friendssss!
for the last semester of my senior year, i whipped out my phone every once in a while to document moments i didn't want to forget, so i could compile them into a little video at the end, knowing nostalgic me would appreciate it.  so here it is!  just three minutes and 55 seconds but so many moments so precious to me.. ones i never will forget.  and it feels like i cut it to the bare bones.. so many other clips i could have included but didn't, for the sake of you not sitting there to watch a documentary (:
so enjoy!  each person featured represents so much of the LORD's goodness to me.  i could write you a novel about each one and how full my heart is because they're in it, but instead, you could just watch this.

and hey, friends, i love you a whole lot.  thanks for the mems.  and the tears that come in watching this and missing you all.  (ha, alexi is pretty sentimental these days!)

for feeling safe in the back of byron's car, with friends.
for sun on my face in the morning, in a room full of sisters.
for that bubbling sound of water against rock
for isaac's gladness to see me
for who mckenzie is and how i feel so comfortable with her
for being 22.
for bird songs
for rebekah's face when she saw me in the morning at cedar.
for the faint line between sky and water.
for taylor's steady leadership; his gentle heart.
for moss on tree bottoms.
for nik doll, on a rock to the left of me.
for unknown future forcing dependence.
for isaac playing seafarers on the piano. "don't You care if we drown?"
for the grateful tears that followed being with holland and isaac during one of their breaks.
for tj's "hi lex"
for being with taylor and byron every day, growing in friendship with them.
for byron's "you need to lock it in"
for isaac's "oh yeah"
for tom's "suspicious," hypothesizing about why the eau claire flag is missing.
for laughing like six-year-olds with holland at the expositor's "waht" (:
for isaac's prayer at breakfast, thanking God for waking us up.
for holland's shoulder kisses.
for water on all sides.
for watching tj in the chair next to me, so obviously drinking the LORD in.
for abel trying to sell his track book to taylor & byron (:
for singing "multiply" with isaac and caitlyn in the woods on the way to narnia.
for running/walking back to the lodge with taylor.
for holland in a chair with a blanket, talking to jennie & mckenzie.
for crying with holland in the kitchen doorway about her leaving.
for a new friend, michelle, playing "til kingdom come" on her guitar in the lodge.
for brianna the seagull.  the biggest diva seagull you could meet.
for brownie teeth with holland, walking in front of zach (pronounced zaCH, not zaK) (:
for talks with mckenzie on the dock
for the crew staff "cinnamon rolling" taylor & byron & i in a group hug outside
for isaac chasing me down for a lake-wet hug.
for tom's "nametag." (:
for tears.

oh, LORD, You've been good to me.

today, i am sad.
but the best kind of sad.  the kind of sad you feel because you love something so much that it feels impossible to leave it behind.  the kind of sad that, like i'm learning from my dear friend isaac, is an honor to feel because it means i was given such a gift to be so reconciled to the people around me.  a hard gift, as he says.
but it might be hard for a while.  i went running today and every few minutes, the tears came strong and then stopped, but came strong again after a few minutes.  saying goodbye to some of the people who mean the world to me is not my favorite thing.

i came back yesterday from a week with my buddies in the upper peninsula of michigan at cedar campus, intervarsity's retreat center; a meeting place with God.  and oh boy, did He meet us.  the best last week that i could have asked for with this community that means more to me than just about anything.

^ in the woods with my friends and those mossy tree trunks? para-para-paradise. ^

in case you were wondering if it gets any lovelier, it doesn't. this is one of my favorite pics! ^^

^ mahh friendssss!! ^

(insert this song here) also, lol at that music video (;

i took this while walking back to the main lodge with mckenzie and i know you can't see much in it, but i just love it.  a moment in time, walking with her, that i wanted to remember.

it's cool to look back at myself in the same place.  cedar campus has become so dear to me because i have encountered God in multiple ways throughout my college experience there.  i went freshman year, sophomore year, was there for a month of IVLI, and now returned as a graduated senior.  thanks, God, for this thin space.  a place that represents rest, safety, joy... a place where Your name is called upon often and where generations of hallelujahs have been uttered.

i'm currently finishing a portfolio for my poetry class, and one of the poems i wrote this semester was about this picture, this past summer.  i think it's extra significant to me this week because little moments feel extra special.  
i love you, holland!

June 20, 2014

one moment, captured.
you are holland.
you’re twenty, standing there in your white skirt with the pockets,
head tilted towards my lens.
as if in slow motion,
i see you breathe in the august green
of a field we found by the side of the road,
and exhale contentment.
it would have been easy to miss and drive on.
but another moment and you won’t be twenty,
standing there in your white skirt with the pockets,
head tilted towards my lens.

guhh.  amaaazing!

it's rainin & this one just makes sense, doesn't it?

okay, so here's the d.  i've never felt more loved in my life than on saturday.  but actually that's probably not true, i don't want to discredit every other day i am loved so well by the people around me, but it was just up there on my very favorite days of my life.  

^^ OH.  the LOVE!  look at these little hams!  also, haha coral made me laugh so hard squeezing my arm when i was holding up that cake... they bought me the most beautiful DQ cake with my name on it, you guys! ^^

^ two worlds comin together over the greatest pancakes in the world.  randy's!  one of these days, i'd just like to walk up to that man and shake his hand. hah.  four of my friends from home made the trip to EC to visit me for my birthday and four other friends from eau claire came to breakfast with us and i just couldn't believe how happy i was. ^^

^ LITERALLY.  how beautiful!  just miss nicole with a PLANT for me!  also ^ you can't see them, but aft and i are holding the world's greatest sno cones! (hey, lot of world's greatest... pancakes, sno cones, friends...) ^

^^ haha, sooo casual.  i just love those flower trees so i asked a bunch of men (and aft) to stand in front of them.  also, this pic is really special to me.  just because there's two worlds here all together. ^^

^^ katie katie katie!  i was so glad she could be around.  i love that girl. ^^

^^ OH. ^^

^ these divas.  two of my favorite people!  haha they were miranda from miranda sings for the towers vs. govs kickball game.  we lost but we had two mirandas so i think we all know who really won... ^

^ THESE PEOPLE. ^^^

^ we went to mount simon for more celebratin and a bon fire!! ^

^ ya know.  these captions are getting frustrating for me because i don't think i'm capable of conveying through words how significant & special & wonderful each of these moments captured were for me.  so maybe i'll stop trying ha. ^

^ my desk has never been more well-loved.^

thank you, friends, and family, for just guhhh everything.  you're all incredible and have made me the happiest alexi there ever was.

ya know how we say "it's the most wonderful time of the year" at christmas time?  well it's true, but arguable, i gotta say!  it's pretty hard to walk around these days and not have your jaw drop a little and your heart swell a little at the beauty that's all around!  plus, tell a friend to stand in front of the flowers (or candidly sneak a shot before they're looking) and you might not know anything more lovely.

oooooohhh!
for the love!

what?!  have you ever seen anything more lovely in your life??

that's all.  i love you, may!

this past weekend was among my favorite weekends.  i got to explore the great city of madison for the first time!  in the midst of capstone deadlines (not tombstone anymore, guys!  it's done!  i'm alive!  hooray!), other homework that was swallowing me whole, and things to do with friends in eau claire, i just sort of dropped everything right where it was and went to madison with emily.  and i am so glad i did!  it was the greatest thing that could have happened. (okay, not the greatest thing.  i mean, i wasn't in a hot air balloon in the sky with an ice cream cone in hand, about to land in austria... but it was pretty close (;)

^^ this cutest shop!  saw little scraps that were meaningful for someone somewhere taped up on the bookshelves.  i couldn't believe how lovely this polaroid was with van gogh's starry night right under it. ^^

^ every little nook and cranny of this little place was beautiful. ^

^^ street art.  good... like, so good! ^^

those fries... minneapolis, you need to step up your game...

^ two of the coolest humans you could know.  i felt so honored that i got to follow them around and watch how they love each other up close.  two of the deepest hearts in these ones! ^

^ a wedding party in the middle of the street!  because of course!  it's may and it's sunny and THOSE TREES! ^^

^^ there she is!  finally got to see this big beautiful thing.  too bad the inside closed right before we got there, but man, they sure knew how to design buildings in the day! (still do, but, i mean...) ^^

^ you can't see their faces in this picture, but each of these people are answered prayers for the weekend.  i asked God that this weekend He would show me that there are people that love Him and laugh and listen to cool music and want to be my friend outside of eau claire.  because sometimes, the thing that keeps me up at night the most is the thought that when i leave beautiful eau claire, i'm not going to have friends.  and you guys, we climbed things!  i've only done that with my people here! (disclaimer: by "my" i don't mean i possess or own them of course (: i mean it like they're the people i love the most!  just thought i'd clear that up haha) and we drank beer and went to church and bonded over josh garrels and talked about what we love most and i think i'm going to be okay when i graduate. (: so, thanks God, for showing me that there are friends everywhere! and thanks, new friends!  i only knew you two days and on monday i missed you. ^

also, um, ben rector though.  walked away from that concert with even more respect for him as an artist (freakin voice like butter!) and as a human. (i can't wait for the whole world to hear his new song about a cab driver.)  if you ever get the chance, take it!