NEWSOME 2024 YEAR RECAP
2024 is gone. Wow.
2024 was an amazing year. We achieved a lot, learned a lot, and changed a lot. As a way to catch up on alllll we’ve been up to since my last post, let’s break down the 2024 year by season to see what we’ve been up to.
Winter 2024.
DISCLAIMER: It is now May 2025. I started this post in January 2025. If that doesn’t tell you anything about the chaos that has defined this year, I don’t know what does. But that’s a story for another post… first, let’s play a little catchup!
2024 did not start off as planned. A week before Christmas of 2023, I fell off the steps in the garage (because I wasn’t paying attention) fracturing my foot. That made Christmas quite exciting! Thankfully, I did not need any surgery, so I just started the year in a fancy boot. It made sledding in our first (and only) snow challenging, but I wasn’t going to miss a perfectly good snow day! Also in January Simon started playing rec basketball with his friends, which took up a lot of weekday nights and Saturday mornings, but it was so fun seeing him learn more and get a little out of his comfort zone. His team even ended up being undefeated for the season, winning the championship for their age bracket!
Because the weather was cold, the plants were dead, and the snakes were GONE for the season, we decided to start clearing out some land in preparation for spring time on the homestead. We tripled our garden beds by scouring the property for cinderblocks, tilling up the garden beds, and clearing brush. It was a lot of work, but it really paid off later in the spring.
Most of the winter was spent working to clear the garden area, cozying up in the house, going to and from basketball, and spending time with friends. I even got to sneak away for a girls sleepover with my small group girls at a cabin.
Spring 2024.
As soon as that spring weather kicked in, we kicked it into high gear at the farm. We fenced in our garden- fortified it with an electric fence to keep out our local deer friends, and immediately began planting our first round of crops- onions, sugar snap peas, broccoli, carrots, and sugar snap peas. We also welcomed some baby chicks to the farm to add to our layer flock. Other notable farm accomplishments were cleaning up the old pig areas, clearing out some of the future pig areas, and even renting a wood chipper to mulch some of the trees we cut down in the clearing process. We used the woodchips to fill in the grassy area between the garden beds- it helped limit weeds, pests, and made it look super nice! We also built some trellises using hog panels for our VERY quickly growing peas- spoiler alert- they were extremely fruitful and the trellis was a huge success.
Spring was also a really fun time for our family- it was filled with fun, laughter, and tons of adventure. Between mother-son game night at the school, Easter celebrations at church and with family, friend hangout sessions, and exploring our city, we had a spring packed full of family fun. Something unexpectedly awesome was that Joel + Simon’s favorite YouTubers, Goonzquad, bought some property down the street from our house. We often get to drive by and see them working on their next project. One day, we even drove by and saw one of the guys by his truck, so we stopped by to say hi. Simon was elated to have his picture taken with them… it made his day! We ended the season with a sweet celebration of our boy, Simon, thrown by our church. It was a celebration of all our kindergarten students where they were prayed over and given their own bible with a personalized note. It was such a special time to focus on Simon and be poured into by our faith family.
Summer 2024.
The end of the school year was jammed packed full with the daddy daughter dance, field day, a field trip to a local amusement park, and lots of other special school events. Once we wrapped up school, it was time to kick off summer. When sweet summer hit, it was full steam ahead. The day after school ended, we packed up and went camping. We went every weekend for the next month and enjoyed every minute of it- swimming, cooking over a camp fire, hiking, and walking through the creek in search of all kinds of critters. It was one of the highlights of our year. Other monumental moments were Simon learning to ride a bike without training wheels and Esther’s first haircut.
We kept things going on the farm- the plants were booming and the chickens settled into their new flock. We were experiencing such success and it really lit the homesteading fire- we were eager and excited to take on and do more. We harvested our first round of carrots and began preserving lots of our peas, green beans, and broccoli. We had an abundance of blueberries and spent many evenings standing on the bed of the truck picking them and dumping them into a 5 gallon bucket.
The end of summer also brought the most heartbreaking moments of the year. Our precious dog, Michonne, passed away. She was part of our family for over 10 years, and losing her rocked my world far more than I anticipated. I experienced a grief so overwhelming that it was hard for me to go more than a few hours without totally breaking down. I swore that I’d never get another dog because no animal could ever replace our Shoney Bologna.
Then, I couldn’t stand the lack of furry friend anymore… and 5 days later, we welcomed our wild, crazy Sandy girl into our home. Sandy is a border collie, terrier mix- and full of as much energy as (approximately) 37 toddlers… who have each eaten an entire package of pixie sticks. Approximately.
To end the summer, Joel and I got to participate in one of the most amazing experiences in our faith and marriage, so far. At the end of July, our church hosts a summer youth camp called Vive Camp- a three day experience for middle and high schoolers to serve, worship, and grow in their faith. Joel and I were asked to head up the response team. Basically, any student that made a decision in a worship service would be brought to us to have a conversation. From there, we connected them to the right pastor to set up discipleship, baptism, or another conversation. Let me tell you… it was a busy, but exciting weekend. It was truly life changing to be a part of seeing so many students come to Christ or take the next step in their walk with the Lord. It was, by far, the highlight of my summer.
Fall 2024.
Fall welcomed a new school year, new sports, new friendships, and new opportunities. I was overjoyed to set up my classroom for the new school year and had a ton of fun doing so- you can see the whole process on our YouTube channel! I immediately fell in love with my students. They were the sweetest and funniest group of kids I’ve had in a long time! Meanwhile, Esther was starting pre-k and having the time of her life (despite my anxiety around the whole thing). Simon was thriving in first grade and making tons of friends. It was truly an amazing start to our school year. In addition, both kids wanted to give soccer a try. Looking back, having 2 kids in the same sport at the same time… but on separate teams was a nightmare. Our hearts were full, but our calendars were PACKED. Burnout came quick, but we were having fun in the process, so I guess it was a fair trade.
Additionally in the fall, Joel and I decided to start a small group at our church geared towards college students and young professionals. This meant leaving our adult small group which was incredibly hard for us- we had built so many relationships and grown so many sweet friendships in that group. As difficult as it was to leave, we have been abundantly blessed through working with the college aged students in our community. We meet weekly and have a healthy, thriving group of students who desire to grow in God’s word and build relationships with other believers. It has been amazing.
The rest of our fall was packed with fun- hiking, sports, holidays, field trips, and school events kept us busy. Little did we know, our comfortable but chaotic life was about to get turned upside down… right before Thanksgiving.
Winter 2024.
Everything was going perfectly in our little lives. My job teaching my fourth grade besties was so fun and fulfilling. We loved our house and spent so much time playing outside. The kids loved their classmates and teachers. The farm was thriving. What more could you ask for?
In early November, an opossum wiped out our entire flock of egg laying chickens. It was devastating, but with our busy schedules, it was probably for the best. Tending to our girls was becoming more and more difficult. Having a garden and animals on property that is NOT where you live can be quite the challenge; however, one day at soccer practice, someone sent us a listing to a beautiful house not far from ours. It was on 6 acres and had everything we wanted in a home. Even though we weren’t looking to move any time soon, we made the leap to put in an offer… and, long story short, it was accepted! Unexpectedly, we were listing our house and preparing to move.
Thankfully, we got accepted an offer on our home rather quickly. Things were progressing perfectly and we were excited to move even closer to school, move all of our farm to our property, and begin growing our homestead. Unfortunately, these plans crumbled when our buyer fell through… forcing us to back out on our new home.
With half of our belongings still in storage and our house already on the market, we decided to proceed with selling our home and praying for the Lord to direct our path. Little did we know that in 2025, that would mean changing our careers, city, and school… but more on that in another post.
Although we ended 2024 in a cloud of uncertainty, we ended it filled with family, friends, and our faith. Truly, what could be better?
