Final Farewell

My latest journey to Pima, AZ was a bitter sweet one.

I am blessed to work at a company that is flexible. My oldest brother, Brad, flew in last Friday around 10:30 am. With a light work load, I decided to take the rest of the day off to spend quality time with the family. Brad flew in from Oakland, CA to spend the weekend with myself and our parents before they leave, this week for their year long church mission in the Independence Missouri Mission. Before leaving Phoenix, I cut his hair to save him a buck, spent the buck he saved purchasing two shirts and a belt at Kohl's and then he treated me to lunch at Waldo's BBQ. I feel they are the best BBQ in Mesa. (better than Joe's) Any BBQ place that has a big pig in their logo has got the base for a great BBQ! We headed out across the desert to Pima and arrived in time to spend a lovely evening with mom and dad.

Saturday morning was exciting. In true form to why mom and dad have dubbed their little casa Rattlebug Ranch, dad came across a good sized diamond rattlesnake! He'd gone out to start the fire in their smoke pit to cook two chickens and found a four foot snake between the pit and his wood pile. He came back in the house with his eyes all big asking mom "where are the .22 shells?" the went on to mumble something about it being a 4 footer. He was successful in killing the snake. I would have taken a photo of the snake except by the time I saw it, dad had lopped off it's head and buried it and mom had the tail lopped off for the rattles. It wasn't a pretty picture and besides, I was a bit freaked out that the body was still slithering around on the ground despite it's missing body parts! So dad protected the family from the big bad snake and got to light a big fire. (his favorite past time) With our dinner successfully loaded into the pit and cooking, we took off for yet another Jeep trip into the desert.

I own a Jeep Liberty and while it's a Jeep, it's owned by a person who still owes a great deal on it, so I'm not trashing it over the rugged terrain as most Jeep owners are known for doing. I tried to oblige Brad's request to do a little 4x4 action, rocking the Jeep over large rocks, hills and mud. All in all we still had to hike in by foot to reach our destination, Goat Hill. Just so you know, also in true tradition of my trips into the desert, there was no wildlife. Certainly no goats! I'm not sure as to the origin of the name, but on top of the hill is protected land with old Indian ruins. There were the rock structures that were once homes and small pottery shards. We explored a bit before moving onto my favorite place in that area to explore, Red Knolls. There we found some bones embedded in the clay that makes up the sheer walls of the cliffs there. We couldn't figure out how they got there or what sort of bones, but it was a cool find. With our chicken well done, we returned home to enjoy the juicy meal we thus would not have had if dad had not won the battle of snake vs. man.

Sunday we attended church and then spent the day driving about the local area, visiting Roper Lake and just enjoying the company. We returned home to make cookies and ice cream...well, mom made cookies and ice cream, the rest of us ATE the cookies and ice cream. The day came to a close all too fast. As Brad and I bit farewell, I knew this goodbye was different and felt it as mom hugged just a little longer this time.

Mom and dad will be reporting to the MTC Oct. 6th. They will report to Hiawatha, KS the Oct. 13th where they will spend their mission in helping to build up the saints in that area as well as help spread the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who would like to accept it into their lives. This town is still very near their roots. They are hours away from where they grew up. I think it will be an amazing opportunity for them to serve in the church. I miss them already but am very supportive of this service in the faith I share with them. God be with you mom and dad! Thank you for the fantastic weekend!