God’s creation never fails to take my breath away! This photo was taken last summer on a family camping trip through Yellowstone National Park with our daughter Holly and her family.
What a great trip this was with so many great memories had. This picture was just one of those.
I think this was a favorite for us all. Our grandkids, Traeger and Mikaylee, were fascinated by this big herd of buffalo, as were we all. My husband and I have been through the park many times, but have never seen this big of herd grazing peacefully in these mountain meadows. There were many more Buffalo than these. They were scattered for several miles.
When I look at this picture, my heart can’t help but sing “ Oh give me a home where the buffalo room and the deer and the antelope play, where seldom is heard a discouraging word, and the sky is not cloudy all day.”
What a treasure is this land God has allowed me to live in!
Great is our God! Greater than all he has created for us! Have a great weekend!
This is a picture of my cousin, Leon Dipp, and his Dad, my Uncle Kenny Dipp. I am not 100% sure, but I think this was taken at my Aunt Leah and Uncle Tuff’s ranch in Filer, ID. For several years, Aunt Leah hosted a Wells family reunion at their place. We had family all over the states that would come. I don’t believe I made it to this one. Grandma Lillie’s first husband was William Dipp, and they had 3 boys together. Granddad, Otis Wells, married Grandma about a year after she was widowed. Grandma and Granddad had another 5 children together, so we pretty much needed a ranch setting for everyone! There were always cousins and aunts and uncles of my Mom’s family there also.
These reunions were great. Several family members brought campers to stay in and the rest of us that lived a good distance away would get motel rooms. These reunions have given me so many good memories. There was always an abundant amount of food. It was always in the summer, so we had outdoor barbecues. I remember a Turkey fryer in the yard, but I believe it cooked a lot of chicken. I might be wrong, but I think it was chicken. I do remember it was delicious! There was always fresh corn on the cob out of their garden, and every kind of salad and dessert you could think of. It was always so heart warming to visit with family. There were always some that we hadn’t seen for years.
When my husband and I lived in Nevada on the U3 Ranch, my Dad, who was managing it at the time hired Leon. He didn’t stay there too long, I was thinking it was mostly just for one summer. But it was good to get to know him again for awhile. We hadn’t seen each other very much since we were kids.
Family had kind of lost contact with Leon for a few years. We didn’t know where he was living or if something happened to him.
My sister Pat did some online searching and was able to find his obituary. I am so sorry to have found him in this way, but at least now we no why no one could get ahold of him. I meant to share this a couple of years ago, but somehow spaced it out.
His obituary was found on the Trenary Funeral Home web site in Kooskia, ID.
It is very short.
“Leon Dipp – October 18, 2022
“Leon Dipp, 75, of Kamiah, Idaho, passed away at his home with family by his side”
He may be gone, but he’s not forgotten. Rest in Peace cousin.”
I love this picture I got from my Aunt Leah a few years ago. It is of my Uncle Bill & Uncle Chet Dipp. It doesn’t say on the picture, but I am going to guess this was near Stanley, Idaho, as this was where they were raised and went to school.
I never thought Bill and Chet looked that much alike, but I sure think they do in this picture as kids. I love their matching outfits, from the hats on down. I love their exact same pose and their serious little faces. I also love the old skis.
My Uncle Kenny was about 2 or 3 years younger than Chet. All three boys would end up serving our country in WWII. Uncle Bill and Uncle Kenny I believe both served in the South Pacific campaign and Uncle Chet was stationed in the States at a mine in Nevada.
My Grandma Lillie Wells, had all three of her oldest boys in the war at the same time. I can’t imagine how heart wrenching stressful that had to be.
I have been overwhelmed at all the evil and tragedies in our world lately. One day the economy is picking up, peace seems to be coming in parts of the world, and the next day the world is in chaos in every corner. It seems there are stories of mass school or church shootings almost everyday somewhere in our country or across the globe.
Our President is trying to deport illegal criminals and our ICE agents get attacked and threatened daily for doing their jobs.
I can’t believe that we have our Supreme Court right now trying to decide whether biological males who have decided they want to be women can play in our Women’s Sports from high schools to professional. Some of the judges can’t describe what a man or woman is. This is Transgender INSANITY! God made us male and female. If a male or female decides they want to be a different sex and mutilate their own bodies and fill themselves with drugs and hormones of the other sex, it doesn’t make them “another sex”. They are males or females who have mutilated their bodies. If a male doesn’t want to participate in male sports, so be it. If a female doesn’t want to play in women’s sports, so be it. However, I don’t believe biological transgender women want to play in men’s sports because they have no physical advantage for them to do so. Men’s sports should be for men. Women’s should be for women. Why don’t the transgender athletes just start their own league? Why on earth are we supposed to pretend with them that they are not what God made them?
I feel overwhelmed in my soul. I find myself looking up at the sky and especially the clouds and wondering when Jesus is going to appear . I keep hearing and singing to myself the song “Come Jesus Come.“
“Sometimes I fall, to my knees and pray
Come Jesus Come,
Let today be the day.
Sometimes I feel, like I’m gonna break
But I’m holding on
to a hope that won’t fade.
Come, Jesus, come
We’ve been waiting so long
for the day you return
to heal every hurt and right every wrong.
We need you right now
come and turn this around
deep down I know this world isn’t home
Come Jesus, come!
I can’t figure out how to download the video of this song here, but it is soul wrenching. Google Come Jesus Come by CeCe Winans and watch the You Tube video.
And then get ready. I believe in my heart Jesus is coming soon. How soon no one knows, but I am sure He is standing at the door. ” COME JESUS COME!
My grandparents, Lillie and Otis Wells, with grown family- Thanksgiving 1972
Odessa & Ed Craig with sons, Jim (my Dad), my Uncle Bob
My parents, Jim & Harriett Craig
Christmas 2025 is less than a week in our rear view mirror. I love Christmas. I love everything about it. I love the streets and homes and businesses all decorated in bright lights. I love the school programs and the face of all those excited little faces.
I love the time spent with family. I have been very blessed. Almost, but not all of my Christmases were spent with extended family at some point in the Christmas celebrations.
The first picture above was of my Mom, her parents, and her siblings. We spent a lot of holidays with almost all of those people when I was a kid, and a lot of them in my adult life as well. In fact, that picture was taken in Wells, Nevada the year my husband and I were married. It was Thanksgiving, and it was a family reunion of the Wells family, my Mom’s family. By Christmas of this year, Mike and I would be living here as well. We would start and raise our family here for the next 18 years. Such wonderful memories this picture evokes. I only have one Aunt, and one Uncle still living in that photo. All the rest have left us. But their love and memories remain.
The second picture is of the Craig family, my father’s family. Dad is the oldest child. We lost him in 2022 and my Uncle Bob this last year. Oh how I loved each and every one of them! My Grandma died in her early 60’s. Granddad remarried a few years later to Nita. I learned to love her as a second grandmother. Granddad lived to 101, and Nita to 104. We were blessed to have them for so long. Gone, but not forgotten.
The last picture is of my Mom and Dad in their late 40’s. Like my Grandma Craig, Mom left us in her early 60’s. Dad would also remarry a few years down the road to Jean. He would live to 96. God gave us many good years and memories to share. This photo is the hardest for me. Mom and Dad are both gone now. But not really. They live in my heart and my memories every single day!
This time of year always fills my heart with conflict. I am filled with excitement, joy, and a heart and life filled with blessings! I am able to still spend holidays with most of my kids. I get to see my kids as loving adults and parents. I get to see some of my grandkids as loving adults and parents too. Mike and I have been blessed with 2 great-grandkids, and two more are expected this coming year. Not everybody is blessed to be able to watch their great grandkids grow and feel that special love. God has been so good to us.
But I am also filled with an ache in my heart at Christmas time. I miss those who made my life so full and have left me. I have their memories, I still carry their love inside of me, but I miss their smiles, their hugs, their physical touch.
It is then when I am feeling that ache the deepest, that I hear the Lord Jesus whisper to me…
‘BE STILL AND KNOW I AM GOD.”
And his words comfort me. They remind me what Christmas is really all about, It’s about the birth of our Savior. It is also about the cross that he died on for us. It’s about his promise that when we die on this earth, if we give our hearts to Jesus, we are immediately with him in eternity. I will see my loved ones again.
This came up on my Facebook memories today. It’s been two years since I wrote this and I am seeing amazing things happening in our country in those two years. I have seen our country still divided. I still see so much evil . I personally have been through some very hard and trying times this last couple of years, but again have been so blessed as well. That is life; good times and hard times. We all will experience them. What we focus on and who we put our hopes in is what will determine if we can still feel blessed.
Since the assignation of Charlie Kirk I have seen the answer to some of my prayers. I have seen our country starting to turn their hearts back to God!
We are witnessing a revival of Faith in God that caught on fire through an act of evil that was intended to silence what Charlie Kirk started.
I pray God will bless you and our nation this coming year. Whether you are going through really hard times or really good times, or like most of us a combination of both; keep your eyes and hearts focused on our Lord and Savior.
This is one of my favorite pictures ever of my grandma, Lillie Wells. My grandma Lillie always wore dresses. I had never seen her before in any kind of pants until this day. I have only seen one other picture of grandma and it was when she was much younger in a pair of bib overalls.
This photo was taken either on Thanksgiving day or Christmas Day sometime in the mid to late 1970s. Her daughter Harriett, my mother,is standing directly behind her and my sister, Pat. Is standing in the background. This was taken in my mom and dad’s house on the U3 Ranch in Wells Nevada. One of her other daughters made her this pantsuit as a gift. I believe it was either Nellie or Leah.
Many wonderful family holiday dinners were prepared in this kitchen.
The food was always wonderful, but it was the family, the laughter, the stories, and the love, that make these memories so dear to my heart.
Lord have mercy! Sometimes you literally take my breath away! You know, Lord, because you walked here on this earth, that some days can be so dark and heavy. But then you light up your skies with a glimpse of your glory, and there’s not a single thought in my head except “How Great Thou Art!”
Coburn Jace Young “CJ” with his Grandpa Brian Young
It is almost Thanksgiving. I was asking God to show me something in my phone photos that I could share to express my feelings of Thanksgiving to Him.
This one grabbed my heart! It just oozes with love, pure joy, and thankfulness to God so deep there aren’t enough words to express!
That little firecracker of a boy is my great-grandson. He literally was climbing up his grandpa‘s tummy and waiting for him to toss him back into the water.
His name is Coburn Jace, sometimes called CJ, sometimes Bubba. He is a blessing from God. I truly believe that healthy, happy little fellow is still with us because we (his family and friends), and so many of you, my faithful blogging friends prayed for him.
If you would like to refresh his journey, you can read my posts about him starting with Storm Clouds, 2-1-2024; A New Day Dawning, 2-10-2024, and Answered Prayers; CJ Update, 1-26-2025.
Again, thank you all for your prayers.
This is truly a picture of the Goodness of God.
And it’s the Goodness of God I am wishing for all of you this Thanksgiving Season.
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