#Miller6Pack

We are on the "West Side" for Spring Break. We have family in Seattle/Tacoma so the last few Spring Breaks have found us spending the week there doing a variety of things. As a kid I loved when my parents took me to to Seattle. We always went to the Aquarium, Locks, Space Needle, among other fun sites. We now enjoy spending time with our family and taking the little ones to fun places. Sometimes it is the simple things that are the best. Yesterday we got to listen to a young man playing his violin on the Seattle-Bainbridge Island Ferry while watching a huge cargo ship cross our path. We also went to the Aquarium, Children's Museum, and rode the Monorail. It is always a good time, but the best part of all is spending time with our family and enjoying that fellowship too.

New Year's Resolution: Blog More. Well, so much for that one. I perform so many tech related tasks daily that sometimes blogging is the last thing I feel like doing. But so much has happenened. I keep threatening to Amy to blog more and talk about our precious Gracie and how much she has grown. We watched some videos of her the other night and couldn't believe how much she has changed! I want to continue to try to post updates here as well as on my facebook page. I also think I should post some of our favorite Gracie-isms that are just the best. Which brings me to the first one. I am usually in charge of "bath time," and most of the time Gracie has her choice of a "short," "medium," or "long" bath. She almost always chooses "long" which means she is in the tub for a long time. But lately she has wanted to take short baths so she has more time to play, color, etc. So the other night I told Gracie "we should set a record toni...

January 5th, I was doing the score book at a KHS basketball game. Throughout the games, I felt what I thought was some stomach cramps or possibly mild indigestion. I figured it was due to my sitting for 2+ hours at the scorers table with no stretching or moving around. An hour or so later, the final game ended and we packed up and headed for home. I thought getting up and walking around would help. No such luck. When we got home we put Gracie to bed first. Then as I changed for bed, I noticed the pain still persisting in my stomach and it was pretty intense. I mentally reviewed what I had eaten throughout the day and found no reason to point to my stomach discomfort. Next, I tried to lie down and go to sleep. After tossing and turning for about 30 minutes, I told Amy I couldn't sleep and went downstairs to wait it out. Unfortunately, the pain intensified, albeit slowly. Surely this indigestion would go away after a while I said to myself again as I went upstairs to try to eat/drin...

New Year's resolution: Blog more. Happy New Year Everyone. SM

I got to work today knowing that I would find my email box overflowing with technical issues, tech bulletins, tech help requests,and meeting requests. However, what I found this morning (and throughout the day) was an overflowing inbox that was instead full of the kindest, most heartfelt, and thoughtful email wishes arriving from Philedelphia, to Seattle. I am sure it will come as no surprise to all of you that most of those birthday well wishes brought tears of thankfulness and joy to my eyes. I hope you don't mind that I am posting this electronic thank you to all of you as I don't want it to seem impersonal at all.  One of my favorite movies of all time is "It's A Wonderful Life," to which I am sure you all have mixed reactions. :-) Well, I happen to think that the message in this movie is paramount to our short life here on Earth. It's not the monetary wealth you gain, nor the material items you collect that are important in life. Rather, it is the people ...

Today is a very significant and blessed day for the Millers. Four years ago today God brought our family together in China. In the adoption community the phrase"Gotcha Day" us used to signify when we "got" each other. We had seen a picture of Gracie before traveling to be united with her, but September 9, 2004 was the first day we got to see her and hold her. What a day that was. On our way to the social institute, where we would meet our precious daughter Gracie for the first time, our guide Michael said something I will never forget. He was explaining some last second instructions to us and then he said, "I can feel your hearts beating." I can remember that when we arrived with the other 4 couples in our group, the elevator of the social institute was not big enough for all of us. So all the soon to be dads sent the soon to be moms up first. Ironically ,the precious little girls arrived shortly after the moms began the ride up the elevator. So the dad...

Little G started Pre-School today at Miss Diane's Little Learners Pre-School. Here is the traditional "First Day" photo op on the porch of 2 Engdahl. It was a big day for G as well as for Mom and Dad. Dad actually made it the entire time without crying believe it or not! Gracie became a bit worried when Mom and Dad left, while some of the other parents stayed to take a few more pictures, but Miss Diane said that G shook it off and had a great 1st day! Dad, however, cried on his way back to work. (there's a shock!)