Earthquake Kit

I have no knew tutorials to share today, but my house is a little cleaner, as well as my dog! Her fur felt so good this morning.

I also cleaned out my purse yesterday and I found this tag I had stuck in there back in October. Okay, come on, admit it, how often do you clean out your purse? It was only four months, right?

Back in October, our office moved to a new building. In the stairwell was an earthquake kit. Yes, this is something we do here in Southeast Missouri. I have one in my basement. I thought this would make something great to blog about and stuck it in my purse and that was where it stayed.

We also keep 5 gallon water jugs in our basement as part of our earthquake kit. Because of this, I know that we are supposed to put new water in the jugs every so often because water does not stay uncontaimentated for ever. Therefore, I was curious about the water jugs in the stairwell and picked up one to read the expiration date on it.

Can you believe this? The expiration date was January 28, 1999! This water is eight years old! Would you drink it? Would you drink it even if you had no other water in the event of an earthquake?

Amazing how the former owners of the building put it there and never thought twice about it again. How often do we do that? Just like the things in the bottom of my purse. I put them there and how long do they stay there? Doesn't it make you want to do some Spring cleaning?

This earthquake kit reminded me of Iben Browning. You can read more about him here and here and here. It was because of his prediction that we all started creating earthquake kits. So, even though his prediction was stupid, something good came out of it. Isn't that the way God works?

I remember those months very well at the end of 1990. I was pregnant with my middle son who was born in November. Iben Browning had predicted a major earthquake on December 3rd.

I remember being very pregnant and beginning to walk into my good friend's home to drop off my oldest son so she could watch him while I went to work. I was in the threshold of the doorway when I heard a huge boom. It made me stop in shock. Immediately thereafter, I remember looking up at her two story home, up the stairs, and seeing the whole thing swaying.

We immediately went outside onto the front lawn where we stood and felt the ground shaking under us for what seemed like forever.

I remember exclaiming how if this had been the big one, I could not have been in a more perfect place, with one child in my belly and one in my arms, in a doorway. Of course, it was not one that did much damage, but it was the only earthquake I ever remember seeing and feeling and hearing.

That earthquake, though, made us all wonder if the upcoming date of December 3rd really would be true. Could this earthquake be one of those that come before the big one?

We all held our breath on December 3rd and I kept my newborn son and 5 year old son close to me, but nothing happened that day. However, it did teach us to be aware and to be prepared.

Have you ever experienced an earthquake? Do you have a kit at your home? Leave me your answers in the comments.