Conversations with Maggie

Maggie: Where is my dad?

Me: At work.

Maggie: Well, where is my Uncle Jake?

Me: He's at work, too.

Maggie: Oh, Man! My two dads are both at work!

I thought this was hilarious! For those of you who haven't heard, Lucas' twin brother Jacob accepted a one-year job at JBU and just moved to Siloam Springs! (Laura is making the transition in California with her job and will be here in a few weeks!!) The kids love, love, LOVE having their Uncle Jake around every day.

Mini Reunion with College Buddies

Before I jump into posts and pictures about Roebuck Road Mania 2010, I had to post a few pics of a special visit we had the day before we left on our trip!

Several of my dear friends from JBU days happened to be coming through Siloam Springs all at the same time as they were visiting their families in the area, so we worked out a few hours of fun together. Paul, Kris, Jenna-Clare, Jeremy, Rheagan (her husband Steve wasn't able to make it this time- we missed seeing him), Lucas and me plus all the kids had a great visit!

We enjoyed a crazy and wonderful few hours with pizza at Fratelli's, hanging out in the afternoon with about a million beautiful kids and babies, and then a fantastic dinner hosted by Jeremy's parents at their lake house in Rogers. I so enjoyed getting to reconnect with these special friends! A real highlight was getting to meet Paul and Kris's adorable newborn son, John David.

Here are just a few snaps.

Jenna-Clare, John David, Kristine, Maggie, Me and Rheagan.

The oh-so-charming William (belongs to Jeremy and J-C). If any of you have met Jenna-Clare's brother Colin, don't you think he's the spitting image? Adorable!

Paul and Kris are multi-taskers: Keeping Maximus intellectually engaged and snuggling newborn John David. That's talent, folks.

It was basically a crazy madhouse with six kids under the age of 4.

Jenna-Clare shares her mad maraca skills with Maggie.

We had the extra-special treat of having Rheagan and her two little adorables stay with us for a couple days.

Thanks for the great visit, everyone!

Home Again, Home Again...

18 Days
4,500 miles
68 hours in the car
7 games of "I Spy"
38 Capri Sun juice pouches
2 amusement parks
1 car floorboard covered with beach sand.
9 places to rest our heads
2 IKEA cinnamon rolls
1 Grand Canyon
2 In-n-Out Burgers
And MANY hugs and smiles from people we love!

Roebuck Road Mania 2010 has now drawn to a close– We are back home safe and sound after a crazy 2.5-week trek to California and back. We had a great time, the kids traveled well, and we have LOTS of pictures and stories to share! Give me a couple days to crawl out from the mound of laundry and the pile of stuff we pulled out of our car, and I'll be back with more. Ahhhh, Home Sweet Home!

Monologues By Maggie

Maggie:

Hey guys, I know: Let's have some ice cream now, and then we can have some lunch later! Okay? Okay. That's the end of the story. Yes."

Busy, Busy, Busy

Whew! These past few weeks have been a real whirlwind for our little Roebuck crew. All fun stuff, but just LOTS of stuff!

Saturday night we had a fun night of celebrating the retirement of Professor Gary Warner. Some of you may not know that Lucas and I were both journalism majors at JBU, although not at the same time (He graduated 5 years ahead of me). So even though we weren't at school at the same time, we had the shared experience of learning to write from Gary Warner. And let me assure you, that is an experience! Those of you who have taken News Writing I from Gary Warner know of what I speak. :-)

Anyway... Saturday night we attended a surprise retirement celebration for Gary Warner at Emelia's in downtown Siloam Springs. It was a fun night to reconnect with journalism alumni who had flown in from all over the country and honor our former professor. And the food was DELICIOUS. Lucas had a lot of the responsibility for planning the evening, and the program and the whole night really could not have gone any better. He did such a fantastic job!

Here are a few pics of our fun evening:

Gary Warner and colleague Arnie Mayer.

Lucas was the emcee for the event.

Professor Warner has been heading up the journalism program at JBU for 17 years. That means that there have been about 17 student editors of the JBU paper. 12 of those former editors were in attendance Saturday night- they flew/drove in from all over the country!

All the journalism/PR alumni who celebrated with Professor Warner.

Little Boy Bliss

Last week we had a wonderful visit with my Grandma and Grandpa. It was so special for me to see Max and Maggie spending some quality time with their great grandparents. Both the kids completely loved our little retreat to see The Great Mama and the Great Papa (as they call them), but Max was especially on cloud nine. I'm afraid I just can't seem to keep his little scientific mind quite stimulated enough during our normal day-to-day life around here! But at the Great Papa's house– that's another story. As I heard my grandpa explain to Max about flotation and simple machines and all kinds of other things that are interesting to little boys, I couldn't help but smile as I remembered Grandpa teaching me about electric currents and various other science lessons when I was a child. Max was drinking up every bit of information and having a blast the whole time.

Well.... TODAY the kids got a great surprise when a package arrived. It was addressed to them and was from Great Papa and Great Mama. They were pretty excited to open it up:

And what they found inside was pure bliss for a little boy! The box was stuffed full with string and wooden rods and rubber bands and wires and hot glue and rubber connectors and sheets of plastics and all kinds of other building materials. Max tore into it like it was the most expensive toy money could buy at Toys R Us! His mind was spinning with ideas from minute one.

First he pulled out a sheet of plastic and ran to the drawer to get some scissors. He had to make a map "to show the divers how to find the lost city of Atlantis." Maggie made a map, too.

After maps, we had to break for lunch. But the whole time we were eating, Max was planning what he was going to build. He decided on a submarine.

Here is his first creation! I helped some, but many of the design ideas were his. He has been playing with it all afternoon.

Thanks, Great Mama and Great Papa, for such a fun and creative package!

Conversations Between Max and Maggie

Overheard this morning between Max and Maggie as they were looking at Carl and Ellie from Pixar's UP:

Maggie: Look at them!

Max: They are married.

Maggie: No, they are not married.

Max: Yes, they ARE married. Remember we saw them in the church? That means they are married.

Maggie: What's 'married'?

Max: You know, when you always stay together, and you live together in the same house and you are not friends.

Maybe I should insert here: I think Max was saying that when you are married you are more than "just friends," but I thought it was hilarious that he actually just said "you are not friends." Perhaps I'll have to make sure that he does indeed know that Lucas and I are both married and friends. :-)

One Tough Cookie

Maggie has a little buddy at church who is her exact same age, same height, same build, and same hair color and length. Even my friend Julie (this little buddy's mom) and I have occasionally had to look twice when we see them from the back to see which one is ours!

Anyway, this morning Julie and I were talking about our precious little strong-spirited ones and marveling at how similar they are, both in appearance and personalities. We discovered that they are both super tough– they can get hurt pretty badly and not even let out so much as a whimper. I told Julie that sometimes I'm concerned that Maggie is going to get significantly hurt, like break a bone or something, and I might not even know.

Well, fast forward three hours from that conversation with Julie. Maggie started looking a little sick and droopy in her eyes, and she had mentioned to me once or twice somewhat nonchalantly in the past couple days that her ear was hurting. After my conversation with Julie this morning, I got to thinking that her ears might be worse than she was letting on, and maybe I should go ahead and get her into the pediatrician.

The doctor looked at her first ear and said, "Wow- this one is really infected. Is this the ear she was complaining about?" I told her no– it was the other one. She looked at the second ear, and it was even worse. The doctor said that on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the most infected an ear could be, Maggie's was an 8.5. Woh– she wasn't running a fever or even acting sick at all until late morning today. But she's got a severe double ear infection.

This sweet little Maggie is one tough cookie. I really am going to have to watch her closely since she has a pain tolerance that she CLEARLY did not inherit from her mother!

More Conversations with Maximus

Max: How do birds die?

Me: Well, lots of different ways. Some just get old and die. Some might get hit by a car.

Max: Remember at the park we went to with Addison and Preston and we saw that dead bird? Why do you think that bird died?

Me: I'm not sure. Maybe he was just an old bird and it was his time to die. It's a little like G.G. Huckaby. Remember? She had lived a long time and her body just stopped working right.

Max: But Grandmama's not going to die.

Me: What are you thinking about?

Max: Grandmama Vicki. She's not going to die because she's not old yet.

Me: You know, Max. Sometimes when grown-ups have cancer, the tiny parts of their body called cells don't work right. If the cancer is serious enough, even grown-ups who are not old can die. The kind of cancer that Grandmama has is the very serious kind. The good news is that God has the power to heal her body if He wants to. But He might also decide that it's almost time for her to go to Heaven with him. And that's okay, too, because she loves Jesus so much.

Max: (silent and thinking)

Me: You don't have to worry about it today, though, Max. Today Grandmama is feeling good and we can go spend some time with her.

Max: She is feeling all the way good? She's not sick anymore?

Me: No, her cells are still sick. But she feels good today. And we can enjoy every good day with Grandmama.

Max: When we were in Idaho, I was sick three times. But Daddy gave me Gatorade and it made me all better. And then when I was at the park with Anna and Jakin, I threw up.

Me: Everybody gets sick sometimes. But you don't have to worry about getting sick like Grandmama. All of your cells are working just right.

Max: Yes!

Conversations with Maximus

As I'm hugging Max, just after spanking him for throwing a fit:

Me: Maximus, I do not like spanking you. It makes me so sad when you make choices that mean you have to get a spanking. I always hope that you can make good choices so that I won't have to spank you.

Max: (tears streaming down his face) But.. Mommy... It's really hard to go the whole day without making bad choices!

Me: I know, buddy. None of us can go a single day without making bad choices.

Max: Why?

Me: Because we are all sinners. That's why we need Jesus so much.

Max: But why did Jesus die for us while we were his enemies?

Me: Because He loved us so much that He wanted to make a way to forgive us of our sins so that we could be in His family.

Max: But Mommy, your only bad choices are arguing with Daddy.

Me: Oh, I have a lot more sins than that. Like when I'm lazy and don't do the work I should do. Or when I don't treat others with real kindness.

Max: Woh. That IS a bad choice.

Me: I know. Big time.

And then he smiles at me and scampers away to play, eyes red and swollen, but hopefully with the seeds of the Gospel planted in his tender heart.

.

Easter Photos

I Packed My Black Dress

Some dates are easy to remember. A potent occurrence or event or emotion has seared the date into your memory. April 1st is one of those dates for me.

One year ago today, Lucas and I had just returned home from a long road trip from Idaho to California. We had spent a glorious week with both Lucas' California family and my family (minus Tyler and Meagan), fulfilling one of my mom's dreams to take her grandkids to Disneyland. As Lucas and the kids and I drove back to Idaho, my mom's health took a serious decline. She was in horrific pain as my dad worked hard to get her through the flights and car rides back to Arkansas to her oncologist. When they finally got to the hospital, the news was not good. Mom's cancer was rapidly progressing, and the doctors predicted that she might have as little as 2 weeks to live.

Lucas and I scrambled to find a plane ticket so I could get back to my mom. The best one we could find was the next morning, April 2nd, flying out of Portland. We left before dawn to drive 7 hours in the wrong direction so Maggie and I could catch a plane to Arkansas. Max and Lucas would fly in to join us the following weekend for Easter.

I remember standing in my closet in Idaho, unpacking my bag from California just to repack it for this heart-wrenching flight to Arkansas. I stared at my hanging clothes, numb and trying to decided what and how much to pack. I pulled a black dress off the hanger and let the material slink through my hands. Based on everything I had heard from the doctors that day, I was going to need that dress. It made me angry, and so very sad.

I know my loving and gracious and eternal Daddy was holding me in His strong arms that day. I wonder if, in the midst of His compassion, He still smiled a bit, knowing the best was yet to come. He knew He had a gift for me that I couldn't fathom in that moment: another beautiful year with my mom. A new job for Lucas and a move to a home 1.7 miles from my parents' front door. Grandmama's tea parties for Maggie. The forever gift of learning to read from Grandmama to Max. Thanksgiving. Christmas. Two Easters.

One year later, this week has been hard on me. I returned home from India to face the reality that Mom's health is again in a precarious position (at least from a human standpoint). She's in the hospital getting blood transfusions. She's not able to tolerate a full dose of chemo that, even at its best, only offers a few months of life to the 5-15% of patients with whom it is effective.

However, I know that the same loving, gracious and eternal Daddy is present with us today just as He was one year ago. He is no less powerful now than He was then. The ordained days for the beautiful life of Vicki Dees has not fluctuated. And I believe, in the mind's eye of my limited human thinking, He is still smiling just a bit, knowing that the best is yet to come.

It Lets You Hope

Also posted on the IPP Blog.

Sitting in the lobby of our Mumbai hotel last week, I picked up a magazine to thumb through as we waited to depart for an afternoon of fabric shopping for upcoming lines of Punjammies.

The magazine fell open to a double page spread advertisement for Dove shampoo. The only text on the page was this phrase in bold white letters: “It Lets You Hope.”

As I stared at the phrase on the magazine page, I couldn’t help but wonder what it is about Indian culture that would make the promise of hope an appealing ad campaign. Even among the more affluent Indian women who are reading magazines and buying Dove shampoo, are the longings for hope so deep that even advertisers are trying to harness that power?

I do know that the need for lasting hope lies at the root of every human heart. Judging simply by the things I witnessed with my own eyes in India over the past two weeks, this is a country where millions of women are moving through life without a shred of that basic human need. And that knowledge alone gives me a renewed zeal to fight with any resource I have available to introduce real and lasting hope to women in India.

The good news: I saw that genuine hope reflected back to me from the eyes of the ladies working with International Princess Project and other similar organizations in India. There is real transformation happening. And that is a brand of hope all its own.

We interrupt India posts briefly...

.... because this conversation in the car with Maximus tonight when we were listening to a CD reminded me about something I've been meaning to post on the blog:

Me: Max, when you asked your dad what the word 'creation' meant, was it because you heard this song playing on the CD? (The lyrics were, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation...")

Max: Yes.

Me: So did you understand that when we believe in Jesus, God makes us into a new creation?

Max: But why does He make us a new creation?

Me: Well, before we believe in Jesus, everything about us is sinful. All of our thoughts and attitudes and actions are not pleasing to God. But when we believe in Jesus, He forgives our sins and we are a new creation. For the first time, we are able to be friends with God.

Max: But why did He die for us while we were His enemies?

Me: Because He loved us so much, that He wanted to make a way for us to be friends with God since we could never do it on our own. That's the Gospel.

Max: What's "The Gospel"?

Me: It's the good news about all that Jesus has done for us.

These are the types of conversations we have in our car virtually every day right now. Why? Seeds Family Worship. My friend Anna told me about these CDs, and they have been AWESOME for bringing God's word into every part of daily life for our little family. These CDs are well-produced, and all the songs are straight scripture set to music.

I can't tell you how many questions this music has prompted Max and Maggie to ask or how much scripture they have memorized in the few short weeks we've been listening to these CDs. Especially for Max, it's been really incredible to see him stitching together spiritual principles from different verses and songs. The kids love the music and sing right along word-for-word from their car seats. We've loved it so much, I thought I'd pass the tip along to all of you- I'm so glad Anna told us about it!

Home Sweet Home

After 36 hours of travel, I arrived at our sleepy little Northwest Arkansas airport. I have never been so happy to see my sweet husband. And the reunion with my two little ones was like water to my soul.

Back at home, my bed is softer, the shower hotter, the food yummier and the streets cleaner than I remembered. All these comforts and a thousand more welcomed me back home. And even though I am enjoying and thankful for all of these pleasant things in my life, each one reminds me of the people I met in India who are still in the midst of hardship even as I am enjoying my comfortable life.

I crawl into my soft and waiting bed, and I see the small child curled up with his mother, sleeping on the street; the fabric of her sari pulled up over his head to shield his face from the noise and dust of the Kolkata night air.

I raise my fork to my mouth, and I remember the children begging from car window to car window as we wait for traffic to pass. I wonder if those children even get the money they are begging for, or if there is someone waiting for them at "home" with an open hand to confiscate all they have received.

I throw a load of laundry into my washing machine, and I picture the women in the river, slapping their clothes against rocks to get them clean.

I take a long, hot shower, and I remember the dozens of men, women and children I saw lathering up with soap in the street. And then I'm humbled when I think of the new friends in their Kolkata home, showering with a bucket and a faucet of cold water so that they can be present in a dark place to spread the love of Christ.

I'm seeing my life in America through a new set of lenses these days. I'm thankful for all I have received, and I know I haven't done anything to deserve the easy life I've been handed. Even though it is so nice to be home, I'm wrestling with reconciling all my eyes have seen in the past two weeks with my plush life in America.

Many more posts to come. I have pictures to show and stories to tell! But for tonight, I'm snuggling up with my little family, enjoying their company and trying to overcome jet lag.

Kolkata

For the past three and a half days, we've been in Kolkata (Calcutta). It has by far been the most intense part of our trip. I'm going to have to wait until I get home to tell you about the things I have seen with my own eyes here in Kolkata. It's not pretty. But God is powerful and loving, and He who is in us is greater than he who is in this world.

In a couple of hours we will be heading to the airport to begin the lengthy trek home. I'm beyond excited to see my husband and children. I'm not quite sure how to process all I've seen and done here. I suspect it's going to take me quite a bit of time to grapple with it all.

Now that I've seen it, I am responsible for what I do with that. I will definitely be seeking the Lord to see what my part looks like.

Farewell until I see you back on the other side of Planet Earth!

Bless this Home

On our second day in Andhra Pradesh, we also had the privilege of participated in the dedication of Suresh and Christina's new home on the Harvest India campus.

This was really emotionally moving to me. Suresh and Christina are currently living in a fairly large four-story home two miles from the Harvest India campus. This is the house where they also host lots of short-term mission teams, so it's set up for western hospitality. Even though they were comfortable in their home there, they really felt a burden to live closer to the orphan home so that they can have more day-to-day interaction with the the orphans who need a mommy and daddy close by. So they are moving into a humble two-room home just up the lane from the orphan home. It was an honor to pray a prayer of blessing over their new home– I know it is a place that will be filled with laughter and love.

This is their new kitchen.

Sitting in one of the two rooms with a bunch of children from the orphan home. These kids were trying to teach me how to speak a few phrases in their local language, telugu. They got a kick out of me butchering the language. :-)

Within just a few minutes of the home dedication, they built this open fire in their new living room to warm up lunch for about 50 people.

Ashraya Sewing Center

On our second full day in Andhra Pradesh (the more rural area where we were visiting), we got to go for a short visit to the International Princess Project sewing center in the Ashraya house of the Harvest India campus. After hearing so much about IPP over the past two years, it was incredible to finally see it with my own eyes.

We got to witness Kelsea (the IPP sewing trainer and consultant) in her element as she evaluated the production system and quality checked the punjammies the women had made and trained them on some minor changes. It was really beautiful to witness the personal relationship that Kelsea has developed with the women and see how they loved her, trusted her and were working together as a team to accomplish this production goal. The personal dignity and confidence in these beautiful women

seemed to be growing before our very eyes. They are doing such magnificent work!

I'm going to post a lot of pictures of our first day at Ashraya! This is IPP in action:

Fear and Hope

I'm writing for the International Princess Project blog, one of reasons I came on this trip. It's been awesome to see how God used Pioneer Woman's post to drive thousands and thousands of new visitors to the IPP site at the exact time that we are on this trip and I'm posting new content to the site. Praise the Lord! He is working in incredible ways to get the word out about His work with IPP! The following post was originally posted on the IPP blog:

"There's nothing to be afraid of," IPP sewing trainer Kelsea said gently as she moved closer to take Lakshmi's* hand. Lakshmi pulled the fabric of her sari around her, trying to cover the acid burns that ran down the length of her arm.

We were sitting in the upstairs room of an Indian home, inviting Lakshmi to come live at Ashraya and learn to sew with International Princess Project. But she was afraid. Unfortunately, Lakshmi's life is not an isolated case. Thousands of other Indian women are also trapped in terrible situations; Used. Abused. Hopeless. Terrified.

We sat with Lakshmi, gently addressing each of her fears and telling her that Ashraya was a safe place– a place of love and hope. Two current residents at Ashraya also sat near her. With tears running down their faces, they told her about their life at Ashraya and implored Lakshmi to join them.

"There are many women in India who have the same problems as you," Kelsea said, looking Lakshmi in the eyes. "There's nothing to be ashamed of."

As Kelsea sat there holding Lakshmi's hands, we all breathed in the same thick Indian air and Lakshmi wrestled between fear and hope.

*Name has been changed.

In Celebration of Learning

Last night was a huge night of celebration at Harvest India. We celebrated the 19th graduation ceremony of the Harvest Vision Centers, the Bible colleges run by Harvest India. From the moment we arrived here on Wednesday, it was obvious that the graduation ceremony was going to be a big deal. Even though Laura had brought two saris for us to wear, Christina said that we would need new saris for such a special occasion. So within an hour of our arrival at her home, she had a tailor here to take our measurements so that she could have these beautiful saris tailored for us in time for the graduation ceremony the following night:

When we arrived on the campus of Harvest India, there were signs and banners and twinkle lights everywhere. The walkways were lined with green reeds for walking on. IPP sewing trainer Kelsea had arrived just in time for the graduation, and Christina had a new sari waiting for her as well (she's the gal in the purple below. The two little girls below are in their fanciest Indian dresses. They are Nancy and Vasanti, Suresh and Christina's daughter and foster daughter and the princesses of Harvest India!).

At the end of the walkway, we met up with all the graduates, beaming with pride as they lined up for the processional into the graduation ceremony. We were all given academic regalia to wear and we led the graduates into the ceremony right behind team of RockHarbor pastors. The beautiful saris were under our regalia the entire night, which seemed odd to me after they had gone to all the trouble to have new saris tailored. It was a bit warm in the saris and graduation gowns as well. Just a bit. :-)

The ceremony was long and celebratory, and included things like a huge Bollywood-style song and dance number to the song "Heal the World" by the children at the orphan home. There are just no words to describe how over-the-top this production was. I'll just toss out a few descriptors: Costumes. Sequins, Confetti. Banners. Dancers. Michael Jackson impersonator. Fireworks. It left us absolutely speechless.

After the song, we were ushered up to the stage where we presented the graduates with their diplomas. Reverend Suresh pulled a quick one on Laura when he asked her to give an impromptu speech/blessing to the graduates and the 1,000 people in attendance at the ceremony using an interpreter. Laura is one talented gal. She gave the most beautiful and moving blessing to these Bible College graduates who are being sent out to remote Hindu villages to preach the Gospel.

At the end of the night, all the graduates and children were milling around, and we were meeting them and offering them our congratulations. It was such a joyous night. This sweet little girl from the orphan home came up and asked me if I would be her mommy. She didn't leave my side the rest of the night until I had to get in the van to leave. She was precious.

Laura has told me about these types of experiences on her previous trips to India; about the fanfare and the impromptu speaking and the welcoming and honoring of westerners that really feels over-the-top.

After last night's, graduation ceremony, I'm starting to get it. It's awkward and a little absurd, but for some reason the Indian nationals here really love it when we participate in the celebrations in such a formal role. Even though it's a little embarrassing and I want to communicate an attitude of humility, I am beginning to see that all of this fanfare is somehow a way that these men and women receive love. And if they truly feel loved by me standing in academic regalia and handing them their diploma, I'm more than willing to do that!