A Year Ago Today

Corynn and Kemuel are off celebrating one year of married life today in the Catskill mountains...seeing amazing vistas and visiting lots of coffee shops.  

Meanwhile, I am drinking tea and looking back on photos of that day.  It was all a bit of  a blur on their wedding day, due both to busyness and sickness, so in many ways, it feels a bit like experiencing it all for the first time...

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(The above link takes you to their wedding album...)

Thanks to my brother for taking these photos and Danielle, for editing them.  I am so happy and grateful to have them!

(Happy Anniversary, Corynn and Kemuel!!  We love you!)

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Merry Christmas, 2024

             

      Dear Ones~                              

The more observant of you may notice that this Christmas newsletter must cover TWO years instead of one, as I was never able to get Christmas cards out last year.  Was I being a slouch?!  Perhaps.  But more so, it was due to my putting on a DIY wedding for Corynn and her now-husband Kemuel less than a week after Christmas, 2023.  Rather than Christmas card mailing, the month of December was filled with addressing wedding invitations.  Rather than Christmas letter-writing, I was making hundreds of pounds of beef barbacoa, chicken and beans for a Chipotle-inspired taco bar to serve our 260+ guests!   

So let this letter be a doubly hearty HULLO and a twice-as-jovial MERRY CHRISTMAS, to make up for lost time!

Corynn and Kemuel had a beautiful wedding, despite most of our family (and indeed, the bride herself!) being down with a severe flu/illness during that week.   Loving one another in sickness and in health began early in their marriage!  😊  The blessings and beauty of that day have extended throughout their first year of marriage… and what a pleasure it has been to watch them both be knit together.  Whatever Kemuel sets his mind to seems to succeed and whatever Corynn sets her hands to is made more beautiful.  What a dynamic duo.  Would you believe, not even one year later,  the Lord in His kindness provided them with an opportunity to purchase a home for themselves with an attached shop for Kemuel’s roofing business?!  It is a little house tucked in the woods and has regular bear visitors (much to Corynn’s chagrin… the first few nights they were welcomed by three bears right outside the bedroom window!)  It has a pond, more bathrooms than we have (though, in truth, that doesn’t take much), beautiful kitchen cabinets (that don’t slam!), an island that can be sprawled out on without feet dangling (I tested that theory) and an absolute DREAM of a shop out back.  Best part?   It is only 12 minutes away from us!  Praise the Lord! 

Since my last letter, Corynn flew the coop, and Andrew has found his wings…

  Andrew, 18, recently graduated, concluding his homeschooling requirements for the state but I have no doubt that it is just the beginning of a lifetime of continued learning and growth.  He is and always will be a ‘learner’, that’s just his style.   Andrew saved money for years and, this spring, was able to buy a really amazing truck as his first vehicle.  Boy, the months leading up to purchasing it were exhausting as he scoured Facebook marketplace for what he wanted and got stressed when things never worked out just right.  And then POOF!  The Lord provided the perfect truck at the perfect time.  (Just like his Mama had assured him.)  That truck has taken him to work roofing for the Avoda Company (Kemuel’s company),  to EMT training at a local hospital and on road trips to Virginia and Tennessee.  For a week or so this year, he ditched his truck and took a PLANE to Moscow, Idaho to attend the Called Conference, a conference for young adults put on by New St. Andrews College.  I feel those wings a-flapping and when the worry and stress of that starts to creep in, I am left trying to assure myself that the Lord’s timing/plans for Andrew’s life will be just right too.   I cannot see into the future, but I can see clearly this moment… and I see a guy who is dedicated to doing a job well AND wisely, who shows initiative, who is dependable, gets his hands dirty but washes them before supper; who is at the top of his EMT training class and is known as ‘the natural’, who respects his parents, shows restraint and calm in times of conflict, who sings loudly during church and is the first to clean up the pew books afterwards.

Adele’ turned sweet 16 this year and celebrated by road-tripping to Myrtle Beach with the Newman grandparents, Uncle Nathan and Aunt Leia.  Her first airplane ride!  Her first boardwalk!  Her first toe-dip in the ocean!  She came home and her feet barely touched the ground for a week!  She has developed an affinity for Jane Austen, P.G. Wodehouse and Agatha Christie and is now 43+ pages into writing a novel of her own.   When she isn’t writing novels, she is writing her pen pals.  Mail is one of her great joys.  She was over the moon with all the sweet messages and advice she received for her birthday this year (many thanks to all of you wonderful people who sent her cards!) Adele’ is greatly anticipating getting her license this year and the freedom that will afford her.  (I wonder how long I can put that off?!)   She loves children and is great with them and desperately wants babysitting jobs, so here’s your notice if you happen to have young children and need a sitter! 😉  She has discovered that she may not hate math as much as she thought she did, that outings with friends are the BEST FUN (road trips to VA are the best of the best), and that she CAN, in fact, belt out music (as long as it is with the piano).  She is patient and helpful and sweet.  Adele’ does not need to be the center of attention, but even when she tucks herself in the background, she shines.  She is quick to allow me to share in her joys and sorrows and those joys and sorrows are taking on a much more grown-up patina these days. 

In the last Christmas letter, Judah was still singing soprano.  Now at 14, he has sloughed off most of his boyishness and unlike Peter Pan, has officially begun to grow up.  Literally.   He grew over 8 inches since that letter and this one; he now stands taller than his Mama.  Size 13 shoes makes finding shoes to fit his ever-growing feet a struggle.  But he is not just growing up physically.  In the absence of Matt and Andrew at their respective jobs, I lean heavily upon Judah to help me out with all the manly tasks that need to be done around here.  (There are many.)  He is the full-time milker of our jersey milk cow during the week (Matt gives him a day off on the weekend) and that chore comes twice a day, rain or snow or shine.  He was the full-time mower this summer, not only around here, but also for a neighbor with a mowing business.  He is called upon to do firewood, carpentry, construction work, clean up… and not just by us but by many others needing a strong, strappin’, hard-working boy (turns out that kind of boy is a hot commodity). One of the lessons Judah has had to learn this year is how to accommodate his calendar/time/commitments to help all the people who are calling upon him for employment without sacrificing his homeschooling.  It can be challenging!  He worked so hard and so often this summer that he was able to save up and purchase a nice hunting bow set as well as finally fulfilling his dream (of many years) to have a dirt bike of his own.    Last year, in addition to all the rest, a rigorous challenge was put out in his local Trail Life chapter that the three highest badgework completers would win a ride on a private airplane to Maine, for a trip of camping, hiking and fresh lobster tasting.  When Judah sets his mind to something, he is all in… he worked incredibly hard and he won a spot on that plane!  That was an adventure of a lifetime and would have shown up on last Christmas’ newsletter had there been one.  (PS. He discovered he loves lobster. And planes.)  Judah is the one Newman less drawn to books.  Instead, in those rare, relaxed moments at home, he is at the piano, tickling the ivories.   He graces our church services with his playing too.  Oh, what a gift his musical talents are to this house. 

Ineke, (9), this very moment, is on her way to New York City with Grandma and Grandpa Newman, to see the Rockettes perform a Christmas show with her cousin CC.  My, what well-travelled children we have!  (I thought homeschoolers didn’t get out much?!)  She is over the moon excited because she has a real love for dance, theater and gymnastics.  Not a day goes by without her stretching into gymnastics splits or spinning off on one-handed cartwheels.  Papa has built her a bar and a balance beam to keep her busy and she steals my exercise mat on a daily basis.  She is almost able to do a perfect split!  Since the last Christmas letter, Ineke has become wonderful at reading and participates in reading aloud the Bible in the mornings, right alongside her older siblings.  She may have even corrected her older siblings in their reading a time or two.  😊  Thankfully, while she is old enough to read on her own, she is not too old to snuggle into my side and listen to stories.  She has been learning to play songs on the piano, has been added to the dishwashing rotation and is in charge of caring for our new pup Sadie.  OR Sadiekins, as we like to call her.  (Faithful Ruby is no more but a bit of her courses through Sadies’ veins). 

Moses Matthew is still larger than life both in his stature and his character.  He is 5 years old but wears size 10/12 in clothes.  I tell him that it was no accident that God made him to be a mountain of a man and to use that gift well.  Someday, he may just be a mighty man of valor.  He loves drawing and draws so many pictures in a day that sometimes I have to do a bit of artwork excavation just to get into the fridge. (At peak, the fridge had 18 drawings on it…)  Since then, I have encouraged him to pass his plethora of pictures out to people, so he often has a wad of drawings to hand out wherever he goes.  One of my favorite times is when it is his turn to pray aloud… just tonight he prayed “Lord, thank you for being with us and protecting us.  Help us not to lie.  Give us courage and strength to be your strong people.  Thank you for flushing our sins away from us and help us to be good. And give us lots more days to live.  Thank you for this nourishing food.  And be with Papa on his way home, keep him safe.  In Jesus’ name.”  His prayers are 1 Timothy 4:12 lived out across the dinner table.  Moses loves books and insists on hearing at least a pile of them a day.  (He could sit for dozens.)  He is generous with his compliments and recently learned to whistle!  His favorite animal is a marmoset “because the babies are as small as my thumb”.  He recently told me out of the blue “Mama, I think growing up is the most fun thing to do.” 

My other Matthew, the O.G. Matthew, my love, their Papa, the M.A.N… is currently at work.  It is 9:27pm.  He left at 6:30 this morning.  Dairy One has made some changes that have required Matt and others to temporarily step up and step in to fill up some voids.  It has been a hard few months!  But it has been astounding and inspiring to see the tenacity, determination, commitment, sacrifice and hard work that they have willingly and cheerfully shown through it.  Matt is strong, he is faithful, he is tireless and good.  He does what is right, whether it is comfortable or not.  He constantly gives of himself; he leads by example… I admire him so.    As everyone knows by now… when Matt isn’t working, He is still working- just differently.  His “relaxation work” almost always involves wood.  For Corynn’s wedding, he built a timber-framed arbor for the bride and groom to be wed under.  It felt to me like a Fathers’ beautiful blessing over their heads and their marriage.  This summer, he took on a much larger project and began to rebuild our old chicken coop.  Instead of replacing the small remnant of the chicken coop that was here when we moved in, he decided to timber frame a building the size of the original coop- which happens to be three times the size!  (We do not need THAT many chickens!)  The rest of the space will be used as a “garden shed’ but, truly, a more apt name would be a garden mansion.  (That’s his handiwork in our Christmas photo.) 

                As for me… I am learning (not so gracefully, most times) that time is fleeting, nothing is permanent, gifts are all around us (and often not noticed) and that hard providences are blessings too.  The Lord uses trials, difficulties and afflictions to draw us closer to him, to strengthen our faith, to tear down our idols, to shine light into darkness, to refine, purify and GROW us, and to declare to us, over and over, that we are wholly dependent upon his mercy but to rejoice, because He is merciful.  Trials may not be pleasant, but they are always good for us.  As hard providences seem to have come to me for several years in a row now, I suspect I am a slow learner.  😉  But the Lord continues to bring me through the valleys, brings light to the dark, comfort to me in my afflictions, graces me with His goodness and love; And promises to work all things together for good.  This is the God we serve.  And THIS is why Christmas is so palpable to the world.  This is the very thing He did so long ago… when The God of the Universe graced the world with His goodness, wrapped in baby flesh.  He slashed through the darkness with His illuminating Light and the heavens broke out in song.  He tore down idols and tyrant Kings, He gave mercy and goodness to a people, utterly incapable.  He brought strength to the weak, power to the lowly, JOY to the world.  He brought Glory from despair.  It’s easy to forget that darkness and despair have always been part of that story too.  A necessary part.  Without it, we cannot be blinded by His light. 

May you all be positively blinded by His goodness and mercies this Christmas Season and throughout the coming year.  May God’s light fill you all with joy and hope… and then, may we radiate it to the world.  Merry Christmas! 

Love,    Rebecca  (for the whole family)

Happy Thanksgiving

Sweet moments.  Beauty.  Comforts.  Blessings.  Abundance.  Warmth.  Health.  Love.  Kindness.  Children.  Laughter.  

Gratitude and thanksgiving comes so easily with the likes of these.  But what if yours is a season like Jobs?  What if your life is full of affliction, disappointments and despair?  What if the darkness seems to drown out the light?  Is there thanksgiving even in the dark?  Is gratitude even there, at the bottom of the pit?

I am learning that, yes, there can be gratitude even there.  There MUST be.

This Thanksgiving, alongside all the glorious goodness the Lord has heaped upon my life, I am also giving thanks for...

the afflictions in my life.

They remind me that I am wholly dependent upon God's mercy.  In my own sanctification.  In mothering.  In the lives of my children.  It is far too easy to forget how full of sin and misery we are without His grace.  

They tear down my idols.  Somewhere along the line, I unknowingly began to believe that it was by my own merit, my own good mothering, my own selflessness, my own wisdom, my own protection, my own efforts that I would create a peaceful and holy bubble in which the sins of this world could not enter.  By my will alone!  I have created idols of myself, my husband, my children, my friends; no less ludicrous than dumb statues or golden calves.

They remind me that my brightest accomplishments are like dross.  They remind me that nothing good comes from my own hand, but simply by the Grace of God.

They draw me close to the Lord in prayer.  

They shine a light on my need for repentance.

As Thomas Watson said "God makes adversity our university and affliction our preacher."  The Lord  uses afflictions to instruct.

for the suffering...

It purifies me.

It refines me.

It reminds me that my Father is a Comforter.  I cry out to Him.

It reminds me that this world is not my home and there is a more glorious life to come.

It shouts with a megaphone over the noise of this world that all is under His watchful hand.

for the separations and goodbyes.   

The goodbyes, as painful as they are, indicate that there once was togetherness.  And it was sweet.

for broken hearts.  

And for the healing that comes after. 

Whether the blessings in your life are pleasant ones or hard ones, whether the gratitude comes easily or with some practice, may your Thanksgiving be a day with eyes be wide open with the wonder of a loving God.

(Also, if you are struggling with hard providences of your own, might I suggest reading The Art of Divine Contentment by Thomas Watson?  It has been a true comfort and source of guidance for me.)

Romans 8:28

All of these things happened this week.  And as each absolutely typical thing happened, I was filled with overwhelming gratitude and the breath-bating knowledge that life could have looked very different.  

You see, some of the dearest people in the world were walking through a very dark and deep valley, one whose end on the other side offered no assurances of life here on earth. Everlasting life, yes, but the selfishness of humanity is putting off the everlasting life of those whom we love in order for them to remain.  No one wants the people you love to go to Glory, even if Glory is the Very Best.  

And so the day after life-saving surgery came and the Lord chose in His mercy to preserve my friend, I canned salsa thinking about how I was canning tomatoes with joy, not desperation.  Not weeping tears of sadness, but joy and gladness and gratitude.  I was not making a meal for a family in mourning but making it for one healing.  Not wracking my brain with how to ease the suffering of these people I love but anxious only to hug them hard.  Not wondering how ten children would overcome their grief.  Not worried for a husband left split in two.    Not angry with God and angry with myself for being angry.    

Adele' perched atop a Papa project with a quiet heart.  Dew jewels sparkled and my tears didn't drown my vision.  A calf was born.  Dinner was made.  Tomatoes preserved.  Laundry was done. 

But it was all done... differently.  

It was surreal to see inside the alternative, safely, through the window of the mind and heart but not living and walking its' corridors.

God's ways are always good and bring about glory. We must believe this.  (Romans 8:28) If the alternative had happened, and my friend joined her Sweet One into the arms of the Lord, the Lord would be have been good in that too.  But it would be the kind of good that would require all of our shattered hearts to piece themselves together out of sheer and faithful truth-telling and that is harder than it seems. Oh, we of little faith.

But praise God for His mercies and His answered prayers and the rejoicing that comes after the valleys.  

The gratitude is ever present... it's even right there in the salsa.

Sunflowers and the State of Things

This is the state of my life right now:

I made the executive decision to tackle cleaning out our Granary.  I didn't want to.  What I WANTED to do was ignore it forever.  (Possibly burn it down.)  

But when your entire families' fall/winter clothes are in there, buried under 4 feet of STUFF and the air is turning brisk and the leaves are beginning to blush, you know it simply must be done.

It was in a shameful state.  

I worked on it every day last week and this week will be consumed by it as well.  I am essentially bringing every.single.thing out of the Granary.  Washing it up (it's disgusting).  Sorting out things to burn, things to trash, things to donate, things to give to others, things to save.  Packing it all back away in a more thoughtful and organized way.

Every.single.thing is being touched.  Quite a few times, in fact.  It's been an exhausting time of sweat, dust, cobwebs, rodents, nastiness and lots and lots of heavy lifting.  It's also been an emotional rollercoaster.  Sorting through baby bins and memories and once upon a times can be hard.

And all under the watchful eye of travelers driving along our road.  (It's mortifying watching the people slow down to gauk.)

But here is the thing!  It is going to be GREAT when it's done.  SO, so great.  

I even have hopes that it might even stay that way.  If I get rid of enough stuff, right?! (I know.  Wishful thinking.)

I've wanted to blog all summer.  I have loads of photos to catch up on.  But as with homeschooling, the clothing switcheroo, and even sometimes meals... everything must wait until THE GRANARY IS DONE.

But I thought I would just pop on here quickly to say hello to the few faithful readers of ye olde blog.(Hello Corynn!  I love you!!)  And while I am here, I figure why not plunk up a bit of sunshine while I am at it?  We all could use some! 

(These photos are from a nearby farm/creamery and taken on a day I got together with my Mom and some sisters.)

 

We all have our own trenches this week to be in.  We might be covered in dust, grime, sweat and mouse guts (or maybe that's just me).  Or maybe you find yourself in the trenches of loneliness, despair, homeschooling, overwhelm, pain and suffering, financial ruin, empty cupboards, hurt feelings or pining for things the Lord has chosen not to give.  Or wondering at the things that Lord has chosen to give that feel like they are breaking you.

Hard and messy things are hard and messy... but they are also often the things that produce the most fruit.

Gratitude is the antidote to so many of the problems in our lives.  If not the antidote, certainly a strategy that the Lord has given His people to strengthen us to endure and overcome.

 I'm thankful for sunflowers.  They aren't in my life today... but they were.  And it was beautiful.  

I need to be more thankful for things that were.  

And now- I need to get back to the Granary so I can bear more fruit.  😁

Summertime Funnertime Field Trip

In an effort to squeeze more home-education into the summer months as well as to conscientiously try to be a more FUN parent, last summer I created a Summertime FUNNERTIME Bingo board.

They dabbled in learning and I dabbled in being more intentionally fun by hosting game nights/ movie nights/ and field trips.

But truly, it was basically just an elaborate bribe to justify riding on a train.  ;-)

I made a BINGO board with all sorts of different activities, many to do with trains, and as children won bingo, they were awarded some trivial dollar-store-esque prize.  If they completed the WHOLE BINGO board by the end of September, I hereby solemnly pinky-swore, I would take them on a road trip to ride a REAL train.

Lo and behold, they ALL won the whole board.

And we finally took our trip a few weeks ago with two tag-along cousins:

Hey!  I know her!!!!

The man behind the town

David said this was Andrew trying to get a girl.  But it seemed Moses was taking the most notes.

This picture is for Corynn.  You have to up your game, my dear.

Here's the BINGO board, if anyone would like to copy the idea.  

Even if there is no train ride at the end, it added lots of fun (and learning!) to our summer.