Christmas Letter 2019

      Greetings from the Watts family! We hope you are having a wonderful holiday season and have the opportunity to pause and reflect on the wonderful miracle of Jesus’ birth.

Polly and Adam

       Like everyone else, we’ve had ups and downs this year. In February, we said “goodbye for now” to Patrick’s grandmother, Floss Waggener. She brought so much joy and positivity to the world in her 97 years, and we rejoice in the knowledge that she is with her Savior. “Polly,” as we called her, had the ability to distill any conversation or situation into two key elements: the absolute most encouraging words, and the gospel. Remembering the little things she said or did has made us smile over these last months. We are so thankful that Adam had the opportunity to know his great-grandmother.
        Patrick has made several trips to Ohio this year to spend time with Polly before she passed away and to be with his 99-year-old grandfather (“Pop”) as he adjusts to life without his wife of 76 years. Polly’s amazing caregivers have been able to continue looking after Pop and making it possible for him to stay in his home.
       Adam wrapped up his first year of middle school in May and jumped right into a busy summer. He and Patrick visited Pop over Memorial Day weekend, with a side trip to King's Island. Adam went to Camp Invention and Vacation Bible School in June. He also attended his first concert, "Weird Al" Yankovic, at Ascend Amphitheater.

"Weird Al" Yankovic concert

      In July, Patrick and Adam went to CentriKid Camp in Campbellsville, KY. He also went to Music Arts Camp at church and took swimming lessons. Adam visited Kentucky two more times with the children’s ministry from church when they went on day trips to

Summer reading books

Venture River Water Park and Beech Bend Park. He still found plenty of time to read and play video games during his break.               August brought the beginning of sixth grade, and it was nice to already have a year of middle school under our belts and not be new to the school this year. Adam has joined a robotics team at school, which Patrick is coaching, and he is enjoying making new friends and learning how to get the robot ready for tournaments.

Robotics tournament

        Lydia’s health challenges keep our family time close to home. We have “Family Movie Night” nearly every week when we eat pizza and watch something on Disney+. We enjoy cheering on the Baylor Bears,  Tennessee Vols, and Nashville Predators

Gnash and Adam

from the comfort of home. Adam has also gotten interested in something his mom likes - jigsaw puzzles!
       We found out last month that Patrick’s sister and her husband will be welcoming their second child, a girl, next year. By next summer, we will have four nieces - ages newborn to sixteen years old!
        Patrick is still doing well in his work at LifeWay, working on everything from worship to VBS to training software for churches to assessments for church planters. He works from home one or two days a week now, and we enjoy having lunch together on those days.
        We love hearing from our friends and family. Please keep up with us on Facebook or email us at patrickandlydia(at)gmail.com.

Merry Christmas! Patrick, Lydia, and Adam

Christmas Letter 2018

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Watts family! We hope you have had a good year and hope you will have an even better 2019. We stayed close to home this year, especially when we got hit with a big snowstorm in January!

The temperature got down to the single digits, which is rare for Nashville. We enjoyed having some unscheduled family time.

Through the winter and into the spring, we toured and applied to middle schools for Adam. (Middle school starts in the fifth grade in our county.) We realized in the process that things sure have changed... we toured more middle schools than either of us did colleges for ourselves. We finally arrived at a decision to go with Valor Collegiate Academy in early May.

At the end of May, it was time to say goodbye to Granbery Elementary. The faculty and staff there loved our whole family so well for five years. Patrick’s parents were able to come to town for the graduation, and so Adam had all four of his grandparents in attendance.

Summer was busy with day camps and church activities for Adam. He went to Camp Invention, Vacation Bible School, and Music Arts Camp. Patrick’s sister, Allison, her husband Dave, and their daughter Abby came to visit in June, and Adam enjoyed showing her around the house and the neighborhood. Patrick, Adam, and the Greenes trekked up to Ohio to visit Patrick and Allison’s grandparents, who despite being in their late nineties, still are sharp as tacks and love to love on us.

In August, Adam went to two days of “Culture Camp” to learn all about his new school and get to know his new classmates. He started fifth grade on August 7th, and quickly started making friends and learning the ropes of middle school. It’s been an adjustment for all of us with new teachers, more homework, a new schedule, and no more school bus.

Adam made his own Halloween costume this year, and he was an iPhone! He made the phone out of a big cardboard box, and the charger was a small styrofoam cooler.

Lydia has been busy crafting and being the mom of a middle schooler. Some new medicine has helped her this year, but she’s still adjusting to some side effects.

Patrick’s job at LifeWay is still going well. They’ve been in

the new building for a year now, and he’s already moved from the fifth floor to the eighth floor. He’s now been trained to be a certified scrum product owner. He primarily works on web-based software for churches.

We love hearing from our friends and family at Christmastime. Please keep us with us on Facebook or email us at patrickandlydia(at)gmail.com.

Blessings,

Patrick, Lydia, and Adam

Stuck in the Middle School with You

Yesterday, for the first time since 2013, our boy's first day of school was not at Granbery Elementary. I knew this in my head, but it really hit my heart yesterday. I saw the buses coming from there as I went to middle school pickup, and I thought about all the days we put our precious cargo in the care of awesome bus drivers. (I also miss him being picked up and dropped off at the end of our driveway.) I missed the excitement of all the smiling faces we got to know and love during our years at Granbery. The faculty and staff loved our family so well, and we miss them.


We are so grateful for the elementary teachers and staff who got us this far. I feel like I have a new job learning a whole new system. Hopefully, yesterday was our last first day at a new school as this school continues through high school. The faculty and staff at the new school is amazing and have been so helpful. I've already gotten several early morning and late night texts. 


The great thing about Nashville is that there are lots of options, and we took our time figuring out which one would be the best for our boy. We looked at more middle schools for our kid than we did colleges for ourselves. We are hopeful his new school will meet his needs and nurture him as well as his elementary school did.