The 25 Days of Christmas

I take my job as "Family Photographer" very seriously, especially in the holiday season.

So today, on this very Merry Christmas, I present to all who read my blog:
The 25 days of Christmas in the Life of a Friesen!


Day 1 - Lights














Day 2 - Decorations












Day 3 - Gifts

Day 4 - Tradition

Day 5 - Santa














 Day 6 - Stockings

Day 7 - Snow















Day 8 - Tree

Day 9 - Treats

Day 10 - Joy

Day 11- Carols














Day 12 - Vintage

Day 13 - Festive












 

Day 14 - Glitter

Day 15 - Warmth

 Day 16 - Ornaments

Day 17 - Wreath














Day 18 - Giving

Day 19 - Reindeer














Day 20 - Memories











 Day 21 - Bells











Day 22 - Cookies

Day 23 - Sparkle














Day 24 - Christmas Eve














Day 25 - Unwrapped

-Courage, dear heart. C.S. Lewis

Lexi

Home for the Holidays

There are very few better feelings then knowing that you have survived finals week, most likely haven't failed a class, and are able to head home for Christmas break with nothing to do except spend time with family and friends, eat lots of food, and sleep in as long as you want.

The one feeling that is better, though, is the feeling that you are incredibly loved.

I drive into my back driveway behind my house and almost instantly, my dad is there to open the door for me and my brother and him graciously help carry my immense amount of containers into the house.  My mother made sure that my siblings didn't eat all the pizza so I was able to eat right away.  I was overloaded with information on all of the high school happenings - the school work, the classmates, and of course, basketball.  The TV was on and the channels were obviously being flipped back and forth between the NCAA Volleyball tournament and the Duke basketball game.  Sarcasm was dripping from the ceilings in my house and laughter couldn't be contained.  The Sour Patch Watermelons were eaten in seconds.

This morning, my family was kind enough not to disturb me as people left for work and for school.  When I did wake up, I went to my dad's office to hang out for awhile, coffee cup in hand because my mom promptly left a brewed pot for me, along with buying a new container of my favorite creamer.  I got a text from my sisters saying they wanted to go to lunch with me today.  I came back home, played basketball and went on a run and later this evening, I'll be heading to all three of my siblings basketball games.  There is already so much happening and I haven't even been home for 24 hours yet!!!

Yet, there is no better feeling than being home and knowing that you are so incredibly loved.

I do understand if there are many of you who read these last two paragraphs and already feel overwhelmed by my family.  I totally get that not everyone lives in a house with six extreme extroverts, including themselves, but there is still something that overwhelms my heart with joy as I am officially home for the holidays.

To the college students who are now done with finals - enjoy your break!

To all the moms and dads who are preparing for their kids to come home - thank you for all that you do; it means the world to us!

To the high school students who don't truly understand finals yet - bless your hearts!

-Courage, dear heart. C.S. Lewis

Lexi

It's here.

It's here.

Finals Week.  May the odds be ever in your favor.

There are some extreme things that do happen during finals week and I would love to say that it has only happened once or maybe even that it has only happened to me, however I know that's not the case.  Wouldn't you know, three years into college and some things just don't change.  High school students - take some notes.

1.  Everyone calculates their grades in each of their classes multiple times.  They have put in about every variable including if they fail the test, because, well it's finals week and you never know what could actually happen at this time of year.

2.  People will look at a study guide for the first time for a class and actually begin to wonder if their professor gave the wrong study guide to the class.  People will have literally been in class the whole time and not recognize a single term on the paper.

3.  It is inevitable that people will begin to get sick.  Lack of sleep, eating weird foods, and it's winter are not good combinations for 18 to 22 year old people right now.

4.  It is acceptable for people to wear mismatching socks and green sweatpants - during finals week, no one questions what other people wear.


5.  The frying of one's brain after staring too long at notes and books causes one to buy unnecessary items at Target, drink way to much coffee, and watch too many episodes of Castle.

6. Highlighting is key.  Unless people have to highlight their whole dang book!!!

7.  The Internet will distract you - let it.

8.  There are many students that haven't figured this out yet, but everyone should use their sense of humor during the semester so that come test time, they can draw pictures, use puns, and write jokes to try and get humor points in place of their lack of knowledge.

9.  Girls especially begin to contemplate their major, but then they just remind themselves - an each other - just marry rich! Marry for money, love will come! 

10.  Then, once all finals have been completed, a mass celebration begins nation wide ... Until everyone looks at their classes for next semester only to see that finals in the spring will be at the very least, 100 times worse!!!!

HAPPY FINALS WEEK!

-Courage, dear heart. C.S. Lewis

Lexi

... and yet GOD is still constant.

Every morning up to this point, I have had the privilege to wake up.  I wouldn't consider myself a morning person, but I think I could become one.

God is still constant.

Some mornings I drink out of my "Grumpy Cat" mug.  Other mornings, I am in such a rush because I woke up late that I don't drink a single drop of coffee.

God is still constant.

There are days when I eat yogurt for breakfast.  Sometimes I'll eat a bagel, and if I'm really feeling good I'll eat a full breakfast with an omelet, toast, and fruit.  I try to read my bible or do a devotion or at the very least say a quick prayer in the mornings or during breakfast, but often times I fail.

God is still constant.

I can have a really bad attitude about going to class some days.  I don't really want to learn about drones or the way the law affects what I could print in newspapers and magazines some day.  I don't really want to take notes about the environment or listen to lectures about people like E.P. Sanders (I still am not quite sure who he is).  Some days I am a lot happier though, and I like to have discussions on how technology affects our society or the letters Paul wrote in the bible.

God is still constant.

I turn on the news and I watch protests and hear about how the world is hurting.  I get frustrated for my hurting friends and the ones I love and even people I don't know. I want to hug them and protect their hearts.  I fear for future generations and the world they will be living in; I fear because someday I could be a parent to some of those children and I will be responsible in making sure they know the truth.

God is still constant.

Family friends recently brought home their new daughter from Africa.  The joy on their faces to know that she will be in their arms for the rest of their lives makes me overwhelmed and reminds me that joy will prevail and that love always wins.  My family supports me and cares for me; my roommates give me lots of hugs; my grandparents send me funny cards in the mail. 

God is still constant.

There will always be ups and downs, whether it is regarding simple things like breakfast foods or major life decisions like choosing which job to take.  I will never be in control of the world or my circumstances, only my attitude and even then I won't be constant the way that GOD is constant.  I am not invincible and I am learning to be okay with that.


Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
he makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his names sake.
Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

-Courage, dear heart. C.S. Lewis

Lexi

Because I am THANKFUL

I know there may be people who will roll their eyes at what I am about to post, because I would probably do the exact same thing.  Yesterday was Thanksgiving so obviously I should post about how thankful I am and whatnot, but the truth is that I am INCREDIBLY thankful, not just yesterday or today, but every day.  I believe our world has heard enough negative thoughts lately so I hope this post serves as a fantastic reminder to all that we really do have a lot to be thankful for.

I am immensely thankful for my family - they are such a bunch of loons!  I am thankful for the voice-mails that my dad leaves me on his way to work or before one of my games if he isn't able to make it.  I am thankful that my mom sends me care packages and makes me coffee and sits at the kitchen table with me just to catch up whenever I come home.  I am thankful for my brother and the annoying way he tries to give me a hug when he knows I am insanely upset with him.  I am thankful for my twin sisters - for the movie quotes Ellie and I say to one another and the cuddling that Emily and I get to do when we hang out.

I am incredibly thankful for so many great friends.  I am thankful for the roommates who put up with my messy room, my talking addiction, make me hot chocolate, and are living lights for Jesus to me every single day.  I am thankful for my guy friends who play basketball or cards with me, who let me barge into their rooms unannounced, and don't care how blunt I am with them.  I am thankful for my boyfriend who goes great lengths to make long distance work, whether its driving hours to hang out or sending me text messages in the morning with Bible verses to remind me where my focus really should be.

I am overwhelmingly thankful for my teammates - girls who make me shake my head in disbelief and cause an abundance of laughter every single day.  Girls who wake up early on Friday mornings to go eat pancakes.  Girls who listen to me rant about papers I wrote and I know are probably not in decent enough quality to turn in.  Girls who I miss after not seeing in the last 48 hours. 

I am really thankful for my education, even though I will admit to spending an enormous amount of the time complaining.  I am thankful that I get to go to college, write papers, make videos, and God-willing, graduate in a year and a half with a degree!  I am thankful, specifically, for my private university, no matter how many stereotypes there, ones that we even fall into, at our small Christian community.

I am thankful for coffee and the way that it gives me enough energy some days to make it to my morning classes.

I am thankful for water because it hydrates me after my six cups of coffee along with chocolate and good books.

I am thankful good smells and a messy kitchen to come home to whenever I am able.  I am thankful I live on a farm so I have an abundance of meat to eat and my mom makes my favorite caramel bars. 

I am thankful for Target as it has saved me many times and also provided me with many unnecessary items, but a lot of really good deals!

I am thankful for the pranks that have been pulled on me, as it means I get to be a prankster as well, but also because it reminds me of the weird, but great, friends I have.

I am thankful for fleece blankets and warm winter boots as I live in the Midwest tundra, but I am also thankful for seasons and the knowledge that although it may be nine months, summer will eventually be here again!

My list could go on and on, as I could write of the vast joy and thankfulness that overwhelms my heart each and every day.  After writing so many of these things out, how is it possible that I ever lose sight of the goodness that abounds me?

Psalm 107:1 "Give THANKS to the Lord, for he is good; His LOVE endures forever."

Most of all, I am thankful for a God who endures my unfaithfulness and graciously loves me every day that ends in "y."  Even after posting this, I know I will forget - I am only human, after all - but my hope and prayer is, that I will be more likely to take a step back and remind myself of the greatness of God.

I am feeling so thankful.

-Courage, dear heart. C.S. Lewis

Lexi

God loves the "Rednecks" too!

My thoughts were very jumbled this week.  

I was planning on writing about something, but then after my church service on Sunday that left me in joyful tears I decided to write about that.  However, I couldn't come up with any adequate words to describe how I was feeling so then I just didn't write at all!  Just today though, as I was sitting in my beloved science class, I received a message from a good friend of mine who went to to Belize with me this summer and is from the good ol' redneck state of Alabama.

Roll tide.

So rather than leaving you confused by my thoughts that will only end up in run on sentences and confusion, I leave you with Part 1 and Part 2 of my friends blog!

God loves the "rednecks" too! Enjoy!!!

A Sign - Part 1
A Sign - Part 2 

-Courage, dear heart. C.S. Lewis

Lexi

Who actually reads the book of Hosea?

I was reading the book of Hosea recently.

I know.  It either sounds completely ridiculous or extremely intellectual because, either I'm completely nuts for reading the Old Testament or maybe I appear thoughtful because who actually reads the Old Testament?

I mean, seriously.  Lets be honest.  I've grown up in a Christian home and have been going to church since I was this wee little kid making Bible stories on flannel boards - does anyone even remember what a flannel board is? - and most sermons revolve around the more "recent" texts of Matthew, Romans, and 1st & 2nd Peter (which by the way are totally great and books of the Bible that should be read as well!).  And, I don't recall ever hearing a sermon on the book of Hosea!

So, who actually reads the book of Hosea?

Well, me.  And hopefully after this, someone will be inspired to read it as well.

The book of Hosea is about this guy, Hosea (I know, original), who is commanded by the Lord to go and marry a prostitute AND HE LISTENS.  If we're being totally real right now, no one in their right mind is going to marry someone they know ahead of time is going to run around on them like that!!!  Hosea has to be shaking his head at that moment! Like, really Lord, I've done all that you've asked and my reward is to marry and live the rest of my life with a girl who doesn't love me back and is going to continuously be unfaithful to me.

But Hosea has so much more faith in God - he marries this girl and continues to show love throughout this marriage to Gomer (his wife) even though she continues to cheat on him and sell herself to other men.  It gets to the point that one day, Hosea has to go to the market place and BUY HIS OWN WIFE BACK FROM OTHER MEN!

I'm, like, appalled at this point of reading this - how could Gomer continue to leave Hosea when all he does is relentlessly showing her kindness and loving her (Hosea 3)?! I'm so angry that Gomer keeps falling back into her sin pattern ... until it hit me that I'm doing the same thing.

No, I'm not selling myself the way that Gomer did but I have my own sin patterns that I fall back in.  So here I am, running around in my small world, making life about me, making the most ridiculous mistakes, not spending time with God, getting angry quickly with my family and friends, not having grace and love toward the jack-wagon that cut me off while driving in downtown Minneapolis yesterday ... and I forget that the God of the Universe relentlessly loves and pursues me every single day.

THAT is the ultimate love story!  That when I fail at giving faith, trust, and love to my relationship with Christ that he will stay faithful, trusting, and loving towards me.  Just as Gomer returned to Hosea, just as the Israelites returned to the Lord, we can return back to the God who created us in His image and loves us ever so dearly.

So who reads the book of Hosea?  Me. And you.  This is our love story because of God.



(Hosea 1 - 3)

-Courage, dear heart. C.S. Lewis

Lexi

Life is like the Big Mouth Vinnie Burger.

Life is like the Big Mouth Vinnie Burger.  Allow me to explain.

There is a bar and grille in my small hometown in Iowa and I can honestly say it's one of my favorite restaurants.  They have this huge burger - two hamburger patties, six onion rings, lettuce, tomatoes, tons of bacon, cheese, and this special sauce that I honestly don't know what's in it but it's so delicious I don't really care.  The point is that it is a huge burger!!!

So I happen to be home this past weekend and I went out to eat with my parents to Teluwut.  Also, something to know about me: I am actually the most indecisive person when it comes to ordering food at restaurants - most things I don't have a problem with being decisive but for some reason, I do with food.  This is how a typical process for me goes:

Waiter: Do you know what you want to order?

Me: Oh crappies, no!

Waiter: Can I start you off with something to drink?

Me: *orders drink depending on what others order*

Waiter: *brings drinks* Do you know what you want to order now?

Me: *scrambling over six different items* I'll order last!

*rest of the group orders, back to me, STILL HAVE NO IDEA!!!*

Me: Uh ... *say whatever first comes to my head*

Okay. You get the idea.  So I'm sitting in the restaurant with my parents, debating between six different items.  I order the Big Mouth Vinnie Burger.  In my defense, I ordered it because I wanted a burger AND onion rings so I figured I just order this burger rather than ordering an appetizer AND a burger. 

The waiter delivers my food.  My dad's jaw drops.  The thing is HUGE!  A knife is the only thing holding this bad boy together. 

There is no way I can eat this whole dang thing.  Except, all I have to do is break it down.  If I take off the six onion rings, I'm are already right on track.  It's only two patties, with the perfect amount of cheese and bacon.  The sauce doesn't over take the burger so the hamburger bun doesn't get soggy.  I eat the tomatoes separate so that takes care of some of the height.  Next thing you know, the whole burger is eaten - all I did was break the burger down.

This analogy can be applied to so many things.  Take for example basketball.  People can spend their whole lives looking through game film, studying all the X's and O's but the game of basketball is actually quite simple.  Get down in a defense stance and get a stop.  Then, the team that scores the most points wins the game so score more points then the other team.  Break it down - just play basketball.

It's also kind of like life.  All you have to do is break it down.



Let's be honest - life is not always easy.  There will be happiness and sorrow.  There will be immense joy and terrible heartache.  But that's life.

It's taken me 20 years but I have finally figured out a saying that I try to take with me and remind myself in all situations:

Love God. Love People. Influence the world. Stop planning and starting becoming; Becoming = Becoming more like Jesus because whatever I do, wherever I go, my story is a part of God's story.

That's not saying I won't always mess up or this saying is a perfect mantra, but when I break down my life like that, it helps to take away so much stress in my life.  While life is complicated, it is also very simple.  When I break it down, I am reminded that I am in fact NOT invincible and CHRIST is the one who is in control.



-Courage, dear hearts. C.S. Lewis.
Lexi

|| we like our "likes" ||

I have an iPhone.
I have email.
I have Facebook.
I have Twitter.
I have Instagram.
I have Snapchat.
I have Vine.
I have Pinterest.
I have Spotify.

Gosh darn it.  I have so many forms of social media which requires enough technology, gizmos, and gadgets that if I was smart enough, I could probably send myself to the moon and back.

And I am SO guilty of LOVING it.

I LOVE social media!

I can keep up with family, friends -from high school and college- and even more importantly, I can follow all of these people in the world that I don't actually know but are so hilarious I can't help but watch all their videos.

But here's what I do know.

I know that social media doesn't define me.

The last profile picture that I had is with a turtle I found.  Those twenty "likes" I got on it don't make me a cool or uncool person.  The album I just made on Facebook with my vacation photos, where I conveniently only posted the photos in which I looked good in, doesn't mean that I look that great every day of my life - just ask my roommates about my morning hair or my classmates about the seven pairs of sweat pants I rotate between!!!  The picture on Instagram that I shared of my family laughing joyfully (it got 54 likes but whose counting...) doesn't mean that we never have our fights.  That tweet where I quoted my dad saying something funny, doesn't in fact make him funny, although, I will admit he has gotten funnier as I have gotten older (Love you, Dad!).

So often, I see people posting their beach body pics and without meaning to, I begin to say to myself, "I think I am a polar bear and they are Queen Elsa" and my self-esteem is helped IMMENSELY by their 647 likes to my 12 likes and comment by my mom, grandma, and great-aunt's twice removed husband's dead goldfish.  I would love it if someone explained to me why my picture I posted of my caramel roll got more likes than the Bible verses I quoted about not loving the worlds ways.  Are caramel rolls really that much less convicting?


Many of my favorite pictures have not received more than twenty likes, which says either a lot about my captions or the 333 followers of mine - and NO, I don't know how many people follow me off the top of my head; I just went and looked it up!

The picture I posted of one of my best friends getting engaged.  The "typical white girl post" of me and someone I never thought I would be friends with on a Caribou date.  The photo I posted of my parents in their college days for their anniversary. My teammates and I in our throwback jerseys, me snuggling with a cute puppy, or the picture of me holding my youth pastors newborn baby ... ALL of these photos and SO many more had VALUE before I EVER posted them on ANY of my social media.  And for myself personally - I have VALUE whether I post things or not on social media, and so does everyone else in this world.

I am not going to stop posting my pictures or writing down my favorite quotes for people to see, as cheesy as they may be.  I will probably show my followers some more of my meals, especially if I gain cooking skills in the next couple years and I make something that actually looks edible.  I may even screen shot snapchats from my best friends to someday use as birthday posts.  And I will certainly continue to quote my family because they are in fact the most hilarious people I know, but I'm not going to let my identity be defined by the "likes," "favorites," and "comments" that will eventually fade away.

My worth is in something far more everlasting then MySpace - because who actually has that anymore?





-Courage, dear hearts. C.S. Lewis.
Lexi


Genesis 1:27
"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."

Luke 12:24
"Consider the ravens: They do not sow or rep, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them.  And how much more valuable you are than birds!"

{ the truth about coffee }

Here's the truth about coffee.

I didn't really become addicted to coffee until college.  I feel like that's a very cliche statement right there.  Well, let me speak to all those not yet in college: college changes you.  One of my changes, is that I drink a ton of coffee.  So much, in fact that sometimes I think I give coffee the jitters!!!

So those of you not in college, or maybe you are in college, but you just haven't gotten on the coffee train yet, I want to give you a little heads up.



1. Don't drink three cups of coffee without food in your stomach.  Don't believe me?  Well, I still don't recommend you try it.

2. Learn to make your own coffee.  It is a phenomenal life skill and you will thank me later!

3. Buy a proper travel mug.  Not a cheap one that doesn't cover the little lip part you drink out of because guarantee there will be a day you are rushing to class and it will pleasantly splash hot happiness ALL OVER YOU AND THE PAPER YOU ARE ABOUT TO TURN IN!

4. Find a go-to drink.  It's just a must.  There is gonna be a day where you are having a meltdown because you have a ten page paper due in less than ten hours and you haven't started yet plus you are studying for a science test that is worth about 100% of grade and it's important that you do well since you're a bio-kinetics physics chemistry pre-med quadruple major ... DO NOT PANIC! If you are need of a go-to drink - I recommend to try either an iced white chocolate latte or campfire mocha blended from Caribou - two really solid choices there!

*SIDE NOTE: Coffee is a great drink in general even if you're not having a meltdown, in case you were wondering; so many ways to drink it - iced, blended, black, creamer, more chocolate, maybe even some caramel, and you have so many places to get it!  You can make your own (my personal favorite is Archer Farms light roast coffee Dark Chocolate Truffle; not gonna lie, it's a little more money then I'd like it to be but a girl's gotta splurge on something, right?), there's a Caribou Coffee on every dang street corner in Minneapolis, every five blocks there's a Starbucks and if you haven't had one of their chocolate banana smoothies .... well you just really should, and you have other shops such as Spyhouse, Dunn Bros,  J. Arthurs, and so many more.

5. Let's be honest, at the very least, order a couple coffee's in your life time so you can have some artsy Instagram photos - make sure you put some really cute caption with it or if you want to be really mysterious, don't use words but maybe throw in an emoji.

The truth is, coffee is everywhere and it appears to be something that's going to be attracting people for quite awhile!


BONUS:
Two great articles about coffee!!!
Celebrate National Coffee Day
Coffee Dates with all my Facebook Friends

-Courage, dear heart. C.S. Lewis

Lexi

Why I play Basketball.

I was recently telling someone about my life at college.  They were asking about classes, my job, how I balanced having a social life, and basketball.  Towards the end of the conversation, they asked me, "Has it ever felt like too much?  Have you ever thought of quitting basketball?"

I would like to say I answered with something along the lines of, "No way, it's always been a dream ride ..." and yada yada yada ... but that's not the truth.

The truth is that basketball has been hard.  Nothing worth doing is ever easy.  It's never been easy to give up my weekends with friends to go to a tournament.  It's never been easy to get up at 6 am to go lifting.  It's never been easy to deal with injuries, go through physical therapy, and try and come back into your season as soon as possible.  It's never been easy to go after goals, win games, and/or make it to playoffs, the state tournament, or national tournament.  It's not easy now to tell my siblings that I won't be able to watch their state cross country meet because I have practice.  It's not easy to remind my family that I will only have a week of Christmas break.  It's never been easy.  It won't ever be easy.

But I'm not going to quit.

This question actually gave me a lot of good reason to reflect on why I play basketball.  I thought about my time as a youth when I started playing on a traveling team in 5th grade; how those girls were teammates who I played with for the next eight years until we were seniors in high school.  I thought about how I knew exactly what their strengths were, I knew the move they would make on the basketball court before they would even make it, and how I knew more about them than just their plays on the court.  I knew their families - parents, siblings, and grandparents.  I knew where each of them lived and could drive to their houses in my sleep.

I thought about my time playing on an AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) team; how almost every year it was a completely new team.  I thought about the first time I ever played against a girl over 6 feet tall when I was in 8th grade and how that was slightly intimidating.  I thought about all of the overnight weekend trips I took with my family and how incredibly bonding that was for the six of us.  I thought about the teammates who I am still in contact with and how I still play against many of them at the college level.

I thought about my time now as a college basketball player; how I never even heard of many of my teammates and now consider them some of my closest friends.  I thought back to my freshman year of college and how I had coaches that reached out to me and several upperclassmen who went out of their way to make sure that I was surviving life as a college student-athlete.  I thought about my second season as a sophomore and how more than anything, I wanted my teammates to know they were incredibly loved by me and their Savior.

Which brought me to my conclusion of why I play basketball.  Basketball isn't always about playing basketball anymore.

It's a great game - don't get me wrong.  For anyone who is interested in Strength's Finder, you should know that my number one strength is Competition.  I think my strength as a competitor far outweighs my other strengths.

Example A:  I hate losing; to the point where I don't even have to watch game film because I know exactly which play is going to happen and I can replay the entire game in my mind; to the point where sometimes I lose sleep over it; to the point where this is probably making me sound insane.

But basketball isn't always about playing basketball.  For me, basketball is about a form of worship - that in everything I do, on and off the court, I am representing Jesus Christ.  That's not easy either.  It's not easy when the other team says something really offense to your teammates or when the ref makes a bad call, because lets be honest, it happens at least once a game!  (Being even more real, I know that I am going to screw it up sometimes)  However, every time I step on that court and remind myself that I am playing for a greater purpose then just the game of basketball, my perspective and my purpose changes.

It's kind of like that quote by C.S. Lewis (and by the way, if he was still alive, he would be my friend crush!).

"I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God, it changes me." -CS Lewis

I play basketball with a different perspective not because it changes our win-loss record or what the refs think about the call they just made, but because it changes how I play because of the need I feel to honor Christ, not out of obligation but because I love him as well.  And in the end, that is why I play basketball.  

-Courage, dear heart. C.S. Lewis

Lexi

My Top 5 Places I want to travel next

Fairly simple (as was my post from last week).

What are my Top 5 Places that I want to travel someday soon (in no particular order, FYI)?

1.

Colorado Springs, Colorado

Or just anywhere in Colorado for that matter! I have never been to Colorado

and lately have been experiencing an extreme desire to go on a adventure,

spend time in the mountains, go hiking and white water rafting! Going to the

state of Colorado is also on my one-year bucket list so it needs to happen 

before July 12, 2015!

2.

Paris, France

I just feel like Paris is one of those places you have to visit in your life

time! I really want to see the Eiffel Tower (probably take a shameless selfie)

and I'm a sucker for romance so obviously I want to see and put a lock on 

the Love-Lock Bridge.

3.

Sydney, Australia

My parents went to Sydney was I was very young and even now I 

look at all of their pictures and desire to go back (they got to hold a 

wombat!).  The Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge are 

two of the things I really want to see when I go as well!

4.

Machu Picchu in Peru

I get goosebumps whenever I think of this place - don't know why

but there is something so mysterious and magical about this place that

makes me want to go and stand in awe of the ruins!

5.
The Hawaiian Islands
I'm going to be honest, I don't really care which one, I just wanna be
laying on the beach, especially right now since I am already curling
up in blankets, sweats, and my wool socks as winter appears to be right
around the corner!

-Courage, dear heart. C.S. Lewis

Lexi

My Top 5 Favorite Places

Fairly simple.

What are my Top 5 Favorite Places that I have traveled to (in no particular order, FYI)?
***side note - I took each of these on my trips

1.

Kwambekenya, Kenya

I went to this small village on a mission trip that completely changed my life.

I have never met people so beautiful and so joyful amidst such poverty, hurt, 

and hopelessness.  It it still a dream of mine to one day return to the village that 

changed my life and taught me the true meaning of joy.

2.

Cancun, Mexico

I love warm weather.  That was the beginning of my love for this place.  To

be able experience such warmth, especially when it was so cold in the Midwest, 

was such a blessing.  The beaches are extraordinary; beautiful, white, soft 

sand, warm beneath my toes.  The noise of the ocean is incredibly calming

to me and I have found a lot of solitude near here.

3.

Stillwater, Minnesota

I first visited Stillwater when I was a freshman in college.  Stillwater is 

such a beautiful, quiet town.  It honestly just warms my heart whenever

I go there because I always feel so at home.  The main street is adorable

as well, and has one of my favorite restaurants there - Leo's Grill & Malt Shop.

4.

New York City, New York

I have only been to New York City one time and I had a great time.  I definitely 

encourage people to visit at least once in their lifetime and while I had fun, I

don't think I could ever live there!  The lights, the busyness is fun for awhile

but not the life for me - like I said though, it's a place that I think everyone 

should get the chance to visit!

5.
Belize City, Belize
I know I already wrote several long blog posts on my trip to Belize this 
summer, so I will keep this brief.  I enjoyed my trip, the people I went with, and
the opportunities I had while I was there.  This is also another place I hope
I get to go back to again someday.

-Courage, dear heart. C.S. Lewis

Lexi