The MacMurchaid Family

Here I will share some about each member of our first family in space who will become A Family of Time.

Robert McMurchaid, the father of the family - The story begins before his 33rd birthday. He is an U.S. Air Force veteran who served during the Cold War era which ended the year before this story starts. He had been stationed at McConnell AFB as a launch crew member for the Titan II ICBM at several of the 18 sites surrounding Wichita, Kansas. Though he grew up in Muskogee, Oklahoma he was one who accepted the history of his ancestors from many lands from America and other nations of the world. He considered himself a military brat (term not used as much any more) one because his father was a veteran and two Robert had veterans and warriors in his ancestry. Since his honorable discharge from the Air Force, He work multiple jobs which brought his family to their present home in Heavener, Oklahoma.

He met his wife, Denise, while they both attended Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. His two older sons were born during his first marriage and his two younger children were born during his marriage to Denise.

He has many interests which include history, science, and education among others. He considers himself a "forever student" because he knows he will never know it all and there is some much yet to learn. He also considers himself a "forever teacher" because he hopes to share what he has learned and will learn others. He helps his children learn things outside what they are taught in school as he learned outside his time in school and the military because his family helped instill his interests through sharing things they knew.

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Denise McMurchaid, the mother of the family - At the time the story begins it was still a number of months until her 29th birthday. She was raised by her adoptive parents who are her biological grandparents. They adopted her when Denise was very young. Denise was raised in LeFlore county in Oklahoma. Since her parents were an older couple she was raised with older views of history and respect.

She was raised to work hard but still do your school work. This helped instill in her that females could do what males could in a majority of areas. She worked on vehicles, took care of livestock, did gardening and did many other things that were considered mainly man's stuff. She still learned how to do what was woman's stuff so she could make it if she had to when she grew up. She was basically a country girl who could fish and hunt with the young men she knew from her hometown.

She started some college courses while she was still in high school. Once she graduated high school she began attending college at Northeastern State University where she met Robert. Less than a year after they met they got married and began having her own children even though she married into an already made family with Robert. Not long after their marriage Denise's father passed away.

Between the way Denise was raised and Robert's belief that all family members were able to do any chore, their daughter was a little stronger and braver. Though a few times during the early Denise did work jobs she later decided that would be better that she should be a stay at home mom. Her love of the outdoors was passed on to all of the children with help from Robert.

Though she was a stay at home mom decisions concerning family, fiances and activities were a joint decision between her and Robert. Her upbringing gave a strong will. She was strong in other areas as well. Before she and Robert met she worked out at the university gym lifting weights and had been lifting car parts on her own during her teens. She even helped her friends at the race track with their vehicles during her teens.

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Kris McMurchaid, the eldest son - When the story began he had already had his 14th birthday over a month earlier. He was born just prior to his father was stationed at McConnell AFB. After his parents' divorce he spent much time with his mother's family prior to his father gaining custody of him and his brother, Tony.

Kris showed early on of being book smart. He was considering of either becoming a doctor or a scientist when he grew up. Most of his smarts came from reading books (both in school and on his own) but he tended to also pay attention to educational programs on television.

One year in school he and a couple of classmates decided to enter the science fair at school and do a project dealing with space exploration. Robert and Denise helped them with getting the addresses for where the information could be obtained. Though his team did well at the fair they did not come in first place. Since then and because of what he learned from the information, watching items on television and watching science fiction movies/programs he began to come up with ideas he would send (with the help of his father) to the space agency. One of those ideas was to send a whole family into space since a few of the adults had been siblings. Because of this idea which the agency thought had very good merit the McMurchaid family was chosen. Kris's idea was only to send a family to the space station for a few months to help determine if a family of varying ages could handle being in space. The space agency along with other scientific agencies came up with an extention to Kris's idea. Before the story starts he is basically a normal 14 year old.

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Tony McMurchaid, the second son - When the story starts he had his 13th birthday around a week ago. He was born while his father was serving at McConnell AFB. Like Kris, Tony spent time with his mother's family after the divorce. He also came into his father's custody at the same time as Kris.

Tony is more street smart than Kris. He also is interested in sports amongst other things. He has shown that he is athletic in many of his activities and what sports he has been in. He hasn't thought much about what he wants to be when he grows up because he is enjoying his life now. He has an occasional tendency to get into mischief.

He is the stronger of the two older boys and shows off sometimes his daredevil tendencies. He is good with work with tools. He can take things apart with easy but not always putting them back together either completely or where they work the same before the dismantle. He has shown some talent with musical instruments, but gets discouraged when instructors don't seem to want to help him learn the instrument better. Though he is only 13 years old he already has an interest in girls.

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Troy McMurchaid, the third son - When the story begins he won't have his 8th for about a month and half. Troy is sort of a combination of his two older brothers but also shows traits of his maternal grandfather/great grandfather. He is athletic, enjoys stories, enjoys educational programs and the space program among other things. He is strong for his size.

He enjoys being outside and tends to be very observant. Though he is still young he has talked some about being an astronaut but his interests could lead him to other things like paleontology (he has an interests into studying dinosaurs).

When the family goes to rivers, creeks, streams, hills or mountains like his father he looks at the rocks for fossils. He also has some interests in animal behavior but not as much as he does for space travel and dinosaurs. He likes martial arts movies, wrestling, and cop shows. Though he hasn't shown interest in being trained in any of these fields he does have the knack of practicing some of the maneuvers from them on his own. Though he does tease and torment his sister he is very protective of her as his brothers are also.

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Nicole McMurchaid, youngest child and only daughter - At the beginning of the story Nicole is waiting for her 7th birthday which about two and a half months away. Nicole maybe the youngest child and slightly small in stature don't those things fool you. After being teased and tormented by her brothers over the years she does have a temper but that isn't going to rush her returning the favor when they aren't expecting it.

Most of the time she appears to be sweet. She has no problem acknowledging that she is the baby of the family and since her mom is the Queen BOTU she is the Princess BOTU (to be explained another time for those who can't figure the abbreviation out). She has learned over time and with some help from her parents how to take care of herself. If she can't handle it then her brothers take over.

She has a wide range of interests but not one in particular that sticks out. She mainly wants to enjoy herself and enjoy the nature around her. Though her talents aren't showing yet she will occasionally show sharp she is and how much she does pay attention when others don't think she is paying attention. She says she is a daddy's girl but don't let that mislead you because she is close to her mommy too.

We will look at the McMurchaid family in general. They are an average American family. They are by no means rich but they don't consider themselves poor. Like many families the children will fight amongst themselves but if someone goes after on of them that person or people will have to deal with all of them.

Robert and Denise have their problems too along with the tensions that come with those problems not to mention the problems of trying to raise four children. The family has outings when they can and when Robert has time off from work. Those outings may only be a few hours or at least a few days. Sometimes when they are camping they don't use a tent with the usual trimmings (they do not go glamping) they will use what nature provides at the sight along with with some items they bring along to make their shelter and bedding. The whole family knows how to make a campfire and cook meals with few utensils. They on rare occasions go to carnivals or small fairs because the whole family (even though they would like to go to larger activities) they prefer to use the money for what is needed including taking care of they animals.

The children through their parents and other relatives have learned about places and things around eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas. Some of the locations they have been able to visit on outings the children sometimes refer to as field trips.

Yes the family has moved to different towns where Robert's employment opportunities have required them to go to. The whole family can look at many possibilities for different situations. Each see the possibilities according to their levels of experiences.

This family has multiple ethnic ancestries but they don't look at each ethnic group as a race because Robert and Denise brought the family up knowing that there is only one race (one family), the human race/family. They acknowledge each of the ethnic backgrounds and try to learn about them. They know that in certain situations (like government paperwork) they can only claim one ethnic group. Some of what I share on this page will turn up in the book and hopefully its sequel, but not all of it.

Speaking of family, the McMurchaids accept those who aren't blood relations as family because they are close and feel pretty much the same as the McMurchaids. Even some of those extended family members believe as the McMurchaids that all the people of the earth are one family.