Merry Christmas

We wish you a Merry Christmas, and hope you have a happy new year. This was certainly a year of change, growth, and new beginnings for the Murphy family.

In late October Will and Mary-Clayton welcomed baby Shivonne into the world. Shiv is the first grandchild on both sides of her family, and has received plenty of love from grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, and extended family. She is a real beauty.

Will continues his work in the ER, and Mary-Clayton started a new job with the national 4-H office. This year they traveled to Oklahoma, North Carolina, and the beach. Okie has been a good egg, making sure to bring Shiv any toy or sock he finds around the house.

Anna moved out of their house into a place of her own, close to her job in Midtown. Her work and social life kept her busy, eating and spending time with friends. For a change of pace Anna flew out to Colorado to visit friends. In addition to her regular job (where her store set sales records), she's been doing more and more freelance graphic arts work.

Matthew had a year of growth, gaining more experience in the culinary arts, working in a few different restaurant environments around town. After a year living with friends downtown, in October he moved back home to be closer to his current job - so we get to enjoy his cooking on a more regular basis.

Ceil had a busy year, teaching art, spending time with friends, ministering to the ladies at The Table on Delk, taking periodic trips home to be with her mom, and now taking every opportunity to dote on little Shivonne. Ceil's work outside has made our yard come alive with color and beauty.

Dave had a rough year. Work was perhaps the busiest and most chaotic of his career. Both his parents passed away. And all that wasn't the worst of what he went through. Yet he was able to rely on God, Ceil, the kids, and close friends to help him through like he's never had to before. Certainly a year of growth. There was plenty of fun at Braves games, including going to playoff and World Series games. A banner year for reading – escaping into dozens of good books. And for the first time ever Dave became a regular, weekly golfer. He hopes to play even more (and perhaps improve) next year.

We took a trip to the beach during Ceil's spring break, and an artist's tour north of Asheville in the fall. When school let out in May we trekked to Chattanooga to pick out a new puppy. The family ahead of us picked another pup because they were worried their other choice wasn't frisky enough. Hopefully they got what they wanted, because our new Winnie is still full of adventure seven months later - still very much a puppy.

We're looking forward to an even better 2022, and pray that you have a blessed year as well.

Merry Christmas!

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