...i'm really not sure what will!
gram & gramps tonight! (: watching my cousin play soccer.  wish i was there.. they're the most precious!

for sunlight... always for sunlight.  i don't even want to think about what life would be like without it!
for a candle at amy's that smells like fall and like a home.
for walking with katie in fresh morning.
for tessa's smiles.
for the way amy cares for people.  the way she is attentive to making them know they are loved.
for getting to know rae in class.  her lovingness is reviving!
for the kind smiles from the people in my english 310 class during my poem critique... i was so nervous!
for nick, erika, and casie eating my raisins in class.  i'm friends with a buncha champs.
for professor jewett and professor klatt's relationship.  it's so funny how they always tease each other during their classes and the other one isn't even there!
for coral explaining what it means to be saved to international students at beaver creek.
for zach and aaron's kind intentionality with me.
for drinking apple cider in a room filled with taxedermied animals and people i really, really love. (:
for katie silcock.
for thinking about being God's child.
for afton asking isaac where he got the chipotle sauce in the caf... while driving in the car next to him with the window down... and him yelling back, "i can't believe we're having this conversation!"
for isaac and nate cooley's faces eating pizza while driving
for holland's "do not!" (:
for tessa giving me socks and then running away
for holland texting me she misses me when i just leave the room.
for genuine laughter from the whole class during class
for a surprise picnic by devyn and adam in the park.. with flowers in a vase and homemade tea & apple crisp!
for sam & becca looking for me during nathan and marissa's wedding reception
for coral always sharing things with me- and at sleepovers while we're falling asleep.
for all of the joy-filled towers girls to dance with
for aft... her sweetness.
for polka-ing with cole
for learning and seeing a greater depth of who coral is.
for sunshine and golden september fields.

^^^ on friday, my friend anna and i got in her car and drove in sunlight and endless cornfields and it replenished my weary-from-the-week soul.  we'd see those glorious fields and pull over on the side of the road.. it was seriously my favorite.  i giggled a lot.  i'm so thankful for her and for that time!

^^^ on friday night, these cool kids (aka the "three humble dudes from the midwest") played at the cabin's open mic night.  i have some talented friends.  it's a good thing i have pretty good self esteem, because otherwise i might be rocking myself in the corner all the time. (;

^^^ on saturday, beautiful nathan and marissa got married.. seriously, the most beautiful day!  filled with light and Christ and community.  i loved that i got to celebrate with them!

^^^ after the wedding, we found a sunflower field nearby...

^^^ on sunday, coral took jose and i to our very first brewers game!  (jose's very first baseball game!).. what a blast!  i loved every bit of the time i had with these two rugrats (;  i am very thankful.

when i walked into class today before it started, i saw nick at the whiteboard in front with a hangman drawn while casie was guessing letters.  i knew right then that we were in for a good night!  
our class pondered many things: art, human capabilities, the tendencies of humans to exchange their time in life for money, and we revised poems that we all wrote to our past selves, too.  i am thankful for these friends who smile at me during class and got my back with the whole raisin situation.  til next week!  stay tuned...

if you were to ask me what two of my favorite things are to do, i would tell you 1) take pictures. and 2) describe my friends and family... so imagine my joy right now in sharing both of those things!!

i decided that one of the goals i have for myself this year is to capture each of my friends and tell you about them.  because too many extraordinary people go unnoticed.. really special & dear ones who are living so beautifully! 

and this one right here is cass.  oh my dear friend cassie!  she's the one i'd pick to go to the grocery store, one i share my heart with, one who always invites me into adventure, one who loves deeply and lives loyaly..and spicily! ha!  a little firecracker who's real and always growing.. and talking (; and moving towards God.  she is not the person she was when she came to eau claire because of what God is doing in her.. and i am not the same since knowing such friendship either.

^^^ isn't she beautiful?!  haha. she made herself laugh so hard on command!  so much joy! ^^^

i am on a mission to grow in loving my friends well and give honor where it is due.
i love ya, cass.

the promise of glory ahead,
we embark
into the precipice of
the unknown.

wooded heighth and depth close the gap of
dirt road to jagged crag
tumbling water over rock builds into crescendo
and nine children emerge into heaven’s heartland 
resplendent and incandescent
ginger and ruby and gold

bubbling root beer water washes over souls and we know
this is holy ground.
we are moses
in barefoot wonder

We bear the image
of One greater.

probably the best question you could ever ask me (besides if i want breakfast or to describe the people/things i love most in the world).. is.. "do you wanna go on an adventure?"  and this girl right here, my roomie afton, has asked me that question TWO TIMES since rooming together!  twice, you guys!  and what's even better is that one of those times was a monday night when i was feeling sort of bluhhh.  oh how quickly that changed!  it's kind of amazing what happens in me when i'm about to go on a spontaneous adventure!  the cure for any kind of blues, i'm sure of it!  aaaand aft was even gracious enough to let me take her picture once or twice (or thrice or quarce ;)) on our saturday adventure.  ohh these are the best of days!

...and isn't she pretty?!  thanks for bein my adventure buddy, aft!  i'm so excited for the ones to come!

hello!  please enjoy weekly installments of wednesday night poetry class, brought to you, with love, by alexi, casie, erika, heather, and nick... and who knows?  maybe other friends will join this kool kidz klub with time.. (;  this week we enjoyed learning about enjambment, eating some trail mix (thanks friends who ate my raisins for me), and maybe just maybe, a tic-tac-toe game when things were a lil dry.. it's always a good time!  stay tuned!

hellooo!  currently listening to this song ^^^ because it makes me happy and it feels fall-y (eeeekkkk!!!) and it makes me think of my sweet sweet time with holland this weekend.  also, today while sitting on our futon, i was surprised by sun on my face and was pretty darn happy about it.  that sun, you guys!  i just can't explain it, but i feel so loved in it.  and i had a pumpkin muffin made by amy this morning. ...aaaand i am currently drinking hot apple cider... so, yeah.

for ethan always stopping by our room and walking right in... even playing guitar next to me on the futon today too!
for an open house off campus to be by myself and pray and think.
for cory calling me lex and always inviting me with him to pick out his lunch food.  and for always running into him right when i need a friend the most!
for the tops of the trees outside of the cabin turning color.
for being seen, known, and loved by God, even when i don't feel it.
for legs that work to climb lots and lots of stairs.
for my arm freckles reminding me that i'm dearly loved by Christ in the middle of class.
for other people who are following Christ in my classes.
for victoria's words of truth popping into my head, of love, and care.
for becca telling me she loves me in the middle of the day when we saw each other for a minute walking to class.
for the davies bathrooms.
for fall and for autumn and for fall and fall and autumn and fall!
for greg and tessa intentionally peaking their heads into my room to say hi to me!
for 1/2 a bagel with pumpkin cream cheese in anna & katie's room after night class.
for holl.  for that dear, beloved, special soul.
for laughing a lot with coral, and being so known and loved by her.
for the men of towers south who are like brothers to me.
for tears and vulnerability in the car with paige.
for sitting on a sunny futon with afton, eating farmer's market kettle corn and being thankful together.
for paige.  living life alongside her forever is a good thought.
for seeing isaac's joyful walk across the campus mall.
for afton asking me if i want to go on an adventure!
for any time i ever spend with becca.