Wanna Be a Steader!

The Story of Parker Bunny and the House!

Leslie, on HSBFrontPorch, told a great story today - about how God rewards honest "finders."  We had something extraordinary happen to us a few years ago as a result of something I found...

In September of 1997, we were renting the home we were living in and our landlord was trying to talk us into buying it.  The house was OK, it was in this rural county that we like (and are still in) but it was in a little plat, and we wanted something bigger - and maybe older, as we like old houses.  Key point here: the landlord would NOT let us have ANY pets - not even goldfish. 

On this beautiful September afternoon, we were having our annual homeschool family picnic.  Someone had noticed a huge Red-tailed Hawk up in a tree, and after scanning down to where he was obviously looking, we noticed a sweet little bunny munching on some clover.  Right away, we could tell that it was not a cotton-tail and was someone's pet who had either gotten away or had been released (not an odd occurance in this park) - and because he had been someone's pet, he was too "stupid" to know NOT to munch on clover out in the open!   

JUST as many of us were putting together what was obviously going to happen (SIDE NOTE:  the difference between homeschool dads and homeschool moms - The dads were all saying, "Hey kids!  Science lesson!"   While the moms were saying, "Oh, the poor bunny is going to get eaten!"  ), then the hawk dive-bombed the poor bunny, picked him up by the head and started to fly over us.  Well, I just couldn't stand it; I ran out, waving my arms at the hawk as he flew over me - whether I scared it or whether the bunny, not being a little cottontail, was bigger than he thought and he didn't have a good grip on it - the hawk dropped the bunny by me!  The bunny ran over and squeezed himself up against the brick siding of the picnic shelter as the hawk made a circle, flew within inches of the poor bunny, but missed!  Again, I couldn't stand it, so thinking to myself, "Maybe if it was someone's pet it won't bite me TOO HARD if I pick it up," I ran over before the hawk could swoop by a 3rd time and grabbed the bunny!

Poor little bunny!  He didnt' move to nearly 2 hours.  Of course everyone - young and old - came up to pet the bunny.  Amazingly, he wasn't hurt at all.  Many asked if I were going to keep it, but I had to tell them that I would LOVE to keep the bunny but our landlord wouldn't let us have pets.  And, of course, no one there wanted him.  A little later, one of the moms came up and sat beside me to pet the bunny - like others before her, she asked if I were going to keep him; I answered about the landlord not allowing pets.  To this she answered: "Well, I have a house that we'd like to arrange a rent-to-own with someone, and I'D LET YOU HAVE PETS!" 

DING, DING, DING!!!!

So, when I went home - WITH THE BUNNY! - I told my hubby about the offer.  We made arrangements to go out and see the house the next day.  It was old, needed work, it wasn't quite out in the boonies like we've always wanted, BUT it is in a town so small that it's technically a village (under 5,000 people) - and we REALLY liked it.  I told my husband that we would use the bunny (who we named Parker Bunny - found in a PARK - get it?!) as Gideon's fleece...I would tell the landlord all about how I got the bunny.  If he said we could keep it, we would buy the house we were already in; if he said, "no," we would get the old house that our friend told us about.

I called the landlord, told him the whole story and he said, "WOW!  Great story...but no pets."  I said, "OK, that's all I needed to know."  So...we called our friend and told her we'd take the house!!

We've been here 9 years this month!  It's 2,000 square feet, is nearly 170 years old and has plenty of character.  Dear little Parker lived nearly 8 years!!  He was by far one of the dearest little pets we've ever had - loved to be held and in all that time NEVER bit anyone.  After we moved into our new/old house, my oldest daughter did some research and found out that Parker was Belgiun Hare.  He was gorgeous and grew to be HUGE! 

SOOOOOOOO...if I had never saved that sweet little bunny's life, we never would have gotten our home!!  Isn't it wonderful how the Lord works?!

Blessings from Ohio, Kim Wolf<><

Love your story!

04:29, 2006-Oct-3 .. Posted by Tinakay

That was great. My hubby works at Costco and a bird flew in the shop and he saved it. Turns out it was a parakeet and he has found a home here. Hope all is well!!
Tina Kay