Two weeks had passed since we were "served" our 60-day notice. Sounds like an eviction, doesn't it? At least it was a friendly one.

I've mentioned our landlords before and how super cool they are. In spite of them seeming to feel the same about us, there was a small incident in which she was less than happy with Trey. In his overzealousness to get more light into the home, he took it upon himself (on the first weekend after we moved in) to limb their 50-foot fir tree that was overtaking the front yard. Its branches were resting on the roof and gutter allowing very little sunlight to come in the living room. The next day we needed help getting the pilot light on so we could have some heat. "Mr. Landlord" came by to do this and during the visit I pointed out the lovely limbing job and said "I hope you don't mind but Trey trimmed a few branches." The look on his face told me he did. Oops.

About an hour later I saw both Mr. AND Mrs. Landlord pulled up across the street and stared at the now partially naked tree. They sat there for about 10 minutes and drove away. Probably to plot their revenge. I fully expected at least a phone call but we heard nothing. Trey called "Mr. Landlord" and apologized. Mr. Landlord explained how his wife just loved that tree and never wanted to mess with it in spite of the overwhelming shade it brought. Apology accepted but, in spite of Trey's insistence, he wouldn't agree that Trey's whack job actually helped sell the house. That's fine. It helped ease our guilt.

Fast forward to November 9th. The house had passed inspection, the appraisal was satisfactory and the November 20th closing date remained on the calendar. We technically had until December 27th but who wants to move on Christmas? We didn't.

Enter in my friend Ann once again. "Hey, I was lying in bed last night listening to the wind howl and the branches banging up against the house when I remembered you saying that Trey limbing the tree was the reason the rental house sold. It made me think of the verse, 'I am the vine. You are the branches. You can do nothing apart from me.' This move is about your kids. The branches need to be pruned to bear fruit." She then went on to read me some key verses with this theme. As soon as she said "a shoot from the branch of Jesse" I got chills.


You see, this summer I was asking God for a verse and/or a theme to pray for my kids this school year. I kept ending up at Isaiah 11: "A Branch From Jesse". I had assumed it was for my oldest and continued wondering what it would be for the other boys. Nothing came. But as I re-read this chapter there were three key sentences. One for each of them. I loved this confirmation.

The next day we got a call from Mrs. Landlord. In the process of helping us look for a new house she stumbled up a lakefront property for rent. She explained that they had always wanted to live on the lake but knew it would always be financially out of their reach to buy a home there. If they rented this house, and we, in turn, rented their current house she could get this little adventure out of her system. Were we interested??

Stay tuned.................