Preparedness

Picture credit

As our life has been in an up heveal as of late, I have been doing lots of praying and getting some pretty definate answers.

My questions have been pretty simple.  With all that is going on how to I prepare my family in case of emergencies.  Not just another trip to ER for me but what if there is a natural disaster, job loss or something worse.  Will my family  have what we need to make it through the rough times.  I know my family has not been as prepared as we should be.  I have started looking in to extreme couponing not only to save money on our weekly grocery bill but to start our food storage as well.  The leaders of the Church have admonished us time and time again as stated by President J. Reuben Clark, Jr. said: “Let every head of every household see to it that he has on hand enough food and clothing, and, where possible, fuel also, for at least a year ahead. You of small means put your money in foodstuffs and wearing apparel, not in stocks and bonds” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1937, p. 26).

We must be able to feed and clothe our families the rest will come as blessings as we strive to live the commandments we are given.  But how do you start your food storage without going into debt for we have been admonished not to do this either. When the Welfare Services program of the Church was first being established, President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., advised, “Let us avoid debt as we would avoid a plague; where we are now in debt, let us get out of debt; if not today, then tomorrow. Let us straightly and strictly live within our incomes, and save a little.” (Conference Reports, April 1937, p. 26.)
Here in lays my dilemma.  Once again I am turning to the counsel of the elders of the Church President Gorden B Hinkley had this to say "We can begin ever so modestly,” President Hinckley explained. “We can begin with a one week’s food supply and gradually build it to a month, and then to three months.”

So this is where I am starting.  This week I will be building an inventory of our food supply.  I will be looking at expiration dates and beginning to butild the 72 hour kit for each person in the family along with our first aid kits.  This will not be an over night success but by the middle of Feburary I will be done. 

The neat thing about this is as I am working on it the children will be helping me and Pooh Bear and Boo will be earning thier part of their Girl Scout Safety Award.  Snoopy will be getting a Belt Loop as well.

RainDrop Reflections

This past week was a mix of slow and steady and lot of craziness.

We had planned a camping trip for the weekend and started our week with the final plans and menu making. We found out that the other RainDrop Family (my brother and sister in law and their children) were not going to be able to join us, so we shifted plans to go with a friend. Thaly was making her plans to head to Florida with the church youth group.

Well guess what. Thaly and I both ended up wit a stomach bug on Wednesday night, and Thursday. Thaly wanted to go shopping for food for the camp out on Thursday, but did not make it past the first 2 stops before the grocery store, poor girl! If I could have gone home I would have too. That was a nasty bug. While was doing the shopping Thaly called and told me there was no way she could ride the bus from Texas to Florida feeling like that. I was not surprised at all.

I got things together Friday to head the camp ground. Lo and behold the washer was not working right (my brand new washer!!!!!!!!!!) I was still feeling crappy in the tummy and The Man of the House had the tummy bug too, along with Pooh Bear!

There I am packing for camp 2 hours later than I wanted to be and leaving 2 more home than was the plan. But we finally got there. Got camp set up and made a run to town to go to WalMart. While I was doing that the rest went to the lake to cool off, we then enjoyed our evening of Hobo dinners and s'mores.

By the way I put a hex on one of my kids for the first time ever. Ba bo houng made her dinner with lots of spices. Of course she is Asian! I got her Hobo dinner! OMG!!! I have never had my lips burn from my nose to my chin! I would never make it in Asia.

The next day we spent the afternoon at the beach area and had a blast. The water was cold but once you got it it was great! I took the float out and just let the water carry me where it wanted to. After playing for 3 hours on the lake we headed back into camp.

This is where our weekend started to take a turn for the worst. The 2 mommy's sent the kids to the shower. My friend and I waited for them to come back as we sat and drank some water and put of a box fan outside to help cool us off. When the kids got back from the shower we headed to shower ourselves. The water felt great just on cold. We cooled off and headed back to the campsite. The kids made us moms a sandwich and we set back to enjoy it.

My friend looked at me and said she did not feel good. She was pale and decided sitting in the car in the A/C would be best. Her daughter got her keys and they walked all of 6 feet to the car. Next thing I knew her daughter was YELLING my name. By the time I got over there she had passed out.

I started yelling for wet towels, to get the kids concentrating on something else, while I started checking her pulse and such. She was only out a few seconds when she started to come around then passed out again. Not only did she pass out she had a convulsion. At that point I called EMS. Turns out she was dehydrated, very dehydrated! She took a trip to the ER. I called The Man of the House but he was still sick. We decided to pack up and head home. I was blessed to have another WONDERFUL friend who could bring a truck up to the camp and help us get home.

My poor friend was kept for about 5 hours in the ER getting fluids. She was told that at our age ( we are not 16 any more) we should be drinking enough to have to go to the bathroom every 20 minutes, when it is this hot out! REALLY those stairs down to the swimming area were a killer (100 steps believe me I ask the Rangers). So not worth climbing and descending every 20 minutes. I think we will stay home for the summer and drink our water here!

RainDrop Refections

Well the past week has been slow and well not what we expected.

Monday was slow all we did was school and daily chores. Which was fine after a busy weekend. However Boo had a really bad day. She is so strong willed at times that it makes life challenging. Thing is it makes it challenging for her as well. She just can't give up even when she knows she is wrong. So she got herself in lots of trouble and grounded for 2 days. She lost everything TV, computer, even her art stuff. Now that ticked her off.

Tuesday, well Boo had another bad day but this time got herself under control a little bit faster. However she still had to miss her Girl Scout meeting. That was really sad because it was her first official meeting as a Junior Girl Scout and the last meeting of the school year.

Wednesday was pretty much the same just school. Everyone one was very productive that day. I was so proud of everyone. Snoopy had a great handwriting day with his spelling words. He had to show everyone. He even had me text a picture to Daddy!

The Man of the House has been doing a side project for another company. Things have been getting ready to go live. Of course with computers that means there must at least one major problem before that happens. He has worked late on it for the better part of the last 2 weeks. Monday he did not get home until after one in the morning. Tuesday it was after 8:30pm. He told me that night he was not feeling good. Wednesday he went to work and came home about 9pm, he was SICK by then, I knew it and he knew it.

Thursday The Man of the House stayed home and Pooh Bear got up feeling bad as well. Boo, Snoopy and I went upstairs to get school work going thinking Pooh would follow. Nope she didn't. By noon I was feeling crappy myself. We shut down school for the day. Knowing that we had Girl Scout Adventure Camp for the Cadet girls and up. We were taking the whole family, they camped down the way from the Girl Scouts. We needed to get the three us sicky ones better.

Friday was no better. The Man of the House come home at 2pm feeling worse than ever, and his cough was horrible. I was still trying to get things done to go camping. He had said that morning he would be staying home and to leave Snoopy with him. I was going to take all the girls with me. By the time he came in I had decided to wait until Saturday morning to try to go. I was still feeling really bad.

A rough round of storms were moving through the area, so the Girl Scouts decided to wait and go up Saturday morning too. By late evening The Man of the House had put his foot down and told me I was not to go with the Scouts. Neither one of us could afford to stay sick or get any sicker. He did not have to tell me twice. I was really sick cause I will camp with the Scouts no matter what. I have done it with a broken arm, bad knee, just a day after getting off crutches. I am a serious Scout camper.

The rest of the weekend was pretty much the same. I do not think I got out of bed for more than an hour at a time. Both The Man of the House and I were shut down. He watched TV on the living room floor dozing in and out. I was in the bed watching TV doing the same thing. Pooh Bear was on the couch on her computer most of the weekend. By Saturday evening she was mostly over it, but still moving slow.

Here it is Monday morning Pooh is doing good. The Man of the House is off to work, and sounds much better. I am moving, all be it slow, it is still moving. I am thanking God at this point we were the only 3 that have gotten sick.

We have a slow week again. Only one evening activity this week, a recital for Bo ba houng. One appointment for Pooh to see the dentist today, and we are done. Ready for a quite week of study and maybe a trip to the library towards the end of the week.

Handwriting

Snoopy has some of the worst handwriting. We have been working really hard to improve it. When he did his spelling words yesterday I ask him to write with his best handwriting. He was so proud of how well he did. He showed everyone in the house. Then wanted me to take a picture and send it to Daddy. I am super proud of him!

Wordless Wednesday

Introducing!

I am hoping to start adding new readers to my blog. Maybe some who do not know us personally. So I thought I should take a few minutes and tell you who we are.

The RainDrop family was established in 1993.


First off I am Croppermom. I am a wife, mother, sister, aunt, friend, Girl Scout leader, my kids teacher, and most of all a daughter of my Heavenly Father. When we are not doing school work, Girl Scouts, doctor's appointments, or running teenagers to their events, I love to read. I have not had an opportunity, or time in a GREAT while to scrapbook, but I love to take pictures for the future when I do have time again.

My knight in shining armor and the love of my life is known as the Man of the House. He is a wonderful provider and an awesome Dad. He is the IT director for a concrete construction company. He loves to read and play on the computer.

Our little RainDrops are growing in stature and in number.

Pooh Bear or Bit as her daddy calls her is 13, going on 30, as the the old adage goes. She loves to read, and science is her favorite subject, along with art and art appreciation. She is looking forward to taking classes on baby sitting and first aid.

Boo is almost 10 and a real tom boy at heart. She loves monkeys and despises pink. She loves to draw, and paint, even on things that are going to get her in trouble. She believes she can improve anything with paint.

Snoopy is 8 and pure boy! He is loud and rough. He is a mom's boy at heart though. He is turning in to his dad's mini me. He loves to play computers and has his daddy's ease at school subjects. School seems to come easy to him.

Our number are growing as we are a host family with Pacific Intercultural Exchange. Yes even homeschooolers can host students.

This past August we welcomed Ba bo houng (her nick name from school last year) to our family. She is from South Korea. She turned Sweet 16 while living with us! She loves Hello Kitty and wants to be a surgeon when she grows up. Ba bo houng will be leaving us in July. It will be a sad day, but we are thanking God and her family for giving us one more month!

Thaly came from Brazil in January. She fit right in with our growing family. We are so excited that she will be able to do one more semester here in the USA. We are terribly sad that the decision was made after we had already picked our two kids for next year. We are not allowed to have 3! I swear she will find sleeping while hanging from a nail real comfortable.

Next fall we will have a young lady who is 15 from Thailand.

As well as a young man from Norway
As soon as I know their nickname I will introduce them formally!

I will blog soon about our experience of being a host family. Let me just say this much. It is so very worth it!