THIS BLOG NOW HAS A NEW HOME AT elgrifoargentino....
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Sunday, January 15, 2012
The Spirit Matters Most
Today I had the opportunity to teach a Sunday School Lesson in the Teaching The Gospel Course - lesson 3, Teaching By the Spirit. I was overwhelmed with power of the Spirit in that class today. I wanted to share a few of my thoughts before they are gone.One of the important points we talked about was the importance of bearing testimony of the truths of the gospel when teaching. Two quotations that relate to this lesson were very powerful:President Boyd K. Packer, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, reflected on a lesson he...
Saturday, August 27, 2011
A New Chapter
A new chapter in my life has begun as another has come to a close. I have just finished working at New Haven Residential Treatment Center as the Spanish Teacher. I worked there for two and a half years. Over that time period I have met and worked with many girls who struggle with things like depression, learning disabilities, harmful addictions, and other mental, emotional, and behavioral problems. I worked with girls from Australia, England, Canada, the Bahamas, Panama, New York, Illinois, Florida, Missouri, California, Oregon, Idaho, Washington,...
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Reflections on my
I am extremely grateful today for my family! As I write this, I am holding an adorable little girl of 18 months on my shoulder - she is fast asleep. She fell asleep while I was holding her, as she watched one of her favorite YouTube videos, I Am A Child of God:
How is it possible to have such a perfect little gift, such a perfect little angel of innocence from heaven sent to me? I am such an imperfect person to be the father of such a perfect little spirit, of such a beautiful little angel. It feels so good to feel her snuggled up against her...
Monday, August 30, 2010
Refreshing Reprieve
I am sitting outside in the cool weather of late August. I don't think Summer is going to end yet, but we are getting a preview of what is soon to come. As I watch the evening clouds drifting overhead, the green trees waving in the breeze and the majestic mountains painted yellow as the lemon sun sinks toward the horizon, I am reminded that God loves me. Just as he grants a refreshing reprieve to the heat of Summer, so he grants me the chance to repent and receive the purifying reprieve of forgiveness. I am grateful for God's mercy and love....
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Check out Hunter's new website
I just got done updating Hunter's new website. We added a bio with some photos, etc. Head on over to www.huntergifford.com and s...
Friday, August 6, 2010
Wind and Children
What an amazing thing wind is! So many times we associate it with frustration, annoyance, and disdain, yet on a hot summer night how wonderful it is to have a breeze move the air, providing at least some sense of cooling. How soothing it is to sit on the porch in the evening and watch the beautiful trees swaying in the wind, and the leaves of an aspen shivering. To me the wind is a reminder that God loves us, and it is like a whisper of his spirit that can blow across our hearts. How grateful I am for wind.
I recall a passage from my grandmother's...
Saturday, May 15, 2010
I am sitting here at home with the sounds of family around me and I feel happy and truly content! What sweet noise to hear the talking, playing, and general noise of my six beautiful children. What a blessing they are in my life! With every one of them Jill and I felt the Spirit of the Lord telling us that another spirit was waiting to come down to earth, get a body, and join our family. I feel so truly grateful that Heavenly Father's love and mercy towards me is so great, even when I am imperfect as a father and husband, and I let him down....
Sunday, April 4, 2010
I really would like to blog more. The problem comes from lack of time. When I am in school (I'm going back to school at UVU to make a career change into computer network engineering and administration) I have classes full-time and I work part-time. This, along with the church calling I have as the Elders Quorum 1st Counselor, leaves me very little time, which I usually try to spend with my family. Thus, I hardly ever...
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Too Late!
I was running late. I hit the gas to accelerate, but to no avail. The line of cars seemed to grow longer the longer I looked at it. Everything came to a standstill and I appeared to be at the end of the line. ARRRRRRGGGHHHH!!!!I turned on the radio to calm my nerves. It worked as usual, but the second I started getting into the NPR news-radio story the line began to move. Unfortunately it was only a crawl. The headway I gained was nominal compared with the ground left to cover. I was in for a LONG haul! I focused back on the story on the radio...
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Weird Things in the Sky?
Date: May 25, 2009
Time: 4:40 p.m.
Place: Provo, Utah
Location: 200 North and 900 East - Bus stop
Setup: Waiting for a bus home (at bus stop)
This is the strangest thing I've ever seen! It was a beautiful clear, sunny day in Provo, Utah. The air was clear, with very few clouds, and the temperature was probably in the upper 70's (not too bad). I was waiting at the bus stop on Memorial Day, before I realized that bus service was limited on the holiday. I glanced up at the mountains to the east.
Suddenly something caught my eye - movement. ...
Sunday, May 17, 2009
My Sabbath Day
What a beautiful day it was today! I enjoyed the meetings at church, soaking in the Spirit and feeling truly renewed. I am glad that the Lord has set aside this day to draw near unto him. How would we do it otherwi...
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Saturday at the Gifford home
Hello world! No, this is not a computer program I'm writing here, nor is it a web page. Well, okay, I guess it is sort of a web page, but in no way did that "Hello world!" imply that I was doing my very first post. On the contrary I was merely trying to say hello to any and all who may read this.Today is Saturday, a hectic day at the Gifford home. Today was the day that was scheduled to clean out our garage, rearrange it, take a load to the dump, and a load to Deseret Industries. In other words, it was a day to really muck out the garage and...
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Gratitude
I am sitting here this evening very grateful for the myriad of blessings that have been showered upon me. First and foremost for my family. I have a loving and caring wife who loves me for who I am and sees the potential in me for the future. She believes in me. I have five children who also love me and who excel, each in their own way. I have just accepted a new job that will allow me to continue attending school to effect the career change I desire. I have supportive parents, siblings, in-laws, and church family. I have a Savior who loves...
Friday, October 24, 2008
SWAMPED!!!
Wow! I really feel swamped with homework! I don't think I've ever been kept as busy as I have within the last few months after starting back to school. Of course, things are different now, what with being a father of five children, spouse, trying to provide for the family, serving in a church calling, etc. Anyway, now add on top of that the fact that I recently got laid off from my job. Job searching is a lot more demanding than actually working on a job. Holy cow! How can I fit all this stuff in? I am falling behind, not finding many opportunities...
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Excited and Scared
Here I am, both excited and scared at the same time. Why? Because I am going to start going back to school next week at Utah Valley University in Computer Science, emphasis in Network Engineering. With transferred credits it will take me three years to complete the program. It has been a long time since I have attended school full-time, and the thought both excites me and scares me.I will continue to work for my current employer, but on a part-time basis, working around my school schedule. I am very glad they are willing to work with me. ...
Friday, July 4, 2008
En Casa Para El Cuatro De Julio
Aqui estamos nosotros en casa de mis padres para el cuatro de julio. Llegamos ayer por la tarde, un poco mas tarde que queriamos llegar porque tuvimos unos problemas con el carro, pero con una oracion y la fe de la familia pudimos llegar.Katie, John, Harrison, Jack y Becca vinieron a la casa esta manana, con Kendall, Aaron y Juje llegando despues. Asi que ha estado toda la familia con excepcion de Shauna, Ty y sus hijos. Ojala que pudieran haber estado aqui! No he visto a la familia de Shauna porque han vivido tan lejos de nosotros por tanto...
Friday, May 2, 2008
What a concert! WOW!!!!!!!!!
Our family went to a concert tonight in place of having our usual Friday "movie night." Jill found us a steal of a deal--$15 for tickets for the whole family to go see the final season concert of the Utah Premiere Brass (see www.upb.org), along with the Utah Pipe Band (a Scottish bagpipe band--see www.UtahPipeBand.org) and The Rhythm of Ireland (see www.RhythmofIrelandDance.com) at the Covey Center for the Arts in Provo, Utah. All I can say is WOW!Actually, the reason I wanted to write about it is that I was truly touched by quite a few of the...
Sunday, April 20, 2008
All is going well here in Springville right now. I am still working at Rocky Mountain Composites, though I'd like to find another job with better hours, better pay, and something I enjoy much more. The job isn't that bad though, and it's close enough that I ride my bike in to work, as long as the weather is good enough. This gives me exercise as well as saving gas on getting me to work. The rest of the family is getting along well too. The children (all except Tate, of course) have about six more weeks of school left (they've been on Spring...
Monday, March 31, 2008
March 31, 2008
Here I sit at the Springville, Utah public library on my day off work looking at this screen and wondering what to write on my first BLOG entry.I was going to work overtime today to help save up some extra money for moving our things out here to Utah from where we used to live in Cedartown, Georgia. Then, with all the snow, ice, and wind Jill asked me to stay home so she wouldn't have to drive me in to work. She did not feel comfortable driving on the roads early in the morning in this weather.Also, our son is ill today and I had to take him...
