oh lordie this is beautiful!  i just can't even believe my ears...

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.^^^

Open my lips, Lord,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise.
Psalm 51:15-17

tonight, i painted watercolor on canvas for intervarsity large group.
painting is so worshipful for me and is such an expression of love towards my Father, i am incapable of describing just how much joy it brings me and how much closer i feel to God when i do it..

but painting in front of other people is a whole nutha ball game and i always have the idea that if i am ever going to paint in front of people, i need to do it from this place of overflowing.. like i need to feel God so close that from that, the art is just an expression of that outpouring and the awareness of His presence that i feel.

...only that wasn't the case tonight.  throughout today i didn't sense that my heart was particularly in sync with God's, and tonight even while i painted, i didn't sense Him being with me.  not that He wasn't, but i guess i just felt pretty dry.  i was pretty discouraged about this and was thinking, honestly, how dare i paint from such a place of lacking?
when i told my friend, Justin, about this afterwards, he pointed me to the verses above and made me aware of the fact that if i was coming from a place of emptiness today, God is even more desiring of my inadequate offering.  i couldn't even believe it.

geez, the more i walk with God, the more i am learning how much He is desiring of me to come just exactly as i am... messy, broken, dry, and all. 
what the heck??  no other God...

well, fricken mcchicken, it's about time we get to start celebrating christmas!  i was starting to get ants in my pants there!
the speichs have a tradition every year that we go chop down our christmas tree the day after thanksgiving, so off we went a-choppin!  i'm so glad i got to be a part of picking one out and the beginnings of all the festivities with my family and getting excited for christmas with them!
and my mama's so good at making our house a home, especially at christmas, and i just love that!  she's a rockstar when it comes to decorating our christmas tree, and actually, at just being our mom in general.

so
WELCOME CHRISTMAAAAASSSSSS!!!
it's the most wonderful time of the year!

oh, paiger.. what a stinker.  love that lil nug.^^

^^^hahaha... i think we might be related...(:^^^

oh, this family of mine!  so refreshing to be with them, and gosh, i just love them to pieces.
MERRY CHRISTMAS SEASON, friends!
and, yay!