" - HA!), so I still hunt and peck. However, I'm hoping my kids will do as I say and not as I did. HA! again.
Katie is continuing to study and delineate the history of the world. She has already taught herself and our family the countries of the world (less South America, which we're starting), their capitals, and a unique fact about each. We do this at supper, calling it affectionately "Country O' Night." Do all of us remember all that information? Absolutely not, but we do recognize Dar es Salaam when we hear it on the news. Katie's test scores last spring qualified her to take the SAT, which she will be doing in January. That should be a fun experience, and if she does well, maybe somebody will offer her a scholarship.
Jessica had a wonderful 12th birthday a few weeks ago. She had a few girlfriends over and they went barn swinging (free!) in a neighbor's barn, a nice activity when it's cold and rainy for one's birthday party. Back home, we had cake and ice cream, gifts, and a treasure hunt. The girls all spent the night in the room above us, and we never heard a sound - amazing. The next morning a different neighbor offered to let them all go horseback riding, again for free. It was a blessing and a lot of fun. Scott's and my personal birthday present to Jessica was delayed and just arrived yesterday: a very curly perm of her very long hair. She loves it and looks wonderful.
I must mention one other thing about the girls. This year, for my birthday in October, they gave me a present that probably only I can fully appreciate. It was a total surprise, I use it at least weekly, and I LOVE it. In total secrecy, during hundreds of hours over a period of two months, they used an Excel spreadsheet they created to catalogue every book (title, author, category, and subject), every magazine, and every video in our library! Every single one! I now know that on October 3, 2003, we owned exactly 1,975 books, and I know exactly where to find each of them. Wow! This was their own idea, and they worked on it during the day (between chores, academics, and errands), and after Scott and I were in bed at night. It was - and is - a most precious gift to me. May you also give meaningful gifts this Christmas, and may you daily treasure the most precious gift of all: Jesus.

Much Love,

Scott, Patty, Katie, Jessica, Josiah, and Andrew