The Roberts Family

June, 2005

Dear Friends and Family,

I don't give up easily. Summer is still officially two weeks away, but I am making the hard choice today to officially give up on snow this Spring. (sigh) With the trees in full leaf and temperatures near 90, even I must admit that it just isn't likely. There have been many other interesting things happening in the past couple of months, though, so even without snow, I am thinking that I should be able to find enough news to fill a couple pages.

Basically, Scott left for China in April, and while he was gone, everything happened at once. Katie's paper on The Navajo Code Talkers, which had won 1st place in the Southwest Missouri Region of the History Day competition made it to State, but sadly placed only 6th.

Josiah, who has few friends, in part due to our location, spent a fun day playing with a new friend we had met at a homeschool event. The kids and I went to Silver Dollar City for their WorldFest, and it was a most wonderful day.

The big kids are old enough to take Andrew on rides and he is tall enough to ride one of the roller coasters. We have obtained a third cell phone for just such times, so we were able to keep up with each other. With the park virtually empty because most kids were still in school, there were no lines, so our four rode rides to their hearts' content, and I got to see all the neat and amazing shows I wanted to see. The weather was perfect, and it was a very fun and peaceful day.

That was the lull before the storm, because a couple days later, something in our outgoing water line (the graywater line from the kitchen and laundry room) backed up, causing water to shoot out of a pipe behind in the kitchen, instead of going underground. This necessitated the digging of a forty-foot trench in order to uncover the offending pipe and have it replaced. The children and I, with the gracious help of our neighbors, dug a trench that ended up being 40 feet long and up to two-and-a half feet deep. It was truly what could be called a back-breaking task. The plumber came and did his thing, and that helped, but did not totally fix the problem. There are other issues further underground, but those are issues for another spouse on another day.

As the 7th grade homeschool champion, Jessica competed in the LAD (Language Arts Department) Fair Spelling Bee on April 30. This is the big spelling bee for the winners from many of the schools in Southwest Missouri. In a field of 15 contestants, Jessica held her own, and after about 30 minutes of sweaty palms (on the part of her mom), she won 1st place! Although she had thoroughly memorized many tough words like electroencephalograph, soliterraneous, and mesoseismal, the words she was given in the spelling bee were admittedly wimpy: enormous, opera, chapter, candlewick, ignite, careen, communications, disobey, exhausting, perished, hybrid, prefabricate, adjacent, and her winning word, refuge. She was given a nice trophy and we all went out for ice cream to celebrate.

Jessica also had her end-of-session mime presentation for AIM. That was a fun evening for the whole family, as we all continued to be amazed at the quality of work these young people are doing. A few days later, the summer AIM session started, kicked off by an all-day rehearsal, attended by not only Jessica, but also Josiah. He decided to join that ministry, and he has been working hard to learn the various signs, steps, and maneuvers for all their songs. There is a fair amount of work to be done outside the weekly three-and-a-half hour Bible study and rehearsal sessions: the kids have to read their Bibles daily (no problem there!), participate in monthly service projects in the community, and last week, they each had to write an essay on a subject of their choice, as a means of practicing public speaking. Jessica chose China and Josiah chose Astronomy. Both essays were very good.

As AIM members, Jessica and Josiah both spent a Saturday morning volunteering at a local crafts fair in Branson. They went to serve by doing "whatever needed to be done," expecting it to be helping with concessions and/or picking up trash. When I retrieved them four hours later, the adults in the concession stand could not say enough good things about their hard work and cheerful attitude! I was so proud of them, and it was a major "Atta-Boy" for me. We spend YEARS working with our children to develop their character, but there are times when we wonder if we're making a difference or not. It's really sweet when all that long-term gardening yields such wonderful fruit.

In addition to his AIM activities, Josiah has also been working very hard on a number of "extra" academic belt loops and pins for Cub Scouts. Although he doesn't care much for Cubs, his mother has been pushing him to do these extra projects, partly to keep him motivated and partly to augment his homeschool studies. As a result of all that work, Josiah has been pleased to receive many more awards than his patrol-mates, and he has had some really wonderful experiences. He was given a personalized tour of the National Center for Toxicological Research; he visited our local Christian radio station and learned how they get their news; he romped all over a gravel quarry; and he learned how to do basic car maintenance, including filing the gas tank, checking and adding oil, checking the tires, and changing a tire. (Always loosen the lug nuts before jacking up the car!)

The children and I loaded up the bikes and spent a few days visiting Grandma and Grandpa in North Little Rock, Arkansas, which was, as usual, a fun and relaxing trip.

The very next day, Scott returned from China, having had a very busy, exciting, and productive trip. He taught in numerous Bible schools, networked with several new contacts, and spent four days (22 hours) teaching the "Roots of Character" course (that he and I both took when we attended Bible school) to a group of hungry house church leaders in our base city. And, (drum roll please) Pressing Toward the Mark has been printed in Chinese and is this week being distributed to 1000 house churches in 30 cities throughout China! This first printing was 10,000 copies, and it has been paid in full. We have committed to print another 10,000 for a certain house church network, although they have asked for 200,000. We are thrilled to be part of what God is doing through this material!

Birthday season has been upon us. Katie turned 15, went to a Springfield Cardinals baseball game with her dad, and used her several birthday checks to purchase a flat screen monitor, which is quite nice. Andrew turned six and actually had a series of parties over a period of three days. One with church friends in Springfield, one with the family at home, and one with his "third" set of grandparents in Branson. He received a variety of wonderful gifts, including two videos, some candy, some cars, a very nice set of writing supplies (some of you may be receiving mail from Andrew!), and even some of that great green stuff that we all enjoy.

Last week, we got some more good news. Although Katie has written several research papers over the years, she had never written any essays. With the new SAT design, she will have to be able to write essays under pressure, so I wanted her to start practicing. Katie likes competition. When I heard about a high school essay contest sponsored by The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), (topic: "Why Free News Media are Important"), I encouraged her to learn something about essay writing and enter. Which she did. Her essay took first place in the Southwest Missouri region of the SPJ and was forwarded to the national competition.

Last week, she received a phone call from the national SPJ, saying that her essay had won third place in the nation! She has received a scholarship check for $300, and her essay was printed in both a local weekly paper, the Christian County Headliner, AND in the Springfield News-Leader. Needless to say, the whole family is proud and happy. She's a precious kid.

We are always happy to hear from you, and you are each precious to us, too!

Lots of Love,

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