Herriman Fire

Just this last weekend we were out in Herriman, Utah looking at homes. Late last night Court and I were watching the news and we were shocked to hear about the horrible forest fire that started yesterday and spread into many Herriman neighborhoods, article on http://www.ksl.com/. I am so sad for all of these families that have either lost their homes or been evacuated from them. I can't imagine the devastation of not knowing if you will have a house to go home to. These families will most definitely be in our prayers. I personally have two friends that live in the area and have had to evacuate their homes.

When I was 12 years old we had a fire in my home in Denver, Colorado. It was the day after Halloween and my brother who was 4 at the time had pulled a left over candle out of one of our pumpkins. Somehow he got ahold of a lighter and lit the candle. He came into the family room to show my mom, she immediately made him blow it out, but what she didn't know was that he had lit 2 candles. Well he didn't want to get in trouble and was only 4 years old so he hid the second candle in our baby brothers bedroom under the crib, our baby brother was asleep in the crib at the time. I can remember hearing my baby brother screaming, but my mom said that he was trying to go to sleep and she was letting him cry it out for a little while, obviously she didn't know what was going on. Probably about ten minutes later my dad came in the house and had a strong impression to check on the baby, he opened the bedroom door to find the crib engulfed in flames, all of the bedding was on fire, and the fire was spreading up the walls of the room, EXCEPT for one small spot on the bed, the spot where my baby brother was laying didn't have any flames, he was protected and safe. You can't tell me that there weren't angels in that room that day protecting my sweet innocent baby brother!

I haven't thought about the fire we had in our home for quit awhile, until now. I am broken hearted for these families in Herriman! Having a fire in your home, big or small is a very scary experience for a child/family. I can remember having to stay in a hotel for a week before we could go back home and then once we were allowed back in our house we had all kind of crews working on our home for weeks! I vividly remember them cleaning our entire house with this strange orange cleaner and for MONTHS our food had a strange taste to it. It was a very horrible and scary experience. My heart goes out to these families and I pray that has many homes as possible can be saved!!!


Whenever there is a disaster like this it really gets me thinking about what I would do in an emergency situation. I know I would hope I was prepared for it! It's about time I finish up my family emergency binder!!!
Click here to see my post on how to make a FAMILY EMERGENCY BINDER

FaMiLy Emergency Binder

So I have to admit, I have only made it to week 8, but my family emergency binder has already come in handy a number of times. We recently moved, but had put majority of our belongings in storage for a few months. Having my Emergency Binder has been so nice for finding copies of birth certificates, the kids shot records, etc... I know that this is a big project, but I think that everyone needs one of these. You just never know when disaster is going to strike and in a moments notice you could loose everything. Last summer a tornado ripped through our old neighborhood and completely destroyed several homes. I remember thinking OVER & OVER again, "that could have been US". The tornado did in fact effect us personally because we still owned our home and had it rented out at the time. The tornado ripped a huge portion of the roof right off the house. Luckily the tenants were safely in the basement at the time. That experience was proof to me that no one is exempt from a disaster effecting their family!!

As soon as we get all moved into our new house and I FIND all of my documents etc... I am going to GET TO WORK on finishing my Emergency Binder, I wouldn't want to be caught with out it if another disaster comes our way!!


Brittany


FAMILY EMERGENCY BINDER INSTRUCTIONS-

(All of this info is from a very dedicated "Emergency Preparedness Coordinator" in my ward(church) back in Kansas City)

If you had to suddenly leave your home due to impending natural disaster, and had only a few minutes to gather everything you would need, including important papers, family history, and treasured pictures, how long would it take you?

Vital financial records should be kept in a safe place. Copies of these documents should be available for taking with you if you have to leave your home in an emergency. As an alternative, you could scan these documents into your computer and take a disc or flash drive instead of paper copies.

This year, we are going to assemble a Vital Records Binder that will contain the important information you would need and want to take with you. We will do it week by week through a small task each week—“…by small and simple things are great things brought to pass.”

Week 1-Locate or purchase a 2” binder with 50 - 100 plastic page protectors. Purchase tabbed dividers, if desired, to divide the book into sections. Store the Ward Emergency Plan in the binder.

Week 2-Locate birth certificates for all family members. Make copies and put in binder.

Week 3-Locate Social Security cards for all family members. Make copies and put in binder.

Week 4-Make copies of driver’s licenses and put in binder.

Week 5-Make copies of passports and put in binder.

Week 6-Make copies of important phone numbers and addresses and put in binder. Include family, friends, doctors, dentist, business and other important numbers.

Week 7-Scan non-digital photos and burn all digital photos to a CD or flash drive. Put in one of the sheet protectors in the binder.

Week 8-Copy family history records to a cd or flash drive and put in binder.

Week 9- Locate voter cards, make copies, and put in binder.

Week 10-: Locate three years of tax returns, make copies, and put in binder, or copy tax files to a CD and store the tax software with the tax files in the binder.

Week 11-Locate recent investment statements, one for each account including 401K, make copies, and put in binder.

Week 12-If you use electronic money management programs such as Quicken or Microsoft Money, copy data files to CD and put cd for software program in binder.

Week 13-Locate your most recent bank statements, make copies, and put in binder

Week 14-Locate credit card statements, make copies, and put in binder—or alternatively, make copies of front and back of all credit cards.

Week 15- Locate loan payoff papers, make copies, and put in binder.
Locate recent Social Security Statement, make copies, and put in binder.

Week 16-
1. Locate all car titles and registrations, make copies, and put in binder.
2. Locate auto loan papers, make copies, and put in binder.
3. Make copy of recent auto insurance statement and put in binder.
4. Locate copy of any extended warranties, make a copy, and put in binder.

Week 17-Locate all Life insurance policies, make copies, and put in binder. Make a copy of your wills and put in binder. If you have a trust, make a copy and put in binder.

Week 18-
Make copies of:
Marriage License (Divorce/custody papers)
Citizenship Papers
Military Records
Prepaid Burial contracts
Adoption Papers

Week 19-
Prepare list of medications for each family member.
Make copies of any important medical or dental records and put in binder.
Make copies of all health and dental insurance cards, both sides, and put in binder
Make copy of living will and put in binder.
Locate all Immunization Records, make copies, and put in binder.

Week 20-
Make copies of any professional licenses and put in binder.
Make copies of any important business papers and put in binder.
Make copy of updated resume and put in binder (includes job and education dates that may be difficult to remember.
Make copies of company benefits statements and put in binder.
Make copies of degrees and professional licenses and put in binder.

Week 21-
Locate recent house payment statement, make copy, and put in binder.
Locate homeowner’s insurance policy, make copy, and put in binder.
Locate all recent utility bills including cell phone, make copies, and put in binder
Conduct a home inventory, print and put in binder.
Take a video or pictures of all items in your home, burn to CD and put in binder. binder

Vital Records Binder (We all need one of these:)!!

The 'Emergency Preparedness Coordinator' in my ward(CHURCH) is absolutely AMAZING. Every week she comes to church with a new recipe to hand out that you can make from items in your food storage. NOT only does she bring a copy of the recipe for EVERYONE, she makes it and brings it for everyone to try. Like I said, she is AMAZING!! A few years ago I had the opportunity to work with her in Activity Days (a fun group for girls ages 8-11), I have never met someone so dedicated to MAGNIFYING her calling. ('Callings' in our church are various jobs that we do on a volunteer basis, we are not paid to do these jobs- including our Bishops, Stake Presidents, etc... we do these to help do our part to make the church run smoothly and through our service we grow closer to our Savior).

A few weeks ago Sister McDavitt (the emergency preparedness coordinator) started a 'Vital Records Binder' challenge. Each week she sends out a reminder of what we are to be putting in our binder. I wanted to share this because I think it is such a good idea and it is something we would all need in an emergency. I have purchased my binders and will hopefully be getting all caught up on each of the weeks goals today. I decided to do 2 binders, one for our family, and one to give to my sister & Brother-in-law that will be responsible for caring for our kids in the event something were to happen to both my husband and I.

*If you have any other ideas of things that could be put in the binder please share those with us!

(I copied this information from an email that she sent out, we haven't completed this project yet, so remember to check back next week to see what you should be adding to your binder next)

If you had to suddenly leave your home due to impending natural disaster, and had only a few minutes to gather everything you would need, including important papers, family history, and treasured pictures, how long would it take you?
Vital financial records should be kept in a safe place. Copies of these documents should be available for taking with you if you have to leave your home in an emergency. As an alternative, you could scan these documents into your computer and take a disc or flash drive instead of paper copies. This year, we are going to assemble a Vital Records Binder that will contain the important information you would need and want to take with you. We will do it week by week through a small task each week—“…by small and simple things are great things brought to pass.”

*WEEK ONE- Locate or purchase a 2” binder with 50 - 100 plastic page protectors. Purchase tabbed dividers, if desired, to divide the book into sections. Store the Ward Emergency Plan in the binder. (Note: we will be distributing the 2009 plan soon. For now, put in the 2007 plan if you have a copy)

*WEEK TWO- Locate birth certificates for all family members. Make copies and put in binder.

*WEEK THREE- Locate Social Security cards for all family members. Make copies and put in binder.

*WEEK FOUR- Make copies of driver’s licenses and put in binder

*WEEK FIVE- Make copies of passports and put in binder.

*WEEK SIX- Make copies of important phone numbers and addresses and put in binder. Include family, friends, doctors, dentist, business and other important numbers.

Recently my husband and I have felt very strongly that it is time we take getting our families year supply of food storage very seriously. We have been building up our food storage over the years, but as you rotate food out it is sometimes hard to remember to replace it. I would say that we have about 2-3 months worth of food storage right now. Our goal is to have our entire years supply of food storage by December 31st, 2009. I can only imagine the peace of mind that will come from KNOWING that no matter what may happen we can feed our family for an entire year. With all that is going on in the world you just never know when disaster might strike. I am looking forward to fulfilling the council from our Prophets to 'prepare every needful thing'.

Love,

Brittany

Family Home Storage

"Our Heavenly Father created this beautiful earth, with all its abundance, for our benefit and use. His purpose is to provide for our needs as we walk in faith and obedience. He has lovingly commanded us to “prepare every needful thing” (see D&C 109:8) so that, should adversity come, we can care for ourselves and our neighbors and support bishops as they care for others.
"We encourage members world-wide to prepare for adversity in life by having a basic supply of food and water and some money in savings.
"We ask that you be wise as you store food and water and build your savings. Do not go to extremes; it is not prudent, for example, to go into debt to establish your food storage all at once. With careful planning, you can, over time, establish a home storage supply and a financial reserve."—The First Presidency, All Is Safely Gathered In: Family Home Storage, Feb. 2007, 1

Visit www.providentliving.org to find out more information about Family Preparedness, also if you would like to learn more about our faith, you can visit, www.mormon.org (The Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints 'Mormons')