'We're going to constantly search for ways that good will come out of this.'
Granger Smith is opening up about the devastating loss of his son.
On Wednesday, the 39-year-old country singer and his wife, Amber Bartlett, took to their YouTube channel, The Smiths, to speak about the death of their 3-year-old son, River, who died earlier this month in an accidental drowning.
The couple, who also share Lincoln, 5, and London, 7, thanked their friends and fans for their support during the challenging time and praised their supporters for raising over $100,000 for Dell Children's Hospital where River was treated.
"We are going to search for every bit of good that we can find in this situation, you know, the worst situation we've ever been through. Hopefully ever," Smith said. "We're going to constantly search for ways that good will come out of this. That's my commitment to River's legacy."
Smith went on to discuss the circumstances surrounding River's death, which happened on a normal night when the family was playing outside.
"It was actually a night just like this and I was outside playing with London. We were doing gymnastics in the yard and the boys were playing a water gun fight. I remember thinking, I was looking at London, as she was doing gymnastics and I thought... 'Soak up this moment because it's not going to last forever,'" he recalled. "Somewhere between 30 seconds and three minutes [later] Amber and I are inside our pool gate doing CPR on our son."
While the couple is clearly devastated by their loss, they are searching for positive moments, leaning on their faith and aiming to live life to the fullest in honor of their late son.
"I think the platform that we immediately stand for is love those close to you, soak up those moments, live for today, live in the present, because we're not guaranteed tomorrow," Smith said. "And what happened to us that night defied all odds, or all possibilities. And we believe that... God gave us River for three years and that was his mission. I don't believe that God takes anyone too soon."
"I'm not going to play around in my mind that there's this fictitious timeline of River graduating from college or high school or playing football because I believe that he was put on this Earth for that exact amount of time," he added.
"London asked me how many days River lived and I said, 'Well, just over 1,000.' And I thought about that after I said and I thought, 'What if we all given 1,000 days? What if you were given the gift of 1,000 days on this Earth and you could live those days barefoot, red hair flying back on your go-cart, on your tractor, full-speed ahead?'" Smith continued. "If you could do that with your family around you, with no real cares in the world, that's a good 1,000 days. That's a good way to live. And I think that's a huge example in me, in my life, and Amber and how we're going to move forward and how we're gonna look at every single day."
The couple went on to discuss their commitment to each other, their family, their kids and their faith, before telling their followers not to feel bad for them.
"We are stronger than ever right now. We've gotten so close and we are going to constantly search for the meaning behind all of this. Not the reason, I think the reason is very different than the meaning. I'm not going to get caught up in the reasons. And I'll never know," Smith said, before tearfully adding, "But we'll find the meaning and the good in this and to spread this message and his legacy. He'll always be with me and he'll always be in our hearts."
"Don't feel sorry for us because we feel very blessed we had an incredible little boy for three years," he further insisted. "We feel really good about that. We feel really good about our other kids and their state of mind right now. And we are going to live our best life."
Smith also announced that he's going to head back on tour next week, alongside his family, in order to try and get back to music, which he said has "always been my healing."
The couple ended their talk by introducing a video that they showed at River's service, where they also spoke together, showing River throughout his life with his parents and siblings.
"This is not a sad video," Smith said. "This is something [that] we want to make you smile with. When I think of Riv, I want you to smile. From now on. Live like Riv. Love you guys."
Following River's death, the Smith family received an outpouring of love from both the country music community and Morgan Beck Miller, whose daughter, Emmy, died by drowning last year.
When ET's Kevin Frazier caught up with fellow country music artist Kane Brown, who's previously toured with Smith, he shared his words of encouragement for the family.
"I told him already, 'I just want you to know that I love you, man and anything at all you ever need, I'm here for you, brother and I love you, and I'm praying for y'all," Brown said.
Watch the video below for more on River.
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