ALEXANDER ADVENTURES 2024

JANUARY

We were so proud of ourselves for going to the YMCA to exercise on the first day of the year (along with so many other people with ambitious New Year's resolutions).

What a happy day as we accompanied Megan in wedding dress shopping.

2023 ended with great anticipation as Granddaddy had announced he would be baptized in 2024. He told us the news as we were at his house for Thanksgiving. It was the best news ever!

Our family was so delighted that Granddaddy, having just turned 80 years old a few days earlier, was being baptized on January 7, 2024. We surprised him at his tiny church in NC with 17 of us in the congregation that morning. Even Meredith and Margaret flew in from Dallas. 

(Here we are getting pedicures - a fun treat while they were in town.)

I think this was one of the happiest days of my life - seeing my dad be baptized.

Jennifer helped us coordinate a surprise lunch gathering at Dad and Lou's house afterward. 

What an amazing day it was. 

Timmy, Harrison, Sheridan and I enjoyed a wonderfully relaxing cruise to the Caribbean. It's always nice to leave the winter behind and find summer somewhere else.

 

We were welcomed home by this beautiful Amaryllis in full bloom.

FEBRUARY

Happy 17th birthday, Sheridan! Knowing she would be leaving for an extended stay with Meredith in Dallas after her birthday, we gave her luggage and a personalized license plate that only Sheridan's Dallas church family would understand: HAGWOW - Have a great week of worship!

For Sheridan's 17th birthday, and because she was leaving for Texas shortly afterward, her friend, Amanda, planned a surprise birthday/going away party. We had such a great time as Sheridan introduced all her church friends to barn dancing. What a wonderful memory it is even now.

Birthday Video

We planned the drive to Dallas so that we could stop at the midway point in Alabama

 and attend a Phil Wickham concert.

While we were in Dallas, Meredith, Sheridan and I attended the IF:Gathering Women's Conference.

After we said goodbye to Sheridan, Timmy and I took the long way home, stopping off in Cancun.

What a beautiful place it was, with such amazing food.

MARCH

Timmy found a last minute bargain on another trip to Cancun in March 

so we jumped on board for a second go-round.

Meredith shared the most exciting news - they are expecting twins! 

Our whole family rejoiced. What an indescribably beautiful blessing from the Lord.

Celebrating Easter with an Easter egg hunt.

APRIL

Timmy and I enjoyed a week at Wyndham's Bonnet Creek in Orlando. 

The weather was great, the scenery so very beautiful.

MAY

The much anticipated and absolutely breathtaking wedding of Megan and Harrison.

May 4, 2024

It was such a beautiful wedding and memorable day.

Unfortunately, Sheridan's evening ended in the emergency room with a sprained ankle. 

We loved having everyone come to church with us the next morning.

The beginning of weeks of physical therapy and recovery.

Sheridan had to lead worship with one shoe and a bandaged foot, 

but she did it!

We went to Dallas for the Hammer's gender reveal ice cream party, 

and were thrilled to find out it's two boys!

JUNE

The three of us went to Orlando for a short break. 

Ice cream is pretty much part of any Alexander evening.

Precious Emery Rose is born.

Harrison surprised us one Sunday when we suddenly saw him on stage at church helping lead worship. Timmy responded just like I did when he arrived a few minutes after me and realized it was Harrison on the stage. First he was shocked, then he grabbed his phone to take a picture, then he cried. There is just something so beautiful about seeing your own child as an adult wanting to serve the Lord.

Liz, Jen and I have been friends for over 30 years. 

It's always a blessing to meet up with them and chat.

JULY

We all headed to Florida for a fun-filled family vacation. 

Some flew, some drove, some did a bit of both.

Family vacations are such a great time for the cousins to enjoy one another.

The annual "7/11 Free Slurpee Day" happened to fall when we were in FL. 

Maragret is an extraordinary organizer.

 Here she is standing proudly in front of the excellent job she did 

arranging all the vacation food in the pantry.

We rented a large home specially built for vacationing with a lot of people. We love these houses that are located within resorts, but are a vacation all to themselves. A game room, theater, play areas, and a pool make it possible to have fun with our young crew without even needing to leave the house. 

There's always something fun going on, games, music

Before our vacation each year, I enjoy checking out a lot of books from the library so we'll have plenty to read. Most are for the children, but we also like cookbooks, decorating books, and my latest favorite, books about barndominiums.

We like to bring all sorts of crafting projects and supplies. 

This year the bracelet making supplies were a big hit.

Each family takes a turn preparing one of the evening meals. 

It's a pretty big production as our crowd is around 25 now.

An evening pool glow party

We've had to get creative finding places for everyone to sleep soundly.

The best part of the vacation - ice cream!

Inspired by the terrible sickness last year during the family vacation, Sullivan brought cleaning supplies, taught the children a class on cleaning, and inducted them as our germ control squad.

 They LOVED it!

Our only real outing was the "free transportation" adventure that the little ones just love. We ride the Disney bus, ferry, monorail and gondolas, ending with the fireworks show. 

It completely wears the little ones out. Every able-bodied man ends up carrying a 

sleeping preschooler as we're leaving.

The germ control squad wasn't quite effective enough to keep Sheridan from coming down with something while we were there. We missed her as she had to be quarantined for a couple of days.

We love watching movies and eating lots of popcorn in the theater.

The children spent hour after hour making sand creations with moldable sand.

We all enjoyed the resort's lazy river.

This year we had the first (and probably last) Alexander Family Talent Show. 

Oh my goodness, what fun!

TImmy and I kicked off the event with a surprise appearance of both Donald Trump (Timmy) and Joe Biden (me). It concluded with the two dancing to "Cotton Eye Joe."

It's always sad to say goodbye to all the fun we've had, and the fun house we had it in. 

One last goodbye to the children's bedrooms.

AUGUST

It's always a blessing to meet up with my dad to catch up over lunch. In the summer, we usually meet at Mission Barbeque - the restaurant that let us decorate a booth honoring my dad as a former police officer and Army veteran.

In an effort to connect the young mom assigned to me by my church after she was baptized with other young moms,  we hosted a four week summer series called "Mom-versations."

 Sheridan led worship and shared her testimony publicly for the first time. What sweet fellowship we all enjoyed as women of all ages gathered each week.

A trip to the zoo with the local grandbabies. We had so much fun!

We couldn't be any happier seeing both Harrison and Sheridan 

leading worship and running cameras at church some weeks.

SEPTEMBER

At one of our weekly nacho-night get-togethers on Sunday nights, we had a lively discussion about the generational curses. This was sent in the group chat shortly afterward.

Sheridan fasted and prayed about possibly returning to Dallas to help when the twins arrived. God so clearly answered Sheridan's request for wisdom.

 I continue to be amazed by the miraculous way God revealed His will to Sheridan through His Word. 

God was so faithful; Sheridan, beautifully obedient to His will.

Sheridan quickly pumpkin-spiced as many porches as she could before she left for Dallas.

Sheridan arrived just one day before the twins arrived. We are overjoyed by God's goodness to give Meredith and Stephen these precious, healthy baby boys.

Thank you, Lord, for these healthy baby boys.

OCTOBER

Ellanie spent a week with us while Elliott and Bethany celebrated their anniversary. What a sweet little helper she was as we blew leaves together one afternoon.

Timmy, all by himself, is building this humongous barn.

 I've joked him that it looks like he's constructing Noah's Ark in our back yard.

We enjoyed a quick trip to Dallas to meet the new babies.

Timmy helped John with a school project building a birdhouse while we were there.

Penelope came to VA to complete a school project. 

The younger cousins absolutely loved spending time with her.

Pat Pat and PaPa came for a visit to meet Emery Rose and Sophia Joy. 

We stopped by Harrison and Megan's house to see the progress.

Michelle made some delicious cheesecakes for us to enjoy.

NOVEMBER

We could hardly believe it when Meredith said they were driving to Virginia to spend Thanksgiving with all of us. From Texas to Virginia with 8 children including two newborn babies?! 

We were so excited to see them. We rented a couple of houses in Colonial Williamsburg so all of us could hang out together while they were in town. We had such a fun time.

The resort where we stayed had an indoor pool 

and an activity room with crafts for the children to enjoy.

Pat and Thurman came to see everyone.

We toured Colonial Williamsburg.

We ate so much food. This is a big bowl of pudding we made especially for Sullivan

 and teased that the kids were going to eat it if he didn't get there soon.

The children entertained themselves in the houses by 

building all sorts of creations with Lincoln Logs.

Ellanie is sweetly rocking one of her baby cousin twins.

Farmerdaddy and Emery

Uncle Elliott with baby Sophia

Farmerdaddy and Sophia

On Thanksgiving Day we all went to Granddaddy and Grandma Lou's. 

Everyone enjoys playing volleyball when we're there.

DECEMBER

We joined Sullivan and Allison to see Steven Curtis Chapman in concert. 

Harrison's Christmas lighting season was as busy as ever. Dear Megan, expecting and not feeling well at all, was such a great helper regardless. I wish I could have helped so much more than I did.

The close of another year. The gratitude that fills my heart is overwhelming. God has been so unbelievably good to our family. We still have our health and we still have each other. But, there's even more. We have these beautiful relationships with our children and grandchildren - a treasure of immeasurable worth. Why God has been so gracious, I'll never know, but I'm so incredibly thankful.