*In a sense it is a little bit creepy to think that my house is surrounded by spiders! Yikes! I think I will just stick with how pretty the webs look as the sun shines on them*
I also, see lots of birds and grass slightly flowing with the breeze. What a blessed morning...
I am alive. My children are well. My husband left me with a kiss before he went off to work...I couldn't ask for more...
Now to get to the purpose of this blog post.
As I have talked about before...Our family has been so very busy with life. June had just begun, and look we are now at the end. July is just around the corner.
We have been so busy, that I think we have missed a lot of small moments and quality time together as a family. But, life has pushed us to do this. We have had a time crunch with getting moved out and into another home. We have had to do so much work with the house we are moving into, and still haven't gotten it finished. All work, and no play!
Justin was working so hard to earn as much money as he could to help get him out on his mission. So much needed to be purchased, and so much needed to get done. During this time of working and working some more...Justin always would tell me, 'Just take a break mom! I am going to be leaving for two years!'...I can not tell you how many times he kept saying that.
During this last week, nothing went right. My paint sprayer just quit working...We ran out of paint, and of course didn't have money to buy more. Things just kept getting in the way of us getting things completely done.
Justin was getting ready to leave-and now looking back just a few short days...I wasn't meant to get the house painted! I was meant to spend time with my son!
Monday came-Time for Justin to be set apart as an Elder...Amazing!
Tuesday came-I started to get busy, and Elder Pacheco looked at me and asked me to just spend some time with him that day...So I did.
I let everything go. I focused on packing my missionary up and soaking every last minute I could with him.
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| I miss this face |
We went and had lunch at Subway. Went to Walmart to do a little bit of last minute shopping...'Its for the Mission Mom!', Elder Pacheco would say as he would grab random items off the shelf! We went to get Justin his first hair cut as a missionary-Had a great time with that. The Barber and his brother were both coached in Snowflake by my oldest brother Tod. So we had good conversations while there.
Tuesday was such a special day...
Time to say goodbye to the siblings...
I took about 6 photos of the kids...And poor Jazzi looks the same in each one.
But it is this one...Jazzi is so heart broken that Elder Pacheco was going to be leaving and that she wouldn't see him for two years. It was hard to maintain and not get emotional...
As Elder Pacheco started to do his round of hugs, I sat back and watched as each one of his siblings showed tears and love. Each one of them love their brother so very much.
Time to get in the car and drive away...It wasn't to hard for Michael and I at this point, just because we got to spend the night with Elder Pacheco. *Honestly...I have been in and out of tears since April when Justin got his call...Reality slowly started to creep in! My Boy wasn't a Boy any more!*
We drove to Tucson, went to Kohls to fix a suit jacket mix up-Elder Pacheco has huge shoulders and arms...He was a bit tough to fit for a suit jacket. We also got some ties...Elder Pacheco has a thing for ties. He was funny to watch as he went through ALL of the ties, and how he wanted them all-but could only pick a few...6 to be exact! *He left with over a dozen ties*
We stopped at QC and got us a sweet treat...And off to the Hotel we went.
We were all tired-Emotionally exhausted. So we knelt to have prayer and off to bed we went.
Poor Elder Pacheco was sick all night long. At around 4am, I asked how he was doing...He told me he was ok. He told me that he had a dream that he was going to get really sick, and not go on his mission because of this. He told me that that wasn't going to happen. Very strong willed that kid is. *Throwing up all night-Not fun!*
Time to wake up and get our missionary to the airport.
Elder Pacheco's flight was departing at 7:16am...Of course I was up moving before the men were because that is just how that goes...
I had gotten up and got into Elder Pacheco's Journal and wrote a letter in it for him to find hopefully on his flight to Salt Lake City. The heart ache really began-My son was going to be gone and I wouldn't hear from him daily-No more text messages and no more 'Mom! Can you make me a sandwich!'
Or...'Mom! The Bronco is out of gas...' This was a lot to take in...
Off to the airport we went...I could hardly talk. Michael gave some amazing words of advice. Elder Pacheco said one of the most amazing prayers to help us do what we needed to do-What confidence that young man has in what he is doing. The purpose of it all. The strength and courage he has to have...
We got his bags all weighed and we gasped as the scale went to 57 pounds...Thats an extra $100 dollars to go along with the $60 dollars already...Elder Pacheco was ready to pay with the money he had...Seriously-He was very determined that not one thing was going to stop him from getting on that plane.
We figured it out, and would you believe it...got the bag down to 47 pounds, and Elder Pacheco was able to take everything that he had packed. *PHEW!!*
Now for the really, really, I mean really hard part...
Saying, 'See you in 2!'
Elder Pacheco was GLOWING! He was the happiest I had ever seen him. A powerful son of God.
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| These two are so much alike! |
Michael held himself together pretty good...But I could see how sad he was...Gosh! I love these two guys!
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| I couldn't even fake a smile! |
Then there was 'MoM'. I cried and cried and cried some more...(I am still crying)
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| He kept saying 'Awww' |
This hug...Oh this Hug!! Elder Pacheco patted my back and hugged me tight...He constantly was telling me that everything was going to work out. Everything is going to be fine...Have faith!
"HAVE FAITH!"
When Elder Pacheco grabbed his carry on bags, and walked away-A piece of my heart went with him.
He walked away, never looking back! He was so very brave...He jumped right in and showed such courage. Michael and I stood there and watched our son, until we could no longer see him...
THAT WAS HARD!!
We will get to Skype a couple of times while Elder Pacheco is in the field, but the communication will be primarily letters...Hand written letters-requested by Elder P.
I have already written him, and will write him again today. We also all signed a card, and I will get that in the mail today as well...The MTC isn't going to be easy. He needs all the love and support he can get. Although, Elder Pacheco is not scared of much *just spiders*, I know the hardest part for him, will be the quiet times when his mind starts to think about his family. I hope to flood that Young Elder with letters...I am not going to worry about him writing me back. He will be busy-And that is how it should be...But I can assure you, I will be very excited and emotional whenever I get to read about my son and his adventures.
Not knowing for sure if Elder Pacheco made it to the MTC, even though I know that he did...It was hard to not have a quick phone call saying, 'Mom! I made it! I WILL BE OK!'.
As so many other Mom's and Dad's know...the sadness can be overwhelming. Elder Pacheco and I are very close...This will be the longest, yet shortest, two years.
I know in reality time will go by fast. I look at my nieces and nephews who leave and before I know it, they are back again. Where did the time go??
There are things that keep reminding us of Justin...His bronco in the driveway. His Baseball glove. His Cologne. His Sadie pup. Chewed up water bottle lids. His football Jerseys. Songs...That kid listened to more country western songs and knew them all by heart. Dents in the truck...I could go on, and on. He most definitely left his mark!
Yesterday, I called to have our internet service moved, and the lady who helped me was in church on Sunday when Elder Pacheco gave his talk...She told me that that was one of the best talks she had ever heard from a young man. Several people have said that the talk that was given by that young man, was very touching...It was a very heart felt talk...Talking about coming back to Christ. What a wonderful Example Elder Pacheco is...and will continue to be!
My son is doing the Lords work. Elder Pacheco is going to teach and help others to understand the plan that has been set for all of us. Elder Pacheco is going to go and rock the mission field. Not because he knows all the scriptures, and all the standards of the gospel...But because he has a love for people. He loves children. He loves to make others smile and laugh. He will be amazing just by being who he is...Elder Pacheco will serve and serve well. And I wouldn't be surprised if he will help many people move furniture around while he in Nebraska!
As I received a few text messages Wednesday morning to see how I was doing...
I had explained that the whole family was just sad...And the comforting words that were in the reply back to me were, "One of the blessings of having a close family, is that you miss them when they are gone. But, what you are giving up is going to be a blessing to some other mother who has been praying for someone to come and help her children."
That right there, was comforting. Elder Pacheco has people waiting for him to come and comfort them. Some may not understand or believe in what LDS missionaries do...But I know that we all have had someone come into our lives that has helped us one way or another...Elder Pacheco will be that someone for somebody at just the right time.
There is a great sacrifice with having a missionary leave the home for 2 years. There are also great blessings to having a missionary serve and do the Lord's work...I look forward to seeing the growth of our family, and also the growth of Elder Pacheco.
I am going to miss Elder Pacheco...Today is the third day...We only have 727 more days left.
(Yup! I am going to count the days...) I can't help it!
Here is what the LDS faith believe...
I have a testimony of the gospel, and I have no doubt in my mind that our son, Elder Pacheco, is doing what our Heavenly Father wants him to do.
Mission....Check!
There is no time to sit and Boowhoo... We are going to move forward and feel gratitude for everything that our family has been blessed with!
Now to get Sass out of the house and on her way (That makes me so sad!),
the new house all done and ready to move into-along with getting this
house ready for us to move out of. Gotta get the girls ready to go to
girls camp!! Plus...School starts soon, already, and that is something I do not look forward to...No Football for us this year...We didn't know that they
were doing Football sign ups for Bobcat's age, Never heard a thing about it *Part of being the new family in town*...so they filled up in a blink of
an eye. We called the coach, and there is just no way. Sad thing
is...There are kids who don't want to play that their parents are making
them...Bobcat wants to play, and he is a stud *Says me...His Mom!(I can say that)*. The
little boys only have flag football here, and we think that isn't a good
idea-Doesn't really prepare the boys for the game with pads. So, no Football for this season-It is a little bitter sweet. I may
enjoy the down time-but I'm gonna have to keep my boys in shape some
how! Thank goodness I love to run!
Happy Friday...
Smiling :O)
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