The Roberts Family

August, 2006

Dear Friends and Family,

It's 2:00 PM, and I while sit here writing, something totally unheard of is happening. After many weeks of hot, dry weather, one week of temps in the 100s, and another two weeks of parchedness, it is actually RAINING! Now, some members of our family told me they were awakened by thunderstorms around 5:30 this morning, but I (the off day late sleeper) have no way of knowing if that was true. I just say, "may this glorious moisture continue all day, and may the creek fill back up."

Speaking of water, in late June I decided to take the plunge and enter the world of blogging. What fun! I try to post a new entry several times a week, so if you want to know what's really going on in my world (or at least in my brain) visit http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/WalnutShadeMom/. You can also peek into Katie's world at http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/TheQuietOne/ and Jessica's world at http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mime4jesus.

In June, Katie was finally able to finish her official 16th birthday celebration in two ways: 1) she and her friend, Amy, spent a fun afternoon and evening riding the wild rides at Celebration city, and 2) she had a month off academics to work on her biography of Elijah Lovejoy. Bad news: Writing a book takes longer than she thought it would. Good news: She is very disciplined, and of the tentatively planned 14 chapters, she has finished seven! We are all eagerly looking forward to its completion.

Also in June, I decided that vision in one's 40s is not all it is cracked up to be. I volunteer in the TV department of our church and I had started to notice that I was getting a bad crick in my neck and a headache every time I ran camera. After a couple months, I finally figured it out. In order to focus the camera, I have to see the viewfinder clearly. Evidently, my vision had progressed (or regressed!) to the point that I had to look through the bottom of my bifocals to get the viewfinder in focus. Ugh. Those lenses are low and little. I tired both Tylenol and Ibuprofen with little success. I even tried wearing my glasses upside down, but that didn't work, either. It finally occurred to me that if I could just have my whole glasses be the bifocal strength, I could probably see the viewfinder. Brilliant! I bought a pair of cheap reading glasses, and voila, it worked! Now there is only one small problem. With the reading glasses on, I can't even walk to the camera! You know those really cool California types who hang their glasses on the neckline of their shirts? Well, I am cool now. I have to hang my readers on my shirt and wear the bifocals to walk across the room to the camera. Then I switch glasses to do my job and switch again in order to put the camera away. Cool has its costs.

Our Big Three had five AIM presentations in June, but I limit my commentation here to the Forsyth 4th of July presentation on June 17. Don't ask me why our county seat celebrated the Glorious 4th on the 17th. I don't know. Scott and Andrew and I had gone to watch, but as is often the case with community events, things were running behind. While we waited for our children's supposed 7:30 PM patriotic presentation, we were treated to numerous young teens trying to sing country, plump women running raffles, and local politicians in sweat-stained shirts trying to convince us to vote for them. It was small town America at its best. Our gang finally took to the stage and the numbers they mimed to were really moving. I, of course, cried, because the combination of patriotic and Christian is always more than I can stand. What we didn't know was that the AIM event was the grand finale for the whole, county-wide 4th of July celebration, and they ended it with a bang. Way to go, kids!

We planned a much-anticipated camping trip in late June with our good friends, the Kunz family, and they were braver than we. They camped for a week about 4 ½ hours from here on the Black River, and we planned to join them for their final three nights. Well, the noon we were supposed to leave it POURED down rain with thunder and high winds, and the forecast at the campground was even worse. We waited a few hours to see if it would let up. It did not. We just couldn't see driving that far only to set up in the dark and rain, so we stayed home and left home the next morning. When we arrived, we found that they had indeed weathered the storm - in tents (we have a pop-up), and the water at the campsite had been several inches deep! We were thankful to have missed all that, and even though we were only there two nights, we really enjoyed our time with them. The guys canoed, everyone swam, we all played cuppers, and on the way home, we made a side trip to Elephant Rocks State Park, an odd collection of HUGE rounded granite stones scattered all over the place, begging to be climbed on. Josiah and his friend, Ethan, had a grand time running off on their own, climbing everything that stood still. Much testosterone was released, and for that we can all be thankful.

Josiah was gone for a week to Boy Scout Camp Arrowhead, which was another good guy thing. Amidst all the fun, he did a lot of work toward several merit badges. He seemed to really enjoy his time there, and it continues to be true that as much as he disliked Cub Scouts, he likes Boy Scouts even more.

He was home only a day before he left for another week - this time to Camp Lookout, a free local Christian camp. Because he is 12 now, this was his last year to go there, and he had the time of his life. Not only did he love it, he was voted Camper of the Week by the counselors! Three campers received that honor, out of about 100 in attendance. The director of the camp even came up to me at the end of the week to tell me what an outstanding camper Josiah was - his behavior was excellent, he was a good example to his peers, and "very mature for his age." Coming out of my shock, I did confirm that she really was referring to the lanky gentleman beside me. Wow! We are all very proud of Josiah!

Andrew attended the annual Hands on Clay workshop, put on by the Branson Arts Council. He created several pieces - including one on a potter's wheel. We left them to be fired and will be picking them up soon. Andrew also participated in another Arts Council event, the Children's Theater Workshop. They met every afternoon for a week, and performed their play on Friday night. He played "Trevor Turkey" in a funny, pun-filled version of Chicken Little called, "Poultry in Motion." Although he wasn't very happy when it was time to practice at home, he ended up knowing his lines better than most of the kids, and he didn't have to do much acting. He is a natural on stage. = )

That same week, Jessica attended the Teen Theater Workshop and was gone every morning. (Boy, did Katie and I do a LOT of driving back and forth to the high school that week!) Her team presented a very humorous take-off on Jack and Jill (Jack's crown injury causing long-term relational and legal problems) in a court-room setting. Jessica was the court reporter, and she put all she had into the part. So, our drama king and queen both got to do one of the things they most enjoy and are gifted at.

Scott and I attended some meetings of the annual convention of the Association of Faith Churches and Ministries (AFCM), conveniently held in Branson, and we were greatly encouraged to be able to visit there with Jim Newton and his wife, Jan. Jim is the international director for AFCM and he has ministered with Scott in China! He is very wise and has much ministry experience in many countries. One of the reasons we really wanted to talk with him was to get counsel on Scott's scheduled July trip to China. As things turned out, with the extra pressure that Chinese government officials had been putting on folks who have been connected with Mission China, we decided that it would be wise to cancel the July trip and let things "cool off" a bit there. In the meantime, we are using creative technologies to stay in touch with and encourage the house church leaders there, and Scott does plan to go to China this fall.

Scott's regular softball season has just ended. The whole family really enjoys going to the park for his games. Going into the post-season tournament, the Promise-Keepers are ranked 3rd out of 14 teams, but to me, Scott always ranks #1! The kids rank #2, and you, our family and friends, come next. Thanks for staying in touch with Team Roberts throughout our many interesting seasons!

We Love You!

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