Milestones and adventures in 2017

Some big milestones and transitions for the Murray family in 2017! New jobs, new adventures and exciting travels. Welcome to our 10^th annual year in review.

Andrew started the year in Traverse City, moving into a beautiful apartment with a view of a nature preserve on New Year’s Eve. He soon landed a job as a social worker for Northwest Healthcare Management. We're exciting to see him happy and successful in his chosen field.

Technically, he’s the residential coordinator for the nursing facility transition team, helping seniors who are slowing down but still able to take care of themselves. Andrew travels around the region, checking to make sure clients are doing well and have access to services they are entitled to receive.

Andrew’s fiancée, Aubrey Williams, has a job as a speech therapist with the Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School district, helping children in several schools.

Aubrey, Andrew and Caroline posing on Thanksgiving!

Traverse City is a beautiful place, located “Up North” in the lexicon of Michiganders, and they try to visit the parks and beaches. They’re also just about two hours north, making it easy to keep in touch with friends and family.

We are proud of Andrew and Aubrey, and look forward to their big day in October.

Caroline had the busiest year. We can barely keep up with her activities at Central Michigan University, where she is wrapping up her junior year as an economics major and works as a resident assistant at Larzelere Hall.

In March, CMU featured Caroline on a billboard in the Rockford area, highlighting her involvement with Pack Your Back, a nonprofit she co-founded that collects school supplies for children in Flint and Detroit. This month, the group has another event in Flint, providing Christmas stockings stuffed with school supplies.

Pack Your Back distributed thousands of backpacks filled with school supplies for children in Flint and Detroit. The organization was featured on MSNBC and the Huffington Post in addition to local media.

In May, Caroline embarked on an 18-day study abroad program that took her to England, where they learned about life and work in the United Kingdom, explored some of the historic sites and countryside, and even chased sheep.

She closed out the summer with Pack Your Back’s distribution day, appearing on a Flint television news broadcast. The event itself attracted national attention, which was exciting and brought in more donors.

Returning to CMU in the fall, Caroline was elected Senate leader in student government. A month later, she was elected Homecoming Golden Ambassador (CMU’s version of homecoming queen). Her reign began with a lot of rain – it poured during the parade and on-field ceremonies!

Homecoming was a soggy thrill as Caroline and co-golden ambassador Jason Hall were honored at halftime.

We’re proud of all the kids and Aubrey and are excited to see what they’ll do in the year ahead.

Tug pretty much runs the house, basking in the sun and collecting cardboard boxes.

Meanwhile, Dave and Julie celebrated their 30^th anniversary on Oct. 10 by heading to Vancouver, Canada. We explored the beautiful city’s parks, museums and even a mountaintop. We did not get to be an extra in a Syfy movie! But we did have a wonderful time.

A couple of crazy kids after 30 years!

We also visited Mom and Dad and the Mets in Florida in March, Cincinnati in May, and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in October. 

Vancouver was a wonderful place to visit, with an English high tea, Olympic memories and spectacular scenery.

Dave was able to visit his parents again this month, getting to see the renovations in Jenny’s new home and attending a beautiful advent service featuring John performing with Voices of Pride.

John keeps busy with his Voices of Pride choral group, performing  all over the West Palm Beach area.

As an added bonus, we were able to see the presidential motorcade zoom by!

One neat experience this summer was climbing to the top of Michigan's iconic Mackinac Bridge to talk about developing talent in Michigan, especially in the professional trades.

Julie works to tell the Grand Rapids Community College story as a member of the communications department. .

She also keeps up with her hobbies, especially knitting. Some of her work was mentioned on a knitting podcast, and we attended two fiber fests, meeting alpacas and other exotic animals.

Dave continues as communications director for the Michigan Department of Talent and Economic Development.

He enjoys traveling across the state, working with schools and employers to build a talented workforce. One trip was extra special: a climb atop one of the towers of the iconic Mackinac Bridge.

As the year closes and we reflect on the things we’ve done and the people we’ve done them with, we realize that the Lord has blessed us in many ways. 

We are so proud of the kids, and thrilled that we can spend time with Mom Nelson, who is closing in on her second year as a transplanted Michigander.

We hope that this holiday season finds you happy and healthy. We would love to hear from you! Everyone is on Facebook, and you can drop us a line at dmurray08@comcast.net.

Love, Dave, Julie, Andrew and Caroline.