Hitler finds out about the Dept. of Homeland Security Emergency Alert System

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQRIpMND6pw&feature=player_embedded

Funny and depressing at the same time.

Thank Heaven for Little Girls

Janette and Seth are having a girl, due date July 6.

And yesterday we found out Rachel and Isaac are ALSO having a GIRL!!!!!

I hope they will be best cousins!

I love my valentine

I am totally in love, happy as can be,  head over heels, comfortably settled down forever, and living a completely satisfactory middle aged married life with my absolutely adorable husband WAYNE.  And I am counting on him looking exactly like this again when we get resurrected.

P.S.  Today is the 31st anniversary of our first kiss.

Sysco document was true, its in the news

I hate to say I told you so, but now it is in the news, not just on some wacko's YouTube video.  Food prices are going through the roof.


Sysco declares force majeure, raises grocery prices
Jack H Barnes's picture
Submitted by Jack H Barnes on 02/12/2011 13:37 -0500

Food inflation driven by freezing weather in Florida during December and in Mexico during February, is hitting the US supermarkets in the coming day’s. Sysco sent out an alert that announced an “Act of God”, to address their contracted supply issues.

The cold of the Superbowl weekend in Texas, has had a more lasting impact than on just the game plans for lots of travelers. The deep cold sank into the produce fields of northern Mexico, destroying fresh produce crops. This is the biggest page 16 story, about to hit a headline, that you have seen in a while. Your restaurants will be low on fresh produces for weeks. They will have to raise prices significantly or cut the produce out of the menu.

On Feb. 8, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported prices of $22.95-24.95 for two-layer cartons of 4×4, 5×5 and 5×6 vine-ripe field-grown tomatoes from Mexico, up from $6.95-9.95 the week before and $5.95-7.95 the year before.

This cold storm has brought to the food growing region the coldest temps in 50 years. This has caused damaged to most of the fresh produce available to US supermarkets in the winter spring season. This is going to impact the price you pay at the Supermarket anywhere in the North American continent.

This event will add to the worlds food supply issues already impacted by fires in Russia, rains in Australia, droughts in China, and now freezing temperatures in Florida & Mexico. Here are some quotes on the topic

“The last time there was a freeze of this severity was 1957,” said Jerry Wagner, director of sales and marketing for Nogales, Ariz.-based Farmer’s Best. “It’s still too early to tell, but there’s a lot of damage.”

“It’s been a rough day,” said Lee Anne Oxford, marketing director for Raleigh, N.C.-based grower-shipper L&M Cos. Inc. “Right now we have all of our growers out in various fields. We’re expecting to regroup over the weekend and hopefully know where we stand by Sunday.”

The Packer:

“The early reports are still coming in but most are showing losses of crops in the range of 80 to 100%. Even shade house product was hit by the extremely cold temps. It will take 7-10 days to have a clearer picture from growers and field supervisors, but these growing regions haven’t had cold like this in over half a century.”

“Florida normally is a major supplier for these items as well but they have already been struck with severe freeze damage in December and January and up until now have had to purchase product out of Mexico to fill their commitments, that is no longer an option.” Via Sysco Alert

“Supplies of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and other vegetables from Mexico will be severely limited until at least March following an early February freeze.”

Digital Journal:

This event will push up the price of produce in the US for the next few months. The bigger question is if the US wheat crop was damaged by the cold weather before the heavy snow fell to blanket it.

Vinnie's story: Rozilphia's death

I remember a particularly fascinating story my grandma Vinnie used to tell.

It seems that her grandmother, Rozilphia Stratton, lived in an old house that had once had a balcony on the second story.  For whatever reason, the balcony had been removed, but the door was still there.

Some relatives came to stay with Rozilphia, so she offered to stay in the bedroom upstairs and give them her ground-floor bedroom.  Rozilphia was an old woman, and maybe a little forgetful.  During the night, she had to use the outhouse, so she walked out the upstairs door and fell to her death.

There has been a lot of speculation about this story throughout my life.  How dumb was it to have a door that opened out to nothing?  It seems like someone could have nailed a board across it or something.  It really makes you wonder about people.

Vinnie's genealogy: 3 sets of parents

What was so frustrating last week when I went to new Family Search for my first time, was that I found that my grandma Vinnie had all the wrong parents!

Not only has she and her siblings been sealed to her parents Susan McCleve and George Franklin Gardner, but all those Gardner children have also been sealed to their aunt Maggie McCleve and her husband Darien Kartchner.

(This, of course, results in all their Kartchner cousins being listed as their siblings instead of their cousins.)

(And, very unfortunately, it makes my pedigree go on the Kartchner line instead of on the McCleve line, which is totally bogus.)

To add insult to injury, they have also been sealed to another set of parents, George (their real dad) and their aunt Maggie!

So I will live in frustration for awhile until some new features get added to new Family Search.  Randolyn told me next year we will be able to add comments, and you can be sure I will add some comments when that capability opens up.

Vinnie's story: Twin mothers

These are my grandparents, Hap and Vinnie Stewart.

Here is Vinnie's family when she was a girl.  Her mother, Susan McCleve Gardner, her father George Franklin Gardner.  Vinnie is on the left, little brother Harald in the middle, sister Georgia on the right.

Susan had an identical twin sister, Margaret McCleve Kartchner, who lived just down the street, so the sisters were often together.

I remember my Grandma Vinnie telling this story of one of her earliest memories.

Vinnie remembered being a very small girl, and when she was hurt she ran crying and buried her face in what she thought was her mother's long skirt.   She remembered being so surprised when her aunt Maggie said, "Bless your heart, child, I'm not your mother!"

Where do I find all this stuff about food shortages?

Well, I have a lot of websites I read.  And I see these stories more and more and more.  

YouTube video, Feb. 8, 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6oL77tUCn8

Benson "Prepare Yourself for the Great Day of the Lord"

http://lds.org/new-era/1982/05/prepare-yourself-for-the-great-day-of-the-lord?lang=eng

BY PRESIDENT EZRA TAFT BENSON

President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

 "Prepare Yourself for the Great Day of the Lord", New Era, May 1982, 44

Youth of Zion, do you realize you are living in the days of the fulfillment of these signs and wonders? You are among those who will see many of these prophecies fulfilled. Just as certain as was the destruction of the temple at Jerusalem and the scattering of the Jews, so shall these words of the Savior be certain to your generation.

We know not the day nor the hour of His coming, but of this you may feel assured: You stand close to the great day of the Lord! In His words of modern revelation, we say to you, “Seek the face of the Lord, always” (D&C 101:38).

You will live in the midst of economic, political and spiritual instability. When you see these signs—unmistakable evidences that His coming is nigh—be not troubled, but, “stand … in holy places, and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come” (D&C 87:8). Holy men stand in holy places and these holy places include our temples, our chapels, our homes, and the stakes of Zion, which are, as the Lord declares, “for a defense, and for a refuge from the storm, and from wrath when it shall be poured out without mixture upon the whole earth” (D&C 115:6).

Heed the Lord’s counsel to the Saints of this dispensation: “Prepare yourselves for the great day of the Lord” (D&C 133:10).

This preparation must consist of more than just casual membership in the Church. You must learn to be guided by personal revelation and the counsel of the living prophet so you will not be deceived. Our Lord has indicated who, among Church members, will stand when He appears:

“And at that day, when I shall come in my glory, shall the parable be fulfilled which I spake concerning the ten virgins.

“For they that are wise and have received the truth, and have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide, and have not been deceived—verily I say unto you, they shall not be hewn down and cast into the fire, but shall abide the day.

“And the earth shall be given unto them for an inheritance; and they shall multiply and wax strong, and their children shall grow up without sin unto salvation.

“For the Lord shall be in their midst, and his glory shall be upon them, and he will be their king and their lawgiver.” (D&C 45:56–59; italics added.)

President Wilford Woodruff further prophesied in 1894:

“Can you tell me where the people are who will be shielded and protected from these great calamities and judgments which are even now at our door? I’ll tell you. The priesthood of God who honor their priesthood and who are worthy of their blessings are the only ones who shall have this safety and protection. They are the only mortal beings. No other people have a right to be shielded from these judgments. They are at our doors; not even this people will escape them entirely.” (Wilford Woodruff, Young Women’s Journal, 5:512, June 1894.)

If you are to preserve your blessings, it is not enough for you to just be free and independent, to capitalize on your advantages so that they accrue to your well-being and prosperity. You must protect and safeguard the freedom you have. You must be wise and virtuous. You must govern your natures by the doctrines of His kingdom. You must be valiant in your testimony of Christ, by keeping all His commandments.

Will you be among those who are faithful to the end? Will you endure? Are you prepared? Can you live in the world and not partake of the sins of the world? Will you “arise and shine forth” as the Lord has commanded? Will you be a light and “standard for the nations”? We know you can. We pray you will. We have every confidence that you, “the rising generation,” will not falter. I repeat: You were valiant spirits reserved for this exceptional time. Make the choice. Rise to the task of this momentous hour!

As a special witness of our Lord, I humbly declare to you that He lives, that He is close to His servants.His word “shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by his own voice or by the voice of his servants, it is the same."(D&C 1:38.)

 

"In the Presence of Angels"-Jan. 2011 New Era

I loved this article about missionaries being protected in the Ivory Coast.  There were riots and violence in the country in 2004.

http://lds.org/new-era/2011/01/in-the-presence-of-angels?lang=eng

"In 2003 I was called to serve a mission in the Ivory Coast, in western Africa. As I researched, I found that the country seemed to be involved in constant civil war, but I was comforted to learn there was a ceasefire in place. Further comfort came when I was set apart. The stake president gave me a promise that while I was serving, I would at times feel the presence of angels and they would protect me. I was also promised that if I was obedient, I would return home safely.

In the first months of my mission, the mission president counseled us to be prepared. In our apartment in the capital city of Abidjan, we kept a three-day supply of food and water, and at meetings we received training on what to do if conflict broke out."

I believe in following the counsel of our church leaders.  I have a testimony that by following their counsel, we can be safe.  This story strengthens my testimony. 

"Despite dozens of attacks on foreigners throughout the country, none of the missionaries were harmed during the riots, and no missionary apartments were broken into. Because we listened to the mission president’s counsel, we were safe at home when the riots broke out and we had supplies necessary for our survival. And even more comforting than military protection was knowing we had the Lord’s protection.

When we were being evacuated, I found out that on Sunday afternoon after our sacrament meeting, a group of protesters had been preparing to attack our apartment. One of our neighbors shouted, “They aren’t French!” but they would not leave. Finally, another neighbor cried, “They’re missionaries!” and the rioters dispersed. I again remembered the words, “My Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you,” and I realized that I was living the promise from my stake president’s blessing. I had seen prophecy fulfilled."

A primer for the president

"Were (the president) to ask for a primer on how to act in relation to other states...and were that primer to be written by the American people, whether of 1776 or 2010, you can be confident that it would contain the following instructions:

"You do not bow to kings.  Outside our shores, the President of the United States bows to no man.  

When in foreign lands, you do not criticize your own country.

You do not argue the case against the United States, but the case for it.

You do not apologize to the enemies of the Unites States.

Should you be confused, a country, people, or region that harbors, shelters, supports, encourages, or cheers attacks upon our country or the slaughter of our friends and families are enemies of the United States.  And, to repeat, you do not apologize to them."

Mike Pence, U. S. Representative, Indiana's 6th Congressional District, in a speech entitled "The Presidency and the Constitution", delivered on the Hillsdale College campus on September 20, 2010.
Published in Imprimis magazine, October 2010

CERT was great

I really, really enjoyed my CERT training for the past 3 days.   Today we went through a mock disaster, and had to treat victims with fake blood and injuries all over them.  I told all about it on my other blog  www.GottaWannaNeedaGettaPrepared.blogspot.com

CERT training

I am attending Citizens Emergency Response Team training for 3 days.  It has been fun and very interesting.  Here I am putting out a fire.

I'll tell you more tomorrow.

Hand me downs

Tara had the cutest dress.  Her friend borrowed it, washed it and shrank it.  I was so mad.

Here is Elizabeth wearing her new dress-up dress.

So sad.

Chocolate Chips, CERT, Ham radio, Baby Girl

Tonight, I am teaching at an evening Relief Society meeting at my ward.  I will be demonstrating how to vacuum seal M&Ms and Chocolate chips inside regular canning jars using a FoodSaver vacuum sealer and a jar sealer attachment.

And I am excited to be taking CERT training this weekend (thats Citizen Emergency Response Team).  I will let you know what I learned, it should be WAY out of my comfort zone.  I know for sure we will be learning about search and rescue and first aid, I think how to put out fires, and a bunch of other stuff.

Studying my Ham radio manual is not going so well.  Man! That is difficult stuff!  Frequency and UHF and VHF and AM and FM and transceivers and transponders and wavelength and range and repeaters and blah blah blah.  It goes right over my head.  I think an electrical engineering major would love it, though.  I think I am going to read the whole manual to see if I start understanding it, then reread it to see if any of it sticks.  I really want to become a Ham radio operator so I'm going to keep working on it.

Janette and Seth were told yesterday that they are going to have a GIRL!  I am excited.  We still have to find out about Rachel and Isaac's baby.  (Both daughters-in-laws are due in July.)

Blind Quilter

Thanks to Wayne's Aunt Carol who sent me this link.  This woman is an inspiration.

http://www.tvkim.com/watch/697/kims-picks-the-amazing-quilter?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=totd&utm_content=2011-01-21-fifl&utm_campaign=u

"Honesty" talk

Yesterday I gave a talk on "Honesty" in sacrament meeting.  I told a lot of stories about myself and how I had learned honesty during my life.  At the end, I said I want to go off topic and tell this story from church history, and then I'll get back on topic.

This story from Joseph Millett's journal is one of my very favorite stories.

“One of my children came in, said that Brother Newton Hall’s folks were out of bread. Had none that day. I put … our flour in sack to send up to Brother Hall’s. Just then Brother Hall came in. Says I, ‘Brother Hall, how are you [fixed] for flour.’ ‘Brother Millett, we have none.’ ‘Well, Brother Hall, there is some in that sack. I have divided [it] and was going to send it to you. Your children told mine that you were out.’ Brother Hall began to cry. Said he had tried others. Could not get any. Went to the cedars and prayed to the Lord and the Lord told him to go to Joseph Millett. ‘Well, Brother Hall, you needn’t bring this back if the Lord sent you for it. You don’t owe me for it.’ You can’t tell how good it made me feel to know that the Lord knew that there was such a person as Joseph Millett.” 10  ( Gifts, Thomas S. Monson, APRIL 1993  Gen. Conf.)

Then I told the congregation that I was able to  participate in an answer to prayer a couple of years ago.  I was shopping in Target one day, and looked down and saw a wallet.  As I was turning it in to an employee at the front of the store, I opened it and discovered it belonged to Rachel L., a young mother who was in our  ward at the time.

I called her and left a message.  Later  she called me back.  She said that after they had looked for the wallet and couldn't find it, they had left the store and said a prayer.  Her little boy had prayed that someone honest would find his mommy's wallet.   You don’t know how thankful I was that God allowed me to be the answer to her little boy’s prayer.

Tara's Birthday

Happy birthday to our beautiful daughter!

Two stories about Tara:

1)  I didn't send Tara to preschool when she was three, but midway through the school year when she was four, a kid moved away so there was an opening and I enrolled her.

All the other kids had been in Phyllis B.'s preschool for at least 4 months when Tara showed up for her first day of school in January.  Tara immediately started bossing everyone around and showing them where to hang their coat and telling them where to sit on the little carpet squares.

Phyllis said it was hysterical to watch the other children as she mothered them all, they didn't know what to think of this bossy new student.

2)  Tara always loved to take care of babies and toddlers.  When she was still young herself (third or fourth grade) every Sunday after Primary she would go into the nursery and play with the kids.  There was a single mom with four little kids, and every Sunday Tara would help the little kids get their coats on and help their mom get them out to their car.

Why Emma Smith stayed behind, according to Bob Smith

http://www.ldsmag.com/index.php?option=com_zine&view=article&id=7384&ac=1
Meridian Magazine, Jan. 25, 2011


This is a fascinating letter written by Bob Smith, a direct descendant of Joseph and Emma Smith, and how he joined our church.

"Dear President Albright,

I was the 108th direct descendant of the Prophet Joseph Smith to be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormons).   I was the 2nd direct descendant of Joseph to be endowed in the new Nauvoo Temple.  I think it is time to share my story with a larger audience.  

I was raised in the Reorganized LDS church, now known as the Community of Christ.  All of my life I had been taught to distrust and fear the Mormon church which is headquartered in Utah. ....." 

One of the biggest gripes the descendants have with the LDS church is that they are offended that Brigham Young left Emma behind to fend for herself.  Bob Smith received a very interesting answer to this.  Read the article!

Starting my new goal of Family History

Wayne and I took the 10 minute tutorial on new Family Search on Wednesday night, and then on Thursday I took the second tutorial, and learned how to combine records.  I discovered my grandma Vinnie Gardner had the wrong parents!

We had an appointment with Andy F. from our ward on Thursday night to come over and help us with new Family Search.  He also couldn't quite figure out how to fix my Grandma's parents.

This is one of my big goals for the year (do Family History and take some names to the temple).  I was the most anxious to do work for my great-great-grandmother Josie Box (who got captured by the Indians) and her family, but when I looked her up, most of her family and her ancestors have already had their temple work done.

So my 2nd goal is to do the work for those Shupes and Shoops that I found on my miraculous Wytheville, VA trip.  That will be the next group of people I look at.

De-pegging the Currency

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuXUIxrDZ8E

Good explanation of the expanding money supply, and what will happen as China de-pegs its currency from the U.S. dollar.

Peter Schiff says:

"China now realizes that inflation is creating... a mood in the country that is not conducive to what they are trying to achieve. They have been afraid of rocking the boat,

And now they realize that the cost of propping up the U.S. dollar and the U.S. economy is greater than the cost of allowing it to collapse, so I think they are going to be moving quicker....

....As the Chinese currency increases in strength, the dollar must decrease, and so Americans experience higher prices, falling purchasing poser, and a lower standard of living, and that is what's coming, unfortunately."

Becoming more like Utah

When we first moved to Cary in Jan. 1988, the closest LDS neighbors were the Cramers (about 2 miles south) and the Cunninghams and Ishiharas (about 2 miles east).  We drove past the Cramers on the way to church, which was 5 1/2 miles away.

Later, the Christensens moved into the other side of Silverton, then the Volpes moved into our side of Silverton, and the Plautz's came.  Later the Ottehennings, Brostroms, Traills, and Souths moved near us.  At least we had some people near enough to carpool to early-morning seminary and to cub scouts and Young Men.

We moved to Morrisville in 2006.  Then we had to drive 9 1/2 miles to the stake center for Sunday church, and I think about 11 miles for weekday activities at the Cary building, for 4 years.

Our Morrisville ward building was completed in February 2010, only 1/2 mile from our house.  Oh Happy Day!  I could walk to church in 12 minutes if I wanted to.  (I haven't yet.)

In the past six months, 2 LDS families have moved in on our street, so close that I can see their houses and know if their cars are in the driveway or not.  This has never been the case since we left Utah.  I feel very blessed.

The pure little heart of a child

I babysat Elizabeth (4) and Thomas (2) today.  They were as good as gold because I brought some activities for us to do together.  We painted in some coloring books, and then we stuck stickers all over some posterboards.  Then I fed them string cheese and applesauce for lunch (notice I didn't cook anything.)

Elizabeth was telling me about a trip she had taken to the beach with her mom, and her mom's mom, and her mom's grandmother.  (It is so cute, Elizabeth calls her great-grandmother "Super Granny".  That sounds way cooler than "Great-Grandma".)

After telling me about the trip, Elizabeth looked at me with the hugest smile, and said, "And you REALLY REALLY MISSED ME, didn't you?"

That just melted me.