Good people and good times

Often the great things people do are only great in the eyes of the person whose life is touched. Occasionally a person goes above and beyond and we are all grateful to see that commitment and dedication acknowledged in a special way.

A young man in the Tampa community has done something tremendous and I want to ask all of you to take a moment and help him receive that acknowledgement. Pat Pedraja is an 11 year old boy with Leukemia, and his heart was touched by a friend who was unable to find a bone marrow donor in time to save her life. Pat learned about the great need for minority donors and he thought up and executed the Driving for Donors” program over the past year. His goal was to drive nationwide, raising awareness of the need for donors, especially minority donors. He wanted 2007 new donors registered in 2007 and ended up registering over 5000 in just 3 months! The first match was made here in Tampa, between a donor and a lymphoma patient. He is saving lives in a very crucial way.

Pat and his vision has been highlighted on a myriad news outlets and he was nominated to be a CNN hero. The voting for this award is open through this coming Monday and we want to see him win!! The announcement of a winner will be on December 6th at 9PM. It only takes a moment to go to the CNN website and let the world know that there are kids out there capable of changing the world before them and to give Pat a wonderful “thank you” for his hard work. If you can share this info with others, the more votes we can stir up for him is appreciated.

Tomorrow starts another busy weekend for us. The kids are skipping school to go to the Steve Yerrid Fishing Derby in St. Pete. Steve Yerrid is a HUGE supporter of the pediatric cancer community and a generous man who gives of his time and money to fund research. One of the events that he hosts each year is a weekend-long even that involves a golf tournament, followed by the fishing derby for the kids that allows them to go out with fishing celebrities (who knew??) and local celebrities for the afternoon, and then tomorrow night is the Fisherman’s Ball at Tropicana Fields. Peter and I will be attending the ball in the evening, enjoying some super food and fun with all proceeds of the weekend benefiting the Pediatric Cancer Foundation.

Saturday Peter and I are heading over to the Hard Rock Casino to hang at the Ian Beckles Blue and White party that benefits the Children’s Cancer Center. This is another annual fundraiser with food (oh the things I will do to not have to cook!), drinks and fun. There is a fashion show and apparently the big players of Tampa come out to rock out at this event. I wouldn’t know a player of Tampa if one whacked me in the face with a 2×4, but I guess we’ll get to see them in action. Many of the families of the Children’s Cancer Center are going to be there, so it’ll be a grand time.

I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures to share with you!

On the flip side of the hero coin, Rachael has found new and interesting ways to torment her sister. A piercing scream came from the bathroom tonight and the frequency of those kinds of sounds is now to the point that it takes Peter and myself a good 2-3 minutes to even bother to look up from whatever we’re doing. Usually either Peyton has devised some new way to drive Rachael insane or Rachael has gone out of her way to do something remarkably evil. Poor Nathaniel.

Tonight was Rachael’s turn to show her tendency to the dark side. I go to the bathroom after a couple of eardrum shattering screams come, signaling that there is no chance that the girls are going to find a resolution to whatever problem there is. Last night’s big conflict ended with a resounding “THUD” and more screaming….that actually got us up and running pretty quick.

So, let me set up this scene for you.

The girls are in the bathtub. Rachael’s sitting on the side with the tap looking utterly serene. Peyton’s standing on the far side of the tub, howling to bring down the house. The tub is 70% full.

Both girls take one look at me and start defending themselves.

“Peyton’s being snotty to me and…..”
“Rachael won’t let me sit on that side and….”

Ok. Obviously it’s an extinction level crisis we’re dealing with here.

Rachael is firmly defending her right to sit on her side of the tub and Peyton is equally put out that she won’t move. No biggie, right?? Then I stick my hand in the tub.

The water was so cold that the entire cast of “March of the Penguins” could have floated by at any moment!

Rachael had filled the tub with icy water and then started the hot water….her sitting in the incoming warmth and leaving her sister to sit in a polar ice cap of a bath. Then to top it off, she’s sitting in such a way that as little warm water as possible will filter over to Peyton’s side of the tub.

Oh, she’s good.

This is one of those moments that Peter will look at me and say “That’s YOUR daughter”. Yeah, probably.

As a quick lesson, I dumped an entire bowl of the frigid water over Rachael’s head, causing her to start bawling.

“Mommy, that’s cold!!”

You think? Duh!

I couldn’t make this stuff up if I wanted to.

f.r.o.G…fully relying on God
–Anissa