"I wish we could have an emergency!"

I had to laugh the other day after a conversation I had with Joshua.  He said,
 "Mom, can you buy me a [toy] truck because you have ALL this money (extra cash and change in the coin jar)?" I replied, "No because that money is for emergencies." He moaned, "Oohh, I wish we could have an emergency!"

We've had a lot of talk around our house lately about emergencies partly because I  was called as the provident living specialist in Relief Society.  So I can see why he thinks emergencies could be cool.  He couldn't eat some of the granola bars and fruit snacks I bought because they were for restocking our emergency 72-hour kits.  I asked him not to play with the cool Luci solar lantern I won at the emergency expo, because they need to stay charged in my closet window/glove compartment for emergencies.

I was in charge of this candle jar project for Super Saturday and ended up emptying 3 different Dollar Tree shelves of all their emergency candles to get the 360 needed!

Definitely don't want to run out of this in an emergency!
Following are some of the thoughts from my monthly messages. I especially love the November talks!

September Provident Living Focus: Food Storage/Rotation

The revelation to produce and store food may be as essential to our temporal welfare today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah.” (Spencer W. Kimball Oct. 1980.) “I speak with a feeling of great urgency. I have seen what the days of tribulation can do to people. I have seen hunger stalk the streets of Europe. I have witnessed the appalling, emaciated shadows of human figures. I have seen women and children scavenge army garbage dumps for scraps of food. Those scenes and nameless faces cannot be erased from my memory.” (Ezra Taft Benson).  "There will come a time when there isn’t a store" (Spencer W. Kimball).  The Lord has warned and forewarned us against a day of great tribulation and given us counsel, through His servants, on how we can be prepared for these difficult times. Have we heeded His counsel?

Challenge: Increase or rotate your food storage this month.

October Provident Living Focus: Light

Being prepared with a variety of physical light sources (solar lanterns, candles, flashlights with batteries, solar glow sticks, etc.) can provide peace during emergencies.  But even more important is our continual need to "recharge" spiritual light through consistent gospel study and personal prayer. "As we draw near to God, He will draw near to us.  And day by day, the hope of God’s light will grow within us, 'brighter and brighter until the perfect day.'” (Dieter F. Uchtdorf)

Challenge: Choose a conference talk to listen to and add adequate sources of light to your 72 hour kit.

 November Provident Living Focus: Finances
"Wherefore, do not spend money for that which is of no worth, nor your labor for that which cannot satisfy. Hearken diligently unto me, and remember the words which I have spoken; and come unto the Holy One of Israel, and feast upon that which perisheth not, neither can be corrupted." (2 Nephi 9:51) 

Challenge: Read, ponder and discuss how the principles in "The Cost of Riches" (Lynn G Robins, June 2003)and "Becoming Provident Providers Temporally and Spiritually" (Robert D. Hales, April 2009) apply in your family situation and set a specific goal for improvement.

There are so many compelling thoughts in these articles that is was hard for me to choose which of them to share but these are some of my favorite quotes.

"When faced with the choice to buy, consume, or engage in worldly things and activities, we all need to learn to say to one another, “We can’t afford it, even though we want it!” or “We can afford it, but we don’t need it—and we really don’t even want it!”
"When we are addicted, we seek those worldly possessions or physical pleasures that seem to entice us. But as children of God, our deepest hunger and what we should be seeking is what the Lord alone can provide—His love, His sense of worth, His security, His confidence, His hope in the future, and assurance of His love, which brings us eternal joy." (Robert D. Hales, "Becoming Provident Providers Temporally and Spiritually", April 2009).

"It seems that while the average home has increased in size, the average family has decreased in size; and while homes have more time-saving devices, the average family spends less time together. Why isn’t more money buying greater happiness?" 
"Due to improvements in productivity, Americans could work 22-hour workweeks if they were satisfied with a 1948 standard of living"
I think this statistic is so compelling. Hard to imagine a life where my husband only works 2 and a half days a week, but we enjoy our small home, share just 1 car, have more together time, but with a lot less stuff!

"Each item we accumulate, he says, “stifles us and robs us of freedom because it requires so much of our time to tend.” He writes further: “We have to pay for it, keep track of it, protect it, clean it, store it, insure it, and worry about it. … Later we have to move it, hide it, apologize for it, argue over it. … But these things are valuable, you say? "
"Our success will depend not only on answering the question “What do we need to be happy?” but also on answering the question “What don’t we need to be happy?”" (Lynn G. Robins "The Cost of Riches", June 2003)