One Last Hoorah!

So in about 30 minutes Emma will have a new look, and new restrictions on her eating habits. Stephanie reminded me about the caramel apple party we had in high school when she got her braces off, so I decided to have one for Emma before she gets them on. She was so excited to make them, and I was surprised at how easy it was. Although we didn’t get the popsicle sticks in right the first time and ended up using forks instead. Whatever works, right!

Self Reliance

We have noticed that since we moved to Southern California there is a lot of emphasis on self-reliance and preparedness within the wards. Maybe it’s because we live in earthquake country, but everyone is vulnerable to something even if it’s just a power outage, so this applies to everyone. Our last ward just finished a challenge to live off of their food storage for a week and avoid going to the gas station etc. to better understand what their family’s needs would be in an emergency situation. I haven’t heard about how it went yet, but would love to know. Our current ward has encouraged members to get a ham radio license so there would be a way to communicate if phone lines are jammed or down.

The following statements are from today’s lesson in Relief Society and really show how important the Lord feels self-reliance is:

The responsibility for each person’s social, emotional, spiritual, physical, or economic well-being rests first upon himself, second upon his family, and third upon the Church if he is a faithful member thereof.

No true Latter-day Saint, while physically or emotionally able, will voluntarily shift the burden of his own or his family’s well-being to someone else. So long as he can, under the inspiration of the Lord and with his own labors, he will supply himself and his family with the spiritual and temporal necessities of life… the highest achievement of spirituality comes as we conquer the flesh. We build character as we encourage people to care for their own needs. -Spencer W. Kimball

But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. -1 Timothy 5:8

It was mentioned today that the Church has a new strategy for home storage. It used to be that we were instructed to store a year’s supply of food and people would stack buckets of wheat and other things they never really used in their daily diets. The new instruction is to store a three months supply of foods you normally eat (non-perishable of course) and build from there. I have to mention that my mom has been saying this for years in the classes she’s taught and articles she’s written! But it’s not only about food and water. The first presidency has said:

“We encourage Church members worldwide to prepare for adversity in life by having a basic supply of food and water and some money in savings.

“We ask that you be wise as you store food and water and build your savings. Do not go to extremes; it is not prudent, for example, to go into debt to establish your food storage all at once. With careful planning, you can, over time, establish a home storage supply and a financial reserve.”

So, let’s all get our families in order so we can spend our energy helping others during an emergency without worry of ourselves.

Update: In response to Banna’s question and because I originally wrote this at midnight and was too tired to add links, I’m now including some links to helpful articles:

Making Space for Food Storage
By Carolyn Nicolaysen

The Self-Reliant Shopper
By Carolyn Nicolaysen

 Family Home Storage from Provident Living

Family Finances from Provident Living 

Tell Me Your Birthday

I am creating a birthday calendar of all my friends and family. This web site will remind me when yours is coming up. Can you please click on the link below to enter your birthday (and your kids’) for me? Thanks!

BirthdayAlarm.com

But She’s So Young!

Emma is being fitted with braces on Wednesday. I know, shocking to me too! The dentist mentioned we should take her to an orthodontist when he cleaned her teeth because he noticed some significant crowding. About a month later I finally got around to making the appointment after asking around for some referrals. I found one that was close by and highly recommended and I really like her. Emma’s first appointment was a lot of picture taking and mold making. Then yesterday Rob and I went for a parent consultation with the orthodontist.

She walked us through the Damon system and discussed why this is the best course for Emma right now. She has some permanent teeth that have been blocked off by the crowding above, and unless there is some space made for them now, they will be coming up in some ugly places. This system is different than the old school method of rubber bands and teeth extraction because it uses a wire that has a memory and gently eases teeth into place instead of pulling them like rubber bands would. The brackets allow for the wire to wiggle a bit so it is far less painful as well. The whole process is done in phases. Phase one is about 10 months in braces followed by about 3 years of a retainer until all of her permanent teeth are in. Then there is another year in braces and finally a permanent retainer is attached to the back of her teeth to keep them in place.

Emma is very nervous about it now because nobody else in her class has braces, and she saw the “Do Not Eat List”. The whole idea wasn’t so bad until she saw that she can’t eat whole fruit, caramel apples, pretzels, chips, nuts etc. She talked to Aunt Erica about her experience with braces, and I think that helped her a bit. We’ll just have to cut things up more and take smaller bites. I am also nervous for her, but keep reminding her (and me) that while other girls have to worry about braces in high school, her teeth will already be perfect!

Happy Birthday To Hunter!

Hunter is 9 years old today! For breakfast Hunter wanted pigs in a blanket (sausages wrapped in a biscuit). He helped me make them and it was delicious. Hunter is a wonderful big brother and has a lot of fun with his little sisters. We love the way he can make them laugh and his great sense of humor. Hunter has always liked to tell jokes and has several joke books that he still loves to read through. Not only does he love a good joke, but he also loves to learn all about science, especially space. We all love you buddy! Although he is getting taller and older, he will always be my “Hunter Bear.” Just don’t call him that in front of the guys 🙂

Function Before Form

So there are a couple of things in my house that might seem odd to a visitor, but are huge time savers for me. The first is that I have a pencil sharpener permanently attached to the wall in the playroom. A manual crank kind, nothing that would need it’s batteries replaced. This is because I was getting so sick of hunting down a sharpened pencil every day at homework time. For some reason pencils are attracted to toddlers like magnets, and they will usually break the tip off within seconds of picking it up. (They also like to bite the erasers off, but that’s another problem.) So I have a small flower pot that is used to store the pencils, and a pencil sharpener right next to it. This has been a huge help in getting homework time moving without frustration.

The other one is a little more strange. I have a hairbrush tied to the door knob of the downstairs bathroom. Every morning part of our routine is the question, “Has anyone seen a hairbrush?” We have probably half a dozen in the house, but can never seem to find one. I decided that we would always know where one was if I tied it tightly to the doorknob with a three foot length of ribbon. Now the kids have to stand right by the door to brush their hair in the morning, but it has saved a lot of stress!Anyone else have some time saver tips?