Ellie Grace Volk

December 16, 11am: Has it really been over a month since I updated?!  I'm not sure where November went, but forgive me for not updating!

Actually, I don't have much to tell you.  Ellie is doing great.  She has been battling a lingering cold, but otherwise, she is good.  She loves kindergarten and seems to be learning so quickly.  It's amazing the learning explosion that happens once they start kindergarten!  I keep teasing her that I don't want her to learn so much because she is growing up too quickly.  The other day, she told me something new that she had learned and then she said, "Sorry Mom.  I don't mean to be getting so smart.  It just happens!" 

The picture is from Mitchell's birthday party.  He turned 17 on December 7th. 

I will have more things to share with you in the coming week.  First, Ellie has her Christmas program tonight.  I will share pictures next week.  And on Monday we head to Omaha to the Children's Hospital.  Ellie has a full day of tests and scans, including a 2-hour ultrasound. 

I am sure that Ellie is good and we'll get a great report, but I have been worried about her lingering cold.  It just seems like there is something in her lungs that is bothering her.  I am sure it's just from her cold, but I have been giving into worry.  I'll be excited to have tests done and find out that all is good.

Thank you so much for your continued support.  I will update next week.  We are blessed by your prayers and support.  We appreciate you! 

"And who of you by worrying can add a single hour to life?"  Luke 12:25

November 6, 7pm:  Ellie had a fun Halloween.  Here she is in her costume.  She was a Butterfly Fairy Queen.  I believe the costume was actually just a Butterfly Fairy, but she felt that she should be the queen!  She had a blast! 

Ellie is doing great.  A bit of a cold, but doing really well.  It's amazing how much she is learning in kindergarten.  She is constantly asking me what letters different words start with.  And how something is spelled.  She also likes to "play math" which is where I ask her to add any two numbers under 10.  She is really getting good at that.  It's fun to watch her learn so much and to see her vocabulary expand rapidly.  I swear she has grown up so much in the last 2 months!  Kindergarten has really sped up the learning process.  It's fun to watch.

We will head back to Children's this month for her 3-month check up.  I'll keep you updated on that.  As I said, she does have a bit of a cold and a cough.  For me, that means I immediately freak out a little bit.  I start thinking that maybe the cancer has come back in her lungs.  I know that is a little crazy.  I am hoping that, with time, I'll not immediately "go there" when something is wrong with Ellie. 

Thank you so much for continuing to read this journal.  I know I don't have much to tell you.  But I appreciate your continued support.  It really does mean so much to us.  We are very blessed!

"Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved."  Acts 16:31

October 7, 2pm:  Wow, I cannot believe it has been a month since I last updated!  I'm not sure where the time goes.  But I am happy that I haven't had much to report.  It's nice to just be "normal" and not have much news!

Ellie is doing great!  I actually went and watched her sing in chapel this morning along with her kindergarten class.  She was so nervous to sing in front of the entire school, but they all did a great job.  Her life is mostly school now.  She loves school, but feels it is too long.  All day, every day, wears on her by the end of the week.  By about Thursday she starts telling me that she is just going to stay home with me for a day and play.  She doesn't want me to be "lonely". 

Healthwise, she is doing great.  In fact, she ran her first road race last weekend.  She ran the "Pumpkin Run" which is a 1-mile run for kids.  She ran the mile in 9 minutes!  I thought that was great for a 5-year-old.  Unfortunatley, I was out-of-town and couldn't watch her, but Tom ran with her and he said she smiled the entire time.  He said she loved running and was full of joy!  The picture above is her before that race.

A few weeks ago, I took Ellie to the Omaha Zoo to a Make-A-Wish celebration.  We had a great day at the zoo!  Here she is riding the sky tram (with a butterfly on her face).

Other than those highlights, her life has mostly been school and watching her siblings run cross country.  We are counting down as we only have 3 cross country meets left.  Ellie is tired of going to watch them.  I have warned my older kids that once they graduate, they have to come back and watch Ellie at all of her school events as she has spent countless hours watching them!  I am shocked when I do the math on this, but Ellie will be an only child when she is 8-years-old.  Mitchell and Lexie will both be in college by that time.  Amazing.  When Ellie complains about watching the kids at one of their activities, I remind her that in few a few short years, our entire house will be all about Ellie!

We are so very thankful that everything is going great for Ellie.  I thank God every day for allowing her to be healed.  I pray that she will continue to be healthy and that cancer will stay away.  We thank you for your support and prayers.  We are so grateful for our prayer warriors!  We thank God for allowing us to be at this place in our journey.  

"So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; everything old has passed away, see, everything has become new!"  2 Corinthians 5:17

September 3, 1pm:  Ellie recently had her 3-month check up.  She goes to Children's Hospital every 3 months to get tests and scans.  They are checking to make sure they don't see any spots or anything suspicious.  If her cancer came back, it would most likely be in her remaining kidney or in her lungs.  Therefore, they check those areas thoroughly every 3 months.

On this visit, we had CT scans.  The hardest part of this test is that Ellie cannot eat anything.  She is so hungry during these tests and that makes it all the more difficult.  Also, she needs to drink the contrast liquid so that the scans are easy to see.  She drinks the liquid over a time period of about 90 minutes.  She doesn't like this part at all!  Here she is drinking the contrast liquid.

While she was drinking, we met several other moms and daughters who were also on the oncology floor.  They asked me about Ellie because she looks so healthy and has long hair.  Their daughters are in the middle of chemo and are very weak and bald.  I told them that we used to be where they are and that it does get better.  This too shall pass.  I was hopeful that we could give them a bit of inspiration that this nightmare really does come to an end.  I remember that when we were in the middle of chemo, I didn't think there would ever be light at the end of the tunnel.  But there is. 

It was then time for Ellie to have a check-up.  The doctor thought she looked great.  She is still a bit underweight.  She is 37 pounds and cannot seem to get to 40.  But she looked healthy and the doctor didn't seem too concerned.  We also needed to put a needle in her hand so that they could take out blood and do blood tests and they use that same needle to put more liquid in her during the CT scan.  Ellie always tries to be very brave during the needle poke, but she did manage to have a few tears sneak out. 

We finally got to the CT scan.  Here is Ellie as she is going into the machine.  She laid very still and the tests went quickly.  Unfortunately, Ellie is very used to laying still for tests. 

After the tests, we were done and Ellie could finally eat!  She picked her favorite pizza place and here she is enjoying her orange pop and giving me the thumbs up!

We were thankful that we had a relatively "easy" day.  It went well and, most importantly, Ellie's tests all looked good.  Praise God!

Thank you so much for your prayers!  We are blessed!!

"For the word of the Lord is right and true; He is faithful in all He does."  Psalm 33:4

August 21, 1pm: Ellie started Kindergarten this week!  How fun to celebrate this milestone with her.  Here she is on the first day of school.

She was so excited to start.  When we actually arrived at school, she became nervous and clung to me.  I stayed for awhile and I introduced her to some her to some other kids.  She started to warm and and then she seemed fine. 

When I came back to pick her up, she talked a mile-a-minute.  She loved it! 

It's exciting to have these milestones in Ellie's life.  She is doing so great right now.  Health-wise, she is wonderful. 

We do go back to Children's Hospital on Thursday for her 3 month check-up.  She will get a CT scan of chest, abdominals and pelvis, along with her normal physical and check-up.  I will update after our appointment.  I am truly not forseeing any problems.  Ellie is so healthy right now, I cannot imagine them saying that anything is wrong.  But I will keep you updated.

I'll leave you with a verse from chapel on the first day of Ellie's school.  They talked a lot about treasures.  Each child got a prayer cloth that had keys all over it to tie onto their backpacks to remind them that Jesus is the key to heaven.  They also received a small treasure chest with a scroll inside that said, "Heaven is a treasure."  Matthew 13:44-46.