#Miller6Pack

I remember as a kid thinking my parents were crazy for not buying each other presents at Christmas. It was so much fun tearing into presents with eager anticipation and experiencing the joy of those wonderful gifts. I can honestly say I was always fully aware and thankful of all the wonderful gifts from my parents and cherished the  memories my parents created for me. They always focused on my sister and me and made sacrifices to make Christmastime special. Oh and by the way, we believed in Santa and suffered no ill effects from this mythical tradition. (well, no more ill effects than normal!) In fact just about the time I was "wise" to the Santa gig my mom simply said, "If you want to continue getting presents from Santa...." and that was all it took! I also remember my teen years that I became more aware of the sacrifices my parents made so they could do more for me. I remember thinking, I don't know if I could make such sacrifices! I know selfish right? Wel...

I was driving to work today when "Sleigh Ride" came up on my phone (Pandora) playing through my car stereo. As I listened to the song a vivid memory came to me as it often does whenever I hear this particular song, particularly the instrumental version. When I was a kid, not quite sure how old I was but I think I was middle school age. (7th or 8th grade) my dad informed me that he had a surprise for me. It must have been late October or November. I remember being very excited having no clue what awaited me. We drove uptown and proceeded to walk up the stairs above Dick & Floyds where I believe there was a dance studio? (not totally sure) Anyway, once we got up there I saw Mr. Dickinson and Claudia Laskey and some other people. I was a little confused as to how this was a surprise for me, until Mr. D began playing his trumpet. My dad then informed me that they were rehearsing a skit/commercial for SilverHorn Ski area (advertisement) Mr. D's laser sharp trumpet sound an...

I don't know why, but it's been a challenging, tiring, long, trying week at the Miller household. I've had a cough that has lingered from my first cold of the season back around October 16. School has been stressful for Amy, and Gracie has had lots to do after school. Throw in a school board meeting, choir practices, pet challenges, and you have a very full week! Admittedly I have not handled it too well. I've been impatient, ungrateful, lazy, and just unpleasant at times. Sometimes we just have those dry seasons, varying in length which I feel God sovereignly places us in so He can connect with us and change us. However, I've needed every bit of Grace as I've navigated the challenges of the week.  Today as we started our whopping 1.8 mile commute to work/school, G and I were listening to our Tidings Album by our great friend Laurie Roberts and Tammy McMorrow. The song "Magnify" was playing and while swept up in the amazing music and vocals, I was s...

Along with all the "normal" emotions associated with parenthood, Amy and I were presented with an entire subset of feelings in 2004 when we became parents, because of some minor details such as traveling across the globe to get our little girl, or having to adjust on the fly to having a 10 month old in the blink of an eye. September and October always invoke a stronger form of these emotions and memories because it was this time of the year when our lives changed forever. (for the better!) "Free time." It is something we truly take for granted until we don't have much of it and we then realize how much we actually had before. Anyway, one particular thing I remember was how instantly should I say abruptly Amy and I became aware of how much "free time" we had before Gracie came into our lives. The first few weeks after we returned from China with our little girl we commented about how little time we had but we quickly realized this was due to all the...

I spent today with some general errands and chores, like I would any other relaxing Autumn Saturday. The colors are just starting to pop everywhere you look and the air just smells like Fall. It was a productive day that included some fireplace modification for installation of a new electric fireplace as well as fixing my Grandpa's email and paying him (and my Grandma Perry) a visit. Conversely, one year ago today, wasn't such a typical Fall day. It was one of toughest days I've ever experienced as I had to take our beloved dog Griffey to the vet to be put to sleep. Griffey lived a very full life and was a great dog. I can still feel him in my arms peacefully going to sleep for the last time. The weight of his body as he drew his last breath was something I will never forget. One year later time has helped our heavy hearts, but still miss our Griffey greatly and think of him often. I just wanted to post today in honor of Grif. 

I've been meaning to get a couple blog entries up in the past few weeks, but with "life" happening at breakneck speed, my best laid plans have often been pushed aside. But I find myself at the computer this evening after another very full day, capped off by wiggling a loose tooth belonging to our soon-to-be 7 year old (yikes) and then reading her a story before bed. So much has happened in the last few months yet as I looked at our blog I noticed the last time I took time to write was on the day of the passing of our cat "Little Al."  In an effort to adhere to my resolution, I'm trying to allow myself to post simple things to the blog to 1. Help me express my thoughts/feelings in writing 2. Share our experiences with friends and family and 3. To help me to constantly remember the abundance of things that I am thankful. (topic of this post) I thought the picture I included with this post was worth more than a thousand words. It was taken this August when we...

It has been another tough week for the Millers. We've known for a month or so that it was time for our "Little Cat That Could," Alex to leave this world. Lil' Al, as she was known after being named after Alex Rodriguez, was getting up in years (over 14) and was having increasing difficulty with the day to day activities of a house cat. It was with teary eyes that I drove back home after taking her to Kellogg Pet Medical this 16th day of July. I'm sure there will be more memories to post, but I wanted to get this one up in honor of our little cat. Lil' Al was indeed the sweetest cat and won our hearts the minute we met her scared, wet, hungry, and cold on our back doorstep when we lived on Cameron Avenue. Amy and I didn't hesitate to both agree that Al would become our 3rd pet, joining Sadie "Pretty," and Griffey. After we brought Al in and fed her, she purred like a cat 4 times her size. That first night she spent with us, she purred the entire...