Our prayers and condolences go out to all families affected by the recent tornadoes and severe storms.  It's hard to imagine the suffering and chaos that they have been going through.  We pray that the Lord will walk with them and ease their suffering however possible. For those who have not yet experienced such a significant and life-altering loss, consider the plight of those who have.  Often in times like these, we reminisce how we wish we had tried to protect the irreplaceable items we formerly possessed, more securely.  The same thoughts often persist after some other invasive event such as a robbery, fire, water damage, or even the unexpected consequences of home construction "gone wrong". Many things you can do yourself: Ensure you have adequate insurance protection Visitwww.ready.govfor general preparedness information Maintain a safe-deposit box at your bank for small valuables and digital copies of important documents and your personal media if possible. Ensure you have off-site (away from your home/business) access to digital copies of records that prove identity and ownership of accounts and property, including access passwords for online data.  Ensure these files have been created as "self-contained" files that can be opened on a (secure, private) computer other than the one that created them.  These may be essential in rebuilding your life after an incident. Have your most important photographs, videos and audio recordings professionally digitized to a compact archival format.  If done properly, you should afterward be able to recreate the photos, DVD's, and CD's with little or no quality loss after a crisis event. For the things that you cannot do yourself, seek out secure, reputable providers to perform those services for you.  Above all, DON'T neglect the preservation and security of your identity and property.  Some of the steps above might require a bit of a time investment, some might require a financial investment.  If you start now and use the "slow but steady" analogy, the personal impact should be lighter.  Properly completing this goal could help minimize the anxiety of loss when you REALLY need a break, not more bad news...  /RB ...read more