Book review

River of Time: My Descent into Depression and How I Emerged with Hope by Naomi Judd
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The social stigma of panic disorder may be even worse than the social stigma of depression, and Naomi Judd was brave to tell about her experience with both in this book. Her upbringing and background would make a great country song, except it would be too sad to be believable. So many people admire her, and I'm glad that she has been open about her struggles both past and present. No one, not even a celebrity, has a life free of hardship and struggle.

However, unlike most people, Naomi has the time and resources to get the very best mental health treatment available. Sadly, even under the best care, people die from depression every day, but I think if more people had access to mental health care, many lives could be saved.


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Christmas Cards

I decided at the last minute (for me) to send out some cards. I wanted to make sure the far-flung relatives who aren't on social media knew they were in our thoughts, and I wanted them to enjoy some fun pictures of Adam. I had this dream of having a professional picture taken that would be like so many of the cards we receive, but between school, work, chronic illness, and all three of us having pneumonia, it didn't happen. Anyway, I had the cards printed, Patrick picked them up from Costco, and both of my guys stuffed the envelopes. (We're all about teamwork here.)

I'm always a little conflicted about sending out Christmas cards because I don't want to give the impression that everything is awesome for us and that we somehow have it together. I feel like our cards should have a disclaimer that says, "These happy pictures don't necessarily represent the reality of daily life." The fact is no one's Christmas cards, Instagram, or Facebook posts represent real life. We all struggle. We're all just doing the best we can. I'm saying this to remind myself and sharing because maybe someone else is opening a stack of beautiful cards and feeling like he or she doesn't measure up. You aren't alone. Hang in there.

2017 Watts Family Year Ender

Dear friends and family,

We hope you have had a great 2017 and are looking forward to the new year. We’ve had lots of ups and downs this year in the Watts family.

Patrick and Adam have made several trips to see family this year, including a Spring Break trip to Texas and three trips to Ohio to see Patrick’s grandparents, who just celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary. Their Memorial Day trip included stops at Dinosaur World in Kentucky and Kings Island near Cincinnati.

In June, they went to CentriKid camp in Campbellsville, KY. This was a new experience for both of them, and they had a blast!

We had the amazing experience of being in the “line of totality” of the solar eclipse on August 21. Patrick’s cousin, Ray, is an astronomy professor and came to observe the eclipse in our driveway. It was a fantastic learning experience for all three of us and especially for Adam, who wants to be an astronomer when he grows up.

In October, Adam came down with what we thought was a bad cold, but he was soon diagnosed with pneumonia. After a week of treatment at home, our pediatrician sent us to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital at Williamson Medical Center for an in-patient stay to get IV antibiotics. Adam responded more quickly than expected to treatment there, and we were sent home at the end of our second day. This happened during Adam’s fall break, and so he had quite the story to tell when he went back to school. Unfortunately, Patrick then came down with it... followed shortly thereafter by Lydia as well, but we both managed to avoid the hospital. We are grateful to live in Nashville with great medical care. All of October and most of November were consumed with illness, and so we got a little behind on Christmas preparations and cards.

Also in November, Patrick’s office moved to LifeWay’s new building in the Capitol View development in Nashville’s “North Gulch”. Nashville is growing by leaps and bounds, and the area around the new building is surrounded by new businesses and residential buildings. The new, high-tech building is a big change from the aging buildings on the old campus, but many of the architectural elements were incorporated into LifeWay’s new home. Patrick continues to work on web-based projects including a training site for church planters with the North American Mission Board.

Adam is a fourth grader this year, which in our school district, is the last year of elementary school. We have been looking at our options for middle school next year and are prayerfully considering what will be the best fit for him and our family.





We enjoy everyone’s Christmas cards and greetings. Even if we aren’t able to see you in person, our family and friends are always close to our hearts. We would love to hear from you. We pray you will have a happy and healthy new year.

-Patrick, Lydia, and Adam Watts