Nancy Langenfeld really connected with her dad at a recent party. He was able to communicate things to her that he never could before. Her mother and sisters surrounded her and heard his message, too. But here’s the catch: Her dad wasn’t there. He wasn’t even close. The last time Nancy saw him was on Sept. 3, 1993, the night before he died.

Safe to say, this was not your typical family get-together. It was a psychic medium party, one in which Nancy and her loved ones (both alive and deceased?) had been looking forward to for months. Langenfeld’s daughters booked Kelli Miller—aka The Medium of the Heartland—and knew their mom would love it.

“I was excited when I first heard that this was going to be my gift from my daughters,” Langenfeld says. “I have been interested in the idea of communicating with people who have crossed over since I first watched [psychic medium] John Edward’s show.”

Langenfeld’s excitement mingled with a little apprehension.

“I thought it was going to be a memorable night, but it was like stepping into the unknown. I felt like the group had started out on a journey together and I was wondering where we would be at the end of the night.”

As the guest of honor, Langenfeld was the first out of the group of eight to complete her reading with Miller. Langenfeld asked to speak (via Miller) with her father, who was a devoted St. Louis Cardinal fan.

“The first thing she said he wanted to tell me was ‘Haven’t you noticed the Cardinals?’ I was astonished. My dad always loved the Cardinals, I love the Cardinals and whenever I see Cardinal birds around our yard, I always think of my dad. I was really blown away.”

Some came with a bit more skepticism. Erin Dahms, Langenfeld’s daughter, knew she would enjoy the evening, but didn’t plan on buying into everything Miller had to say.

“I tried going into it with an open mind. I didn’t expect to be amazed, but also didn’t discount it entirely,” Dahms says.

But while Dahms walked in with a healthy amount of skepticism, she walked out a believer.

“Afterwards, I was pretty amazed by what she was able to tell us and the things she knew,” she says. “I felt like she knew personal, detailed things that she could not have generalized or guessed about. It made me think of people who have died as still being present in one way or another rather than gone for good.”

Miller says she has had much success with the party format. It allows multiple people to get a 15-minute reading from Miller in the company of their friends and/or family.

“When I first got started, I looked at what people were not doing and decided to do parties. Word spread quickly and that’s all it took,” Miller says.

Miller offers private readings, but loves doing parties.

“I feel like people tend to learn more in the group setting. I am there for about three hours and people experience not only their own reading, but everyone’s in the group as well.”

Langenfeld feels as though she learned a few things from Miller, not only to notice the Cardinals, but also how to get better sleep.

“One thing she told me was that my dad was waking me up at 3 a.m.,” she says. “After the medium party, I asked my dad not to wake me up anymore so I can get good sleep. Now I don’t wake up anymore.”