People love that crap!!

In 1990, I started writing a yearly Christmas letter to be included with a recent photograph of our family.  I never intended for this to be a yearly thing.  One of my favorite sayings to my family is 'people love that crap' (Christmas cards and letters fall into that category)  We had moved to Tennessee from Alabama and had in 12 years of marriage moved 7 times and lived in 4 states.  We had friends from all over.  So, the annual Christmas letter took flight.  This letter was not sent locally, so if you lived in the same area with us, you were not on the Christmas letter list.  When we moved, we added friends that had sent us Christmas cards locally.  My thought was that if you lived in the same area we did, you knew what our life looked like and didn't need an annual recap.  

Over the years, this list has grown to include the married children of our friends, since they are now sending us their Christmas cards.  The annual letter has become my Christmas present to myself.  I love people and sharing our lives through the years. 

This year I did something a little different - instead of filling my letter with the things that Bill & I as well as our kids and grands had been doing, I reflected on letters I had written over the past 28 years and how what I had written in the past looked today.  

Once again, I was reminded of God's faithfulness to me and to my family.  This verse comes to my mind when I think of my plans for myself and my family.

'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, 

neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

As the heavens are higher than the earth, 

so are my ways higher than your ways. Isaiah 55:8-9

Which then takes my ADHD mind to immediately to my life verse John 15:5 . . . apart from Me, you can do nothing.  I'm so glad to have Him as my advocate, protector, savior, and friend.

With that introduction . . .

I present to you ‘The Overstreet Family Christmas Letter 2018’

I hate to admit it but . . .

 Christmas Vacation is one of my favorite movies!!

The Overstreets @ MetaPC 2018

As I was thinking about what I wanted to say about this past year, I took about 2 hours one morning to read through all my previous Christmas letters.  I started reading last years letter and read back to the first letter I wrote in 1990.  I was trying to think who might have been on that first Christmas letter list.  We were living in Maryville, Tennessee, and did not even know that we would be moving to south Florida the next year. Eight years later, we would be back in Alabama and living there for 15 years before moving to Hendersonville, TN in 2014. Over the years, I have loved addressing and stuffing these Christmas letters.  It gives me a chance to think about the memories we have shared with you and your family. Lots of great memories.  

Another thing that happened while I was reading had to do with what I had written.   Every year I like to pick a theme for my letter.  I have come to realize that this annual letter is really for me not you.  You get the benefit but I have a ‘cliff notes’ journal of where our family has been and what God has done. 

If you have had an opportunity to talk with me this year, you know I have been living by this verse found in Matthew 6:34  ‘Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own’.  The older I get and the more people that come into my family either by marriage or birth, this verse has become more of a reality in my life.

Here are some funny examples of how this verse has played out in my life from some of our previous Christmas letters. 

In 1994, I wrote 'in less than 10 years, our job as full-time parents will be over.’  Why did I say that?  It reminds me of a passage in James 4:13-14 ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.’ You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes . . . 

1997 - ‘We're online. You can e-mail us at BOverst756@aol.com’ (can anyone even remember dial-up AOL)  I remember telling Buddy that I would not put my credit information into my computer.  Things have definitely changed.  Now I do almost all my shopping online - I may be Amazon Prime’s best customer. 

2000 - ‘So in the span of one week, both of our older children left the nest. . . God knew that we would need more than a dog to fill the emptiness in our home—so he provided a 2-year old.  Not a baby—but an always moving, into-everything toddler!'

The more we like to think we control our own destiny, history proves us wrong every time.  No matter how hard we try, we cannot see into the future, and do we really want to?  Hence, the wisdom of Matthew 6:34 - don’t worry about tomorrow . . .

John's Graduation Day-Goodpasture Christian School

As most of you know, we did not become empty nesters in 2004 but that date did arrive on the 37th birthday of my oldest son. August 17, 2018, we moved John into his dorm at Belmont University in Nashville.  He loves college!  Bill and I also celebrated our 40th anniversary in March. Our children officiated a renewal of our vows and many family and friends attended this celebration. 

We had a full year - I love my family and try to see them as often as I can. 

I want to close with another excerpt from a Christmas letter - that letter was written in 2003. We had lived in Tuscaloosa for 5 years and seen Alabama lose many games, most notably to UCF, Tennessee, Auburn, & LSU. Here’s what I wrote 15 years ago in that 2003 letter:  “Buddy is graduating in May with a degree in Entrepreneurship and a minor in communications.  He is still working in the Athletic Department at Alabama.  He was able to go to Hawaii over Thanksgiving with the Alabama football team.  He had a great time.  As for the UA football team, I think the Tuscaloosa News said it perfectly in the Sunday paper—Alabama says ‘Aloha’ to 4-9 season.  Who knew that 15 years later, ‘Aloha’ would be something that would bring a smile to the faces of so many Alabama Football fans!!

This year my prayer is not only will you anticipate the celebration of Jesus’ birth but also how the Lord is wanting to bless you and your family.  I am enjoying the memories of our yesterdays and trusting my tomorrows to the one who knit me together in my mother’s womb and wrote all the days of my life before one of them came to be. (Psalm 139:16) 

This past year has been spent day by day making memories and reaching out to those who need to know the love of Christ. Bill continues to pastor Indian Lake Peninsula Church.   Please pray for our church as we continue to move forward in reaching out to our community. Our #hastag this year has been ‘We’re here for Good’  

We are also intentional about getting together as a family.  This is hard to accomplish but this year I have seen my kids and grands more than many previous years.  They will all be here for Christmas this year and I do not take that for granted. I know how hard it is to travel hundreds of miles with small children.   I always tell them that their ‘presence’ is my present!! and it really is.  I think God feels the same about His children.  He just wants to spend time with us.  I pray that this Christmas we will take some time to so just that.  

Thanks for being a part of our story.  You are special to God and to us!!

Merry Christmas, Bill & Allyson 

I'd rather have a baby than a dog!

"A child is someone who passes through your life and disappears into an adult." Tonight, the child I am thinking about is my youngest, John, who moves into his dorm at Belmont University tomorrow.  Ironically, he moves in on the day that my oldest son was born, 
August 17. 

37 years have passed since Bill and I have lived alone.  It is also ironic that we started parenting in Hendersonville and we have come full circle.  We are back at the same church in the same city.  We have owned 10 homes and lived in 4 states in our 40 years of marriage. 

A few days ago I texted a friend about her son and mentioned that John was going to college.  This is the text I got from her 'The empty nest is great . . . just don't make the mistake of getting a dog!  We did & now we are back to using sitters & doggie day camp!'   This was my reply to her 'That is how I got John.  When Buddy and Erin asked for a dog, I said I would rather have another baby than a dog.'  When I found out I was pregnant at 42, I remembered that comment immediately.

I know many people have children that they don't plan and I am always interested in their story.  Well here's mine.  

When Erin was in 4th grade,  I went through a Bible study called Experiencing God.  At that time, I sensed God calling me to homeschool her.  Soon afterward, we started a church and that thought went right out the window.  In 1997, I did the Bible study again at my new church.  One day as I was doing the homework, there was a question that said, 'What has God asked you to do that you have not done?'  Immediately, my mind went back to when she was in 4th grade.  Over the next few weeks, I talked with her and Bill and we decided that I would homeschool her for 8th grade.  It was so far-fetched that when she told people she was going to be homeschooled, people would ask 'Who is going to teach you?' To say the least, I was not a homeschooling mom.  

However, I wanted to be obedient to what the Lord was calling me to do and we began in the fall of 1997.  I decided to buy a journal and use it as a prayer journal of our year together.  Here are the last 2 entries of that journal:

April 15, 1998

Dear Lord, Are you opening our eyes to a new place? Is that place Tuscaloosa or B’ham. Between what I wrote Monday and today we received a call from a new Body in Tuscaloosa.  Is this where you are going to let Bill go to get a rest.  I see Your hand and I trust Your heart. 

Does this time of rest also include a new baby?  The last thing I thought I would ever be dealing with at 41 years old.  I have mixed emotions.  After the year I’ve spent with Erin, I have learned that obedience brings blessing. I know that Your plans for me are perfect and I want to stay in for the long haul.

My commitment to you is firm and I look forward with anticipation to what you have planned for me and my family.  I love You, Amen

April 16, 1998

Dear Lord, When I first started this journal last July, I never dreamed that the last page would be about having a baby.  How unbelievable You are. I bought this book because it was titled ‘Down in the Garden’ and my desire for Erin and I this year was to plant my life in hers.  As the weeks went by, I saw more and more that was Your plan, too.  However, every picture in the book was of babies. 

To say that I am floored is an understatement. To say that I’m excited to see your plans for us is very true.  I know you are working. I know your love and plan for us exceeds our highest expectations.  I can’t wait. I pray that these next months will be time of growing together as a family as we prepare to nurture a new life. I love the way you love me.

Your favorite child, Allyson

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It has been almost 20 years since I wrote that journal post.  I have seen 2 of my kids finish college, marry and have their own children. 

I am excited to see what God is going to do as John takes the next step.  This evening has been spent thinking about him and praying for him.  I wrote him a short note and shared these journal entries with him.  I wanted him to know that I was excited when I found out I was pregnant with him and I am still excited to see how God uses his life for His good and His glory.  My mom always said - 'he was the gift you didn't know you needed.'

Parenting never ends but it does change and change is hard. I am beginning a new season of parenting. I'm praying that the Lord continues to show me how to parent from my new position, the sideline.