Vicki – I would say I’m a singer, a psalmist, someone who loves to lead people to the presence of God. I’m passionate in what I do. I like to sing music and lyrics that affect people and does something for them. People need music that can bring them to another place.
Kim – I know that you have family. You have your husband Troy and a baby boy that you adopted as a baby.
Vicki – We have a bi-racial baby boy in March of this year. I week before the 28th, when we adopted him, a friend of mine, Darlene Bishop, who has a home for unwed mothers, called me. She knew that Troy and I have been married for nine years with no children. She called and said, “I’ve got your baby.” I said, “Is it bi-racial?” She said, “Yeah!” I said, “Is it a boy?” She said, “Yeah!” No matter, if she’d have said it was a girl or anything, I would have taken it. But that was just something I wanted. And everything I asked she said, “Yeah.” She said he was going to be born in one week. The next day I met the birth mother and a week later I stood by the birth mother’s side. She had just turned 16. I was the one to cut the cord and I was the first one to hold him. Everyone in her world, including her father and the birth father, wanted her to have an abortion. Her father was racist and when he found out that it was a bi-racial baby, he was really upset. She actually hid the pregnancy for eight months from her father because she knew that his anger would be so great. Thank God we were able to adopt. He’s already flown 72 times and he’s only six months! He goes with me everywhere. Bishop T. D. Jakes dedicated him two weeks ago. He’s just added so much to our lives. We’re so busy now. Before he came into our lives we must have been really bored! It’s been a wonderful experience. He’s changed our lives totally.
Kim – How has it affected you when you’re on the road?
Vicki – I just came off of a tour that started August 24th and ended October 2nd. I have a nanny that comes with me on the road. At home I don’t use a nanny, but on the road I have to have my sleep to have my voice. She’s really helpful. People ask me why I take a baby on the road and I’m like, “I prayed for a baby. Why would I leave my baby at home when I travel?” I bring him to the stage and tell his story. I’m campaigning because he will be the President of the United States one of these days! Walker Winston Hodges – that’s his name and that sounds very presidential, don’t you think? He has his own web site. www.walkerwinstonhodges.com There are a lot of pictures on there. It’s fun.
Kim – How has being a mom changed your outlook on the world?
Vicki – I look at Walker so many times since we’ve had him and what a responsibility. Sometimes I’m fearful and then just right away I’m OK because I’m a Christian and I’m can teach him the things of God and have God in his life. We can make it. But when you look at the world…. You know, I was watching Oprah yesterday and she was really coming down on the pediphiles and how they should be locked up for life after the first time. She had all of these pictures of sex offenders that they’re looking for and she’s put her own money, $100,000, out there if anyone can identify them and they catch them. As I was watching that I thought, if I didn’t have God in my life and hadn’t prayed a hedge of protection around Walker, I wouldn’t even want to leave the house. Knowing Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, I really have a peace. But it does make you think of a lot of things that I never had to think about. I have nieces and nephews that are teenagers and you think about them, but when it’s your baby coming into this world, it’s a whole new perspective.
Kim – I know that you grew up in a ministry family, so you have a lot of experience. Do you feel like you have a stronger foundation because you spent your childhood in ministry instead of just being in a church family?
Vicki – I saw my father and mother and the things that they did. We’d come together, hold hands and pray when things came up. In a preacher’s house, it’s a glass house. Everybody expects you to do things better than the saints kids because you’re the preacher’s kid. My father would always tell them, “Hey, God didn’t call her, He called me.” He never made us feel like we were in a glass house. He would set people straight, even from the pulpit. My parents are just such giving people. They helped so much with our adoption of Walker. We’re opening an orphanage in Uganda in two weeks. There are 1.7 million orphans in Uganda. My parents always let me know that I have to work out my own salvation with fear and trembling. Just because you’re raised up in a preacher’s house, it doesn’t mean you have a one way ticket to Heaven. You have to work out some things on your own with God.
