NINE years of wedded bliss.....

Buddy and I celebrated our 9th anniversary on March 16th. We were, or course, in NYC with the kiddos. For the last several years, we have taken our annual family vacation on Spring Break week. Incidentally it falls on our anniversary. Since Buddy was still teaching high school at the time, we married the weekend just before Spring Break so we could take our honeymoon on his week off. It seemed like a great idea at the time. However, it now means that we have to share it with our kids. We were able to steal some sweet moments alone though. Thanks to our precious Niece agreeing to keep the kids for us, we were able to get an evening alone. She took the kids out for deserts and back to the hotel while we had diner and saw the off Broadway show "Cactus Flower". I loved walking the streets of New York once again with my love.

My idea of a romantic setting - a kiss on top of the Rockafeller building with the Empire State Building behind us. Don't worry, we also made it to the top of the Empire State Building as well.

Thank you for nine amazing years sweetheart. I look forward to many more with you.

The Murphys in NYC!

We took the kids to the "Big Apple" for Spring Break this year. It was quite a change for them. We have taken them to Disney World every year since they were infants. Buddy and I went alone for a few days this past December. We fell in love with it and thought it would be a great place to take the kids. We brought our Niece Bailey along with us. I can say without reservation that it was honestly the BEST family vacation we have ever had. The weather was nice (a bit cold), the kids were well behaved and there were NO LONG LINES.

Lily's Hero

Really, "Lily's Hero" does not adequately express what I feel about this......umm, how I feel about this amazing lady. "Tara" as we now know her. Funny, we did not even know her until the day of Lily's accident and yet she has become so special to us. Our girls are even in the same kindergarten class this year. This is the mother who stepped up and performed CPR on our daughter the day she nearly lost her life in a drowning accident. She did not give up. Even when I thought it was surely over. One day I will find the right words I want to say to her. For now though, isn't this picture precious?

Our "Dylan"

 

I am a "MeMe" and Buddy is a "Pappa". Our precious Goddaughter and her amazing husband Steven welcomed a "miracle". Dylan Sidney Brown was born in February. Our Goddaughter Kenisha struggled with infertility and tried to conceive for quite some time. Nisha learned she was finally pregnant on the day of Lily's accident. We were so worried about her losing the baby that Buddy and I tried to hide the accident from her. She soon found out though and was there for us every step of the way. On the day of baby Dylan's birth, we traveled back to Birmingham with Lily for her fourth and hopefully final surgery, The end of a long and painful journey for both families. God is amazing in his timing, plans and purpose. We are blessed to have sweet Dylan in our lives.

 

I do LOVE baby feet!

Our litle "American Girl"

One of the many fun things we did while in NYC last week was take Lily to the American Girl Store. She had a "special day celebration" with mommy and cousin Bailey which included lunch in the bistro, getting a new doll "Molly", having her doll's hair done, a shopping spree and finally... a photo shoot in the studio with her picture on a magazine cover. The child LOVED every second of the experience. Oh, and Lily loved it too :-) I love having a daughter!!!

~Stay tuned for more posts and pictures on our New York trip and fun things Buddy did with Sean ~

Lily is a "Child of Children's"

Lily's story was posted on the Children's Hospital "Child of Children's" website. She will be featured again in a few weeks when her Daisy troop goes to present Girl Scout cookies and some very special gifts to the children at the hosptial.
You can view her story here

Six months later..................

After another long break from blogging, let me try this again. Life is so busy and I have found that my free time usually goes to Facebook.

So, for that reason, I decided to give Facebook a break for a while. The fact that after only two days I am missing Facebook terribly, shows me how truely addicted I had become. I am not going to stay away forever though. I do soooo love to keep up with my friends :-)

Now, for a much needed update in lives of the Murphys.

"Big News - Big Apple" (we just returned from a fabulous Spring Break trip in NYC but I will save that for my next post)

Miss Lily has had two more surgeries since I last posted. We still have her "Pray for Lily Murphy" facebook page up where you can view all of the updates. We are hoping and praying she will not need anymore procedures. But, only time will tell. She has started to show some evidence of PTSD and so we now have her seeing a child Phychologist where she will have a safe and private avenue to work out any fears, anxities and to talk about whatever she needs to. We feel she will soon be able to come to terms with the traumatic event in her life and put it into perspective and in it's place so she can move on with her sweet little life. Besides that, she is a happy and healthy little six year old.

Sean is doing very well and learning so much in school. His reading and writting has taken a huge leap forward and we are so proud of his progres and how he has developed. He will soon be a second grader and it's so hard to believe my little man is almost an 8 year old.

We have decided that after this school year, we will move them back to their previous school. Sean and Lily were at STJ for two years before changing to MA. While MA is an amazing school, we really miss our STJ family and friends. We are looking forward to the change and allowing the kids to stay until they graduate.