2016 Letter

Dear Friends,

Merry Christmas! As the new year kicked off reality set in: 2015 would be a year of change at the Murphy house. Little did we know how much change would truly take place.

In February Will flew out to Oklahoma to propose to Mary-Clayton. Ceil and Anna drove to Norman with MC's mother, to set up and witness the big event. During the summer Will trained as a Physical Therapist in Roswell at PT Solutions. This fall is helped set up the on campus SEC Network broadcast, gaining sideline access to Sanford Stadium. In December he graduated from UGA, and he's been accepted into the medical college in Augusta.

Anna graduated from Veritas in May, having also taken classes at Perimeter College. In July she traveled to Colorado to spend time with good friend Brittany. In August Anna started her college career in Athens, where she's had the time of her life: football games, sorority, hanging out with friends strumming their guitar, taking trips to the North Carolina mountains, Clemson, and south Georgia, a speeding ticket…and attending a few classes as well.

Matthew is in his second year at Legacy Community Academy in Alpharetta, and is active in youth activities at Grace Midtown and Passion City Church. He went on church trips to north Georgia and Daytona Beach, as well as forming a band and writing music with his friends. Matthew hung out at Six Flags and attended concerts all around the city.

Ceil continued to help out at Veritas. This fall she started teaching art to kindergarteners at Legacy, a job she loves. With help from nephews and nieces Ceil hand addressed all the wedding invitations. She designed the rehearsal dinner invitation, with a little help from her niece and nephew (and Anna).

Dave attended games in Athens, Atlanta, Chattanooga, Clemson, Gwinnett, Panthersville, and Rome, collecting bobbleheads and making friends with baseball fans and bobblehead addicts. He went to the doctor more than ever, treating a torn shoulder, minor blood clots, and other issues - yet survived another Peachtree Road Race with Will. Dave's fledgling eBay business continues to sputter along.

Barney had a happy year, recovering from minor surgery to continue to rule the roost. He does have a hilarious new habit: whenever Ceil cooks he retreats upstairs, far away from the smoke detector.

We made our annual July beach trip to North Myrtle Beach.

In September we had the eight 30 year old Bradford Pear trees lining our property cut down, along with two large trees hanging over the back of our house. It really opened up and cleared out the view. Later on in the year we fixed some plumbing issues in the house, and after the new year we'll be putting in new floors, ceilings, and walls to replace those torn up when the pipes were repaired - but don't let that construction stop you from dropping by!

Merry Christmas!

D, C, W, A, & M