The Best Surprises of 2025

It hit me today, that end-of-year mourning. The quiet grief for hopes and prayers that weren’t answered… yet.

We humans are very good at remembering our disappointments and failures. We need no alarms on our phones or nightly lists to remind us what went wrong. And sometimes it is important to sit with that disappointment: to wonder, to plan, to pray. But it does us no good to wallow there. It’s too easy to slide into discouragement.

And I have no right to tears, it’s been a very good year! Still, I have my own heartaches.

I’ve found the best antidote to this end-of-December melancholy is pausing to name the answered prayers, the best surprises, the moments of unexpected delight from the past year. 

I’ve been making this list for more than two decades, and I’m always awed by the embarrassment of riches each year brings. The blessings can be as monumental as a baby, a wedding, a life changed. Or as quiet as finding the perfect show to binge while sick, or a sentence in a book that felt written just for me.

We plan, we prepare, we budget, we list. And yet, so much of the beauty of our lives comes from chance meetings, suggestions from friends, and unexpected conversations. Gifts we never could have scheduled or controlled.

My house is a mess. My tree needs to come down (it smells like stinky cheese). I need to start planning meals that contain vegetables again. But the most important thing I’ll do today is sit and name the blessings of the last year (and I have many).

To notice the hand that has been guiding all along.

To acknowledge the goodness I didn’t earn or orchestrate.

To step into the coming year with confidence in a God who loves me.

Looking back at this year gives me courage for the next. I can smile at all my careful plans, trusting that God has better ones.

with no further delay, the very best surprises of the year were:

Anders and Mads!

These two baby boys swept into our lives this summer and captured our hearts. They are so delicious, so delightful, such a message from the heavens that God continues to pour his blessings bountifully onto the earth, that we sit in complete wonder at their arrival. They are the giggliest, smiliest, happiest little people you’ve ever met, and our new favorite activity is to place them side by side and watch them “talk.”

Mary got engaged

to Zachary DeRosia, proving once and for all that night shifts can lead to good things. Zachary, 23, is a BYU pre-med student from Springville, and the two met while working together in the emergency department at Intermountain Medical Center in Murray. He feels like the answer to so many prayers. They’re tying the knot on April 22 and plan to live right next to the hospital (work, sleep, eat, repeat). Zachary proposed on our favorite family hike, Salt Lake Overlook on the Desolation Trail, which also happens to be where they went on their first date ❤️

Gabe scored a 174 on the LSAT

(which is law-school-speak for “ridiculously good”) and was admitted to BYU Law. He’s applied to a few other schools too, so where he’ll land next year is a surprise for next year. And make no mistake, Gabe earned that score. He spent nearly a year grinding through practice tests, obsessively tracking mistakes in a journal of errors and fixes. The final number is the result of countless hours of work, a lot of determination, and more than a few prayers.

Hans spent all of August at home

studying for board exams. Which meant we had the gift of having him here for Mads’ birth, daily swims with the little boys, and a few quiet miracles of his own. We were lucky enough to have him back again from Halloween through New Year’s while he interviewed for residencies across the country. No official news yet, but I have a strong feeling Hans is already lining up to dominate next year’s answered prayers and happy-surprises list.

Xander and Madi spent nine days in Rome

and emerged as unofficial experts on the Colosseum, the Vatican, Hadrian’s Palace, Catholic jewelry, pasta, and the subtle art of walking ten miles a day while eating constantly. There’s something magical about staying put long enough to actually know a place; to stop being a tourist and start having opinions. I highly recommend this kind of travel (even though I almost never do it myself!)

Anna and Mary graduated from BYU

Anna with a BS in Human Development and Mary with a BS in Nursing. Anna is now working on her master’s at BYU.

I graduated with an MA from UVU

and ended up speaking at the last minute, which felt very on brand for my life. All six of my kids came to the tiny graduation ceremony, and having them there was my favorite part. I loved my classmates, my professors, and everything I learned about constitutional law, government, and civics. Have I figured out exactly what I’m doing with that degree? Not yet. For now, I’m walking forward, trusting that God will keep showing me the path as I go.

Fritz, Lars, and Wells ended up at the same preschool

and none of us planned it. This fall has been pure delight: Wells and Lars in preschool, Fritz in kindergarten, all at the little school two doors down from our house. There have been silly lunches, races through the house, lazy after-school playdates, and the important childhood work of throwing crabapples into the road to watch the cars squish them. I feel like a minor celebrity every time I show up to pick up these darling boys. Will we ever have three at the same school again? Probably not. So I’m savoring every minute of this golden school year.

Notre-Dame de Paris

I began 2025 with one travel goal: to visit the newly refurbished Notre-Dame de Paris. And yes, I feel a little spoiled that we managed it. The cathedral was absolutely, stunningly beautiful, surpassing every expectation I had.

I’ve visited Notre Dame before, when it was lovely but dim, its walls darkened and gray from centuries of use. Now everything gleams. The walls are luminous white, the chandeliers shimmer, and the stained-glass windows spill a kaleidoscope of color down the aisles.

My favorite part, though, was the small chapels at the back. Their restored walls and columns sing with color; they are the highest form of folk art. I could almost imagine women, centuries apart, painting those walls with devotion and care.

Because we visited during a Jubilee year, we walked through the cathedral alongside thousands of devout Catholics, many of them quietly singing hymns as they moved through the space. Paris itself was, of course, beautiful (Paris never disappoints). But the entire trip would have been worth it just to step inside that gleaming cathedral made new again, filled with light and song.

Ruth the Author

My sister Ruth published not one, not two, but three books this year: Influenced, Desperate, and Tolerable (all Jane Austen adaptations). While she’s worked with traditional publishers before, this time she chose to self-publish so she could have full creative control over the process. And she didn’t cut corners. She hired editors and designers, and it shows—the covers are gorgeous (I’m especially smitten with the Christmas hardcover).

I’ll admit it: this experience has cured me of any lingering prejudice against self-publishing. Ruth’s books are utterly delightfulful, selling beautifully, and I am a very proud sister indeed.

Emma Lion books

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