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!
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!
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oh for the love! (:
my favorite part is at 1:10 (: ... wait, 2:10 too! wait, 2:53! oh wait, the whole thing! hey, friend.
didjya know you're loved? didjya know you're valuable and important? didjya know there's purpose pulsing through your veins, put there by the God of the universe who knows your name? i hope so. i hope you rest in peace tonight. today, my heart is full. it didn't start out that way. it started out self-destructive, self-doubtful, self-ish. in a dry and empty place. pathetic, really. whiney and needy and ugly. but then i felt God's spirit urging me to basically pick myself up. to do hard things i didn't want to do. to stop whining. to stop wallowing and thinking. i think i too often think that Him loving me and Him comforting me means Him soothing and saying nice words. which i know He does. i know He's gentle. but today Him loving me meant a kick in the pants, and i'm thankful. He didn't let me fall or stay in that place. today i saw how He looked past my ugliness to who He made me to be, and started doing some chiseling with me. and i'm thankful:
for God being who He is. for me not being God and not getting to decide how God is. for God giving each of us purpose. for paige's voice on the phone. for holland. every day for holland. for the handmade card with "to my sweet pea" on the front of it that she gave just to love me. i'll never be able to say how much i love that soul. for craisins and chocolate chips. for sean and marissa and the ridiculous amount of joy in their eyes and squeaks in their voices when they saw so many people making decisions to live on campus next year to make Christ known. their legacy is beautiful. for clean rooms for cory and matthew, makin me laugh and taking time to talk to me. those two! i just like em a lot! for coral calling me alexi rae. that is the most special! no one else does that & i love it! for sleeping at last for taylor, and that he's in my life. for coral letting emily and i each take a lip to put chapstick on for her (: for the dried flower on my desk that makes me happy for coral and how she is the kind of friend who makes me repeat after her and say "my name is alexi rae speich and i am smart and cool" when i was feeling kinda not. coral is SO good and caring for people. for amy. for dad taking time out of his day just to help me problem solve to try to figure out internet problems. for running for afton. for warm showers for cole and tj and isaac, my brothers. for the 3 kathys that i met at church on sunday (: and the cookies they wanted us to take home and the love they gave! for winter and how she always visits me and tells me about her day! just my favorite. for becca wanting to be with me and the hugs she gives! for doing hard things for emily. one who has a special place. her friendship is so dear to me. today was one of those flip-through-your-old-journals/ have-a-good-laugh-and-realize-how-much-you've-grown kinda days (: but one of the entries from about a year ago really grabbed my heart. i might have even shed a tiny tear.. probably because i forgot. i forgot about how thankful i am for who God is and His faithfulness to me, always. probably because i long for that knowing once again. this entry is a little cheesy, but ha welcome to the journal of alexi speich (: that's just something i've learned to expect when i look back (: oh boy... i hope it can bless you & remind you of a part of who God is (the more i live, the more i realize that i don't know & won't ever know the full picture of who He is), like it did for me. a dearly needed reminder of His nearness to me today, still. saturday, february 9, 2013 dear Father,
thank You for Your faithfulness. thank You for not leaving me in that dry place. thank You for the way You never stop pursuing me with Your love. thank You for knowing the layers of my heart. God, i don't thank You enough! i don't tell You how wonderful i think You are. i love that when i lay in bed and the whole world around me is asleep, You remind me that You are in my midst- that You dwell within me, and as i sleep, i know deep within my heart and soul that i am not, or ever will be, alone. i rest in peace and that strong security in knowing i will never be far from the hand of my Love, my beloved Father. that You have searched me and You know me. and, God, what can i say but thank You? what can i do but give my life to such peace. what can i help but to love You with every ounce of my being. You are faithful, my God. fill me with Yourself- "when i found myself, i found loneliness and despair; but when i found Christ, i found Him and everything else." with my whole heart, alexi. thank you for being my friend. as i'm growing up, i've never cherished that more.
thank you for loving God and setting your heart after Him. thank you for leading our family with your love for God and establishing our house as one that serves Him. thank you for giving me your eyebrows and your nose and your forehead (: thank you for making me laugh.. all the time! i definitely have a sweet spot in my heart for your humor! thank you for your patience and for being slow to anger. thank you for always letting me drive. thank you for putting up with me.. all of me.. even the ugly parts. thank you for leading our family towards healthy lifestyles that honor God with our bodies and food. thank you for the way you treat women and the respect you give. thank you that as long as i have known you i have seen you treat and love mom with so much faithfulness. thank you for those car rides after home depot, beating the steering wheel like a drum with paint-stiring sticks to loud music. thank you for loving music. i know you're the reason i love music as much as i do. thank you for being a person i know i can come to with my questions about God, and thank you for never shaming me for them. thank you for being baptized with me. i’ll always treasure that. thank you for introducing me to dark chocolate. thank you for those times you go out of your way to come and visit me and spend time with me. thank you for challenging my thoughts and opinions. thank you for the questions you ask. thank you that switchfoot’s song, your love is a song, will always remind me of you. thank you for those spontaneous texts that affirm and encourage me. thank you for the ways you work hard to provide for our family and support me. thank you for showing me what it looks like to follow God with your life. thank you for knowing how much i love eggs and always saving some for me on the stove when i'm home. thank you for those times you watched i love lucy with me, even though you reeeaally didn’t want to (: thank you for all of those summers you took me, paige, and nooms camping with our friends. thank you for being so so interested in my friends! thank you for being so interested in my stories even when they're about people you don't even know. thank you for not being afraid to do hard things. thank you for your humility. thank you for loving me so much, always. i've doubted many things in life, but never your love. thank you for being a father who is so much like my heavenly Father. you're not perfect, but your life has helped me understand the Lord more. you’re the best man i know, dad. happy birthday to one of the people i love most in the world. cheers to beautiful living. [marriage]
http://www.ajesuschurch.org/loveology-series/?sermon_id=998 ^^^ click on this ^^^ i'm not married. but marriage is something that i have always always desired for my life. but i think if i were honest, i don't really get it sometimes. a lot of times. i get confused about the purpose and have questions. if you're like me, or even if you're not, this podcast is a 42 minute investment that i promise is worth it. so so eye-opening to what marriage is, as God intended, and its hardships and its ultimate purpose. 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! ** dang.
thanks, chase! |