Granger Smith and his family are mourning the loss of their son River, who died earlier this month due to a drowning accident at home.

His wife Amber shared a loving message to her 3-year-old son on Instagram Sunday after their family visited a museum in Chicago.

“We just happened to be in the same city as the ‘biiiigggggggest T-Rex’ ever found. We had to make a trip to see it in honor of River,” she wrote. “This dinosaur was discovered in FAITH, South Dakota by a woman named Sue. And he died by a River ♥️.”

Amber continued, “Open your eyes and you will see signs all around you. We think just maybe, Riv is having the best time of his life in Heaven with this 🦖.”

She went on to say

Every single thing reminds me of him, and all I can think about is how he would love exploring and seeing all that we are seeing. I see his name everywhere, I see little red-headed toddlers everywhere. I miss his silly personality and his bright light. I see his face in our other kiddos. I have this pit in my stomach constantly, because I’m trying to make life as normal as possible for our other 2 incredible kiddos, London and Lincoln, while hurting so bad inside.

 

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We just happened to be in the same city as the “biiiigggggggest T-Rex” ever found. We had to make a trip to see it in honor of River. This dinosaur was discovered in FAITH, South Dakota by a woman named Sue. And he died by a River ♥️. Open your eyes and you will see signs all around you. We think just maybe, Riv is having the best time of his life in Heaven with this 🦖. Getting back on the road and back into daily life without River has not been easy in the slightest. Every single thing reminds me of him, and all I can think about is how he would love exploring and seeing all that we are seeing. I see his name everywhere, I see little red-headed toddlers everywhere. I miss his silly personality and his bright light. I see his face in our other kiddos. I have this pit in my stomach constantly, because I’m trying to make life as normal as possible for our other 2 incredible kiddos, London and Lincoln, while hurting so bad inside. I look around at everyone else and wonder if anyone is going through something like we are. Dumb little things don’t matter anymore. My family does. My faith does. We’ve got this, because God’s got us ✝️. Thank you all for your continued support, prayers and love. It really does help us so much. #livelikeriv

A post shared by Amber Smith (@amberemilysmith) on Jun 23, 2019 at 2:53pm PDT

Amber shared an emotional tribute last week to River saying:

This has been the most horrific, life-altering, soul-defining 2 weeks of our lives.

 

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Where do I even begin? This has been the most horrific, life-altering, soul-defining 2 weeks of our lives. We went from such a happy, fun-loving, exploring, dancing, party of 5, to hitting our knees, praying, asking why God, how God, and to losing our youngest son in a matter of minutes. It all happened so fast. We spent the next 2 days in the hospital praying that our little Riv would be healed. We had hundreds of prayer warriors behind us, but God had other plans for our angel, bigger plans. If you believe in our God like we do, we know now that Riv was sent to this Earth so we could experience his joy, laughter and love for 3 years. And then Jesus came and took his hand before he went under and took him home. God didn’t bring our little boy back to us, but God and Riv performed at least 2 other miracles that day for other mamas and daddies praying that someone would help save their child. Grief is such a strange thing. One minute you feel like you have the strength of a lion and you can handle what God has given you, the next you’re sitting by your son’s crib, holding his blanket and crying so hard that no tears or sound comes out, or punching your steering wheel crying and screaming at God, or smiling and laughing at the memories you have of such a special person. Sadness, anger, shock, questioning, fear, hope, the joy of remembering, emptiness, worry, heartbreak, trust in our faith – we feel all of this and more. But we also feel all of the prayers and love from every one of you who have reached out to us during this time. Our family, friends, fans and even strangers have brought us so much comfort and we cannot thank you enough. We’ve made a video updating you guys on how we are and wanted to share it with you, along with a video of River we shared at his service. Hold tight to your loved ones, as cliché as that sounds. You truly never know what life is going to throw at you. Love them fiercely, experience this beautiful life together and vow to live like Riv ♥️ Romans 8:28 ✝️ *Link in bio to watch our video

A post shared by Amber Smith (@amberemilysmith) on Jun 19, 2019 at 4:59pm PDT