LET ME OUT!

Only 25 days until Allison and I leave our little piece of heaven. Any of you who have spent time in our suite know the 10 reasons why that is funny. The problem of the week is that our landlady keeps moving our mousetraps when she shows prospective renters our suite (and about 15 couples have come through in the last two weeks - no takers so far). She kicks them (the mousetraps, not the renters) under the stove and the cabinet so no one will know about our little 'subletters' (who, I might add, are 7 months behind in rent -ha). Anyway, Allison and I were angry that the landlady has been moving our stuff around, so late tonight, we rolled up duct tape and fastened the traps firmly to the floor. This lady has brought out a side of me I never knew existed. How do you show love to someone who lies to you, withholds your mail for weeks, blames US for the mouse problem (and denies that the fist sized hole in the living room floor has anything to do with it), won't answer her door when the fire alarm goes off upstairs in the middle of the night, etc, etc.? It has been a real test of my patience and virtue. How do I show her that it isn't OK to treat us like this without being nasty? How do I love her unconditionally without being a doormat? I feel torn - my vindictive side wants to slide little lab mice through her mailslot on my way out on our last day here. My gentler side wants to just smile and not stir the waters. Any advice would be much appreciated. Anyway, regardless, only about 3 more weeks, and then on to Mom and Dad's for a much needed break.

Just a little something that, in light of my school difficulties and house stresses, has come to mean more to me recently:

“ … there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
2 Cor. 12:7-10

Yeah, I needed that.

KNL