Weekend Excitement

So, I was folding clothes in the laundry/guest bedroom and one of the kids runs in and says, "You are NOT going to believe this!" and then runs back out.  The other two kids and I follow him (it was Will) outside and there, sprawled across the driveway, is one of the oak trees.  Completely toppled over.
Apparently a disease had infected the root system of the tree and they had rotted underneath the tree.  To look at the tree, you could never tell - it looked perfectly healthy.  My friend Suzanne and I were talking about it on Sunday and she said, "Oh that's a sermon illustration waiting to be used."  Only pastor's wives have these types of conversations.

Anyway, we're just thankful that no one was hurt; Jack had been practicing learning how to ride his bike without training wheels in this very spot about 30 minutes before it happened.  The other exciting part was that this tree's root system was bound up with another oak's, just a couple of feet away.  We were afraid that this still-standing tree might be ready to come down without any warning as well, so today we watched as they de-limbed and chopped up the trunk of the second oak tree.  Now the area beside the house which used to be so shady and nice to park under is a barren wasteland.  Well, at least we're all safe.  The kids climbed all over the bobcat and the bucket truck tonight.  Then all of the folks in the Mt. Calvary exercise class came across the parking lot to get a gander at the tree.  It is something to see.  One elderly lady in our church told Justin she remembered those trees being big when she was a little girl.  I guess if there's disease in the soil, there's no point in planting a replacement tree.  I feel like something green needs to go in it's place, but I guess it will have to be something green in a pot, which can't quite take the place of two 60-foot tall majestic oaks.