April Newsletter 2

Emotional Goal...Listen to conference with a purpose and a will to pay attention. Before conference begins, ask in prayer to be directed to God's will for you for the next six months. What would he have you do to build his kingdom in you? Did you start a church journal? If so take notes as you listen to conference. How can you improve? Don't think of it as a guilt trip but a grand opportunity to be taught at the feet of the Master. "The truths of the gospel have been beautifully taught and reemphasized. As we take the messages of the past two days into our hearts and into our lives, we will be blessed." President Thomas S. Monson, October 2012

 Physical Goal...OK it's no secret that the Word of Wisdom is true. It's time to remove all unhealthy food items from your home, starting with fake hydrogenated peanut butter and shortening; hydrogenated fats are poison to the cardio-vascular system. Look through your cabinets, read the labels, and toss all products with hydrogenated ingredients. Then, toss all products with long lists of chemical additives. Stop using these today and refuse to buy any more of these products made by designing men; throw them away. Donating them isn't a good idea either. Is it OK to give poison to the poor? Daily exercise, choosing an optimistic attitude, and a Word of Wisdom diet can prevent and in some cases reverse cardio-vascular disease, cancer, depression, and diabetes, which are directly caused by our own actions.

Spiritual Goal...Let's get off the temple welfare wagon and take some family names to the temple. It is a spiritual high to take Grandma Billie through the temple; it really is. "Some may feel that if they pay their tithing, attend their regular meetings and other duties, give of their substance to the poor, or perchance spend one, two, or more years preaching in the world, they are absolved from further duty. But the greatest and grandest duty of all is to labor for the dead. We may and should do all these other things, for which reward will be given, but if we neglect the weightier privilege and commandment, notwithstanding all other good works, we shall find ourselves under severe condemnation. And why such condemnation? Because “the greatest responsibility in this world that God has laid upon us, is to seek after our dead.” Because we cannot be saved without them, “it is necessary that those who have gone before and those who come after us should have salvation in common with us, and thus hath God made it obligatory to man,” says the Prophet Joseph Smith." Joseph Fielding Smith, February 1971 If you don't know where to start, call Janet Seegmiller; she loves to help.

Financial Goal...many years ago at a stake Relief Society meeting in Kent Washington, I learned about de-junking. Remember the old saying, 'a place for everything and everything in its place?' The famous organizing guru taught us to get rid of things that didn't have a proper place and learn to care for and organize the things that were left. Taking that one step further, let's go through closets and drawers. Donate some things. Then sell the rest on ebay or at your own carport sale. Use this money to pay down a debt or build up your garden. Let this goal help you become one of the world's best homemakers! Then resolve not to fill up your space with unnecessary things again. Use your home to bring peace and beauty to the lives of your family; clutter doesn't do this. Order does and so does well organized home storage items. "Mothers who know are nurturers. This is their special assignment and role under the plan of happiness. To nurture means to cultivate, care for, and make grow. Therefore, mothers who know create a climate for spiritual and temporal growth in their homes. Another word for nurturing is homemaking. Homemaking includes cooking, washing clothes and dishes, and keeping an orderly home. Home is where women have the most power and influence; therefore, Latter-day Saint women should be the best homemakers in the world. Working beside children in homemaking tasks creates opportunities to teach and model qualities children should emulate. Nurturing mothers are knowledgeable, but all the education women attain will avail them nothing if they do not have the skill to make a home that creates a climate for spiritual growth. Growth happens best in a “house of order,” and women should pattern their homes after the Lord’s house (see D&C 109). Nurturing requires organization, patience, love, and work. Helping growth occur through nurturing is truly a powerful and influential role bestowed on women." Julie B. Beck, October 2007

Emergency and Pantry Kits...Use the things in your kits and replace them over the week of Conference. Since you will be using these items instead of your regular menu, use your grocery budget to replace them.

Storage Goal...Do you have extra sheets, blankets, towels, and so forth in your storage. Do you have a store of wood for your fireplace? If you have reached your basic and secondary food storage goals, begin to consider other things you use on a daily basis such as linens, clothing, and heating fuel. “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 may care for ourselves and our neighbors and support bishops as they care for others....be wise as you store food and water and build your savings...With careful planning, you can, over time, establish a home storage supply and a financial reserve.” https://www.lds.org/topics/food-storage

Provident Living...The best provident living skill is home production which includes gardening. During the first week of April, plant peas, leeks, soft neck garlic, and onions. During the second week of the month, plant Swiss Chard, spinach, turnips, brassica seedlings, and kale, romaine lettuce, red leaf lettuce, beets, carrots, potatoes and sweet potatoes outdoors. Indoors start cucumber, melon, and winter squash seeds in pots. As potatoes and sweet potatoes sprout, cover to cover visible greens with sandy soil/compost/dried leaves until to soil reaches the top of the cage. Continue to succession plant carrots often. Cover your plantings with floating row covers or clear plastic hoop houses--think of it as adding a warm blanket to your little plant babies' beds. “There have been very few years in my life when I have not been responsible for a garden. Even now as a city condominium dweller, I still plant and harvest a garden each year.” L. Tom Perry, October 1980 Often homemakers wonder how they can add to the family income. Remember Benjamin Franklin's words, "A penny saved is a penny earned." A great way to save is to cook from scratch. This doesn't mean opening a box of hamberger helper or a cake mix. Cooking from scratch means using real whole ingredients such as whole grains, beans, fruits, vegetables, etc. That sure sounds like food storage, doesn't it! Yes, scratch cooking takes more time and planning, but the benefits go way beyond the pennies you save. Taking time to prepare meals with and for our families, we combat emotional homelessness, teach life skills, improve health, and enjoy tastier food. "Homemaking skills are becoming a lost art. I worry about this. When we lose the homemakers in a society, we create an emotional homelessness much like street homelessness, with similar problems of despair, drugs, immorality, and lack of self-worth." Susan B. Tanner, Ensign, June 2005

tired of red delicious?

There are some beautiful old fruit trees planted in CC. Sadly, many are overgrown, neglected, and underutilized. Because tastes have changed, some don't like the fruit of the old trees. Sometimes the variety planted doesn't suit the climate and rarely produces fruit. Whatever the reason you don't like your fruit trees, there is a solution besides cutting it down. Graft new varieties onto your mature rootstock.