Love For Ashley

This past weekend I was in Mobile, Alabama helping my mom after she had heart surgery. Since I had no children to tow around I took advantage of it and went out with my sisters. We decided to go out to Crooked Martini and watch the Alabama/Georgia game. Of course, Alabama won and moved to No. 2 in the Polls (ROLL TIDE) and my beloved Gators...Okay they lost but I still love them. My kids call me an AlaGator fan but when the Gator's play Alabama, it's GO GATORS! When my sister's and I get together we always forget to take pictures, mainly because we never bring a camera. This time we used my cell phone. As much as I hate my Blackberry Pearl; it does take a decent picture even I look somewhat photogenic. From Left to Right; Me (43), Terri (45) and Renee (41) The night out started with me getting a bruise on the back of my left calf. Lesson learned: when sitting on a shaky table don't wiggle your butt to make it shake more, result a collapsed table and very bruised legs. ...

Last weekend, September 20, we spent the day on the Casi Cielo; our friends boat. It was the most relaxing way to spend the afternoon. As we toured the Sebastian inlet, we found a little island, anchored the boat and allowed the kids to explore the island. As the kids went exploring; the adults stayed on the boat, talked politics, football and just generally got to know each other better. Being on a boat, on a bright beautiful day, viewing God's creation in it's glory was very much like seeing a piece of Heaven; I certainly felt like it was Almost Heaven. Brad, Ashley and Caroline on the Bow of the boat. Ashley and Caroline walking in the water. Caroline's face tells the story. Just a picture of one of God's creatures, the Pelican. Ashley, Caroline and Kat exploring the island. The best looking boy on the planet, my son, Brad. Laura Deery and Me, Laurie Johansen Kat, Brad (notice the blue tongue), Joey and Me. We had such a great time, it was a memory we will not...

Today in the mail, instead of receiving bills, we received a pleasant surprise. A few days ago I received an email from a mom at the dance studio asking for our mailing address. Her daughter, Lena, wanted to send Ashley a birthday card. We received that card today and it was one of the sweetest cards we have ever received. It was handmade by Lena and enclosed were three checks totaling $200 for Ashley's transplant fund with the American Liver Foundation. Lena's birthday party was celebrated on the same day we had Ashley's "So You Think You Can Dance" party. Lena was invited to attend Ashley's party and was asked to be a judge but unfortunately she had a birthday of her own to celebrate. For Lena's birthday, she asked her friends to donate money to Ashley's transplant fund. Lena thank you so much for thinking of Ashley on your special day. Thanks to the Hauser family, the McClain family and the Tucciarone family. Your generous donations are app...

We still have approximately 70 cookbooks left. We would like to challenge our blog readers as well as those who have already purchased a cookbook to sell at least two cookbooks to friends, coworkers, family, neighbors, etc. We would only need 35 people to sell two cookbooks and we would have them all sold. If you would like to take The Cookbook Challenge, please email me so I can forward instructions to you on how to sell your Love for Ashley Cookbooks, the cost, order forms, etc. You can email me at loveashley@loveforashley.com We do have more fundraisers in the works, please look at the right side of the blog for future Love for Ashley fundraisers. Soon we will have a separate blog just for Our Fundraisers. Also, sometime in early 2009, the Johansen Family, will be raising funds for biliary atresia research to benefit the American Liver Foundation's Biliary Atresia Fund for the Cure . We plan to organize a walk/run much like " Relay for Life ". If you would like...

Someone in our pediatric liver disease support group, Children's Liver Association for Support Services posted the story below years ago. The story was originally written in 1987 by Emily Pearl Kingsley about having a child with Down Syndrome. However, I find it applicable to having a child with a chronic liver diease. When I created Ashley's website , I posted this story and a short comment on the website. Today, I thought I'd share it here on Ashley's blog. Welcome to Holland by Emily Pearl Kingsley I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this...... When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases i...

I am sick . At work today I felt that I was coming down with something because I was freezing to death. But when one of my coworkers also said she was cold I thought okay I am not sick. Then after picking up the kids from school my head starting pounding, I took my temperature and it's 100.2 right now. I am thinking strep, so I will go to the docs tomorrow just to make sure. Pray it's nothing, we have a lot going on this weekend. We are suppose to watch a good friend cheer at her second middle school football game, Brad has his second baseball game on Sunday and Ashley is suppose to go to a youth group gathering at our church on Sunday. Please pray. Today my sister's called me to tell me that my mom was taken to the hospital by ambulance. According to my sister, Renee, my mom was throwing up what she was thought was blood and complaining of chest pains. Of course, my mom thought she was having a heart attack which is completely possibly since she is a huge smoker, is overwe...

Yesterday Brad came home with a letter from the school stating that he scored in the top 1% of the Nation in math. Therefore Brad is eligible to take the ACT and the SAT through Duke University . I am not sure if there is a benefit to having Brad take the ACT or the SAT while still in middle school but it would be interesting to see how he scores on exams usually given to just high school juniors. Right now, I am leaning toward registering Brad to take the SAT in January. Regardless, I am very proud of Brad.

This week has been one crazy week. Labor Day was nice and relaxing but then on Tuesday chaos ruled the week. If you remember a few posts ago I wrote that Brad was having trouble breathing during strenuous activity; on Tuesday I took him to an Allergy and Asthma specialist. We arrived on time at the doctors office, Brad was nervous about getting shots but he was ready to get it over with. Brad was given a breathing test which he passed. However, because Brad has trouble breathing with strenuous activity he was placed on an inhaler and tentatively diagnosed with sports-induced asthma. Brad will be required to use the inhaler 30 minutes prior to any activity; for Brad that means baseball and Karate. If the inhaler works at relieving his symptoms during activity then we know he has sports-induced asthma. If the inhaler doesn't work then we are back to the drawing board and more testing. Pray that the inhaler works. On Wednesday, Ashley had 3 1/2 hours of dance. Brad had confirmation cl...