72 hours

Sunday morning was a nice sunny day. The morning went as usual with booth gone to church meetings while we at home get ready for church, I was kind of excited because my 2 girls where going to be wearing the cute matching dresses I made for them:) they looked so cute. Some days booth comes home before church starts and we all get to walk to church together (the church is just a street up from our house) other days booth is in meetings till church starts so we go and meet him there, I usually just plan to go with out him and get a nice surprise if he gets home before we leave.
Well, this morning I was really on the ball and we where headed out the door right as booth opened the door. We where running early so we still had time to talk before we left and so booth called a family council.
"We get to go a week living off our food storage starting today. The stake is having an emergency preparedness fair next month and the ward wanted a family to volunteer to do this, so we have, but we just went shopping yesterday so that will be too easy so I volunteered us to go 72 hours full emergency mode as well as a week of no store. So no power, electricity, or water :) this will be fun:)."
I love camping, I love doing new things and we had already talked about doing this weeks ago but we did not know when. Sunday, Sunday was when, and much to my own surprise I was NOT excited in fact I was a little bugged and scared. I have 2 extra kids to watch during the week so that means they will have to do this too, will we have enough water for them and us, the toy room is pretty dark without lights...can't we just do the week with out shopping? These where the thoughts running through my head, but, no I knew we needed to do this, so we did. But my attitude was not great, I was nerves, we had a 55 gallon drum of water but how do we use it, and we have not changed the water in over a year. Well we went to church as normal then came home had pbj's and then the kids and I took a long nap (if I am asleep I do not have to deal with this emergency) when I woke up I heard booth, he was home from meetings and busily setting up camp, getting the grill hooked up, seeing how the water worked, boiling water to drink and telling the kids how to use the toilet for the next few days, flushing the water came from our only water supply so we came up with creative ways to flush less (I will not go into the details on that) well his confidence and happy attitude was contagious and I started to feel better, we even got to have a yummy dinner of stake and artichokes (one our favorites) then dished got done, with only a little stress of not using too much water then brush teeth and off to bed before the sun goes down for the little kids, they where a bit nerves and less then excited but they where fine.
With kids in bed it gave bones and I a chance to reflect on our first day, I found a few very important things out on this day.
1. attitude is EVERYTHING! As the mom it is my job to keep the family feeling good and safe, and on this first day I failed at that, my bad attitude gave the kids a bad attitude. I then remembered a time when I was a kid when our power went out, and thinking how fun it was, my biggest memory was getting to eat a bout 5 ice cream bars because they where melting because of no electricity in the freezer to keep them cool. I do not remember ever feeling worried or scared, and that is do to my mom making it a fun experience and not freaking out.
I will do better tomorrow at having a good and fun attitude about this for my kids!
2. "IF YE ARE PREPARED YE SHALL NOT FEAR" I have heard this many times yet I was still scared, why? because being prepared does not just mean having what you need it also means knowing how to use those things, I knew we had the water drum, but had no idea if it was enough or how to even get it out (it has a pump I just never took the time to figure out how to use it) once I knew we had enough and how to use it (thanks to booth) my fear was gone.
3. "The more normal things can stay the better the family does/any treats and extra things are well received". I have heard that with food storage it is important to store things your family is used to because when you are in an emergency the last thing you want is to have to eat some gross strange food after all the trauma of the day. I did not believe/understand this, I figured if you are in an emergency you will just be glad to have any food you will not care what it is. What I found was that normal yummy food was not just refueling it was calming it gave a great comforting feeling that things would be okay. So though you will be able to survive on what ever you have if it can be familiar it will ad a needed extra measure of comfort to the situation.

With these 3 things learned I was ready to face the next 2 days. And they went fine.

Monday was great, no problems, good attitudes all around the weather was nice and we went to our cousins house for family home evening and really enjoyed the spirit that was in their home.

Tuesday the last day. Something changed in me, the weather was cold and rainy, this made our nice bright house dark and grim not too cold but still a little chilly we had more winter cloths on then you should in May, and all I wanted to do was sleep and get this day over...I was.............. depressed. Why? On the 3rd day when all was going well, we had what we needed, it was almost over, why was I now depressed? Why when I love doing new and exciting things would this adventure make me depressed?
Because as I was going along my life all of a sudden I had my life as I knew it taken away from me, the first 2 days I was in survival mode no time to let it all sink in, just make the best of what we have, but on day 3 I started to think, I had no control over the emergency happening. Even with all I could do to make the best of the situation I had not control of what happened with all my smiles I still had no running water. This feeling depressed me, feeling so safe and in control in my life on Sunday only to have it all taken away. This feeling loomed over me the whole day.

Wednesday the day our power came back on. It was a day of mixed emotions, the power came back on at 11 am till then I just waited and waited. Then when the power came on and our heat turned on and I started to feel warmer, I was glad to have it back, yet weary of its temporary comfort. As I drank out of the fresh tap water I enjoyed the fresh clean taste, but was not wholly at peace. Having everything wholly restored in just seconds was nice but it took me the whole day to start to feel normal again, to want to be productive again,to be happy again. This also was a surprise to me, I really thought once the 72 hours was up I would go right back to feeling great, how I felt Sunday before this all started, but it was different somehow. I have been humbled to feel that I do not have control over my life, I thought I was already humbled in that way but the sadness and depression let me know that I did not fully feel that the lord was in all control. HE IS. My control go as far as my attitude and my actions, I am in control of how I act, but not what happens in my life. Realizing this is humbling, and makes me wonder why I am so blessed in the first place when so many go without, why do I get a nice house, with food, water and nice things? I do not know why the lord has blessed me with so much, but I know that it is all his and he has final say is all things. When we wants to give he does and when he sees fit to take away he does. So I need to be grateful for all that he has given me, and share what I have with others for it is not mine to keep.
I pray that through this experience I can be a more humble and service giving person then I was before Sunday, I want this 72 hours to change me, to make me better, to help me see as God sees, and love as he loves, with all I have.
I am glad to have had this experience, for the great things I have learned about being in an emergency and also in being humbled at all the lord has given me, which I must not think of as my own, but enjoy and share.