Soapbox time again

With the disasters that have gone on in our country lately, I feel it is time to get back on my soapbox.

First and foremost, please become better prepared.  If it is nothing more than understanding the difference between a warning and a watch and what to do in each situation.  Do you have a plan for your family?  Do they know it?  My two daughters are grown (25 and almost 30!)  and they still know if the weather is threatening, they can come home to the safe house.  We live in an earth contact house, so most of it is underground, our bedroom is the safest place in the house and they know Momma has enough food to last for several days (if it doesn’t get blown away and if it does, we are in trouble because that is one of the first things I will grab.

Do you have enough food to feed your family if there is a run on the grocery store after a disaster?  Do you have enough to share with others?  Would you be willing to share food that you have stored with others that did not prepare?  Only you can answer these questions for yourself.  Some people have strong opinions both ways and I know what I am willing to do and what I am not willing to do and in the event of a disaster, I do have a plan and it makes me feel more peaceful when those spring storms hit.

I also don’t want to tell you to jump in your car and head toward the disaster, sometimes that can cause more harm than good.  If you are down there and they don’t need you, you are taking valuable resources from those that need them.  There is usually a phone number set up to contact for donations (whether it be money or services), please contact them to see what you can do to help.  It might be more valuable for you to stay where you are and organize a local drive to take once the rescue is complete and they are in the rebuilding phase.  If you are rescue personnel, you know the protocol, please follow it.

My heart breaks for each and every person down there that has been affected by all the tragedies and was glad to hear a teacher say that she prayed.   Never underestimate the power or prayer.  It can give others comfort and peace, but know that God hears every one of those prayers.  Hug your family and friends a little tighter, call them up and tell them you love them, let them know you care.  We are not guaranteed another minute on this Earth.  My grandmother and grandfather didn’t expect to lose their oldest child at the age of 19 but they did.  My grandmother spent many years being mad at God (her words, not mine) and she said there wasn’t anything good that came of it.  She missed a lot of time basking in God’s love but came to the realization that sometimes we don’t know when we have to say goodbye so we should make the most of each day.

This time last week, we were laying to rest a beautiful soul (who just happened to be married to my cousin) and the preacher said he saw a sign that said “Choose your Attitude” and he believed that is what Susan did every day, she chose to be happy.  I noticed several people they interviewed in Oklahoma that had that same attitude.  They were grateful they were still alive and loved ones were as well.  In the midst of all that destruction, they chose to look at the positive.  If they can, how about you?  So now go back to the questions in this post and ask yourself them again.

Stay safe, become better prepared, make a plan, make sure those close to you know your plan, don’t count on others to help you out.  There is nothing more liberating than being self-sufficient when others are not.  Continue to pray for those that need our prayers (so basically everyone, everywhere) and most of all, tell your loved ones that you do truly love them.

Adrianna’s Girls Day Out

We decided to have a girls day before Tara had to go back to work from maternity leave.  Shawna had the day off as well so it was all of us girls and we decided to go to Moberly and get pedicures, then back to Columbia for lunch and a visit to the make up store (Sephora counter at the Mall).  We had to go to Moberly because that is where Paulie’s shop is.  Adrianna decided to give Paula Kirby a new nickname and that is where we have to go to get our toes done according to her.

Tara called Paula and made the appointments and our plans changed a little.  The first appointment was for 1:30 so we would have to eat first and we had to go to the “barrels” because you can shop while you are waiting on your food to come to the table.  Adrianna loves to go to Cracker Barrel and just look around and she actually got a baby doll that day and bought her brother a “weasel ball”.

After lunch, we headed to Moberly and someone was really excited that she didn’t have to take a nap because it was “Princess Day”.  We started calling it “Princess Day” because the Princess got to make all the plans for the day.  Papa Jimbo said to tell her it was “Queen’s Day” because she was going to be treated like a queen.  So I tell her and she says “That’s not very nice”.  I tried to explain to her that Queens were more important than Princesses and she told me she was a princess and it wasn’t nice to call her a queen because “Queens are old Nanny!”

When we got to Moberly, we each had to pick our own color of toe nail polish.  She got purple sparklies, her favorite, Mommy got blue, Nanny got red and Sha-Sha got orange.  She had a great time and got to go first and then went to Paulie’s office to watch Sponge Bob and have a drink.  She loved having the run of the place because Paulie let her!

Then it was time to head back to Columbia and the makeup store.  Someone fell asleep and Mommy took pictures of her.  Poor Baby, I can see them turning up later in life to embarrass her.  When we made it to the makeup store, she played around for a few minutes and then she wanted to ride the escalator.  When we came down, she scared her mommy because Mommy didn’t know where we went.

I think she had a wonderful “Princess Day” and sure we will have to do it again soon.

My crazy busy life this week.

First of all, It is Ag week.  I want to say thank you to every farmer in the world, you make my way of life so much easier and I appreciate it so much.  Starting with my parents who have been farming forever to my grandson who dreams of being a farmer and driving that tractor and combine.  I have to say, I wouldn’t be the person I am today without that influence.  I tried living in “town” for about 3 months in McCredie population 40 (maybe if everyone was home!!) and couldn’t handle it so I am glad I married a farm boy and we moved to the country.  I love the feel of dirt and things growing, love mowing the grass, watching the crops grow, seeing the hay cut (love that smell) and baled into big round bales (yes I have bucked my share of square bales in my life), planting the garden, working the soil and reaping the harvest and hopefully share with friends, watching that little seed grow into a big corn-stalk or grow many more soybeans from a single bean, milo makes me itch so I admire it from afar.  I also love to pick wild blackberries or go mushroom hunting if I can.  Love to watch the hubby hunt or fish.  Love being able to burn wood to keep us warm in the winter and help cut, split and haul the wood in.

SO TO ALL THE FARMERS IN THE WORLD, THANKS AND I APPRECIATE EVERYTHING YOU DO.

We didn’t really do much this weekend, think my body was charging up for the week.

Monday I went on a grocery tour after work to learn about how to get more calcium in my diet, since I have a milk allergy, this can be difficult, but I will work on it some more and see what I can do to make it more healthy.

Tuesday night, Jimmy had a meeting in Fulton and I stayed in town, picked up supper and worked while he had his meeting.

Wednesday, it is KFJ (Kids for Jesus) and I help Agnes Hatcher with the little kids 2-3 years old and we have between 15-25 kids every week, they are so sweet and I love seeing them every week, they are such a bright spot in the week, sure gonna miss them this summer.

Thursday night, our Women’s bible study group is going to an Easter pageant in Mexico and I can’t wait to watch it and be blessed with the Easter spirit.

Friday night, a Church group is going out for supper for fellowship and enjoyment.  Can’t wait to get together with these people and visit.

Will someone please tell my hubby I do love him and will plan to spend a relaxing weekend again with him when this crazy wonderful week is over.  And I am planning to sleep late one of those weekend days.

While I was away from the blog world, something happened.

I think I stopped blogging early last spring before I had some exciting news to announce.

We have a new grandson, Ryker James.  He was born January 16th, 2013, my aunt’s birthday, one day after my parents 53 wedding anniversary and one day after one of his mommy’s friends delivered her baby boy.

Brock and Adrianna were so excited to tell us about the baby in their mommy’s tummy and they talked to him all the time.  Especially after they found out he was going to be a brother.  Brock was super excited, he didn’t have a brother so he needed one.  Adrianna went back and forth for quite a while, at first she was mad and cried and said she didn’t want a brother.  We started calling him Georgie because Mommy and Daddy couldn’t decide on a name.  I don’t think this was the easiest pregnancy either.  You see Tara likes to eat her breakfast and have it revisit her later in the morning.  Not for 3 months but it seems like she is like this for the entire pregnancy.  A trait she didn’t inherit from her mommy (no morning sickness for this girl ever!).  And she isn’t quiet about it, sounds like her toes are coming up as well.  Now I know where Brock gets this from.  (Yes, the lightbulb just went off as I was typing it).

Anyway, we as in the grandparents, decided to wager on when this baby was going to be born.  Pat (her mother in law) chose January 11th, I chose January 14th because that is her 1/2 birthday, Jimmy chose January 15th, and Dave (her father in law) chose January 16th.  We were all taking a risk because her due date was January 23rd and both of her kids were born on the 22 and 23 of the month (no not January, August and July).  Well, Dave won and just barely, Ryker was born at 1:07 a.m.

Brock and Adrianna were at our house so when we woke them up that Wednesday morning, I asked them if they wanted to go see their baby brother.  Adrianna’s first comment was, “We can’t, he hasn’t come out yet!”, and when I assured her he had and was waiting at the hospital to meet them they were both so excited.

Of course, he is just perfect and is already two months old.  Growing and smiling, stealing his grandparent’s hearts, much like his brother and sister.  Even though he has been home two months, I think the kids are still very much in love with their brother and are very protective of him.  They talk to him and kiss him, hold his hand and love on him all the time.  It is so sweet to see.

Good bye to a dear friend of Hatton

This week one of our neighbors moved away.  Many in this area knew Marilyn Jones.  She moved to Georgia to be closer to her biological family and I am sure they will love having her close.

She is going to be missed in so many ways in the neighborhood, Pleasant Grove Church, afternoon ladies extension club, evening extension club, Older Adult Sunday School, quilting groups, I could go on forever I think.

Two weeks ago, we had a going away party for her, held at our church.  Many spoke about memories of her, we laughed, cried and laughed some more. They asked everyone to bring a pie.  If you don’t know the reason, I will explain.  Every year for at least a month before Craft Day, she would stand up at any event and ask for pies, pies, pies for Craft Day.  It got to the point where the only thing she would say was “Pies, Pies, Pies” and sit down, we would start laughing but knew she meant for us to support Craft Day by bringing pies for the food booths.

At Halloween, all the “grown up” kids would bring their little kids over there (usually the first stop!) because she made homemade donuts.  I am so glad my two grandchildren were able to enjoy that tradition (and son-in-law and daughter!).  You could start hearing the chatter when the adults were starting to make their Halloween plans, “We have to go by Marilyn’s first, she might run out!” “Let’s make that our first stop.”

She organized the Older Adult Sunday School dinner for many years.  It was very well attended, but you had to be over 55 to attend (missed that one by a few years!) but she has groomed someone to take over that responsibility.  Linda Huyser has been in training for a couple of years now and I think Marilyn is satisfied it is in good hands.

She was always willing to host and help out at all extension club meetings and brought lots of yummy food.

Most importantly she was an awesome neighbor to all.  She went to quilt shows with several ladies, made quilts with them, talked quilting with anyone interested.  She was grandmother to many kids in the neighborhood like all the Smith kids and grandkids.  She is one of the most knowledgeable people about the Bible that I know.  I remember one time she was talking to our women’s Bible study group and she said if you want to know how to live your life, read the book of James.  She said she has gone to that book in the Bible more times than she can remember.

Marilyn and Verna Shryock have been great friends for  many years and I know Verna will miss her greatly, but luckily Verna has a granddaughter in Alabama so it gives her more reason to visit Erin and make a side trip to see Marilyn.  She started Marilyn Smith quilting and now (like most quilters) she is addicted, she is very artistic and has taken Marilyn Jones to several quilt shows (one that her quilt was competing in).

Even though she left our community yesterday, we are sure she will be back because she promised she will be checking on us and is planning to come back for Craft Day.  Thank you for everything Miss Marilyn.

I’m BACK!!!

Ok, my life has been crazy for almost an entire year but I am back and promise to catch everyone up and post more often.  It will be my goal to post at least once a week.

So what has been going on you ask.  Well, my job for one, it has kept me more busy that I thought it would.  I am still loving it, something new everyday and I continue to learn from my co-worker, Kent.  Thanks to him for all the shared knowledge.

So I receive this challenge today from a blogger friend for an award.

She is required to ask 11 questions and I am going to try to answer them.  I don’t get to follow many blogs anymore because of several things, lack of time, PINTEREST, grandchildren, children…

Here are the questions (and my answers).

1. Give us your 30 second commercial for your blog.

Need something to do, stop by my blog to see what is happening in our little community (well, guess I had better be more dedicated right?)
2. What makes you smile?

My family, all of you crazy people who claim to be a relative to me.  Working on our family tree, so far we have 1890 people found to be related to us.
3. What’s your super power, real or for pretend? The love I have for my family and friends.  Most of you already know I would do anything in my power to help you and I love each and every one of you.

4. Who’s your hero  and why are they so cool? My parents, they have struggled so much in their life and are still together and in love, they are so cute, holding hands, calling each other cute little names.  Can you believe they met on a blind date on Valentine’s Day, she was a city girl, he was a country boy, 53 years later… their love story is still being written.
5. And your motto on life would be?

Live, Laugh, Love. or As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
6. Stuck on a deserted island and you have your choice of 5 things, what would they be?

Only 5??  Family, friends, plenty of food, a good book, and quilting supplies.  Not a very good list for someone working in disaster preparedness, huh?
7. In a perfect world where you would be right now?

Right where I am now, my little piece of heaven just north of Hatton Missouri with the love of my life.
8. Within your  family, what do think has been influenced you the most, your spot in the birth  order, the cousins you grew up with, your parents teachings, or something else and if so what?

Oh wow, this one is hard.  I didn’t understand how important cousins were until after I was out of high school, they were always around and we were always doing things together.  But probably my parents teaching, of course, my aunts and uncles had the same values and us cousins grew up knowing the rules, no matter who was around.
9. Tell some of your favorites and why they make the list.

Favorite what??  Book?  Gone with the Wind (love the book better than the movie), Sports teams?  St. Louis Cardinals and Dallas Cowboys (loved them especially in the 70s before the drugs and other illegal activities)NASCAR go #29, Neighbors?  Too many to list here, we live in a wonderful community, foods?  come on have you seen me, I like to eat.
10. Which sport reminds you most of life and what lessons have you learned from it?

Baseball, there is a strategy and you have to play it all, sometimes errors occur, pick yourself up and learn from it and score, three strikes and you are out (remember that one!!), there is always another game to play, we don’t just play on Sunday.
11. If you could turn back time or freeze a particular time, when would that be and why?

July 1999.  Before my father-in-law passed away, I so bad want to tell him one more time what a wonderful dad is was and before my grandmother knew she had cancer (and didn’t tell us!).  But that also means we would still be raising our kids and have no grandchildren yet.  Maybe I will take right now.

Some of these will surprise you, some won’t.  I am sure my hubby and kids will know the answers before they read them.

Now, back to happenings in Hatton.  We are having the traditional Valentine’s Dinner at the church on February 16th.  The youth group is once again organizing this event.  Thanks so much to them for making Valentine’s dinner easier for us (no standing in line for hours! and feeling rushed and we know the food will be great!).

Thursday is the County COAD meeting, if you are interested in helping prepare for a disaster, show up at the County Health Department at 11:00 am.  Suicide subcommittee is at 10 am.

February 20th and 27th is KFJ and Youth at Pleasant Grove UMC.  Starts at 6:00 pm, bring the kids hungry, they have supper for everyone.

February 22 is the Hatton Extension Club party night.  Fingerfood’s will be carried in, and will have a party of some sort afterward.  Always a good time, and get to visit with neighbors.

More next week, I promise!

 

To all my church friends, how prepared are you

I know you all are going to be surprised A) that I finally blogged again! and B) you think this is going to be a sermon about preparing for Heaven.  Well mostly wrong, but I will explain to you as I go.

Yesterday I was blessed to attend the Governor’s Faith Based and Community Service Partnership for Disaster Recovery-Missouri Faith-Based Organizations Disaster Initiative Workshop.  Such a long name but it was one of the best conferences I have been to!  You have the opportunity to attend one as well (April 26th Cape Girardeau, April 27th St. Louis, May 1st Springfield, May 3rd Kansas City, May 4th St. Joseph). The governor talked about 2011 was the year of disasters for Missouri and he hopes to never repeat it again in his lifetime!  We are still operating under a disaster declaration and as of April 22 it has been a full year!  He talked about the flooding of the Missouri River and all the property loss in the Northwest part of the state, the blowing up of the levee in Southeast Missouri, flooding so much fertile farm land, the blizzard of 2011 when I-70 was shut down, the tornadoes in Joplin and Sedalia.  But the thing that impressed him the most was the giving, caring nature of the people of Missouri!  He wanted us all to know when the tornado hit Joplin, there were 435 law agencies to help out and if there is another disaster, there will be as many to help out if needed.  He honored all who worked in any capacity to help out with all the disasters and discussed how we would always maintain the dignity of people involved in a disaster.  No matter if you like him or not, we all have to agree 2011 was an extremely trying time for Missourians as well as him serving as our Governor and we can all be proud of the way we handled ourselves during this time.

Jim Kramper from National Weather Service talked about the warning system.  The single most important thing we can have in our house may be a weather radio because as we know, we can have inclement weather any time of the year.  Know the difference between a watch (conditions are favorable) and a warning (happening, take precautions!).  He also encouraged all churches to send someone to weather spotter classes so they can be aware even while church services are going on.  Do you have a weather radio?  how about in your church?  According to Melissa Friel of the Center ffor Emergency Response and Terrorism, they are only around $30.  Would make a wonderful gift for someone you love or your entire church body.  Can you guess what I will be purchasing tomorrow night when I go shopping??

Jenny Wiley and Chaplin Colonel Gary Gilmore discussed spiritual and emotional care.  The human spirit reaches out to help so just being there for people when they need something is so important in life as well as disasters.  If someone is hurting or hungry, it may not be the time to witness to them but just tell them you will be praying for them before you leave, give them a way to contact you and you may be doing more in disaster preparedness than you realize.  AND Chaplin Gilmore wanted everyone to know they should be prepared themselves so they can help in times of disaster!  He related about his experience with his first disaster response and how ill prepared he was!

Reverend Roy Weeden discussed how when he arrived in Joplin less than 24 hours after the disaster, the donations were overwhelming and his group was responsible for donations management!  He said it was staggering how many unsolicited donations were arriving by the hour.  One thing they brought up was please don’t send your trash for disaster recovery.  People have lost so much already and feel bad, don’t give them your cast offs that are not wearable!  Some people don’t want to be down in the warehouse sorting donations but people have no idea how valuable that responsibility is, being able to get items to who and where they are needed fast is so important!  So if you volunteer, and they ask you to work in donations management, do so with a happy heart.  Every person’s volunteering is so important.

We had a wonderful lunch provided by the Missouri Baptist Convention (who often take the lead in feeding the masses during times of disaster).

Jay St. Clair of Joplin’s College Heights Christian Church gave a moving talk about the horror of Joplin right after the tornado ripped everything he knew apart.  Luckily his house was saved as well as the church.  A couple of them went to the church to check on it and opened it and people came looking for shelter!  He said it was such a wonderful ministry to be able to help those people.  Houses a couple of blocks from them were totally destroyed and a couple who had went out for supper (and left their kids at Jay’s house) called frantic because they were in the middle of it.  They were ok and found their way back to their kids!  What an emotional message and to see him humbled and blessed was an awesome experience.

Now to Greg White, what can I say about him?! He is a huge proponent of being prepared so you can help during times of need in Missouri (and other states).  He said if you can keep a supply of food and water for 30 days, you will be part of the solution and not being dependant on others!  He also said one of the most profound things I think was said during the entire conference.  He said we have talked about big disasters but what would happen if someone in your congregation had a heart attack or other medical event during your church service, are you prepared??  What would you do?

I know one church in Callaway County that practices drills every year and are very self sufficient as far as disaster preparedness.  So what are you waiting for, do you have a list of equipment that your congregation has available for use during times of emergency?  Do you have a preparedness plan?  What would happen if one of your congregation would need oxygen, CPR, or any type of 1st aid while they are at church.  Do you have special needs in your church?  How will they be handled during a disaster?

So many things to think of and when you think of all the disasters that have happened already this year, the only thing I can think of is NOW IS THE TIME!  I think we all have much work to do to make us more prepared and better able to survive disasters.