If Ye are prepared, ye shall not fear!

Hi Sisters. I just wanted to make sure that all of you are prepared so you don't have to fear things that are coming up in the news about the Swine flu, and other concerns. We have been taught for years to prepare ourselves with food storage, and emergency preparedness items, in the event that things happen in this world that we will need this kind of help. Hopefully all of you have some food storage to be able to get you by for a short term situation. I was called this morning by my daughter who lives in Park City, Utah. She told me that all Park City Schools were closed for the rest of the week and they even canceled Prom, because 3 cases of the swine flu had been reported. My daughter had told me this past week that she had personally felt like if Swine flu came to Utah that Park City would be one of the first places that it would hit, becasue of all the people visiting Park City as tourists, as well as people flying out of the country for Spring Break and vacations. Wow, she nailed it didn't she! I call that personal inspiration because she has been preparing herself on behalf of her family just in case. I am very proud of her for being prepared. Oh and she even gave me the website for where I can go to find out more about the Swine flu and get info and updates and that is at http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/swineflu_you.htm My daughter has inspired me to get better prepared. I have lots of food storage, but very specific things and I have left out purchasing like canned veges and fruit because it expires way too fast and I have wasted so much of those kinds of foods over the years. My daughter prompted me to check my food supply and I found out that my powdered milk has expired. How can you get buy without having some kind of milk, especially if you have children in your house? Well that was put on my today's grocery list. I also realized that though I have wheat to grind and a grinder to make flour to make bread and rolls, I don't have any yeast. Another thing to put on my list. I also found out doing this inventory that all of my sugar that I had stored has also been used over time, and I am completely out. This was a good wake up call for me to get myself better prepared in the event that I might need to be.

My daughter also mentioned some of the symptoms of the Swine Flu and she told me that she had stocked up on the kinds of meds that would treat symptoms of flu and a variety of other things. She said she didn't have any extra children's tylenol, motrin, cold and flu meds, and other things to treat symptoms if she had to hunker down in her home for days to weeks. She also brought up a point that if kids and adults are nauseated, which is one of the symptoms of Swine Flu and other flus, that Gatoraid would be needed to keep the sick person hydrated. Smart Daughter I have, but I contributed to that comment and suggested that maybe we all should have some powdered Gatorade on our food storage as it would last longer than what is in bottles. These are just some things to think about. Well, I did an inventory on my medications that I keep on hand to treat the colds and flu symptoms for my husband and I as we are empty nesters. Guess what folks... most of my meds are expired too. I think I have just purchased them in the past and forgot about them or used them from time to time as needed, but I realized, if I needed them now, my over the counter meds are expired. Today is the day to change my situation for this.

I don't think anyone needs to panic, but everyone does need to be prepared. Young couples I have the greatest concern for as many couples I have talked to say that they don't have any food storage because they can't afford it, or don't have anywhere to store it, or that they say if anything happens, they will just move in with their parents until the problems are over. I am here to say that moving back home with Mom and Dad for a while is a great solutions if they are prepared for extra, and if they are close enough in proximity to do so, but these other reasons need to be reconsidered. There are all kinds of easy and affordable food storage solutions like the $5 a week plan,( http://members.cox.net/auburnheaven/selfreliant/foodstorageplan.pdf ) or you could do like my youngest daughter does, and that is to buy one or two extra items every time they go shopping and put them away for a rainy day. Where does my daughter put them in her tiny place? Under beds, in a corner of the room, on top of the refrigerator, stacked up in a closet or anywhere she can find. She sayd, "I know I don't have much Mom and I can alwasy come home to you and Dad for a while, but the Prophet has told us to do it, and I want to do it."

I hope my thoughts encourage you to do some thinking about where you stand on your preparedness.