Food Storage

Food storage has been a topic that has been around for a long time even in the old testament during the time of Joseph in Egypt they stored grain for seven years when there was plenty for the seven years when famine plagued them. We had the opportunity to go to a workshop on food storage last weekend on Saturday. I must say I was not very thrilled to go. I was up at 7.30am spring cleaning our garage and I wasn't done by 10.30am and for the ocd gene in me was not very happy leaving work incomplete as this was the only opportunity I had to clean otherwise due to our schedule this would be done next year. After several "I will be done in 10 mins" Wayne eventually managed to drag me out of the garage and I got ready and we were on our way minus breakfast. Thanks love!! I felt terrible for starving my husband's but hoping to making it up to him. Anyways we got to church and were able to listen to all about food storage and I took out my note book to take down as much info as I could. We are into food storage and I think we have enough for6 months in case of an emergency but that is not good enough our goal is to have a year's supply by the end of this year. We have been encourage and commanded by our church leaders and prophets to be vigilant in this field.

Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught
"Acquire and store a reserve of food and supplies that will sustain life. . . . As long as I can remember, we have been taught to prepare for the future and to obtain a year's supply of necessities. I would guess that the years of plenty have almost universally caused us to set aside this counsel. I believe the time to disregard this counsel is over. With events in the world today, it must be considered with all seriousness" ("If Ye Are Prepared Ye Shall Not Fear," Ensign,Nov. 1995, 36).

Not only have we been encourage to have a years supply of food storage we have recently been asked to make a 72 hour emergency pack.
Did you know that

In case of an emergency say for example a hurricane, floods etc struck, it takes the government or other agencies 72 hours to get to the disaster areas?

We don't have to buy our food storage at one go it starts by bit by bit by two extra tins or cans of food when shopping .

Swimming pool water in case of emergencies belongs to the government so they can come in and drain your water supply and you would do nothing about it?Use a black jerrycan for water storage as it prevents the UV rays from going through and contaminating the water. For a 20 liter jerrycan add 2 table spoons full of jik and it will last for ever. Jik is just a high concentration of chlorine.

What, where and how do I go about with food storage... just put a list on your fridge and when never you hear either your child/husband or even you crave for something write it down and when you go shopping buy in excess where permissible.

Hygiene: A lot of people think during disasters hygiene doesn't count but wipes those baby wipes do help. one may not be able to have a bath but wipes can help. I for one have to bath at least twice a day. I cant fall asleep if i haven't had a bathe or shower. I have tried and always end up waking up having my shower then going to bed in the middle of the night.

Check for expiry dates when buying food storage.

Use durable stuff to store your stuff, plastic are usually attacked by rodents.Glass is quite good.

LDS have what we call a distribution center and they do stock up foods that one can buy for storage and they are pack in very durable containers . Most of them last for ten years and storage is great the containers a have also plastic lids in case you open them so they are safe. The items range from powdered milk peas wheat, rice, potato flakes the list is long.

Someone said that he asked his father why they always had food storage but they were never able to use it and his father told him that the blessing they had received from food storage is that they never had to use it. isn't that wonderful!!

You may not use the food storage but it will help someone in need. I'm so grateful for this opportunity and teachings we receive from our leaders in the church and revelations that help us to be better people and look after ourselves and loved ones.
http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=32ee1a01e8d43210VgnVCM100000176f620a____&vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD

Nice having my baby back

After being on my won since Sunday, I'm thrilled beyond thrilled that i finally have by sweet husband back home from a long business trip to Uganda. Weekend was great though he was recovering from flu we had the young married couples home we were hosting on Saturday. Didn't take pics but it was fun we enjoyed the company of the Dothwaites, Pooe's and a surprise visit from the Arumagum family. To top the cherry we found out our dear friends are expecting their first bay. we are beyond thrilled for them they will be such awesome parents. fast forward Sunday we only attended sacrament and headed back home as Wayne was being picked up at eleven. After he left i made myself lunch and entered bed and cried myself to sleep . I just feel so lost with out my sweetie a round. Well I'm not alone, the cat and dog are besides themselves as well. but we survived and Wayne is back I'm grateful that he is home safe. While in Uganda he was able to see my family which was great despite all the hectic schedule he had he squeezed sometime and went and saw them . I am the luckiest girl to have such a wonderful man. Love him to bits. Thanks hun again.

Man down

pic from google

A terrible flue bug/virus going around. At our home my sweetheart is not well been booked off work from yesterday till Sunday on bed rest as per doctor's orders. And he is traveling to Uganda. I'm now wife and praying and hoping he gets well before Sunday. I do believe in miracles. I miss his laughs and chirpy self around the house. Get well soon love. Hang in there love you . And the babies are not taking it well.

The Farquasons

When we bought our house and moved out of the farm, the Farquason family moved into the farm. After sometime they moved out and ended up in Centurion. We haven't been able to see them much but we made an appointment in June to see them in August. We finally made it and it was great to see them, hangout and chill. It was lovely to see our little -big kitty as well we looked after him for a month or so before they took him. Our cat Jiji is the sister of their cat Eric. They also have another lovely cat sasha. I was so tempted to steal her. Its amazing how much their cat has grown ad ours is still a little kitten in comparison. Shane prepared a lovely meal cant recall the name but it was delicious. And we played cards the cook family vs the farquasons. The cooks won :) Had lovely dessert and before we knew it it was time to come home. Oh and I ended up going home with a lovely cd lots of British pop thanks to Kevin. Wayne enjoyed chatting/teaching Daelen about kick boxing. Daelen just enrolled in a karate class.

kevin and shane

sasha

Eric - jiji's brother

Locnville concert

Five weeks ago John's girlfriend Caity called asking if we would like to go to a locnville concert. These guys are the it artists at the moment in South Africa. She wanted to surprise John , he loves this group and we have been forced to listen to these guys every time we hang out with John and basically the whole Eppel family. By Sunday Caity couldn't contain herself the smses, the sleepless nights and tormenting John about the surprise and not giving him any clue almost drove him nuts. As we left home after 5pm for carnivore city, he actually started getting bummed out and eventually Caity caved in and we told him what the evening was all about. We had to endure the locnville cd for an hours' drive to the concert. This concert was sold out and filled with little kids from all ages. John was speechless, Caity so chuffed with herself .... the awesome girlfriend!!

John and Caity

us

John sung along to most of the songs through out the concert. Wayne and I enjoyed ourselves it was great spending the evening with him by the end I had no voice. They are a great duo and some of their songs are awesome. We left the concert after 12am picked something to eat and headed home. We had a great time thanks to Caity.

Hanging out with wonderful friends

After the lion park we rushed home to set up and prepare for a luncheon at our place with our friends Craig, Stacey with baby Aston, Mike and Desire this weekend and it was so lovely to catch up and chat and laugh thanks to dad and Desire. During the world cup dad was given the VIP treatment by Desire so he had the chance to watch most of the matches played in Durban VIP style. Desire has been here for quite sometime working with FIFA. As a result of dad's appreciation he asked us to do something nice and we decided a luncheon was perfect. Wayne prepared all the food. He is such a great cook. We had a great combination of food- prawns rice, spare ribs,chicken, wors, salads, desserts. Sorry I forgot to take pictures we were having a great time and didn't think of it but we are so grateful for friends like the Barnetts, Mike and Desire. Its nice to have people who share the same standards as us. We feel so blessed to have people like them in our lives.

At 7.30pm we kicked the visitors out because we had another commitment to go to. we were going to have dinner with our other friends the Eppel family. So we headed out and when we got there we were both too full to have diner. I could not put anything into my mouth not even a drop of water. The atmosphere was great,filled wit lots of noise and laughter. We sat down and chatted while having some snacks as the dinner table was being set.
We all sat at the table sans John who was feeling well and continued chatting. After dinner was game time and we played 30 secs, we divided ourselves and of course my group won not because of me it was all team effort.

Setting up snack table

having dinner-Robert was hiding his face didn't want Sylvie to take his pic

getting ready for 30 secs

fun times

us

from right-Wayne,Larry, Jenny,Becky & nana

Sylvie and grandpa

After that dessert was served and more chatting, eventually after 12.30 am I couldn't keep my head up anymore we were so tired and were ready to go home to prepare for fast Sunday.All in all it was a great weekend and we are grateful for the many blessings we have especially of wonderful friends.

The lion Park

Saturday could not have come sooner, since last year we have been trying to get the opportunity to go to the lion park but because of our busy schedules we weren't able to make it finally we squeezed in an hour over the weekend. We had other things going on but decided that it was to happen.We were having our friends over for lunch. Our good friend Larry had flown in from Durban to visit Jenny but was staying with us. They had a wedding to attend at the temple , after they left we headed off too. We were bot excited about this trip/adventure to the park. And when we got there we were very impressed by the place especially the animals. The lion cubs were so adorable i just wanted to take one home. The only white cub came and lay on my lap as we sat to take pictures and rub tummies of the other cubs. It was so playful and I just wanted to take her home. after the ions we went and fed the giraffes who were so cute and friendly. I didn't k now they had such long and rough tongues it felt like a cat's tongue . It was an awesome experience. we walk along the park and some cubs were in rehabilitation- had been involved in some accidents but seemed to be in very playful moods. They were like big kittens playing with soccer balls. The mere cats too looked very tiny and just adorable, the hyena laughed and it was great seeing this creature. The cheetahs were the snobby animals of the lot they couldn't be bothered to lift up their heads to show some kind of curiosity all they did was sleep.The wild South African dogs were so colorful. Due to time constraints we were not able to do the hour game drive to see other animals but we hoping to do that before Christmas and may be camp and be able to do the night drive as well. I'm so glad we live in a country were we an have such special opportunities to kinda bond with nature and embrace its uniqueness. And experience it like next door while other people have to come from other parts of the world to experience it.

Dont you want to just cuddle with it

rubbing the tummy:)

this is my favorite -cute white cub

so cute

How cute is this nose!!

feeding giraffe

me with giraffe

There are more pictures but they wont load so enjoy the ones that loaded.

A busy weekend

This weekend one one hell of a busy one, just lots of catching up to do. We haven't had a weekend together at home since march there has been something pretty much every weekend. And this weekend was not any different , we had a relief society activity based on visiting teaching a great activity which ended at a bout 12pm. Then Wayne, Jenny and I headed to do our monthly shopping we usually shop once every two months besides the fresh stuff. After shopping on our way home, ended up being bribed to have lunch at their place by Jenny so we left their house at about 5.30pm to unpack our groceries. While at Jenny's the children had been spring cleaning all day in anticipation of the arrival of their grand dad and mom from Ghana.While trying to finish up the cleaning lil Sylvie kept playing with a black marker and I was so tempted to draw harry potter glasses on her face on several occasions but was advised not to. Anyways the following day/Sunday evening she decides to surprise me with this when they came to pick up the other siblings from BYC at our house.

Book of Mormon 24 hr Challenge

At the beginning of the year, the youth at church were asked during one of the bishop youth committee meetings about things that could help them grow both physically and spiritually as they planned for their annual camp. It was suggested that we i.e the youth and leaders should study the book of Mormon since it was part of their personal progress for young women and duty to God for the young men. It would begin on the first day of camp and we would study it in 90 days.And after the 90 day challenge we would have a BOM 24 hour challenge. I must say at the beginning of this challenge I was very you know need to get this done kind of energy and somewhere in the middle I lost track but resumed during the exam period and after that persevered to the end a few days after the challenge. Wayne on the other hand was very disciplined and completed his even before the 90 days. He was going to be late for the 24 hour challenge so he finished the 90 day study 2 days ealier and started from the beginning in order not to miss out since he was joining us late because he had a soccer match to go to at 4pm. Day 90 was last week on Thursday and on Friday at 6pm we sat down with the youth and one of the parents with her kids - Eppel family decided to do this as a family thing. So we had little Sylvie who is not in youth and Robert and John with his girl friend Caitlin who are past youth. The turn up was great not all the youth made it. I was impressed by the energy exuded by the youth and determination they wore on their faces. I on the other hand had a personal concerns that I would fall asleep by 8pm. I'm usually asleep by 8.30pm so I was scared about setting a bad example but surprise I endured. We studied the BOM and read it in turns the atmosphere was so calming and great. After I think 11pm some people experienced sleep challenges and they took power naps of about 20mins and were woken up and joined the studying. John on the other hand fell asleep by I think 10pm and by 11, he and Cait threw in the towel calling it a day. At about 2am some of the youth left -Squires. We had a few 20 minute breaks during this course, one at midnight then another at 3am, 5am, 9am and 12pm, some time on Saturday afternoon and eventually finished study the book in 27 hours. At 24 hours, Wayne explained to the youth that the challenge was meant for 24 hours but we had not yet completed it and if any of them wanted to go we could call it a day and thanked them for their efforts and to our surprise they said they wanted to completed the book. Their determination was so unbelievable. So we continued studying till 10pm when the last chapter was read. I must say it is one of the most challenging things I have ever done in my life. I'm not so sure if I would do it again but never say never. It is an experience I will cherish for the rest of my life. I'm grateful for the BOK and for the guidance and lessons there is to learn and principles of the gospel. I'm grateful for the prophet Joseph Smith and for the availability we have to gain all this wonderful knowledge and blessings that we have received from studying it. If you have not read this book I would recommend it to everyone. its easy to get hold of just contact me via comment section and will avail one to you.

Wayne's second match Slovenia vs USA

Wayne went for his second world cup match on Friday, he was just as excited for this match Slovenia vs USA. Apparently it was an exciting game it was a draw 2: 2. The match was a kind of late one it started at 4pm so he and Wolf left from work to go to soccer city. He sent me some pictures again via his cell phone. The only problem was exiting the stadium after the match, shame they were stuck in traffic for over 3 hours. We were having a Book of Mormon 24 hour challenge that started at 6pm, which meant he wasn't able to be with us at the beginning but he joined us at about 9pm. I was thrilled to see him because I was worrying a bit. Asked if he had another chance, he would do it again. I'm really thrilled that he had a great time, he is such a sports person so for him to be a part of this was awesome.