Valentine's Day

OK, I know these aren't the best photos but we had a different kind of Valentine's Day this year.  My kids were all given the opportunity to have a special party as their basketball teams met to make Valentine's, eat snacks and then take the cards to a local nursing home to hand them out.  After passing out their special creations, some of the kids performed a mini-concert for the residents and the rest were able to sing a song or two.  I was glad to see the kids get the opportunity to serve others and make the day special for someone who truly needed it. 

As for my man & I, we took off that weekend for 24 hours without kids.  A hotel to ourselves, good food with no cooking, an exciting movie and sleeping in were some of the highlights.  Reminiscing about the many times, both good and bad, that we've shared over the past 16 years was the best part.  There is so much to be grateful for and God's faithfulness has been evident through it all. 

Hope you had a special Valentine's Day as well.

Mother Daughter Tea Party

Recently the girls and I were able to attend a special tea at church.  Each set of mothers & daughters was supposed to decorate their own table and enjoy a nice brunch together.  Now we're not the fancy type at the Murphy house (as you can see by the tie-dyed tablecloth) but the girls are all about special events.  We were blessed to get to sit with our "adopted Grandma & Great-Grandma", Donna & Paula.


We enjoyed some special music from our friends & their daughters and took a quiz to see how well we know one another.  As a special memento, our friend Jocelyn (in the above photo) was drawing on-the-spot portraits of each little group.  It was pretty amazing to see what she was able to do with us in such a short amount of time.

It was a fun opportunity to make a sweet memory with my precious girls. 

My men

Today was the last day of trapping season for my men.  This new pastime has really caught their attention and they've gotten really good at catching racoons.  Now this coyote was a first and pretty significant for my man.  It was the "white whale" for my "Ahab".  We have so many coyotes around here and they have been known to cause problems for some of the local dogs (and chickens).  They wake us at night with their howling and set our dog on edge.  Much like the old cartoon of Wylie Coyote, they are very, well - wily and difficult to catch.  I'm so thankful that my man caught at least one (even though on a practical level, it didn't even make a dent in the population) because he was completely obsessed and vexed until he did so.   Good job babe! (Now you can give it a rest.) 

These were my men last week.  We had the opportunity to keep a buddy for a couple of days while his parents were out of town for work.  Three boys wasn't any harder than two, especially when they were all having fun.  It just reminded me about how God has provided friends for my sons.  When we first moved back to town, there seemed to only be one boy close to their age in our circles of friends and such.  Over the past two years, God continually has given them more and more good friends who are likeminded.  Whether at church, through basketball or other home school opportunities, they are now "covered up" in friends and if anything, the challenge is to maintain a healthy balance between friend time and family time.  Ben here is just one example but we are thankful for all of them.

Ethan's birthday

Well, this month my oldest turned 12.  Next thing I'll know he'll be shaving!   He had a great time with his buddies sleeping over and and chose to top it off with both a big chocolate chip cookie and his favorite of all time - a pumpkin pie.  The boys wrestled, laughed, played Legos & the video games.  No one was hurt but it was pretty crazy around here that night.  Despite my best attempts, I still managed to miss one of the boys in this photo below.  Too many for me to keep track of them all I guess.  

I can see how he's growing up in so many ways.  Obviously he's physically changing before my eyes (and he has the same size feet as I do) but I love to see the glimpses of maturity in him as well.  He still knows how to be silly, that's for sure, and I was impressed to see him spend his birthday money on a Kindle rather than on more Legos.  What impresses me most is his heart for others.  He has reached out to a new friend the last few months that doesn't have many of his own.  He has demonstrated more generosity, not only to friends but even to his siblings at times, that's new!  He is learning to control his emotions in a more "grown up" way, he is confident standing on his own and even staying home alone at times, and shows more responsibility in getting his chores and other requirements done quickly without stalling.  He even talks about his desire to maybe be a missionary someday.  Only God knows his future but we pray he will continue to walk in the Light.

Rejoice with us as we watch our boy become a young man.  Happy Birthday Jaybird! 

Merry Christmas!

We hope it's been a very merry Christmas season for your family!  I just thought I'd share a few glimpses of our season as we close out another year together.  As you see, little santa here is still a fun fixture at our house.  Adorable huh?

Making cookies, decorating gingerbread houses, and cultivating friendships.  There has been plenty of time for that over the holidays. Where has the month of December gone?

Even without the beauty of a white Christmas we enjoyed the magic of Christmas morning blended with the joy of children.  Though we are filled with laughter and fun at our house, I can see these years melting away as my children are growing up so fast.  May we never forget to be present in today and make it count toward a better tomorrow.  We have been so blessed. 

In just 3 more days I'll celebrate 16 years as one flesh with my Man.  I never could have imagined the life we'd have together and I wouldn't trade a day of it for anything.  This wild and crazy family is a blessing from God and I pray I never lose sight of what I have to be grateful for.  May that be true for you as well in the coming year.  God is good, all the time.  Happy New Year!

Christmas Plays

It's the most wonderful time of the year....... (cue music)

We were blessed with 2 tickets to see a professional production of A Christmas Carol.  I almost turned them down as I figured there was no fair way to decide who would get to come with me.  Well, I was very pleased to watch as three of my kids bowed out gracefully so that their sister (who fancies herself an actor) could go.  Goose and I had a great time and made some fun Christmas memories with Ebanezer Scrooge.  Thanks for the tickets Lori!

The following week I enjoyed watching the kids in their annual Christmas Pageant at church.  This beautiful angel even sang a few lines with only 2 friends (that's HUGE for a shy girl who used to cry standing up with a group).  Precious.  Goose and Spiderman had some speaking parts (which they handled wonderfully) and sang with the entire group.  Jabird was a bit too old (and very relieved) to be in the performance this year.  It was a sweet play and we were all reminded that there would be no Christmas without Jesus.  Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!!!

More important firsts.

Not to be outdone by their little sister, the boys recently had their own big "wildlife firsts".  Spiderman shot his first deer, this beautiful buck.  Of course it came with it's own drama.  He took the shot without much light left in the evening and they didn't see where it ran.  They searched the area with lanterns but had no luck and began to question if he even hit the deer.  Spiderman was in tears to think he either missed the buck or hit it and lost it, what a rough evening.  The next morning, my man went looking again in the daylight and found it laying in some long grass.  When he came  home with the good news, Spiderman was overjoyed (and he got out of school while he helped Dad haul it home and hang it up).  What a RELIEF!

Just a couple days later, Jaybird came home ecstatic to report that he had caught 2 racoons in his live traps, more firsts!   This photo is of a particularly large male (that earned him $9 from the buyer).  He has since caught even more, bringing his total to 6 racoons.  Now if we could only trap the pesky coyotes that like to hang out at our place. 

Now, I don't post many photos of my man's deer harvests because there are always so many (he's shot 6 so far this year) but this particular buck is special.  With 15 points, it's almost the biggest deer he's ever killed (technically he has a 10 point on the wall that measures slightly bigger) but this one is visually more impressive to me.  The only thing that would have made him more proud would be if he'd taken it with his bow instead of a rifle, archery is his true passion.

So - way to go men!  I'm proud of all of you!