Our Chosen Direction

In response to the last post, I want to add a bit more in regards to our chosen direction. This past weekend was General Conference, and it was wonderful. It has been a long time since I have been able to listen to all four sessions, but that is due primarily to my belief that I wouldn't be able to listen anyways with the girls. I really made an effort this weekend to listen, and very surprisingly (at least I was surprised) I was able to sit at the feed of the prophets and apostles and be filled. No, I didn't hear every talk...but I heard most of it. I didn't catch a lot of the last session because M wanted a lot of attention and to play, but that's okay. I'll catch up later.

Amidst all this turmoil, we as a family have been trying to pull together even more. We have to be prepared...spiritually and physically. We cannot control the external forces around us, but we can control the things we do as a family. Mr. N and I have been making a real effort to have meaningful personal prayer and scripture study. We need a lot of work on family scripture study, but we usually manage to have our nightly family prayers. We have also been trying to be very consistent with Family Home Evening. Maybe it's because I didn't grow up having regular FHE's...but a lot of times I don't even think about it! We've really been trying hard though.

We have also been trying to prepare physically. In these hard economic times, Mr. N's dad reminded us that we really are better off than most. We have almost nothing in the way of material possessions (we sold it all to move out here) so really we have nothing to loose! (I hope you're all laughing with us on that one!!!). That aside, we have been working really hard on getting our food storage up and our 72-hour kits together (actually, our 72-hour kits are technically 120-hour kits...or 5 day kits). We have our 4 backpacks, all the food, clothing, water (an interesting fact: I googled the amount of liquid the girls would require and apparently it is 1/3 to 1/2 their body weight.... M is something like 26 or 27 lbs, so I overestimated her weight up to 40 lbs, and 1/3 to 1/2 of her weight is 13 1/2 -20, so she would need 13 1/2 to 20 oz of water a day), a tent, first aid kit, diapers, and a few odds and ends. We still need a lot in the way of survival stuff (tools, toiletries, etc...) but we are in really good shape. I reorganized the packs last night because I had the thought that with Mr. N in the National Guard, I needed to pack the 72-hour kits so that I had all the major stuff in my pack and Mr. N just had his stuff in his bag (It was reversed before). It's just that if something were to happen there would be a chance he would be called away and I need to be prepared to take care of the girls alone. Also, Mr. N leaves home at 5:30 am and returns at 7:30 pm at the earliest on the weekdays, so it's not like we're together a lot. Thanks tremendously to the help of my parents, we now have at least a 3-month food storage for 6 people (our family of four and my parents). Food storage is tricky for this household because I have 3 sisters in the area who are not LDS and do not believe in saving for a rainy day, and if something were to happen to everyone, we couldn't not share. Anyways, that isn't something we need to worry about so much now.

Really I have no idea if something is going to happen that will necessitate the the use of our 72-hour kits and/or food storage. But at least we are better prepared. This stuff has really been nagging at me lately (or better put...I've been very strongly prompted to get prepared) and I feel so much better now knowing that if something were to happen, we could protect our children. If it was just us, I wouldn't care so much. But how could we not be prepared to take care of the girls? If they were to go hungry or go without because of our stupidity and neglect, that would be a very sad thing indeed.

And on a spiritual side, I feel so much more centered. I truly believe that you cannot come to a knowledge of the truth of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and walk away from it. If you have been truly converted, you spirit knows it! People can leave the church, fall away, go wayward, fight against God...but deep down (if they had been truly converted before) your spirit cannot leave that. Maybe that's why those who go apostate tend to be more hostile against the church than those who have never known of its truth. They are fighting against truth, and their spirit knows it. Yes, they may get so lost they don't know it, but if they were to stop be still, they may find it.

I hope that makes sense. I don't always know if I portray myself correctly. These are all my own personal beliefs. I do not speak for others. I do not speak for the LDS church. I am simply a concerned wife and mother who is doing the best I know how to protect my family and beliefs.