Daddy Saves the Day

Two Christmas's ago we bought Madison a fish tank, and a few weeks later we went with her to pick out some fish. A few months after that we went back to get a fish to help keep the fish tank clean. We were told to get a miniature catfish. Since then we have "killed" about 4 fish, but this little catfish has been around for almost the whole time. We have 4 little fish in the 5 gallon tank right now--and Madison changes their names every time you ask what their names are. That's how much we love them.

It looks like this (I'm too lazy to get up and take a real picture):

Anyway. A few days ago we were getting ready to say our evening family prayer when Logan yells, "Hey guys! You gotta' come in here!" He said it in an excited voice, so we thought it was good. "We don't want to get up, Logan, just tell us what it is!" "No! You need to see it for yourselves!"

Madison went in and started crying hysterically. So we get off our lazy bums to see what's going on, only to find that the fish had jumped out of the tank, which looks like this:

Don't hate on me, but I don't really like animals. I took a paper towel and poked the fish. It didn't move. I said something like, "I'm sorry Madi. I think it's gone." She cried louder. Joe, who appreciates animals 1000x more than I do, picked the fish up and commented that it was pretty dry and that we had found him too late. Then he held the fish super close to his eyes and said, "Wait a minute. I think he's trying to breathe." So he gently tipped the fish back in the tank. We watched it fall down to the bottom. And then a funny thing happened. . . we saw its gills (or whatever that part is by the mouth) start to move. Then it flipped itself the right way. There was an audible sigh of relief and some cheering, too.

That was last Monday, I think, and even though it took a while for him to start moving, the fish is still alive! Hopefully a little smarter, too. Don't Jump!!