on tuesday one of my best friends turned twenty-two. i could tell you all about how beautiful she lives and how much of a gift her life is, ooorrrr you could watch this video and see how well she loves and how well se lives. the lives that are impacted around her are evidence of Christ within her and it's beautiful.
well geez, louise! if that smile doesn't just say "wanna be friends and share this cupcake with me? and then i will make you feel loved and valuable all the time because i have a heart of stinkin gold" then i don't know what does.. (:
but seriously, friends. this one's got a heart of gold.
this is my dear friend, syd, and she LOVES Jesus and is always always letting her heart be shaped by Him and she has a passion for people to know Him, especially high school kids, and she reminds me of truth and points me to beauty and she watches documentaries and reads about women's rights and she wheezes when she laughs (: and she loves beyonce and she's a fan of patagonia and french press and just people in general. i wish so badly that everyone could know her! but if it's not possible for everyone to know her, i am honored to be one of the ones that gets to be touched by her life.
getting to know her heart is one of the biggest honors for me. i do, i feel honored to learn more and more pieces of the heart of this incredible human.
sometimes i just get the itch to document life and friends and the little things that happen! it's my joy! like tonight, when my friends and i found ourselves making music together at a local coffee shop's open mic night. that place is so homey and these people are like family. ..and gosh, they're oh-so talented!
hey, if you're in the eau claire area, come by next time! there's always room for ya at cafe 420! where there's wood floors, cheap coffee, talented friends, and a seat for YOU!
these videos are my favorite thing to make! i absolutely love being able to show you all these people who are so special to me, and the unique ways they bring beauty to the world and to celebrate the great JOY it is to be ALIVE!
this one is documenting becca on her twenty-first birthday, and my idea behind it is to show you how she creates and how she loves and how she is always inviting into adventure! i dearly love becca and thank God for the gift of twenty-one years of her being on this earth, creating and loving like she does!
** & please keep in mind that the focus in these videos that i've been making is on celebration, love and light and laughter, which i think requires one to recognize going in that this is only one part of life, the sunny side, but that life and friendships are not perfect and hard things happen too! i just never want to give you all a false impression of how life is, so please keep that in mind! **
i have this friend. her name is holland. not helen, not the place in the netherlands... holland. she says 'zoombazoo' and is fluent in both english and spanish and she wears farm shirts and she makes everywhere she goes a home and she believes in humans and loves the rain even though she is like sun and she loves big, wide, and deep. and it just makes sense that she would be born on valentine's day, because being with her is like getting hit over the head with a valentine all the time! (: she notices and creates beauty everywhere she goes, because she herself is beautiful in a way that could only mean Jesus is inside of her.
and yesterday, i got to not only celebrate LOVE on that favorite holiday of mine (besides christmas, and probably easter... okay, it's not my very favorite holiday, but it's up there! :)) but i also got to celebrate LIFE and beautiful living with some of my very favorite people! holland turned twenty and that means we blindfolded her right up and took her on various surprises, and then to her final destination: a cozy sleepover! she is one who sure lives life beautifully, and is most special to me! so this day was JOY.
& i'm trying to get my foot in the door a little more with videography, so sorry not sorry for the quality (: i'll get better, promise! but for now, hope you enjoy!
p.s. a little disclaimer: that is sparkling juice at the end.. not alcohol (notice the zoom in :)) ha
life is indeed worth celebrating. thanks, Jesus, for holland and for life and love to the full.
i've been learning a bunch lately about this idea of being a gracious friend. i've mostly learned, in various ways, specifically through dear friends afton & ally & austin & justin, this idea of being gracious with people. each of them have demonstrated this to me in really beautiful ways. i still remember justin saying something freshman year that i still think about every once in a while: he said "i don't think that the things people say or don't say or do or don't do should affect the way we treat them or love them." when i think about the kind of person i want to be, it is that kind of person! a person who people feel at rest around, like they can breathe and be exactly who they are and do not have to alter themselves... even their dorky or weird parts! afton also said something to me the other day that really meant a lot. she said "it doesn't matter what we do together, i just want to bewith you, alexi" wow! i'm so thankful to have so many examples of this in my friends! how beautiful. i want to be that kind of person.
i want to be gracious with people.. when they're crabby or sick or tired or happy or dorky or awkward or even rude. when they believe the same things as me and when they don't. when they talk about themselves all the time and when they don't talk at all. when they're sad and struggling and when they're not.
and it's interesting to me how the first characteristic given of love in 1 corinthians is patience.
just some food for thought. let's love people well, friends. i believe these are steps in unconditional kind of love that Jesus is so good at. (:
sometimes i just get so cheesy with saying my heart languages but i don't even care. like what even is a "heart language?" WOW, what a great question! i'll tell ya! (; i'd say they're little things that just getcha right in the heart... certain things, like trees and music, that you just can't put words to as to how they move you or make you feel.
one of mine is my name. i haven't always liked my name, but i'll tell ya, when someone says "what do you think?" compared to "what do you think, alexi?" it just really means a lot. i'm not sure why.
but my favorite favorite thing is when people call me lex. and i think i've figured out it's because anyone can call me by my name, but only those who feel truly comfortable enough around me call me lex.. those who really know me, i think. cuz an acquaintance isn't just gonna come up to me and call me lex. so i feel like when people call me lex, it's like an honor. it's almost like a trustworthy thing and a deeper knowing. my family calls me lex. and lately so does my family here, at eau claire. and it just means the world, i can't even tell you.
But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine." Isaiah 43:1
^^^and here's a song that I've literally played about fifteen times straight, passed along by a person who means a lot to me.^^^
Day Twenty-Eight 28th October 2013 This picture makes me smile so much. I was walking into Schofield, where we meet for Intervarsity large group every Monday night, to meet with my friend Rachel beforehand, and I see two of my favorite people in the window knocking and waving at me! haha you can't see them super well, but oh boy, these two lives... they're always makin me happy (:
Friends, It's about time I tell you about this person right here who is so so special to me. This is Angela, and she is one of the very first friends I made at Eau Claire.
I remember having a bunch of orientation stuff to go to as a little freshman on the first week before school started. I was walking up the hill, back to my dorm room, tired from it all and just wanting friends and missing home, and she was there at the top of the hill, passing out watermelon with other people from Intervarsity. Meeting her and other beautiful people there that day made me think, "yep, I can do this college thing." I saw love there that I just clung to and wanted so deeply. I felt so welcomed, I can't even tell you! I still remember calling my mom that night and describing Angela and how I knew the love I felt from her, specifically, was from Jesus! There was no denying it. And I kept going on and on about how wonderful those Intervarsity people I met were! (:
And so here I am, a Junior now, deeply rooted in this beautiful community, with a deep friendship with this beautiful human being and I couldn't be more grateful for it. She is still loving me and others just like that day, with a love that goes deep.. a love straight from the heart of Jesus. Angela is close to my heart
Sometimes I think about how my life might be different if I ended up choosing a different school. One thing I know is that I wouldn't have known Angela and I just wouldn't be the same.
Day Twenty-Two 22nd October 2013 Last night was my favorite. Three friends and I ventured to Norske's Nook and ate pie (thus crossing off one of the items on my Eau Claire bucket list) and talked about happy things, (: like adventures we all want to go on. But you don't understand... this was the BEST pie that I have ever had.. pretty sure the best pie that there is. So, thanks, God, for really dear friendships and really great pie and for making a big world for us to explore. Gosh, I really like my friends a lot.
I’m free to love once and for all And even when I fall I’ll get back up For the joy that overflows my cup Heaven filled me with more than enough Broke down my levees and my bluffs Let the flood wash me.