Monday Message

   “We all need to build a personal ark . . . And we shouldn’t wait until it starts raining, but prepare in advance. This has been the message of all the prophets in this dispensation . . . as well as the prophets of old.
    “Unfortunately we don’t always heed the clear warnings of our prophets. We coast complacently along until calamity strikes, and then we panic.
    “When it starts raining, it is too late to begin building the ark. However, we do need to listen to the Lord’s spokesmen. We need to calmly continue to move ahead and prepare for what will surely come. We need not panic or fear, for if we are prepared, spiritually and temporally, we and our families will survive any flood. Our arks will float on a sea of faith if our works have been steadily and surely preparing for the future.” (W. Don Ladd, October 1994 General Conference)

I took a wrong turn in Ankeny earlier this week when our youngest daughter and her husband were visiting. It was the older part of town and was hit pretty bad with the flooding. Blocks and blocks of stuff from homes was piled higher than the car on both sides of the street. It was awful, rolled up carpet, sheetrock and things from their everyday lives, solid debris piles stretched out blocks on both sides of the streets...it was very sobering. Having done clean-up at my house, my heart was full of empathy.

We need to pay attention to what warnings and watches for our areas mean as part of preparation. I remember hearing several times this year flash flood watches or warnings in my area on the weather radio and I thought, what? We are not by water no river nothing I thought how silly nooooo I have a much better understanding it is coming from the sky!

Gives a whole new meaning to the sky is falling.

If you think about it, so many things can go wrong. We cannot prepare for everything but we can do as much as we can.

As if on cue, as I'm writing this a week before you'll see it, our weather radio just went off saying, we are in tornado watch till ten tonight. The first thing I did when it went off was look outside, the sun is shining and blue sky…which could make you complacent and lull you into a false sense of security. That would be most dangerous.

Putting off preparing would also be dangerous.

When our children were babies, we lived in student housing, which were like chicken coops on a cement slab. When tornado warnings sounded we had to grab the kids and run to our vehicle through rain hail and usually when the kids were sleeping. We had to drive to a building on campus that had a storm shelter in it.

While typing this, a tornado warning east of us in our county just sounded. And yet another tornado warning, this one a bit north and east of us. Just pointing out blue sky sun shining here…complacency not good.

It is easy when things are going well we always think it will be that way and preparing is the furthest from our mind. But if we stay on task, no matter what we can do, even a little will add up.

The first time we had to flee to the shelter, we arrived wet, our babies were wet and we only had a concrete floor to sit on...it was not a good experience. So I packed a five gallon bucket with diapers, snacks, towels, coloring books, colors, toys, dry clothes for the kids, water. Things we would need and... I wish you could hear another tornado to our north as I'm typing this, wow, enhances my story.

The next time we had to flee I grabbed this bucket (yet again another warning on my radio), I grabbed the bucket, as it was kept now by the door, and we went to the shelter (yet another warning on the weather radio right now, just letting you know my real time happenings).

When we got to the shelter we dried off and dug out snacks, toys, coloring books, etc. another family was….another alarm…sitting next to us wet and miserable. We shared towels, coloring pages, crayons, and snacks. We could not speak to each other as they spoke another language but sharing is its own language and we…. yet another alarm….went another time that year and this same family was next to us again. This time they had a suitcase packed just like we had our bucket, they smiled at us and pointed to their suitcase as if to say we learned from your bucket.

It is good to set the example and it's easy to share.

Through all these alarms on the weather radio so far we have sun and blue skies for NOW. Three more make that four, it is pretty active and it is only 4 p.m. as I'm writing this and we are in tornado watch till ten tonight.

I guess I wanted to share in real time, yet another tornado, it is going to be an active night.

I just wanted to stress how bad complacency is. We need to not be complacent with the ease of life and thinking we will never have troubles so we will just do our thing - no don’t, you do it! Bad things can happen fast. Some of these tornadoes have hit houses and more storms yet tonight.

We seem to be in the crosshairs this year.

We don’t always have tornadoes so we need to be prepared for when we do. This is a tornado outbreak.

I plan not to edit so you can see just how fast things happen.

Towns are being hit, not good at all.

You need to be actively getting your family prepared. Get your storage in, get your skills learned.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=emergency+kit+how+to&docid=608037122385183696&mid=A3FB4638AD690842A121A3FB4638AD690842A121&view=detail&FORM=VIREHT - This shows putting a 72 hour kit together from dollar store.

An update on the weather - three communities got hit Bondurant, Pella, Marshalltown had the most catastrophic damage.

Just read through this post, I wrote as it happened and you can see how fast that was.

When we got flooded on the fourth they called a flash flood emergency, when Marshalltown (27,000 people) was about to get hit, they called a tornado emergency. They rarely use those terms so it is bad when they use them and both were used in the same month, weather patterns are weird.

So you now see how quickly your life can change. 

We might think it will always be the other guy but that isn’t always so. If we get ourselves prepared we can be more able to help others. Keep learning your skills.

I am working to learn more sewing skills. I am taking the free sew along on the Crafty Gemini site. She explains so wonderfully and I am learning a lot. On that note, the supplies I need for those skills are also stored…

As I ran across sewing supplies at yard sales, if I could get them I did, often bypassing something I may have WANTED more but needed less. Sometimes we have to ask ourselves hard questions about wants and needs.

The same with knitting and crocheting supplies.

This week I made dill pickles which reminds me to mention you should add canning equipment and supplies to your storage list so that you can just be ready to can and you will always have the supplies to can on hand no matter what is going on around you.

I have a deal with Heavenly Father, if He sends me food to put up, I will can it. I was given the cucumbers and I had the jars, rings, lids, canner and the vinegar. So I was ready as I had these things on hand already…. This is the kind of thing I am talking about in your supplies.

Did it take a while? Yes. Did I get things used? Yes. The steamer canner I got to make the pickles, shown above, was still in a box for three dollars at a yard sale. They are normally thirty dollars. My pressure canner, in the picture below, was used ten dollars, new it would be $150. The jars and rings were free as I put out the word that I was looking for them.

You may not find the same prices I did but don’t rule out yard sales and thrift stores. Both food savers I have I got for ten dollars, one in its box still and the other only used one time. So look at yard sales and thrift stores. Put out the word you are looking for items it does help.

Also, look for things that are manual as well for back-ups.

I started collecting buttons from when I was a little girl. I would see a button on the ground and pick them up and save them in a jar.

So even then I was collecting supplies.

Food storage is very important but so are supplies.

Do whatever you can. Just do it! Have the "wants vs the needs" talk with yourself if you have to. It is all a part of living a more frugal life. 

Get your family prepared for hard times.