Newsome News (Vol. 1)
June 25, 2021
Friends. It has been quite some time since I’ve gotten to sit down to blog, and I have truly missed it. Life for the Newsome family has been changing in big ways- some that we’ve liked and some that we haven’t. But I’m now at a point where I can finally take a breath, sort through my thoughts and feelings, and begin blogging again! However, I feel like jumping back in without giving an update would be difficult, so that’s what today’s post is about!
On a side note, I’m so tired of social media. Anyone else? Family updates will now be a regular occurrence on the blog because I’m trying to use Facebook and Instagram as little as possible. SOOOO if you are a friend or family member that uses social media to keep up with us, you’ll just have to check here from now on š
The Newsome Family Update
Back in January, we all got COVID. Yeah, us AND the kids. It was quite the challenge. Actually, our extended family had it at the same time. We experienced an unexpected loss in January when Joel’s dad passed away due to COVID. It was a difficult time for our family, but it was truly amazing to see God’s hand in every aspect of his dad’s life and death.
If any of you know us personally, you know it has been our dream over the past few years to buy land, build a house for us, build a house for Joel’s parents to stay on our property, and start a hobby farm/homestead. Following his dad’s death, this changed our plans. We went through the process of looking for houses that would be big enough for our growing family and Joel’s mom to live with us whenever she wanted. We looked at dozens of houses, but none of them checked all of the boxes AND fell within our budget. We felt like- especially in the current housing market- we could either have the size of a house we needed (we were outgrowing our current house) OR we could have property, but not both. This was disappointing and discouraging, but we decided to pray about it and pass it on to the Lord.
In April, we decided to move in with Joel’s mom as we went through the process of selling our house. It was the plan to live here for a year or so and try to find a house for all of us once the housing market calmed down.
One Friday in May, while we were camping, a friend text me a link to a house 2 miles away from Joel’s mom’s house. It was the perfect size and even had a guesthouse on the property- fully stocked to be a separate living space. The house checked every single box except land and price- it was $30,000 over budget. We, again, felt discouraged. I decided to look at the house one more Sunday morning before we left the campsite. To our surprise, the price of the house dropped to be just under our budget. AND they happened to be having an open house that evening. We went to the open house, ended up loving the house, and made an offer. Due to our house not yet hitting the market, we put an offer in- at asking price- contingent upon our home selling. We knew this offer was unlikely to be accepted, but we sent it in and prayed for God to make it happen if it was His will. We were completely blown away the next afternoon when we learned that our offer had been accepted.
Another totally amazing part about this house is that it’s 2 miles from Joel’s mom’s house which has 3 acres. What seemed like a dream we had given up was falling back into place. God provided us with a home that met all of our needs AND land to start our hobby farm. While it isn’t exactly what we pictured, it is exactly what we needed. We are currently 8 days away from closing on our old home and 16 days away from closing on our new home. I’m beyond excited to share with you our journey in homesteading and setting up our new home!
Simon
Simon has had a little bit of a rough time adapting to all of the changes in his life right now, but he is as full of love, laughter, and fun as he ever was. He has thoroughly enjoyed moving to the mountains and away from the city. His favorite things to do are hike (just like grandpa), work outside with dad, and play in the rain. This little explorer who used to run in fear from worms now loves to collect bugs and make mud puddles. He has also taken it upon himself to teach Esther everything he knows, whether its how to play or create chaos.
Simon has also been through a lot of changes with his development. While he is completely on point with physical (99.9th percentile in height!) and mental development, his speech has become a concern to both us and his pediatrician. He is so crazy intelligent, but has a hard time communicating. He will begin speech therapy in the fall at our zoned school. In the meantime, he has begun attending a Mother’s Day Out program two days a week. We are excited to see how he grows in his socialization and speech over the summer.
Esther Kate
Esther is learning and growing more each day. She loves copying her brother and exploring. She is opposite of Simon is so many ways- where Simon is laid back, cautions, and likes to be independent, Esther is a busybody. She acts without fear and never meets a stranger. Esther is like me in most ways, and Simon takes after Joel.
So far this year, not much has changed drastically with Esther. She is so young that she just goes with the flow without much of a fuss with the drastic changes taking place in our lives. She is currently in the separation anxiety phase of her development, which has made night time a little more challenging- she doesn’t care to sleep alone and we avoid putting her in the bed… so her and I have many late night rocking sessions in the recliner. She is also attending the Mother’s Day Out program with Simon. We’re praying that it helps her with the separation… although it is nice to know you’re loved so much by your kids.
Joel + Kalah
Joel and I have learned a lot this year that the Lord is sovereign and good- even when He doesn’t do what we want Him to do. We’ve also learned that His plan and timing is perfect and so much better than ours. While we eventually would love a bigger farm on 15+ acres, we are incredible thankful that God’s plan allows us to have land right now, which is something we didn’t think was possible.
This summer, I have accepted a position in the Mothers Day Out program that Simon and Esther are attending. It’s truly a blessing. It allows me to get out of the house, teach children (which I truly have missed) without leaving my own, and be around godly women who encourage me daily. In the fall, I will be teaching a 1st/2nd homeschool class. I’m so excited to see how God uses this to grow me.
Since the beginning of the year, I have struggled with feeling adequate as a mother. With the big life changes and the struggles that came with it, I often found myself thinking about how much of a failure I was that my son had issues speaking or with behavior or that my daughter wasn’t sleeping. I know all of these things are lies, but the enemy has used these events and issues to create doubt and discouragement in my heart. Adding on top of that the loneliness and isolation of COVID and moving- I really struggled this year. But the Lord has been good to me in placing friends, Bible studies, worship music, encouragement from Joel, and scripture into my life at exactly the perfect time. This year He has taught me that despite my performance or circumstances, I have value because I am made in His image. I am His beloved- no matter what.
We would absolutely love for you to pray for our family as we go on this new adventure! We’re looking forward to a smaller community, a slower paced lifestyle, and all of the changes headed our way. Pray that we use the things God has blessed us with for His glory, that we would trust Him fully, + be unashamed in sharing the big things He is doing in our lives. Pray for our children as they are processing and dealing with so much this year + that God would guide us and give us wisdom in how to help them navigate these changes and the emotions that come along. Pray for our entire family as we continue to miss and celebrate Dave. And, as always, if there’s any way we can pray for YOU, please don’t hesitate to let us know!
If you are at all interested in tagging along with the New Crew (I LITERALLY just came up with that as I was typing and I love it!) consider subscribing to my blog or our YouTube Channel- which will start seeing some action! You can also follow us on Instagram. We hope to see you there!
