The Roberts Family

8053 US Highway 160, Walnut Shade, MO 65771

417-561-2074

April, 2004

Dear Friends and Family,

As I sit at my desk typing this, a few days after Easter, I can look out the office window and see Josiah mowing, Katie weed-eating, and Andrew riding his bike. Jessica is inside working on the illustrations for a comic strip she and Josiah are creating. Scott is in China and will be home next week. God is good, and I have so very, very, very much to be thankful for.

I decided I should go ahead and write now, before Scott returns. The pace of life will increase next week, and I am sure that soon after his arrival, we will be working to get a Mission China newsletter out to many of you. Scott and I have been able to communicate via email and online chat, so I am pretty up-to-date on what he is experiencing there. Just to give you a little taste, here is an excerpt from one of his recent emails. I have edited it somewhat, because his "code" is sometimes a little hard to follow.

"... I was introduced to the students who were seated at tables in rows... I started with an opening prayer. About two minutes into it, an alarm sounded. All of the sudden, the students went into a state of alert. A couple of students grabbed up all the Bibles and the students' related notebooks. Each student then took out their cross stitch and began to diligently work on it. I was told to take a seat in the corner behind the school administrator and my interpreter. Since I couldn't do anything else, I decided it was a good time to pray. It was, as the saying goes, a baptism by fire. After about 10-15 minutes (although it seemed like an hour), the storm passed and the Bibles were passed back out and we began class again. Apparently there are members of the Communist Party that roam through housing areas and make sure all activity is sanctioned. I'm not sure if it was the owner of the building that came by or one of these officials, but whoever it was, it was important that they find the students doing appropriate activities. The school administrator would not allow me to take any pictures of him or of the students. Security is very tight now in that city..."

While Scott is away, I have been holding down the fort at home. Overall, things are going quite well, and we have had some exciting accomplishments in the past few weeks. As a reward for Katie's SAT achievement, Scott and I had promised to take her to a Mark Schultz (her favorite Christian artist) concert in Springfield. The concert was the day after Scott left. I took her, and she REALLY liked it. I was even able to take a picture of her with Mark while he was autographing her CD!

From music to science. . . Katie has been interested in archeology for many years, so when I read about the Missouri Archaeology Challenge, for students in grades 6 through 12, I thought it might be a good fit. She chose to write a paper about a shipwreck off the coast of Texas. She did all the research and all the writing and brought me the finished product to be proofed. We made some revisions, but they were only in matters of style, not content, and the paper was submitted for the Southwest Missouri Regional competition. In March, Katie and Scott went to SMSU in Springfield for the judging. She won, but the amazing thing was that she was the only person to show up! That was rather disappointing, but she was entitled to proceed to the state competition, sure to be lively, in Missouri's capital, Jefferson City.

Meanwhile, Jessica had been forced by her mean, demanding parents to enter the Springfield Homeschoolers Spelling Bee. Jessica spent weeks preparing, spelling words like exegesis, zygote, and xenophobia. Unfortunately, the spelling bee would be held the same day that Katie needed to be in Jefferson City. Scott would be on the other side of the world. A dear friend (whose daughters were also entered in the bee) agreed to keep Jessica overnight and take her. What a blessing! In addition, my parents planned to drive up from North Little Rock to surprise Jessica by showing up at the spelling bee.

Katie, the boys, and I drove four hours to Jefferson City and spent the night in a hotel. Traveling with a four-year-old is never uneventful. The next morning, we arrived on time, but there weren't very many people there. As it turned out, although there could have been a total of 32 regional finalists at the state competition, there were only SIX! We were so disappointed! It turned out that all six were actually entered in different levels and categories, so they were all legitimate 1st place winners. Katie was encouraged, however, to win something by merit: an award for the best historic entry. The comments that the judges wrote about her and her paper were also quite flattering. She received a number of very nice awards, including two books, a plaque, and a magazine subscription. While there, she also learned of a History Day competition that is extremely competitive, so maybe next year. . .

I think Jessica may have had an even more exciting morning. She was stunned and delighted to see her grandparents, and she ended up, after many rounds and many nerves, winning the sixth grade competition! She was terribly excited and could hardly wait to tell me. She received a very nice trophy and is now eligible to compete in the Statewide Homeschoolers Spelling Bee in June. However, since she actually hates spelling and competed only under duress, I don't know if we will be heading to Kansas City or not. I must also say that Jessica is making very nice progress in her art class and with her piano lessons. And did I mention her wonderful, outgoing personality?!?!?

Then, a week after all that excitement, we went to North Little Rock to spend a few very nice, relaxing days with my parents. As always, we all had fun. The kids rode bikes - on pavement! - and played with their cousin. Katie and Grandma worked a puzzle, and I did NOTHING vigorously.

Josiah has become a computer guru these days. He has been saving his birthday money and trying to add to it. At first he was going to spend it on additional parts for his robotics set. Then he was going to spend it on fireworks. Now he has decided that he wants his own computer. Right now, he, Jessica, and Andrew share a computer. That would be all right, but Josiah is always trying to figure out how to do new and exciting things with it. He changes the computer all the time, which frustrates Jessica to no end. Sometimes his "improvements" make the computer inoperable, so he is now on a quest to earn money to buy his own. He is doing some mowing, and he will be working tomorrow with his sisters on a big raking job for a neighbor. Josiah continues to be insatiably curious. Recent out-of-the-blue questions have included, "What is the difference between diesel fuel and regular gasoline?" "How does a remote control work?" and "Why does humid air feel warmer?"

I have always found it hard to stay ahead of Josiah's questions, but I can't seem to stay ahead of Andrew at all. He was visiting with a neighbor couple today, and I called over there to ask them to send him home. The gentleman said, "yes, he's here reading the AAA Travel Guide to us. Beats anything I've ever seen!" The child is really reading. He never ceases to amaze me. I would guess that he reads as well as the average first-grader, although with a fairly easy text, he can just fly along. Four has definitely been his year. In addition to learning to ride a bike, learning to swim, and learning to read, he now has two loose teeth; lower level, front row, center. If he does all the normal six-year-old things at four, does that mean we'll just be able to skip a couple years of adolescence down the road?

This is the first year that I have ever thought much about getting old(er). I feel older when I realize that the parents of some of Andrew's classmates at church could conceivably be my children. I feel older when I go to a concert with my daughter, and I can't understand any of the words! I feel older when I look at our wedding picture and wonder where those two crazy kids went. In spite of all that, even on days when I am feeling older, I am thankful to realize that I (and we) have no regrets. We don't look back and say, "I wish we had. . ." or, "If only. . ." We have been so blessed by God. So far, we have been able to spend lots of time together and with our children. We have been able to do some neat things for the kingdom of God. We have been able to enjoy life, and we have had the joy of sharing it with some really wonderful people: you, our friends and family. We love you!

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

This page was last updated on Friday, June 4, 2004