A Long Distance Thank You

Ellis would like to send special thanks to the K-3rd grade Sunday School class at Blackjack Baptist Church in Franklin, KY! These sweet children made her cards to tell her they were praying for her and that they hope she gets well soon. Ms. Joannie, who teaches the class, was a special friend of Ellis's great grandmother, Mildred (my grandmother, "Muddle"). We really appreciate Ms. Joannie and her class thinking of Ellis and you can tell how excited she was to open the cards.
We are still waiting for Ellis's MRI results and direction from her doctors about what our next steps should be. We appreciate all your prayers and everyone who has checked on us. More news soon I hope!

For a Friend

I have worked hard to keep this blog about Ellis and Ellis alone, filtering out all the other things going on around us all the time. But I know y'all are a praying crowd, so please indulge me for a moment as I stray from the program.
This past weekend we unexpectedly lost a friend and a mentor, Ken Greene, who was a partner at our architecture firm, GBBN, and worked closely with both Greg and me. For years he taught us, day by day, how to be better architects. Ken and the other partners at GBBN have always been supportive of our family and went out of their way to make sure Greg could keep working during our three months in Cincinnati in addition to a thousand other things that made our stay more comfortable. When I told our Lexington colleagues about the complications that were occuring in my pregnancy and the things we were going to be facing after Ellis was born, Ken put his arm around me and assured me that he would pray for us and that he would do whatever he could to help us. He and his wife Alice have been a great encouragement to us through this journey, as their son also spent some time in the NICU after he was born. Ken and Alice, along with many others from GBBN, visited us in the hospital and continued to check on Ellis, and even bring her gifts, after we brought her home. There is no way in these few words to express what he meant to us and to all those he knew for so many years. Please pray for his family and close friends now as they deal with this great loss.
GBBN is keeping this page for memories and tributes, professional and personal.

Ellis is Ten Months Old (last week!)

I am a little late celebrating Ellis's ten month birthday, but only because this has been a very busy week and weekend with her Auntie Carrie getting married! Pictures of that are to come soon.
Ellis had a great week and is getting more mobile every day. She gets excited on sunny days because we often take walks in the afternoon. This week we enjoyed an afternoon in the park with Auntie Ally, who took these cutesie pictures.

Yea!

Ellis's eye doctor said that she can wear her eye patch three hours a day now, instead of six like we have been doing. We are all very happy about that and hopeful that things will continue to improve. Definitely an answered prayer. It will be a few days before we get her MRI results, so I am just trying to be patient and not worry. You would think I would be good at that by now, but not really. More updates as we get information...

Busy Days

Tomorrow Ellis will have her first MRI since before she was born. This will be a bit of a procedure because she will be under anesthesia and will have to have her trach switched out for one that doesn't contain metal. We are praying for good results and an easy time for her. She will also have an eye exam, so we really hope that the patching we are doing every day is helping her. It will be a busy day and a long trip for us, so we appreciate everyone thinking about us and praying for Ellis.
Some pictures from this past weekend:

Ellis in her derby fascinator, anxiously watching the ponies run

Mother's Day flowers from Mama & Daddy

Happy Feet

                                                                She's feeling better.

Yuck...Again.

Poor little Ellis is getting over another ear infection, so I haven't asked her to pose for any pictures or make any dance videos this week. Other than that, she is enjoying playing with some of her new toys and animals she got for Easter and hoping for breaks in the weather here and there so we can get out for walks.
Since we don't have a new picture right now, here's one from last week. She's going to be running around this place before we know it!