Already It's Making Sense

“Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain."  Hebrews 12:27

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Aha! Last night I discovered one reason for my recent urgency in prepping, in all ways, for the unknown:

Naomi and her cats are moving back home.

Yes, really. While touring with her NYC band, Naomi's Atlanta band broke up and a marriage is hanging by a thread (attn. prayer warriors), the marriage of her dear friends who led the band and with whom Naomi was renting a room. So tomorrow, after already having driven thousands of miles lately, Naomi will head back to Hobbit Cottage where Tom and I will need to hire someone to build a wall with a door upstairs to officially divide the big room, so to cater to Naomi's two cats.

Etc., etc.

But all will be well and I can't help but feel that God wanted Naomi back in Buffalo because of what's coming to the U.S.. So that we'd be nearer and able to help. But we shall see, won't we?


Moving on to more prepping advice...

When storing food, it's important to remember this quote: "Store what you eat and eat what you store." Try to purchase only the foods your family likes--and--a little extra for possible bartering.

Not sure what to stock-up on? Make a list of what you eat every day, then add the ingredients of the meals you eat most often. Start there, perhaps with help from your favorite cookbook. This might help, as well.

Also, picture what you'd race to the store for if you were told a weather-related emergency was bearing down upon you. Get those things now. You'll be oh-so-thankful later.

Make the most of sales and coupons and store-brand items. If you prefer, say, healthier fruit juices--watch for sales, then buy as many as you can afford. You shouldn't have to settle for brands that have all sorts of questionable ingredients you normally avoid.

Check the dates on what you buy. Even if you must reach to the back of store shelves, try to get what's dated the latest. At home, use a chunky black marker to write expiration dates on top of items so to easily see what's expiring soon.

Some good, cheap stock-up food items from Dollar Tree?

Dried beans.
Canned turkey and chicken.
Oatmeal.
Applesauce.
Pasta. Canned pasta.
Canned vegetables.
Beef jerky.
Olives.
Molasses.
Spices.
Crackers.
Canned chili, stew and tamales.
Tea, jams, jellies.
Dried cranberries. Sunflower seeds.


Other items I've found even cheaper at my own supermarket:


Canned tomatoes.
Macaroni and cheese.
Canned milk.
Rice and (sometimes) pasta.
Potato flakes.
Baking soda.
Powdered creamer.
Seltzer water.



Some items many people tend to forget to stockpile?


Pet food and supplies.

First-aid items. Dollar Tree is a perfect place to start for finally putting together that first-aid kit you've always meant to get. 

Make-up (if, like me, you intend to look decent when the world ends. heh.)

Vitamins.

Kleenex, toilet paper, paper towels. Matches.

Water. Most people don't stockpile enough.


Just a couple more notes for today:

Stocking-up on groceries you found on sale is a great way to save money. It's also comforting to have a home full of food in today's you-never-know-for-sure economy. Plus, shopping at your own home during a snowstorm or any type of bad weather is ever so much easier than risking your life driving to the market for, say, a can of olives.

(Here's a short article about storing canned foods.)

And lastly?

Now is not the time to go deeper into debt. Make a new determination to pay off any outstanding bills--you don't want to find yourself in a situation where someone can legally take your home from you. And do try to put together a 6-month emergency savings account. That's wisdom, also.


See you next time when I'll veer away from food storage and more into cooking, lighting and heating.

             Another pantry(that's not mine)to keep you inspired.


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Proverbs 6:6-8

Go to the ant, o sluggard, observe her ways and be wise, which, having no chief, officer or ruler, prepares her food in the summer and gathers her provision in the harvest.

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Just beginning this whole prepping thing? This woman's mistakes might help you avoid your own.


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"Just do it."   ... because ....


"A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways."   ... James 1:8

Questions! I'm Getting Questions.

Some of my readers, also, hear the rumblings of an approaching train bearing down upon the United States. They've realized there are huge consequences for blatantly pushing God away, killing 55 million babies and changing God's perfect plan for marriage. And more such darkness.

You just can't get away with that forever. 

Before the train blasts through our Country, I'm determined to prepare myself, my home, as best I can for whatever that correction/judgement will look like. 

So this week, as some of you have asked, I'll share more prepping information. 

And for those who believe Life will continue all la-de-da-the-same forever? You can check back here next week for more regularly-scheduled posts. Or a Last Days version of them, anyway. For me, much has changed, as have I, and my future writings will reflect that. So we'll see what happens.

Ok. For those still reading, here we go.

Do I seriously believe huge, life-altering events are coming to the United States? Yes, with all my heart. One-hundred percent. Soon. Call it 'drinking the kool-aid' if you wish, but I believe. 

Do I want you to go all prepper-like just because I am? No. I'd rather you hear from God for yourself, then proceed as He leads. My goal is to warn and present practical ideas which may save peoples' lives someday, no matter how many preachers/teachers declare that Christian preppers are sinning/unfaithful/stupid. It's like they're laughing at those preparing an ark as Noah did and the price they'll someday pay for misleading their listeners, horrifies me.

Me? I can't afford such a high price. Besides, it's wisdom being prepared for any disaster, natural ones included. The Bible warns there will be an increase of those--you've noticed that's already happening, right?

Anyway. Here are some ideas:

If God is telling you to prepare for anything, then go for it. Do your prepping as unto Him, with excellence, focus, always asking Him for grace and to lead you to the best learning places. 

If your spouse isn't on board? Pray that he/she will be. Believe. But as with sharing the gospel, don't cram it down his/her throat. Pray, share a bit of how you're feeling and what you've read. Then proceed as God leads you to prepare. Trust Him for finances as well as clever ways to use/gather/organize what you already have.

At first I aimed at being prepared for a 3-month-long emergency, but 2 weeks might be more feasible for you as a start. Water, food, alternate ways to heat our home as well as meals, etc. are what I concentrated upon.

Water is the most important thing. How much water? One gallon per day per person is the oft mentioned recommendation. Yeah, that's a lot. I'm getting there slowly, but I'm also planning to rig a way to get water from our rain gutters. Fortunately, we still get rain here.

There are ways to purify water and to freshen what you've stored awhile. I also bought two water filtration bottles which are supposed to remove 99% of most everything.

Regarding foods to store? Here's a good list to get you started. I don't buy everything she names, but it's a sensible list.

And for fun? This weekend I played along with this how-much-food-should-you-store-for-one-year chart. I halved the numbers since I'm now aiming for 6 months. Then I made a list on paper, noting beside each food item whether I had 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 or enough of each thing. Now when I make my grocery lists, I can focus on buying foods with the lowest fractions written beside them.

Must you buy expensive freeze dried food? No. The most important thing is to learn how to safely store normal shelf-stable foods. Oh, and canned foods can often be used past their expiration dates if they're stored safely and are not bulging, leaking, rusting. 

Usually it's best to buy the largest cans/jars of food available, right? Not always. If, in an emergency, you have no refrigeration (or snow or cold outside) what's leftover from a large opened can will spoil. Since it's just Tom and me here, I've been storing regular-sized cans.

I've also been collecting extra food so to help neighbors who did not prepare. What's coming, I (and many others) believe will provide an awesome opportunity to share not just life-saving food, but our faith with others.

Don't have much room for storing food? Go here.

Ok, that's enough for today. I hope this answers some questions and gives you places to begin your own emergency preparedness. 

Next time I'll add more ideas.

This is not my pantry. Wish it was, though. Oh, the organization!

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You'll never, ever view electricity the same way...

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"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."   ...Philippians 4:13

The Good Times, The Warnings, The Times Ahead.

"For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places."   Matthew 24:7

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The happy years wearing aprons, cleaning my houses here in New York, ones I turned into vintage places of rest.

The walks I've taken around blocks of homes built in the early 1900's, imagining bobbysoxers rushing from front doors in the mornings and women shaking rugs from porch railings.

The 1920's diners where Tom and I ate breakfast, drank coffee and soaked in the retro ambiance.

The afternoons when Naomi's Monkees and Beatles records spun 'round, wafting down the stairs while I painted walls in autumn colors.

The teary-eyed times while shopping for groceries because the joyful presence of God followed me there. The afternoons with books (or just my dreams) upon all our front porches. The sun-soaked hours in my gardens.

Oh my. These 22 years in New York are stuffed with hundreds of such memories and often I pray that I'll remember each one. And notice new blessings as they happen.

To take nothing for granted.
To give thanks to Him from whom all blessings flow.

For it's this kind of super-gratitude which I believe will help get me, all of us, through a trying, difficult future of reaping what we, the United States, have sown. And it's a very real sense of God's presence that will gird us with strength, wisdom and hope in dark times.

God warned Joseph 7 years ahead of time about a famine. (Genesis 41)
It was 10 years after Agabus' vision in Acts 11 that a famine hit full force.

I believe it was 8 years ago that God first nudged me to prepare, but at first I dabbled, half-heartily stored what we needed. Three years later, Tom was laid-off and I regretted my piddling around. 
Two years later, I seriously began preparing, in all ways. Three months ago the loose ends began tying themselves together when I searched-out ways to learn more. To ready us, as much as possible, for a future the Bible, especially Matthew 24, speaks of.

Always, God warns the listeners ahead of time. Seekers of Him do not go around saying, "Oh, we've heard this all before and nothing happened." No, seekers recognize that, because of incredible mercy and wishing no man to perish, warnings come long before hammers and judgements fall. 

Long enough so to prepare. In all ways, so that we need not be blown away, but instead, found ready. Standing in God's strength because we knew Him well in the good times.

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But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:  For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,  unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,  traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,  having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!"   ... 2 Timothy 3:1-5


It's recalling how God got us through before which will help get us through again.



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Do you love this milk jug lamp, or what?


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Missing the free kindle books I used to post here? I've just not felt the grace to list them lately. My reading and listening are in other places currently.

But never fear. You can sign up to receive customized lists of those free kindle books by way of email here.