Elizabeth Murphy Story

 Unexpected Blessings

“Being a parent wasn’t just about bearing a child. It was about bearing witness to life.”

—Jodi Picoult

Life is constantly throwing curveballs. We all want for things that sometimes seem out of reach. Being patient and remaining focused on desires is often a fruitful approach. Still, there are times when putting a want on the back burner, either temporarily or permanently, and focusing on an alternative path can create something unexpected yet just as valuable. There are always metaphorical signs guiding us on what to do in life, but they are not always easy to see. Like many other young married couples, Wattles Park Integrated Arts teacher Elizabeth Murphy and her first husband, Brian, wanted children of their own. Life threw them a curveball, and after much difficulty in trying to conceive, the decision to adopt became their new focus. Their willingness to alter their plan provided a blessing for them and their new family.

Family has always been a big part of Elizabeth’s life as a child and an adult. She reflected on some of her childhood memories. “I was born in Springfield in 1983, the oldest of four children of Harry and Denise Burdett. My brothers Christopher, Joshua, Brian, and I had many friends in our neighborhood to interact with. We spent time playing outside and riding bikes. My grandparents lived next door, making it convenient to see them often.”  Most everyone in Springfield knew Elizabeth and her siblings, with the connections that her family had with the community. “My grandma, Marjorie Christenson, was a Kindergarten teacher at Springfield Elementary School, and my grandfather, Jim Christensen, was a High School Math teacher at Springfield High School,” Elizabeth said. “He moved over to Battle Creek Public when the two districts consolidated.” Elizabeth’s grandparents were not the only teachers in her family. “I have an aunt who taught in Texas and an aunt who taught for Battle Creek Public and is now at Pennfield,”  Elizabeth added. “My mom worked as a daycare provider and later was a teacher at Endeavor and then Valley View. She is now retired, but still substitute teaches.” 

School was a big part of Elizabeth’s childhood, with many cherished memories. “I started school at Valley View Elementary, then went to Springfield Middle School,” Elizabeth explained. “I attended ninth grade at Northwestern Middle School and then went to Battle Creek Public, where I graduated in 2001. I participated in tennis, track, softball, and band in high school.” School created many positive memories for Elizabeth, but time spent with family also provided many memories. “We spent many summer vacations in Tennessee visiting my dad’s side of the family,” Elizabeth said. “We would get together for every holiday at my grandparents’ house in Springfield or at their Lake House in Kalamazoo on Husey Lake. I spent much of my time in the summers on the lake with cousins on the pontoon boat. My mom had a pet supply store called Connie’s Cove. I worked there in the summers and also babysat in the neighborhood to make money. Sometimes I babysat my brothers when they were younger.” 

Despite teaching being a popular profession in her family, Elizabeth set her sights on another career after high school. “I enrolled at KCC in 2001, with a goal of earning a CADD (computer-aided drafting and design) certification,” Elizabeth noted. “I had participated in CADD at the career center during my junior and senior years. Art had always been an interest of mine, but I realized I couldn’t make a living doing this. CADD would allow me to pursue an art career, using computer drawings. I earned my associate's degree in CADD from KCC in 2003.” While attending KCC, Elizabeth found a job that fit into her school schedule. “While I was going to school, I milked cows at a dairy farm owned by a family attending our church,” she said. “It was hard work, but I liked it. There were many cold early mornings.”

Elizabeth had a specific plan for what type of career she wanted, and continued with her education after finishing up at KCC. “I wanted to get a degree in aeronautical engineering through the Air Force,” Elizabeth explained. “I was hoping to get a job designing weapons for airplanes for the Air Force. I dual-enrolled at Western Michigan and Michigan State. I had to dual-enroll because Western Michigan didn’t have the Air Force component, while MSU had the Air Force, but not the degree I was looking for.”

Taking classes simultaneously at two institutions seventy miles apart presented some challenges. “I lived at home in Springfield. I would go to WMU every morning at six AM to do my physical training with the Army for about two hours,” Elizabeth recalled. “Then I would go to classes all day at WMU. A few nights a week, I would go to MSU to attend my Air Force classes. It was a brutal schedule. Stress from the schedule and travel time caused me to lose weight. Because of this, the Air Force wouldn’t allow me to continue.”

Having to drop out of her program with MSU and WMU may have been a bit of a disappointment for Elizabeth, but she quickly transitioned to a job using her CADD certification. “I went to work full-time for Jaz Network in Battle Creek,” Elizabeth said. “This was a drafting and internet company. I would work on drafting when there was a need, and when we were slow with drafting, I worked in the office.” A year after starting at Jaz Network, they were bought out by a company out of Grand Rapids, Turn-Key. “I moved to Grand Rapids and started working for Turn-Key,” Elizabeth explained. “Turn-Key was a company that worked on aerial and underground fiber optics. I was using my degree and enjoying it. It was just my cat and me. It was sometimes lonely, but I would go home most weekends.”

Elizabeth stayed in Grand Rapids for two and a half years, working for Turn-Key. She talked about what eventually brought her back to Battle Creek. “I had met Brian when both of us were attending KCC through mutual friends,” Elizabeth said. “We became casual friends and reconnected when I was living in Grand Rapids. We started dating and would see each other on the weekends. Brian and I became engaged while I was still working for Turn-Key. They shut down about the same time Brian and I were planning our wedding. I moved back to Battle Creek in 2008 and started working for Core PHP, a company in Battle Creek that designed websites for companies. I was an office manager there. Brian and I were married that same year.” 

Brian and Elizabeth wanted to start a family after they were married, but this would present a challenge for them. “I knew that I had endometriosis, a condition which reduces the chance of conception, when Brian and I were married,” Elizabeth explained. “I was diagnosed with it as a child because of symptoms that I was having. Brian and I tried conceiving right away. After a year, we decided we wanted to adopt. We went through the foster system. We started by fostering one child for a month. We enjoyed fostering but wanted to adopt. About eight months after signing up to be foster parents, we got a call in July of 2012 that two twin girls needed placement. We brought home Rebecca at three weeks and Sarah at four weeks. They were born nine weeks early. We knew right away that we wanted to adopt them. We fostered them for about a year before adopting them.” Parenting premature twins can present an experience different in some ways from parenting full-term babies. Elizabeth shared some details about this. “Both twins were only on oxygen for 24 hours after being born. Sarah stopped breathing several times due to apnea. This is why she had to stay in the hospital longer. She remained on an apnea machine each night for five months. Buying clothes for two premature girls was a challenge. Both caught RSV at around six months. Sarah had to be transported to Kalamazoo by ambulance. For most of her life, Sarah has had to have breathing treatments when she gets a cold. They are both of normal height and weight now.” Elizabeth and Brian have always been upfront with the girls about their history. They have shared with them different pieces of their story depending on their age and what they are able to process.

Life circumstances are often unexpected. Fostering Rebecca and Sarah and hoping to adopt them was a blessing for Elizabeth, Brian, and the twins, but a miracle would come their way before adoption was finalized. “During the adoption process, we found out we were pregnant with Abigail, who was born in November 2015,” expressed Elizabeth. “When I became pregnant, we were hesitant to tell the adoption agency because we were afraid that this would risk our chance of adopting, but this wasn’t an issue. We were shocked when I found out that I was pregnant. My family was a huge support with all three girls.” 

Elizabeth continued working at Core PHP for a few months after she and Brian married. “I left Core PHP and started a new job for Patriot Antenna Systems, a company in Albion that specialized in 3D drafting,” Elizabeth noted. “They created components for satellites.” Elizabeth had gone to school to learn drafting and enjoyed it, but her heart began to lead her in another direction for a career. “I decided that I wanted to be a teacher,” she explained. “I had helped with the church, doing kids' programs as a teen, and many of my relatives were teachers. I put in my notice at Patriot Antenna Systems and enrolled at KCC again. Brian was working at KCC, so I was able to go to KCC and Miller College with a tuition discount to get my teaching degree. While going to KCC, I also worked as an adjunct professor, teaching CADD.” Miller College closed its doors as she finished her classes, so she went to WMU for her internship. “I graduated from Miller College/MMU in 2017 with an elementary education degree and a minor in math and early childhood,” Elizabeth said. “My time as a student back at KCC was the same time frame as having three young girls at home, which slowed the process somewhat for getting my teaching certificate. I did my internship at Valley View in a third-grade classroom after graduating. After completing my internship, I was offered a teaching position in a first-grade class at Valley View. It was different being at Valley View than when I was a kid. When I was a kid, it was a small town neighborhood school, but when I taught there, it was bigger with Battle Creek Schools closing and combining enrollment.” 

Elizabeth enjoyed having her own classroom and teaching in her former elementary school, but a part of her wanted to find a teaching job at Harper Creek. She continued at Valley View while waiting for an opportunity. “I was at Valley View for three years before coming to Wattles Park. She reflected. “Brian and I were living in Harper, and our three daughters, Sarah, Rebecca, and Abigail, were all attending Wattles Park Elementary. I had always wanted to teach at Harper Creek to be on their schedule. Wattles Park had a position for an Integrated Arts position in 2021. I applied, interviewed, and started working for Harper then.” 

The transition to Wattles Park was a good one for Elizebeth. She and her girls were now on the same schedule, and she found herself teaching students one of her childhood interests with art. As positive as the change to a new school was, there were aspects of her job at Valley View that she misses. “I miss the connections that I built with students in a classroom setting, and I miss the huge growth that I would see with my first-grade students for one school year. First grade is a huge year for learning and development, in particular when it comes to the science of reading,” Elizabeth explained. “I do appreciate the variety I have as an Integrated Arts teacher with multiple students and multiple classes. It was hard my first year learning the names of every student in our school. Now, for the most part, I only have to deal with this for kindergarten kids. Witnessing the journey of students from kindergarten through fourth grade is a source of satisfaction that wasn’t present in having a group of students for one year in my own classroom. There are positives in being a specials teacher that are not present as a classroom teacher, but this works both ways.”

The family dynamics for Elizabeth and her family changed a few years ago. She and Brian divorced in 2021. Elizabeth started dating Ben in 2022, and they were married in 2024. They are a blended family with Ben’s eighteen-year-old son, Benjamin, and his sixteen-year-old daughter Emily. They reside in Bellevue. 

Life has certainly thrown Elizabeth curveballs, and fortunately, she and Brian were able to hit it out of the park with the adoption of Rebecca and Sarah, followed by the birth of Abigail a few years later.  “I have learned to expect the unexpected,” Elizabeth summarized. “Life throws things at you, and you have to roll with it.”