I was dumbstruck reading this article in the paper today.
Family's New Fairfax Home Stuck in a Regulatory Forest
Trees Could Harm Blind Children, Parents Contend
Yes you read that right -- trees are harmful to Blind Children!
Their seven-bedroom, $2.2 million dream home is in spotless, move-in condition. It's an elegant hideaway on 1.6 acres in Oakton, set back from a winding, tree-lined road -- a perfect place for their four youngest children to grow up.
But for 36 days, Karen and Joe Bartling and their children have been homeless. Along with their college-age son and the family's Labrador retriever, they have been holed up in a tiny efficiency apartment in Chantilly with a pullout couch, all of their belongings in a storage locker.
But to the Bartlings, the trees are nothing but booby traps wrapped in wire and wooden stakes: Four of their five children -- who were adopted from Korea, China and India -- are blind. For them, trees are bumps and scrapes waiting to happen.
"I don't want my kids having black eyes running into trees all day," said Karen Bartling, 48. "These kids have enough obstacles in their lives. The last thing we want is trees in our yard."
So I'm thinking the family has watched one too many old SNL episodes -- wasn't there one with Killer Christmas Trees? Why not lock the children away in a padded room?
I'm at a loss as to how the "Christian Faith" that lead them to adopt those blind children also seems to have sucked all common sense out of their heads.