pics i forgot to add that bring me joy.  i can't believe these people are my friends!!

walkin with becca one sunday on eau claire's very own signature.  i love that girl!

isn't she SO LOVELY?! ^^ ariel yang!

boardin like crazyyy these days because warm weather= longboarding in my mind...my first thought every time!  playin and ridin like a buncha kids!  we love it!

^^^ this was taken the same day as i posted this and woahhh baby, imagine how my heart felt upon running into these two most precious friends of mine!  like relief and rest and joy all in one!  oh, for the love!  i wish every person could have these two in their life!  every one!  and hey, if you're one of the lucky ones, don't take em for granted, k??  next time you see one of them, hug her tight, k? ^^^

^^ my buddiesss!  i love each one of these people SO much!!  haha this was in the apple store from that fun little trip to MOA over winter break!

we were there, and then holland was there a few hours later :( we unfortunately couldn't make it work to be there at the same time, but isn't she fun, takin a pic right where we were?!  


i feel like i'm the richest woman in the world.  the LORD's been good to me.

oh just the first two little notes and everything's brighter!  isn't it lovely and wonderful?!  makes me wanna dance with a man!  ha happy monday!

sometimes, life is hard and God feels distant and the world is sort of gray and your mom loses her job and you are anxious about where your life is going and your insecurities tell you you're incapable and your spring break isn't somewhere sunny and you feel a little lonely.

but that's when you buy some confetti at the dollar store and tell your sister to put on her happy hat and you decide to celebrate today anyway.  because, to breathe and carry a beating heart and know the living God and be known by Him is the most precious thing in all the world.  we have the most steady, secure, unfading joy in those truths so let's be thankful today!  

so bein home for any extended period of time without too much purpose to my days always makes me so reminiscent and reflective and i always end up perusing old photos... like the album i have on my computer with pictures from my freshman year at eau claire.  oh boy.  so for the curious, or for the bored, here's a snapshot into eighteen-going-on-nineteen freshman alexi.  wow, what four years does to a person!  makes me so sentimental.  

i took lots of selfies in the woods like a noob...  i think that was my alone time, ha.  i sought solace in the woods because being around so many people all the time was new to me and freaked me out.  and the fact that there were woods and trails on my campus made me the happiest camper that ever camped.. i looooved those trails.  in the spring when everything was turning green and coming back to life, on the side by putnam rock, i remember the sweetest times with the LORD back there.  literally tears rolled down my face because i thought those trails were so beautiful and i had encounterd God through it.

^ most of my pics from freshman year were like a tourist was walking through campus every day. ^

^ cat jacoby was one of my first and closest friends from freshman year.  we met in english 110 and i thought she was so hip and funny, and then we found out we both love Jesus!  i still remember on my birthday, she had a cupcake and the sweetest card sitting on my desk for me (:  and the pic above on the left was from june after freshman year when she was in the cities area and visited me at my house!  my first college friend to visit me at home!
...also, i s'pose i can't ignore that pic on the right... the truth is out... i worked in the caf freshman year.  i still remember those hours that never ended wiping tables and working the dishroom... but one time, i saw people from IV sitting at a table (coral was the only one i remember being there) but i was chatting with them for a little while and then i left to clean more tables, and when i came back to where they were sitting, they had left and on the table they made a heart and an "a" out of salt.  you guys, seriously, i was ridiculously touched by that, ha!  that made my whole day!  you have to understand, i thought these people were the coolest and all i wanted was friends.

^^ i lived in da ridge and had way too much pink in my room, my poor roommate.  that awkward moment when you find out the next year that she actually hated pink!  dohh!  if you look close enough, that stupid picture frame matched my bedspread... typical fifteen credit thing to do haha! but hey look, zach & ron!  i made my bed back then too! (: ^^

what'd i tell ya?  i loved those campus pics ha!!

^^^ my very first friends at eau claire, anna and devyn.  and to this day, two of the friendships i am most grateful for in my life.  we're all still friends, isn't that cool?!

vic and jo, two of the other first friendships i made freshman year, and two of the reasons i felt loved on that campus.  they had the idea for some of us to start an accountability group at a circle table in the back of the caf and i learned what real friendship looks like.  to this day, they are still some of my most cherished influences.  i still remember hangin out in their room, talkin about crushes and watching vic melt starbursts for an art project.  oh yeah, i was hermione and vic & jo were part of the scooby doo gang for IV's halloween party!

^ little sibs weekend in april.  i was sooo into colored pants and TOMS and i didn't have straight-across bangs! (wut?!)

these people right here are the reason i felt like i mattered freshman year.  they pulled me into a community i had never known and loved me in a way that was unmistakably Jesus.

how i remember freshman alexi:
i was sad a lot and felt really lonely.
i hid behind shows on netflix and eating way too much peanut butter in my room.
i missed my family all the time.
i was terrible at talking about myself (ask amy fredman... it was reaaaal bad.)
i thought about a boy from home all the time and that made it even harder to be at school.
i cried in class sometimes when they said harsh things that went against everything i believed in.

but i can say i am a completely transformed person from what i was then!  it's unreal.  i love looking back as a senior now.  i know God is in me because of the ways He saw who He made me to be and called that out.  He never left me, not once!  praise upon praise upon praise!  i hope that the next four years bring about as much transformation as i have experienced in these last four years.  and the next four years, and the next, and the next.

also, i just wanted to say, if you're reading this and you walked alongside me freshman year, i want to extend the most sincere gratitude to you for whatever part you played in shaping who i am today.  i am not the same because of how the LORD has used you in my life.  thanks doesn't seem to cut it, and i'd like to say it in person, but gosh, thanks!  thanks for loving me through all of my junk and insecurities.  people like you help me know the LORD better.

today my mom and i went to macy's eighth floor in minneapolis to see their flower show!  i just love macy's and the fun, festive things they do throughout the year!  it's been a long time since i've gone, but in the winter, at christmastime, they deck out this same area with all sorts of fun christmasy things!  this flower show was so fun!  right when you step off the elevator, your nose is so delighted with the most wonderful, fresh flowery smells... i think that was mom's favorite part.  what a delight to drink in beauty and know the Creator of it, too.  just a cool event and if you're around the cities area, do make some time to go!  it's going on til easter and it's free to all! (only don't go on a saturday... i don't think that would be the funnest for you.)

^^ these were the cooolest flowers!  i had never seen flowers like em.  they're flat and puffy and some are speckled.  God's so creative!  i love the things He made and how colorful and unique. ^^

^ pretty mama! ^

^ loved this wall.  there were lots of old ladies and their girlfriends there just lovin seeing all the flowers.  i liked that. ^

to be back with this little brussel sprout again.  to hug her and be near her and watch movies with her and laugh with her
for huggin my mama again.
for being taken care of.
for two warm beds in two very dear places.  some people don't even have beds and somehow i have two.  doesn't seem right.
for gretchen.  a car ride home with her and i knew i had encountered the LORD in beautiful ways.  if you're ever one of the fortunate people to have just two minutes with gretchen bye, take them!  oh, stunning soul.  literally thinking the whole car ride "this is what a life looks like when you're in love with God."  not kidding,
for our neighbors, the downing family.  some of the kindest, most generous people you could meet.
for sun in the morning on my sheets.  (you knew it was coming! ;))
for ordinary days, even in boredom, walking around in shops to find gifts and other things with mom and dad.
for my overalls.
to be celebrating eighty years of my grandmother's life with family tomorrow!  that's a lotta livin!
for cory's call, asking for my opinion!
for a fridge to dabble in leftovers and pick at fruit in containers.
for rest.

bright & early tuesday morning, the spirit of adventure was calling and we answered.  four friends climbed to the top of eau claire's ski jump, mcdonald's mcawesome breakfast sandwiches in hand, and we awaited the glory to come.  sweet discussion about how we view God allured the sun out of its hiding for hearts ready for wonder.  and thank You, LORD, for it all!  it was one of those mornings i know i'll remember for a long time.  most precious to me!

that first sighting.. one minute, it was nowhere to be seen and the next, just like that, a burst of glorious light to fill our hearts and shine orange warmth on our faces.

& the sweetest, most wonderful sun song ^^

or for whatever you're doin... a peaceful one to dunk your soul in. (: