The Mayhew sink of death

There are reasons why we have a dog. Something large, furry and hard to kill accidentally.

Back when Peter, Nathaniel and I lived in Colorado we had goldfish. There was a trip to Florida where we forgot that we had fish and left without feeding them. Peter came home first and he was amazed to find that the fish were still alive! But unfortunately, because he forgot to feed them AFTER he’d gotten home, most of them died anyway.

Did we give up? No! We Mayhews aren’t quitters. We got more fish.

So, one day while cleaning out the fishbowl, I put the fish in a transition bowl by the sink. Nathaniel had learned this new trick (he was two years old at this point) of opening the dishwasher and standing on the door so he could see all the stuff on the counter. Peter called me in the middle of the fishbowl washing and I walked away to answer the phone. When I came back, the bowl with the fish in it was GONE! Nathaniel had dumped the bowl of water and fish into the sink…of course not the side that has a drain, no, he dumps it into the side with the garbage disposal. Out of three fish, I could only see one. The biggest one was trapped in the plastic that covers the drain and was flopping madly around. I snatched him up and stuck him in a glass of water. But I still couldn’t find the other two fish. Only one place they could have gone.

I’m on the phone with Pete, with my hand shoved down the garbage disposal and the fish are really ticked off with me, flopping around furiously and I can’t get a grip on them. I’m bawling now, because the fish have worked themselves so deeply into the garbage disposal that I know there’s only one option.

From that day on, the one remaining fish always sort of glared at me whenever I walked by.

Now, that whole lovely PETA-approved back story was to set up my sink/animal fiasco of today.

Why me?

Nathaniel’s taken on this new hobby of catching lizards. He proudly comes in with whatever new scaly thing he’s stalked and captured and then he sticks it in a box/cup/bowl…whatever. Well, he made a huge mistake of leaving his latest prey on the coffee table and when Peyton cleaned off the coffee table today, the cup went into the kitchen. I had no idea until I noticed something floating in the water while I washed dishes. After I drained the sink, I found a little shriveled up drowned lizard at the bottom of the sink.

So, of course I did the first thing any good mother would do, I took a picture of it. Then I rewashed all the dishes, completely grossed out that there was dead lizard all over my stuff. Uggggggg

Why me??

Beyond the lizard incident, Nathaniel had a great day! He got to go to GameWorks with is big buddy Eddie. GameWorks is basically the arcade that you wished you had when you were a kid. It’s just awesome! They ate dinner there and had a rocking good time. Nathaniel won the Dance Dance Revolution, Eddie won the race car games….seems fair.

Nathaniel and Eddie, voted “Most likely to be chosen at dodgeball”

Peyton does this overnight puff up on the 2cnd day post-steroids. It’s as if the drugs and the food need time to really get in her system. And today you see this dramatic change in her face and belly. It’ll go away in about a week, but she looked normal at the football game yesterday, she looks like Marlon Brando today.

I want to share some much needed prayer requests.

Delaney Potterbaum is a little girl with an Optic Glioma, a brain tumor. Her tumor recently turned aggressive and then she took a huge turn for the better. She’s now home, recovering, starting physical therapy, but left mostly blind. She’s always been an active little girl and now because of her vision loss she’s bored, she’s frustrated and her family is working hard to try to find ways for her to use her creative mind that is being trapped by her blindness. Please pray for her awesome family, they are so positive and constantly thankful just to have Delaney each and every day.

Sydney Sims(Neuroblastoma) requires a huge amount of prayer right now. She and her parents are in NY at Sloan Kettering getting her MIBG results and waiting on bone marrow results. There is just so much unknown for Sydney right now, they don’t have a treatment plan in place yet and her body has been through so much. Her family is separated with her brother here in FL and her parents with her in NY and it could be weeks before they are together, so please just keep them wrapped in prayer.

Maddie Bridges (Rhabdomyosarcoma) and her family is preparing to leave for Jacksonville for 6 weeks. She will be receiving proton radiation on her tumor site and we just pray for her to handle the treatment as well as possible.

Baby Leo Astacio (Neuroblastoma) had good news in that his tumors are either shrinking or stable. His family had a wonderful trip to Chicago to see a Neuroblastoma specialist and she was able to put some peace in their hearts about holding treatment and seeing if his body will fight the disease on their own.

Justin Gaudineer (Neuroblastoma) is home from his trip to NY for surgery. He’s doing very well and is starting up a big week of chemo here at home. He’s such a fighter and he just needs lots of prayer as he continues to heal and battle his cancer.

In the face of all that, it seems petty to complain that Peyton’s eating around the clock. She’s so happy and healthy, her cancer is in remission and we are thankful every day for the lessons that she teaches us. I don’t know why cancer has to touch our lives, I hate that anyone has to watch their child suffer, but I know that God has a plan and a purpose for each of us.

f.r.o.G….fully relying on God
–Anissa