Skip to main content

Our Normal Life

Sometimes it amazes me how normal things can be.  Our daily life is much like everyone's, the kids go to school, Joey and I go to work, Brad plays baseball and Ashley dances.  School started here a few weeks ago and Ashley is loving all of her classes and her teachers; she is the top dog, an 8th grader.  We got so involved in the normalcy of our life that we I completely forgot that Ashley has a trip to the Shands Liver Clinic next Friday.  To prepare for our two hour trip to Gainesville, Ashley needs to have blood work done this week, she needs to see her pediatrician for her 13 year old physical (I think I will schedule Brad's 15 year old physical as well).  So as normal as our life seems with school, work, dance and baseball, it really isn't all that normal when compared to others.

We are excited about Ashley dancing/competing again this year.  She will be doing two solos, a duet and 3 group numbers.  I am looking forward to NOT having to fundraise to keep her dancing. I work the first UCF Knights Football game this Saturday.  I am praying that we make some good money.  The more money I make for Ashley that less I have to fundraise and the more time I have with my family.  We are still looking at getting people to sponsor Ashley with dance competition.  Ashley said if we can get 5 people to sponsor $100 that would be very helpful. (Ashley likes to dream, she dreams big). This may be Ashley's last year competiting so we want to make the best of it.  We hope it's not but with her starting high school next year, she is going to be even more busy with academics not to mention a high school social life. Don't worry though, Ashley will always be dancing somewhere, it could be at her current studio, or at a workshop, a masters class or even her high school dance team.   Dance is in Ashley's blood, her great grandma was a beautiful ballerina.

Ashley and some of her friends after a dance competiton.
From left to right:  Ashley, Kylie, Alexa, Delaney and Ari



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

ALF vs COTA - Loosing Sleep

What would keep a person up past 3:30 am? Decisions... As most of you know we have been using ALF (American Liver Foundation) for Ashley's Liver Transplant Fund. However, in the past year, we have found that ALF is not offering us what we need among a few other reasons which I will not blog about. When we opened Ashley's account with ALF we did so quickly after the death of my dad during Christmas 2006 and New Year 2007, we did not have time to research the best fundraising organizations. There are so many organizations out there from ALF , COTA , NTAF . But because of my dad's untimely death and because his dying wish was that friends, family, etc. donate to Ashley to help defray our medical costs, the first organization that came to mind was the American Liver Foundation. After all, Ashley does have a liver disease. Now, both my husband and I are wondering if we should have used COTA. We have also thought and inquired about opening up a local trust fund for Ashley. Howeve...

Living through Dance

In just about six weeks Ashley will dance, not just any dance; she will be competing in a big regional dance competition by dancing her very first solo.  It's completely amazing, seeing Ashley dance, watching her live through dance.  When Ashley was born almost 11 1/2 years ago, I never ever thought, we never thought Ashley would live to dance much else do her first solo.  I can't believe I am crying as I type this.  I didn't think I would get emotional.  It's just amazing!  When I put her in dance at age 3, I did it because I knew I needed to stop sheltering her.  She needed to be around other children.  She needed to feel normal despite what is trying to zap the life out of her; despite her disease.  Honestly I never thought Ashley would be a good dancer or even a great dancer, I just knew dancing was safe; it was the one activity the doctors felt didn't put Ashley's life at risk.  Little did I know how much dancing did and still d...

It's been a while. Did you know...

that Ashley was in the hospital  after Thanksgiving and before Christmas?  She had a bleed. She has varices.  Just a little reminder that she is not healthy and has a life threatening liver disease. that we lost our beloved beautiful puppy, Sarge, on January 2.  It was sudden, shocking, and sad.  We think he had leukemia based on his symptoms.  Not sure if we will ever get another dog.  Sarge was one of a kind and a perfect fit for our laid back, drama free family. that Ashley made the Principal's Honor Roll her 1st Semester of high school while taking all honors courses.  She is beautiful and smart. that Ashley is still dancing for her high school dance team minus a solo this year. She loves being part of the team but really misses competing in her favorite style of dance, lyrical/contemporary. that after a couple years of not having a dance studio to call home.  We think we may have finally found just the place.  Maybe som...