MDA Boot Drive This Weekend

The Fayetteville Firefighters are braving the heat this weekend and raising money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association in memory of Miller! They volunteered to do this out of the goodness of their hearts, and we are so thankful for their support. Our little man is continuing to touch lives! If you see these guys out and about tomorrow, please consider supporting the cause. You CAN make a difference:)!

Patrick stopped by to say THANK YOU:).....

Click on the link below to see the news story from KNWA.....

MDA Boot Drive This Weekend

4 months

Happy 4 Month Birthday Mr. Miller!

Fly-N-Hog

Have you seen Miller around town????? You better be looking for him:)!

Our friends at Fly-N-Hog Media have donated a year of ad space to Circle of Life Hospice in memory of Miller! What a special, special gift!

Blessed

One thing is for sure through our journey with Miller, and that is that we are BLESSED with the BEST friends in the world!!! I can't even begin to explain to you how much all of our friends and families thoughts, prayers, and kind gestures have meant to us over the last few months! I can only hope that I am 1/2 the friend to my friends as they have been to me! I told someone the other day that everyone keeps talking about what an inspiration Patrick and I have been, but the street goes both ways, because our friends and family have been inspirations to US! They have done things that I never in a million years would have thought about doing. From the biggest acts, to the smallest, they are ALL so very appreciated. From a prayer being said, or getting a card in the mail, to sending a cleaning lady to our house to clean (because Lord knows it needed it;)! Now, when I go to Walmart, I pick up a "thinking of you" card to send to someone "just because". You don't have to have cancer, or have a death in the family to appreciate a nice card. Maybe you had a crummy day at work, or your kids are driving you crazy? I think those things deserve cards too;)! Everyone deserves to know that they are special and being thought of. So I encourage you (as I'm going to do myself), next time you are at the store, buy a stack of cards and randomly send them to someone "just because". Other than just cards, here is a list of some other things that people have done for us:

• Someone REALLY did send their cleaning lady to our house:)!


• Use your talents. If you're good at taking pictures, take pictures! If you are good at writing, write a poem! If you're good at setting up websites (or know someone who is;), set up a website! These are gifts that can't be replaced!


• Yard work. Mow, mulch, plant flowers. Whatever you are able to do. This has been a huge blessing to us!


• Send/take care packages to the hospital (gift cards, lotion, lip gloss, Listerine, magazines, snacks/drinks, gum, a blanket)


• Of course, meals are GREAT! The last thing you want to think about is cooking (and in our case, getting to the grocery store was near impossible). If you can't cook, or live out of town, send a gift card from somewhere.


• DRINKS! Patrick's cousin brought a TON of assorted soft drinks. It was so nice to be able to offer our visitors something to drink, rather than just tap water. Of course, a bottle of wine every now and then is nice, too;)!


• Our friends stocked our fridge/household necessities and made sure our house was clean and in order before we came home from the hospital. This was so nice! Y'all know how much I love "lamps/light", so I was glad to not come home to a dark house;)!


• Personal shopping! This cracked me up, but since I was sort of "home bound" with Miller, and I was at that awkward in between stage (between maternity and normal), I felt like I didn't have any clothes to wear, so my friend Kate would go buy TONS of clothes at Forever21 and Target, and whatever I didn't want, she would take back! It sounds random, but it was so nice and helpful:)!


• Jewelry- (no diamonds, of course;) I have gotten several bracelets and necklaces from friends. I love them all! It's something I can wear to remember him by:)!


• Books- We have gotten lots of books. This has been great! We haven't gotten to read them all yet, but I'm looking forward to it.


• Pet sit! We were so thankful to have our neighbor take care of Lucy while we were in the hospital! Pets are kids too:)!


• We are Catholic, so several people have arranged for different masses to be for the intention of Miller. Such a neat idea! I wasn't even aware that you could do this!


• Crosses- we've gotten multiple crosses, and they are all so special to us


• Prayer cloth and/or prayer shawl- if your church does something like this. Ask them to do one for your friend/loved one.


• Pampering- massages, facials, mani/pedi, anything to RELAX! I've loved these gift certificates:)!


• COLE- don't forget siblings. People have been so kind to remember Cole:)!


• If you have a pool or a boat, offer it up for the day. A relaxing day on the water is a nice break:)!


• Offer to babysit:)! The pictures below are from what our friend Nancee did. After Miller passed away, she offered to keep Cole so we could have a date night, and on the way out the door, she handed us this box. Inside was a note from her, and a gift certificate for dinner, movies, and dessert! SO SWEET!!!

There are MANY more things that people did for us, but I would be here all day if I tried to include everything, so here are a few examples. I write this to try to give other people encouragement on how to reach out to their friends/family that are going through a tough time in life. Sometimes we don't reach out, simply because we just don't know what to do, so here are some ideas:)! Of course, simply PRAYING is the most powerful thing you can do, so please don't forget to do that! And if that's all you can offer, that is certainly enough! Like I said, from the smallest act, to the biggest, they are ALL very much appreciated!

So, THANK YOU, to our family and friends! We are forever indebted to you for all you have done for us over the past few months! We couldn't have made it without you!

Golf

This boy loves to golf! He doesn't care if it's real golf or miniature golf, just give him a club and a ball and he is happy:)!

golf AND ducks??? A little piece of Heaven;).....

"Could you guys quiet down over there?!?".....

Swinging his little heart out with his PUTTER;)!

Getting a little help from Honea:).....

Putt Putt with Nana and Papa:)....Help from Uncle Kyle:).....

Serious Daddy;).....

Ummmmm, do I look like I know what I'm doing;)? My ball got "retired" about 1/2 way through! Hahaha.....

Bud got INKED!

We went to the lake over 4th of July weekend. It was so nice to get away and relax for a bit! We hung one of Miller's banners on the front of my parents house:).....

My dad and Patrick told us they were going to a "gun show" and my dad came home with THIS:).....

Cole loved Bud's tat, and wanted one just like it, so we drew one on his arm. He was SO proud:).....Sleepy boy! This litttle guy plays so hard at the lake and hardly takes naps, so he always crashes on the way home:).....

I Won't Let Go

I can't believe it's been 1 month since Miller passed away! It feels like it was just yesterday. We miss him so much! For the most part, we are doing pretty good. As always, nights are worse. During the day we have been staying busy. Patrick is back at work, and I'm busy doing stuff for the foundation. It's a good busy, because I am doing stuff for Miller, so he is still very much a part of my daily routine:)! I love that! I plan to go back to work August 9th. I LOVE my job, and I miss the people I work with so much, but I am a little anxious about it. I know it will all work out, but be sure to say some extra prayers for me that morning;)!

A friend of ours said she heard this song on the radio the other day and thought of us. I have heard this song a million times, but never really listened to the words. It is definitely appropriate for our lives right now. It's amazing how music can speak to your heart! Thank you, Patrick, for never letting go:)!

(be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the blog and PAUSE the playlist so you can hear the video)

Memory Lane

Here are some pictures of Patrick and Kyle putting up Miller's sign on Memory Lane at Artex. Artex is the Woodruff's ranch where Patrick and Kyle grew up hunting, fishing, shooting skeet, riding 4-wheelers, sitting around bonfires, relaxing, AND working;)! It's the place where Patrick escapes reality. His "happy place"! Now when he goes out there, he will think of Miller:). On the entry road to the lodge, Jim has started what he calls Memory Lane. He makes these signs for their dear friends and family that have passed away, who spent time with them out at Artex. Unfortunately, Miller never made it to Artex, (except for in my belly;), but we did have big dreams of him going there with us. Patrick can't wait until Cole is old enough to take hunting. Cole already loves to go to Artex! His favorite things to do are feed the deer, play basketball, and toss rings! I'm ready for this Fall when the weather cools off to get back out there and spend some quality time with the fam:)!

Notice the cross on the top. My friend Jessie and her husband made us that cross out of railroad ties. So neat!

This is Cole Phillips sign. He was Patrick's best friend that was killed in a car accident back in 1998.

Signs? I Think So:)!

My friend, Sarah, said when Miller passed away that he would send signs. I know she always sees signs that Mamie sends her, and I hoped Miller would send us signs too, but I didn't know if I would catch them. Well, I can honestly say that our baby boy is "calling home" (as my friend Kate calls it:). Here are a few examples:

As soon as we got in the car from Miller's memorial service, I got on my phone to look at Facebook, and the picture below is the 1st thing I saw. Jason Husdon had posted this picture and it's caption said, "Storm clouds over Rogers at noon today." WOW!!! I commented and said "My baby's funeral happened to be at noon in Rogers today, and I can't help but see him in these clouds." I think he was as touched as we were that he just happened to take this picture of the sky at the same time Miller's memorial service was beginning, so he changed the word "storm clouds" to "Heavenly clouds" and tagged Patrick and me in it. Later that night, one of our friends sent us a message on Facebook and said that she and her husband were looking at this picture and noticed the "m" in the lower right corner. Do you see it??? Crazy, huh:)?!! Then, I took it to Hot Springs the next weekend to show my parents and asked my dad to tell me what he saw, thinking he would point out the "m" and he immediately started noticing "faces". You may think I am crazy, but I see them too! My dad printed himself out a copy and got a sharpie and circled all of the faces he saw. I haven't seen his marked up version of it, but I am telling you, this is a true picture of HEAVEN! Hello, Miller:).....


The morning of Miller's service, Patrick put this decal on my car. I asked him to take a picture of it with his phone so I could post it on Facebook, and this is what the picture turned out like. I LOVE the reflection of the clouds in the glass of my back window! Hello, Miller:).....

My Uncle Kenny sent me this picture. He randomly came across it in a photo album from 2002. Notice the umbrella in the background? Miller was with us before we even knew it! Hello, Miller:).....

After Patrick and I went to Circle of Life Hospice to present them with a check from the First Security Bank Jeans Day, we decided since we were out that way we would go to Mama Z's in Tontitown to eat spaghetti. The Grape Festival is coming up, so girls are running for 2011 Queen Concordia. To do this, they sell raffle tickets for a truck. When we walked into Mama Z's there was a lady sitting there selling tickets for her daughter. She asked if we wanted to buy some, and of course we were going to, but Patrick randomly asked what her daughter's name was. I was thinking to myself, "who cares what her name is, just buy some tickets and lets go eat." Well, her name happened to be: Jordan (which is my maiden name) MILLER!!! Hello, Miller:).....

At some point in the near future, we want to do a fundraiser for Miller. We are trying to decide between a 5k, a golf tournament, a dinner/dance/auction type event, or ALL of the above;)! Yesterday I got on the computer to do some research and came across FSMA's fundrasing webpage. I clicked on the "golf tournament" link and saw this picture. Hello, Miller:).....

I know y'all may think I'm nuts, but I honestly think he is sending us signs to let us know he is okay. It makes me smile EVERY time! Keep calling home Miller McNeil! We can't wait until we "see" you again:)!!!

Saving Grace

This little boy has been our saving grace! I can't tell you how thankful I am for him! I think about families that loose their first born, and my heart hurts for them. Not that having Cole makes loosing Miller any easier, but having Cole gives me a purpose. I can't imagine if we had come home to an empty house! Because of Cole, I HAVE to get out of bed in the morning. I HAVE to put a smile on my face. I HAVE to continue living. Not only do I HAVE to do these thing, I WANT to do them! I love nothing more in this world than being a mom, and I am SO lucky God blessed me with 2 beautiful boys:)!!!