BE PREPARED...

I think Heavenly Father is trying to tell me something and I am thinking I had better listen. Last week Stuart and I were invited to a meeting for first responders(EMT, Police, Fire, Medical, etc...) to learn about how to be prepared. I knew that I would only be able to go to part of it because I had another meeting. I wished that I had been able to stay for the whole meeting. It was very interesting and I learned alot during the time that I was there.
I have never thought that if there were to be a disaster that Stuart wouldn't be there to take care of things. I just assumed he would, not thinking of his other duties. As an EMT and a Fireman he is a first responder and if we here in Kanab or anywhere close to us happened to have a disaster he would most likely be gone doing his job and I would be here to make sure the family was taken care of. Not that I don't think I could handle it I just hadn't thought of it that way. It is our job as spouses of those responders to make sure we are prepared to handle any situation that arises so that the responders will have confidence in knowing that where ever they are and what ever their doing that their family is being taken care of and they can do their job with out worrying. We don't want them to have to choose between their family and their career at such a critical time. At the first of this seminar the presenter asked this question: "What if you responded to an incident so large that you were away from your loved ones for an extended period of time? Would you feel confident that your family is safe and sound so that you could effectively perform the job that you were trained for?" I would hope Stuart would be able to confidently say YES. Before this seminar I am not sure that would have been the case. But now we are working on it together and he will be able to do that.
One of the things that he stressed is having a 72 hour kit for each person in your family. (that is up to date) We have 72 hour kits but they are old and need to be updated. This will be our next project. The other thing was making sure that you have at least 2 weeks of water supply for your family. (1 gal per person per day). With these two things taken care of you have options.
A 72 hour kit gives you three days to decide "What is my next move?" A 2 week supply of water gives you 14 days to decide where your next drink of water will come from.
The next thing is to make sure that you have gas in your car at all times. (this one is hard for me)

After going to this seminar and then listening to conference (especially Elder Hales talk) and seeing what is happening with the economy we need to be prepared for anything. Spiritually and physically. The church has been telling us for years to have our food storage and to not get into debt but have we been listening.

I think I just needed a little eye opener, so that we can be as prepared to take care of our loved ones (kids, parents, neighbors, etc...) as we can be. I hope if and when this day comes I am ready.