Monday, May 30, 2016

Do One Thing--A Simple Family Plan


I have a confession to make.  I am not prepared.  I remember a time when my kids were still little and one night I walked into their rooms while they were sleeping and I had this thought go through my head... I couldn't believe I WAS AN ADULT and all these little people were depending on me to take care of them.  The anxious feelings I had about that huge responsibility were almost overwhelming. You would think that this would have motivated me to do what I needed to do to be prepared, but sadly, it didn't.  Up to this point in my life I guess you'd just say I've been lucky.

The other thought that comes to mind is this:  I say that I have a testimony of the gospel and that I follow the prophet.  I listen to conference, I read articles from the Ensign, and I do my best to follow their counsel, yet in this one area I have completely disregarded it?  I have heard MY ENTIRE LIFE from every Prophet that I should be doing this, yet I have ignored it (for the most part) my entire adult life.  I doubt I am alone...

This is counsel that has been given to the Latter Day Saints from the earliest years of the church.  I found the following quote in a talk given by Victor L. Brown in 1980.  (If you'd like to read the whole talk you can find it here.) President Brigham Young, while visiting the Mill Creek Ward on July 25, 1868 said this:

“I believe the Latter-day Saints are the best people on the earth of whom we have any knowledge. Still, I believe that we are, in many things, very negligent, slothful and slow to obey the words of the Lord. Many seem to act upon the faith that God will sustain us instead of our trying to sustain ourselves. We are frightened at seeing the grasshoppers coming and destroying our crops. … I remember saying in the School of the Prophets, that I would rather the people would exercise a little more sense and save means to provide for themselves, instead of squandering it away and asking the Lord to feed them. In my reflections I have carried this matter a considerable length. I have paid attention to the counsel that has been given me. For years past it has been sounded in my ears, year after year, to lay up grain, so that we might have an abundance in the day of want. Perhaps the Lord would bring a partial famine on us; perhaps a famine would come upon our neighbors. I have been told that He might bring just such a time as we are now having. But suppose I had taken no heed to this counsel, and had not regarded the coming time, what would have been my condition to-day.
“View the actions of the Latter-day Saints on this matter, and their neglect of the counsel given; and suppose the Lord would allow these insects to destroy our crops this season and the next, what would be the result? I can see death, misery and want on the faces of this people. But some may say, ‘I have faith the Lord will turn them away.’ What ground have we to hope this? Have I any good reason to say to my Father in heaven, ‘Fight my battles,’ when He has given me the sword to wield, the arm and the brain that I can fight for myself? Can I ask Him to fight my battles and sit quietly down waiting for Him to do so? I cannot. I can pray the people to hearken to wisdom, to listen to counsel; but to ask God to do for me that which I can do for myself is preposterous to my mind. Look at the Latter-day Saints. We have had our fields laden with grain for years; and if we had been so disposed, our bins might have been filled to overflowing, and with seven years’ provisions on hand we might have disregarded the ravages of these insects, and have gone to the canyon and got our lumber, procured the materials, and built up and beautified our places, instead of devoting our time to fighting and endeavoring to replace that which has been lost through their destructiveness. We might have made our fences, improved our buildings, beautified Zion, let our ground rest, and prepared for the time when these insects would have gone. But now the people are running distracted here and there. … They are in want and in trouble, and they are perplexed. They do not know what to do. They have been told what to do, but they did not hearken to this counsel.” (In Journal of Discourses, 12:240–41.)


So the question that I am asking myself is..how do I begin? Most people that haven't started, at the prospect of the monumental task, not knowing where to begin, don't begin at all.  I think that has been my problem.  So the best answer is to start by doing just one thing.

One of the most simple things you can start with is a SIMPLE FAMILY PLAN.  Here are some things to consider as you try to do this:

KEY POINTS TO CONSIDER

  • Every family is different, so it's important to tailor your plan to suit your needs.
  • Keep in mind anyone in your family that may have special needs and don't forget pets.
  • Don't overwhelm yourself with too much at once--start with basics.

WHERE TO BEGIN:

  1. Start with a family meeting to discuss the types of emergencies that may arise including fire, earthquake, severe weather or other disasters.  
  2. Discuss with children when it's appropriate to call 911 and other actions they can take in an emergency.
  3. Discuss what to do in the event of a power outage.
  4. Pick one out-of-state contact and one local contact person to call in case of disaster.  If your kids have their own phones, program these numbers into their phones and it's also a good idea to have them memorize the numbers as well.
  5. Find safe spots in your home for each type of disaster that might strike and develop an evacuation plan with meeting locations.
  6. Back up your computer files and electronic media.  It's a good rule of thumb to have everything backed up in at least two places, including at least one off-site location (like cloud storage).
  7. Check into your insurance policies.  Make sure you are properly covered and have all the documentation you need in a convenient place.  
  8. Create a list of important contact information and keep it in an accessible place.
The girls over at Food Storage Made Easy dot net have a great PDF worksheet that you can use if you'd like.  It gives some details of how to start your family plan and even gives you the worksheets to fill out if you'd like to print them out.   And...if you don't like theirs, go ahead and make up your own.  Remember that every family is different, and every family's needs will be too.


Friday, May 20, 2016

Group Buy Opportunity



I have spent the last several weeks learning, researching, and just plain trying to figure out what the best way is to build up food storage, prepare 72 hour kits, and do all the other things we need to do to be prepared.  I have come to the conclusion that there is NO ONE BEST WAY TO DO ANYTHING!  That being said, I am hoping to be able to do a lot of diverse things with this blog so that each of us have the opportunity to do things our own way--the way that is best for our family, our budget, and time.  I will be posting not just opportunities to purchase things, but also lots of information worth reading, family projects that might interest you, and some DIY things as well.

That being said, I'd like to introduce you to Prepare My Life.  This is a website devoted to all things preparedness.  Tami, the owner, has spent many years "perfecting" the art of preparedness, and all the things she offers on her website have been tried and tested before she offers them.  When she stumbles upon a great deal, she offers a group buy option and makes things available for a great price!

We have an opportunity for a special purchase price on some great items that you may want to add to your storage (or just buy to use now!)  Please don't feel pressured to buy--always make decisions that fit your budget and your family's needs.  I want to highlight two of the items available in particular because they are things that I buy all the time, so I know how great they are!



Country Cream Milk
This Country Cream Instant Nonfat Milk is my favorite!  I usually get it at Macey's when they do their case lot sale, but this offering is a better price than I usually pay.  In my opinion, this is the best powdered milk you can buy.  (I mix it up and put it into an empty milk jug and no one in my family can tell it's instant milk.)  Each can makes 5 gallons of milk.  You can purchase by individual can or in a case of 6 cans.

Cox's Creamed Honey
This Cox's Creamed Honey is also available.  It comes in a 5 lb. bucket.  This honey is raw, unpasteurized, and will not harden or crystallize like most honey does when it sits on the shelf.  BEST. HONEY. EVER. This is also available individually or in a pack of 6. 
Also available in this special buy right now are these items:  

Coconutreat Coconut Oil and Sprouted Ground Flax.  (While I do use coconut oil and ground flax, I have not used either of these brands, so I don't really know anything about them.)

These items are all available right now on our Herriman Hills Neighborhood page.

(FOOTNOTE:  Anyone in our neighborhood, whether members of our ward or not, please feel free to order on our link and I will pick it up!  Please contact me via email so that I will know about it before I go.  For others outside of our area that may be interested in ordering, I will provide a link below that you can use to also order along with instructions.)

HERE'S HOW IT WORKS:
If you are interested in ordering any of the four products available right now, simply go to the link above.  You can read all about the items, see prices, and make decisions about what you'd like to get (or not get).  If you decide to order, go ahead and order them directly on the page, pay for your order, and you're done!  When the items are available for pick up, I will be picking them up and delivering them to you.

ORDERS FOR THESE ITEMS ARE DUE BY MAY 31, 2016

There is a recipe that I received for granola using these four items from the Group Buy.  I'm going to make some, and if it's as great as it sounds, I will post it in a later post.

DISCLAIMER:  This is only one opportunity of many that I am planning to post on the blog. Please do not assume I am promoting or advertising for the Prepare My Life website, and do not feel obligated to participate.  

INSTRUCTIONS FOR ANYONE OUTSIDE OF OUR NEIGHBORHOOD:

  1. Go to the Prepare My Life website
  2. Click on "group buy" in the upper right had corner.
  3. Join for free.
  4. Order what you want.
  5. Arrange for shipping/pick up.






Tuesday, May 17, 2016

"We Are Not Fine. We Are Not Prepared."

“We live in turbulent times. Often the future is unknown; therefore, it behooves us to prepare for uncertainties. When the time for decision arrives, the time for preparation is past.” 

President Thomas S. Monson

Over the past several weeks since receiving the calling to be the ward's canning and family preparedness specialist I have spent a lot of time contemplating what to do with this calling.  I am certainly not what anyone would call a "specialist" by any means, and would, in fact, say I am barely an amateur.  This left me in a bit of a conundrum, wondering how on earth I could help anyone be prepared, when I, myself, am not prepared either.  I have been wandering, lost in the desert until yesterday when I finally received the blessing I needed that allowed me to know how to proceed.  Amazing, how that works, isn't it?

That is what led me to create this blog.  I hope to be able to use it to inspire, to pass on important information, to provide opportunities for all of us (myself included) to do what we have been asked to do from the earliest days of the church--prepare every needful thing.

The following account was written by a man named Matthew Clements who escaped the fires in Fort McMurray with his family earlier this month.  (You can find his story here.)

"A few hours ago my family and I escaped the city of Fort McMurray, Alberta, which as you may have seen on the news is burning. 
"We drove through the fire, avoiding dangling electrical wires. We are alive, we have found shelter for tonight in a motel. But like so many others we were unprepared to evacuate when we were told we needed to. 
"I am going to ask you to do what my family did not do, but wish we did: have an emergency kit ready. 
"Forest fires are not uncommon in Northern Alberta. Each year many fires occur in the vast Boreal forest that covers the Northern Region of the province, but most of them stay contained, or burn a safe distance from inhabited communities. 
"Living in Fort McMurray for the past three years (past two years for my wife Amanda and son Odin) we have been witness to these yearly events. Each time, my wife and I will say to each other 'We should really think about having an Emergency Preparedness Kit'. We talk about it. We say what a good and practical idea it is. Then, like so many others, it gets put to the wayside and forgotten. We’ll get to it, we say, just like how we’ll get to all the other things in life we say we’ll get to eventually. 
"Today that forgetfulness put us in danger. 
"This week my attention was focused anywhere but the reports of wild fires in Northern Alberta. My family was moving to a new house within the city and I was focused on unpacking and getting my son settled back into school. On Monday we heard that voluntary evacuations had started for areas of Fort McMurray in the south end of town. 
"We’re safe up in Timberlea. The ominous thick clouds could be seen over the water across the Athabasca River. We were fine. No immediate danger. 
"Monday evening the winds died down and the fire seemed to be moving away from the city. We were fine. No immediate danger. 
"Tuesday morning, the smoke was not as thick. We sent Odin off to school, I was enjoying my day off and Amanda went to do the grocery shopping before she went to work. We were fine. No immediate danger. 
"Around 1pm, things drastically started to change. I was outside when I could feel the relentless winds change direction. I could see the smoke shift up from the south, moving the fire along the dry brush directly into the path of Fort McMurray and my family. My stomach sank, my son, my wife, we had to go now or we would go never. 
"We were not fine. We were in danger. 
"Looking back on it now, it feels like that metaphor of the frog in the slowly boiling pot of water. We were so focused on getting settled in our new home, preparing for a catastrophe wasn’t on our minds. Brush fires happen, there’s no need to panic, we’re fine. We were fine until we weren’t. 
"I immediately started packing, but had no idea what to pack. What would we need, how long would we be gone, where would we go? 
"Clothes? Yes, we need clothes, but how much? Two days? Three days? Five days? Passports! Where are the passports? Money. We definitely need money. Prescriptions, does anybody need any of those? What about the cats? How much food? FOOD! We need to bring food. I called my wife Amanda and told her to come home immediately and that we had to pick up our son, Odin, from school. Odin’s stuff! I need to make sure to pack his favorite books and things! I frantically went about the house trying to think of all of the necessary things we would need to get out with. My mind raced as I made sure to leave nothing important behind. 
"If we’d had a kit or a list or had a plan I would know what to do and what to bring, but it was too late for that now. 
"When my family arrived home I was waiting at the front door. By this time, more neighbourhoods were on voluntary evacuation, including one in the north end, where we are located. 
"We are not fine. We are in danger. 
"The winds had shifted so fast, there wasn’t time for authorities to properly communicate the urgency of the situation to many in the city, despite their best efforts. We are not being told to evacuate. My gut is telling me we need to go, but I don’t want to be part of a panic, a rush to get out of town that winds up costing lives. 
"Should we go? Should we wait? What should we do? 
"As we listened to the radio and watched the plumes of thick smoke that were beginning to envelope the sky, the urge to get my family as far away as possible was stronger than ever. 
"We are not fine. We are in danger. 
"This radio station says to go North. That radio station says to go South. Family says to go North. Friends say to go South. 
"As we are trying to decide, the radio announces that all of Fort McMurray is under evacuation. Go time. 
"We are not fine. We are in real danger. 
"Traffic is crawling at a snails pace as we attempt to leave. By chance, we had a full tank of gas. Not because we were prepared, only by dumb luck. As we approached Highway 63 we had to decide to go North towards the mines, or South towards Edmonton and the fire. 
"We chose South. 
"What we came upon next felt like a scene from an apocalyptic movie. Thick black smoke, fires on the side of the road, traffic and panicked people everywhere. It felt as if we were driving through hell itself. 
"All my wife and I could say was, 'We should have been more prepared'. 
"We should have had a bag for each of us, ready to go. We had clothes, and some food, and some money, but was it the right stuff? What about a first aid kit? What about water purification? What about personal documents? What about medication? We were not prepared. 
"We made it out. 
"We are now fine. We are no longer in danger. 
"The hard truth of it is that we were very lucky. We got out with some things, but had we been better prepared we wouldn’t have been so caught off guard. Emergency officials did everything possible to get us out in time. They saved our lives.  The winds shifted so fast, it was a worst case scenario. We escaped but seconds mattered and the time it took us to prepare and to make the decision to go could have cost us our lives. Please learn from my family’s ordeal, luck was on our side this time, but it may not be on ours (or yours) the next time."
The Lord wants to protect us, but it is essential that we do our part!  

Being prepared is so much more than having a long term food storage.  I am hoping to post great ideas weekly, as well as provide opportunities for everyone to find what they need for their family and work towards getting prepared.  All general ideas/information will be posted here on the blog, but I would also like to create an email list for those interested in getting direct links to any special offers/opportunities that I find.  Please take a moment to click on the link and add yourself to the list. (Don't worry--I won't be signing you up for anything, adding you to any groups or solicitations.  The emails will come from me personally and probably only once a month unless I find something really great that I want to share.  There is no obligation to buy anything or participate in anything--just a chance for you to see what's out there!)