Southwind 2010

McLean and I just spent a whole week at Southwind in Ocklawaha, FL. In this picture, we were dressed up for Pirate and Princess night. BJ wrote "McLean's Man" on each of my arms and also a shield and a heart to show that I am here to guard and protect her heart(from the Bachelorette:) BJ and I had 14 boys in our cabin "Sand Key," and McLean had 16 girls in her cabin. Over the course of the week, BJ was limping from a bruised femur, McLean was limping from a scraped toe, and I was limping from an ant bite on my foot because I am extremely allergic. Besides that, the week was incredible! The message got through to everyone that Jesus really wants a relationship with you.

Destin and Dave's Visit to Tampa

Last weekend, the Murphy family all met in Destin, FL. It was the first time that McLean and I got to meet our nephew, Isaiah(pictured in the middle)! He actually took his first steps later on that week! It was fun to be with the whole family, and the trip went very fast. Afterwards, Dave drove down to Tampa and stayed with us a few days, and he was the first guest to ever stay in our house. We went bowling one night with some of the Middle School HUB kids. The next day, we took some trash to a landfill, and what should have taken only about 10 minutes ended up taking about 3 hours because Google Maps was wrong, and nobody we asked knew how to help us! The best part of it all was stopping at a BP gas station and buying some of the greasiest fried chicken we'd ever had. The next day, we spent the whole day at Busch Gardens and rode each ride about 2 times. We picked a good day to go because there was no one there. It was good to spend time with just Dave, and I'm so glad he made the trip down.

Survived My First Year!

I survived my first year of teaching!!! I can now officially say that I have been a middle school teacher for one year, and I loved it! It was a lot of hard work and sometimes I thought my brain was going to explode from learning so much, but I will always treasure the experiences I have had this past year at St. Mary's. I loved coaching volleyball, basketball, and baseball, and I really enjoyed teaching my 2 Language Enrichment classes, 3 Math Enrichment classes, and my Computer class all year. I even got to use my musical gifts in the Praise Band! Perhaps what I will treasure the most, though, are all of the relationships that I've made and the lives I've encountered this past year. There are too many to list by name, but each person has had such a significant influence on my life. I really do love teaching. Thank you God for letting me have this dream job. You knew all along that this is where I was supposed to be, and now I know that too.