something a little different

Being born and raised in Utah I not only knew about the Bishop's storehouse but remember walking the isles with my mother picking out toothbrushes when I was younger (my mom was single and a college student at the time raising 3 kids) All my friends knew about the bishop's storehouse, even my friends who were not members of the Church. I remember when I worked in the nursing home a friend of mine mentioned the bishop storehouse to me and told me how when she was talking to her state caseworker about how her food stamps just weren't enough to feed her 3 growing (football player sized) teenage boys who each consumed a gallon of milk a day, the case worker told her about getting a food order and going to the bishop's store house since you could only hit up the local food banks so many times a year and she had reached her limit.

At the time I was working and going to school and I know that when we were newly weds my husband and I had to go to the Bishop's store house when he got his hernia and had to take time off to have it repaired, I told her how nice everybody was and we talked about it a lot. We actually worked just a block away from Welfare Square in Salt Lake city at the time and I always loved driving past it.

Anyhow, I found this article online and thought it was rather interesting and that I would share it with you all, http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/08/08/where_empty_larders_find_overflowing_hearts/?page=1 it is an article on welfare square, it is actually an article down for a non-utah newpaper so I love how they explain everything, I have definately gotten more than my share of food and supplies from the store house with John losing jobs and my disability and all that has happened to us these last 6 yrs, but if someone asked me about the storehouse I wouldn't be able to explain it this well, I would be more like--umm it is where we get food from the church.

Anyhow, I must say the one thing this article doesn't do is it doesn't do justice for just how great the storehouse it, how you can get canned goods, fresh fruits and vegies as well as milk, fresh bread, and none of the stuff expires the next week like when you go to food banks and get food. I love how the food is good food to, like when my son was in diapers the diapers the church offers are Huggies, they even have name brand tampons and pads, since it is cheaper to purchase that in bulk then to produce their own.

Our church makes most of the stuff in the storehouses in Utah, they even make their own ice cream, milk, bread, and how I love their cheese (I once volunteered at the diary place on welfare square where they make the cheese and the quality and standards that they uphold everybody to--this is not like a soup kitchen where the person serving up the soup hasn't showered in a month) The Cinnamon and chili and pepper all come with the church's label on them, nothing thrills me more than seeing the churches label on my food because I can't help but think that no part of that food is bad for me, that is the Lords food and the Lord wouldn't allow anything harmful to be used when making it. They even make their own dish soap, laundry detergent and dish washing detergent, toilet bowl cleaner, and other cleaners as well and it is all done by volunteers.

Anyhow, I coudl go on and on, I really love the churches welfare system, I was a social work major and so I studied welfare systems and was just disgusted by the lack of help offered, I mean granted you could get food stamps but you couldn't get enough to provide for a family and even then you are making so little you can't afford a place to live--on the other hand the church allows you to get as much food as you need (for a 2 week period, then every 2 weeks you can do another order if you need to, this isn't suppose to be a permanent type thing but they will help out as much as you truly need it), and they do so much more than just offer food and supplies, they can help teach you how to cook, they help with the essential bills and you don't have to wait for the eviction notice like at some charities, and they can offering counseling at a discounted rate and so much more--the churches welfare system is so unique and yet it functions better than any welfare system in place today (as far as I am concerned) and it functions solely because of volunteers, who either volunteer their money or their time, or both, to help those who can't quite make it without a little push in the right direction/

I really hope you enjoy the article as much as I did

everything happens in the Lord's time, and sometime his timing doesn't add up with out own

what I hate

You know I really hate it when some one starts a blog, takes a really good name for that blog and then out of the blue just stops blogging, and yet the name is still not available to anybody else to use--yep that is what I hate the most.

Happy birthday to who?

happy birthday to me, yes I am officially a quarter of a century old, and feeling every bit of it.

John was rather sweet and made me a cake and he also cooked dinner and he actually got me a rather nice present--this might be the first time he got me a present I couldn't complain about and he got it in time and not 2 months late, granted it did turn out the box was the right present but the contents of the box wasn't what he thought he had bought, but he quickly ran back to the store and exchanged it for the item he thought he had bought, it was one of those over the shoulder organizers and it is completely awsome, the card he bought me was rather nice as well.

thanks John, and Dominic, I sure do love all my boys

I'm at a cross roads

well, as you all can see, the postign a scripture a day has come to a halt, but only temperorily, I was doign that during naptime, reading the scriptures to the kids and then sitting and typing while I waited for them to all go to sleep, but I discovered something, first off, kids have a hard time understanding the Old Testament, even if the book you are reading to them has their name it in, and secondly, when I type about scriptures my posts are super long and probably super confusing. I haven't given up on the scriptures yet, I am just trying to figure out how to make everything work out.

I had a friend, and one of my most dedicated followers, tell me that she couldn't even get through one scripture post because it was too churchy, which also made me feel that I was pouring out a little too much of my heart to share with people I didn't even know, this blog was created at first with the intentions to be funny, but upon creating my other blogs that had their own unique characteristic (my medical blog, my random thoughts blog, my momma thoughts blog, and then the animal house blog) I felt like this one needed it's own thing too, and since Lewis 4 Higher was created with the intentions of Higher standing for a higher standard of living (with a sense to not just quality but also spirituality) I felt that this blog could be my spiritual side. I have considered going back on that but deep down inside I know I will regret it, I might lose some readers because they don't like my spirituality but I also know that if they are going to judge me so harshly then I don't really want that kind of a reader here anyways (not talking about my friend, she hasn't given up on me, I think she just reads this blog on Sunday)

Since I started the scripture a day I felt a change throughout my house, a sense of security and a major sense of well being, and even with the what has currently been going on and my inability to post, I know that if I keep it up good things will come my way, I am not going to let Satan Detour me so easily, so if you think this blog might just be "to churchy" then it might not be the blog for you, and you should check out my other blogs

• Medical Blog: www.diagnosisunavailable.blogspot.com
  
• Mommy thoughts: www.mommysdashboardconfessions.blogspot.com
• Random Thoughts: www.thepottyblogger.blogspot.com
• Animal House: www.attheanimalhouse.blogspot.co,

but please also bare with me, remember, I am still new to this whole blogging thing, I don't quite have all the ins and outs of URLs, page formats, and what nots down yet, there is so much I have planned for this site I just can't quite get it all to come together like I want it to--anyhow, things are improving everyday, don't give up on me just yet

I haven't died yet, I am just goign through a lot and have been avoiding the computer, so please bare with me, i will be back shortly

and while you think about it, my Birthday is August 11th, and I will be 25--a quarter of a century, so what shoudl I do for it?