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Friday, November 25, 2011

Thanksgiving Evening at the Lake

Thanksgiving evening we loaded up and headed to Hot Springs to spend the night at the lake house.  We were on the road a lot over the holiday, but it was worth it to get to see all of our family. 

Ellis and Cole posing with mom and dad's /\/\/\/\/\ Christmas decoration.  Dad found this at Wal-Mart.  They are supposed to be separated and placed along a sidewalk or something, but when dad saw them packaged in groups of 5 like this, he knew it was meant for Miller:)!  How perfect!!!  Merry Christmas to you too, little man!

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Cole with Bud and Peg on Friday morning.  He was pouting because we were trying to take his life jacket off of him and put him in his car seat to head home.  He wasn’t quite ready to leaveWinking smile…..

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FLASHBACK:  Daddy and Cole on his 1st Thanksgiving……

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Thursday, November 24, 2011

Thanksgiving

This was our year to spend Thanksgiving with my family, so after work on Wednesday we loaded up and headed to Hope. 

We started Thursday morning watching the Macy’s Day Parade.  This is a tradition from when I was little, so it brings back lots of memories:)…..

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My aunt Melissa and Mamaw came over to eat lunch with us.  It was so good to see them!

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Ryan and Cole swinging in the backyard…..

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Mamaw with her great grandbabiesSmile…..

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Throwing leaves in the front yard…..

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Loving spending some QT with his cousinsWinking smile…..

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Cruising on his scooterWinking smile…..

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Family pic…..

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This is what too much turkey will do to youWinking smile…..

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Wednesday, November 23, 2011

5 months in Heaven…..

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Today, on Miller’s 5 month “Heavenly Birthday”, I wanted to share this writing. I posted it on Facebook a while back, so many of you may have already read it, but for my family and friends that aren’t “facebookers;)”, I think you will enjoy it…..


Why does God create severely handicapped children?


By AronMoss


Question:
A friend gave birth to a baby with a rare condition that has rendered her severely handicapped. She is not expected to live much past her tenth birthday. I just can't understand why God does that. If life has a purpose, what is the purpose of such a short and sad life?

Answer:
Every birth is a gamble. A soul enters the world innocent and pure. But it may not stay that way. This world is a maze of diverging pathways, both good and evil, and the choice is ours which way we go. Once a soul enters a body, it is free and therefore vulnerable to corruption. While acts of good elevate the soul, every act of evil makes a blemish on the soul.



Some souls are so lofty, it simply isn't worth the gamble. These souls are too precious to risk being compromised by life in a body. They are too high to come down to this world. But the other option, not to be sent down at all, to never reach this world, would mean that we would miss out on meeting these holy and lofty souls and hearing their message.



So these souls do come down. But in order to be protected from the potential evils of an earthly existence, they are sent down into a body that will not compromise their holiness. They enter this world in a form that is above sin, above evil. From a purely physical perspective we call them "disabled" or "handicapped"; from the perspective of the soul they are protected. They will never sin. Their sojourn in this world is often brief, and in terms of this world may seem sad. But they have retained their purity. And they have fulfilled their mission.



These special souls remind us that true love doesn't need a reason. We often love others for what they give us -- we love our children because they are cute, smart, and high achievers; we love our spouse for the pleasure and contentment they give us; we love our parents because they care for us. This is love, but it is not pure.


When a child is born that will never achieve worldly success, cannot provide the usual source of pride for her parents, all extraneous reasons to love her fall away and what's left is the purest love that there can be. These children are lovable not because of what they do for you, and not because of what they will one day become, but simply because they are.



These pure souls remind us what love should be. Only such a pure and holy soul can elicit such a pure and holy emotion. We can only stand in awe of them, and the parents and friends who care for them. And we can only thank them all, for giving us a glimpse of what true love really means.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Voyage Video

Saturday night Patrick and I went to Voyage.  This is Circle of Life’s annual fundraising gala and this year Miller was their feature story.  A crew came out and filmed this video a month or so ago, and we hadn’t seen the finished product until the night of the event.  It’s very emotional to watch, but I think they did a great job.  Hopefully this will encourage others to donate to The Miller McNeil Woodruff Foundation (which supports Circle of Life), and/or donate directly to Circle of Life.  The circumstances are unfortunate, but we feel blessed that our paths crossed, and we will forever be grateful for the role COL played in Miller’s life…..

(remember to pause the playlist at the bottom of the page before watching the video)

To learn more about Circle of Life, visit their website:  http://www.nwacircleoflife.com/

Monday, November 21, 2011

Bowling

Last week we went bowling at Fast Lanes for Kim Rusher’s birthday. Cole hadn’t been bowling in a while, so he was super excited to “knock those white things down”;)……002003005

Miss Maggie…..016

Rex…..

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Kim, the “Birthday Diva”Smile…..

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Miss Lily…..

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Cole with the Rusher GirlsSmile…..

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And just for the fun of it, a FLASHBACK: Cole’s 1st trip to the bowling alley was also a date with Lily (Maggie wasn’t born yet, but Kim was pregnant with her here). Cole was 3 months old and Lily was 6 months old. Fun timesSmile!!!

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And his 2nd trip to the bowling alley (he was 1 1/2)Smile…..

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Sunday, November 20, 2011

Super Sunday

We had a great day!  Cole spent the night at Nana and Papa’s last night, so I slept in until 10:00am!  YES, you read that right….10:00!!!!!!  I can’t tell you the last time I slept until 10:00!  It was WONDERFUL!  I called Rhonda at 11:00am to tell her I was going to come get Cole and she said that they were getting ready to go outside and put up Christmas lights, so I told her I would come closer to 1:00pm.  Between 11:00am and 1:00pm, I drank two cups of coffee and played around on the computer.  It was great! 

I picked him up at 1:00pm and we played around the house until it was time to go to soccer at 3:30pm.  After soccer, we went to the Fayetteville Square to look at the Christmas lights and have dinner at Tim’s Pizza with the Eide’s and the Nowlin’s.

Cole had a great soccer game!  Made lots of goals, turned the ball around, and didn’t use his hands!  We need to work on him letting his friends make goals too!  That’s a hard thing to explain;)…..  

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The kids patiently waiting to go see the lights after dinnerSmile…..

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Loving lifeSmile…..

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The whole gang…..

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The dadsWinking smile…..

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SWEET CowenSmile…..

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The Eide Family…..

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The Nowlin Family…..

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Our fam…..

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“posing”Winking smile…..

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An attempt at another group shot…..not so muchWinking smile.

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Miss Brynne…..

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The Eide kiddos (Cowen switched from his monkey hat to his Minner hatSmile)…..

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An attempt at an adult picture.  Connor was sweet enough to take this for us.  It’s a little fuzzy, but I think he did a great jobWinking smile…..

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FLASHBACK:  These pictures are from Cole’s very 1st trip to Lights of the Ozarks.  Miller would have been the same age this year……

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