Ashley Jordyn Resnick
Birth date – October 29, 1999
Angel date – January 31, 2004

When we think about the very first time we held our beautiful angel, an indescribable feeling of warmth consumes our hearts and brings peace to our souls. Ashley was placed in our arms for the first time on Friday, October 29, 1999 , at 7:50PM . Ashley was developing on target and hitting all of her milestones. It wasn't until she was turning 1 that we began to feel that something might be wrong. We had been noticing that when Ashley pulled herself up to the sofa in an attempt to “cruise,” she would drag her right foot behind slightly. When we had her 15-month checkup, the doctor said that since Steve was a very late walker, Ashley was probably taking after her daddy and was just a late bloomer. Ashley was turning 18-months and slowly beginning to lose her skills. It was at this time that we had an MRI of Ashley's brain and complete blood work to determine why she was losing skills. Sadly she was diagnosed with an unknown type of Leukodystrophy.

When we think about Ashley and all the happiness she brought to our lives, one thing comes to mind…her angelic smile. It didn't matter whether we were on an elevator in the hospital, or strolling in the mall, or just simply playing with her toys in her playroom at home. She was always smiling. From the time we got her out of her crib in the morning, she was full of life and waiting with her beautiful smile and opens arms to enjoy the day ahead of her. Though so many days were filled with unpleasant appointments and therapies and procedures, she always had a smile on her face. She greeted doctors and nurses with open arms, always making their job more pleasant just by being in their presence. They waited for her to come out of examining rooms just to give her hugs. The nurses fought over who would be with her that appointment because they loved her so much. From the moment she came into our lives, she captured everyone's heart and as she smiled at them, she took everyone's breath away. That's how angelic she was. Even though she couldn't talk, we all heard her soul and how happy she was with everything that happened around her.

We may have only had Ashley in ours lives for four years, but she gave so much love in that short time…enough for a lifetime. She touched everyone's heart with whom she came in contact. It didn't matter whether it was a doctor or a family member or a friend or a stranger. Ashley taught us more about unconditional love, compassion and pure beauty in someone's heart than any one of us could have ever learned without her in our lives. She blessed all of lives in the most profound way. She may never have spoken in her life, but her love was more potent than any of us could ever have imagined.

While we struggle to make sense of her illness and her precious but short life, we will continue to focus on the meaning of her life and what she represented to those that loved her: hope, honesty, passion, strength, and love in the purest form. We are saddened that our goodbyes came so suddenly. We all know in our hearts that Ashley is now at peace, running around like her cousins do today and dancing around like the little ballerina she always was in her heart. She is talking and singing and making everyone in heaven as happy as she did when she smiled at anyone here. God now has another angel looking down on all of us.