” This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it “. Psalm 118;24
Every January, at the start of a new year, I like to share some of my favorite photos from the year before. It’s not such an easy task, there are so many happy memories from each year. It’s hard picking which memory I choose to share on this blog. I try to only share one photo from each month but some of those months had a lot of beautiful moments that happened, so I ended up picking more than one. So here we go…my favorite photos and memories from 2025….
I love this photo because it tells a story. There’s a lot going on. It snowed the night before and our Arizona cat was curious to what was going on out that window. The chickens are in the background enjoying a little sunshine with that snow. I had spent that morning decorating Gingerbread houses. It was a happy day that first couple days of the new year. I spent the week looking out our huge picture window in our living room, hanging out by the fireplace with a warm fire going and felted away. I made a whole box of felted hearts and one tiny teddy. That was fun.Our little Gilmore town turned white over night. I walked downtown and was surprised at how different everything looked. I loved the crunchy noises snow made under my feet. This was so different from the desert I used to walk in. In February I found a tiny cross on the floor at the historic home, part of it was broken and I picked it up. This photo has two very important subjects happening in my life right now.. It has faith, and it represents hard work, reminding me how important it is to keep up with making things better than they were before, so that the ones who come after us, get to enjoy that. So the children that are here and have yet to come will know the good things too. February also brought more snow. That Christmas in my stocking I was gifted with a tiny alpaca from Peru. It was so adorable…it fit in with all the snow we were getting. The snow didn’t last long in February. by the end of the month it was all gone. The water at the Little Lake was so pretty, so blue. Spring was right around the corner by this point and I couldn’t wait to meet all the new flowers that had yet to be born. In March I visited some very talented women, who shared an old skill with me…lace making. I never knew this was how lace was made. It was beautiful to watch, like a dance with the fingers. When choreograph right, it all came together to make a piece of art.In March the chickens started laying like crazy. I was blowing out eggs to paint. I love this memory because it was such a fun activity to do after a long day of work. Just painting tiny flowers on eggs. In April our Dogwood tree started blooming. Wow…just wow, I can’t believe how pretty this was. I looked up all I could on this pretty tree and found out there are all kinds of stories about it. All around me, there were trees in bloom with these white flowers, it was like a scene from a movie…so beautiful. One April morning, I spent the whole day foraging around our property to see what I could find that was edible. So many natural plants that were used long ago by the natives for medicine and food. I also picked flowers for pressing and drying for art later. It was one of my favorite Spring memories. In April I felted a whole basket of wool eggs and later gave them out to friends and family…some I had to mail. April brought a lot of rain, everything turned green. My walks to the Little Lake included walking through jungle like grass everywhere. I loved it. I didn’t love the ticks though. We went mushroom hunting in May, not to eat, but to learn, the rain brought out all kinds of mushrooms this month. The flowers at the farmer’s market in May were so pretty. They looked like giant purple pom poms. This was such a fun day, very sunny, the perfect temp, and so many tables to look at. Fresh baked items, hand made treasures, and there were all kinds of friendly dogs walking around with their owners. Bees in the garden. Very gentle and friendly busy bees. In this shot I was very close and didn’t suit up, which I don’t recommend, but I have never had any issues with bees out like this before. To see this up close is something to see. Not all bees are friendly though, take it from me, I know…I’m an Arizona native, and those bees have all been mixed with African bees, In June I received my birthday gift a month early. Little Pippi. I would discover that Pippi likes to bite, she also loves to swing off the curtains and zoom around. She loves to play, and she loves little bits of the roasted chicken and scrambled eggs we all like to eat. Pippi has a lot of personality. At the end of June, In just a couple weeks, Pippi was growing so quickly. In July at the Little lake I found the perfect tiny flowers to draw into a coloring page For my birthday in July I got one of my favorite gifts…a whole lot of rain. In July at the old property one morning when we drove over I discovered wild flowers growing everywhere. The rain brought out all kinds of pretty. In August our garden exploded with giant sunflowers everywhere. I got a head start in August for my Fall decor. I felted up some tiny pumpkins. August was also a month of many bugs. There were so many grasshoppers around. I thought of my dad and how he loved using grasshoppers for fishing. I liked to draw them when I could. This one seems to be checking me out as I take a photo of it. It also looks like it’s about ready to take a swing from that spider web next to it. September was a month of finding hidden treasures. At the historic home we were finding all kinds of history.In September we took some time off to spend a couple of days pickin up and down a highway that covered two states, I can’t wait to turn this into something cool. After emptying the hoard at the historic house this is what was hidden behind piles and piles of junk and clothes. What a treasure we found in September, at least I think so. Went to one of my favorite antique stores in town in October. The whole store was filled with all kinds of Fall decor. This is a happy memory because it reminded me of cooler weather, sweater weather and hot cocoa drinks along with beautiful Fall leaves. It is so gorgeous here in the Fall. At the end of October I went outside early one morning and saw this caterpillar under our giant oak tree out front, it was so striking against the dead leaves. I went back inside to grab my camera to take a photo. There was all kinds of nature art to see in October. Every walk was like walking out into an art gallery. In November there is one of my favorite events to attend, the fiber festival. All kinds of sheep’s wool to purchase. In December I got to take a photo of Santa, my most famous couple I have taken a photo of yet. And to end the year of 2025, I went for a walk to the Little Lake.
That’s it…my favorite memories and some of my favorite photos from 2025.
Trigger warning for below prayer request, don’t read if trying to heal from trauma.
I do have a couple of prayer request for someone, there’s another big one. Please pray for peace for someone (God will know who it is) this person needs extra protection right now. Please pray for their city struggles they are all going through in trying to find someone to lead them, pray that the leader they find has good intentions and a good heart to lead people in a way that brings everyone together and not apart.
Second prayer request is an old one I have shared with you all before. My followers have known for awhile now, years in fact, that it’s my opinion that there is a serial offender taking the lives of women in my birth state. I wrote about this from the very beginning, even though authorities have some sort of problem reporting it this way.
Another innocent life was taken this month, so many now…it seems the perpetrator or perpetrators are getting bolder and more arrogant with getting away with what they have been doing.
It’s my opinion that this could involve someone that has some sort of protection that is the cause of this arrogance. Maybe it has some sort of substance addiction, alcohol is involved maybe. Yeah…I know I used the tern “It” because to harm children only comes from monsters, in human form of course…so yeah…”It”.
If you are from around those areas, be wary of trucks caked with mud from driving those fire roads in the back countries around Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah…the four corners. I believe Arizona is home base for now, but the one responsible for this could also have connection to California and Mexico too.
Maybe the perpetrator is small and seems less intimidating because of that body shape. Maybe they are known in the area, been seen a lot and they fake an illness or handicap of sorts. Lots of serial perpetrators do this to bait and lure others. It’s actually a personality disorder and manipulating tactic that most arrogant types, not all at this dangerous level, people with personality disorders manipulate and control others in their circle with bait and lure tactics.
Be extra careful driving those roads up north, those back roads that lead to so many other back roads…I know those areas because I am from around there. They say one of the victims was in a certain type of bag that only construction workers use.
If that is the case then, why aren’t they looking in those small town dumps, looking for the locals who live in those small areas that may be using bags like that, maybe the authorities need to start looking at those areas, looking for those types of bags…are authorities looking there?
Anyway, just please be careful when driving around these states in secluded areas especially at night. Like I have been writing for months now…this will lead to other unsolved crimes I believe, but again, I could be wrong. Maybe someone with some sort of connection is keeping this one a hard one to solve. The monster keeps going and going feeling untouchable with every evil deed it gets away with. But all things will come out into the light…they always do.
This should have been solved many times over…so please pray for these young girls that are being taken away from their families, pray they catch the perpetrator or perpetrators involved with these crimes. It’s taking long for a reason…I don’t know what that is…but that’s the scariest part of all this…BIG , BIG prayers for this one you guys.
Stay safe out there and God bless and protect you all.
Our Little Red House 