Melva Gifford

This is the next segment of planning of camping family reunion. The nice thing about this discussion is a chance I have too milk off the knowledge and experience of family members. Now I can share with you what they do. Perish the thought that I should come up with my ideas by myself. I’m against that.

Here are some ideas of how to occupy one’s time while doing a camp out with the family.

–        Prior to getting together my extended family will have each major family group take a turn hosting reunion. They are responsible for scheduling the events, designing and selling the family picture as well as giving out food assignments for the main meal on Sunday.

–        For my family, there is an annual fee to contribute to the improvement of the campsite. This helps provide a reliable water source and to improve the roads and other accommodations.

–        Some money is also set aside to be used by the family in charge to buy some necessary items for the reunion that year. Such items might include the discs that people shoot at for gun practice.

–        Here are some of the events I remember being in on the schedule for the annual reunion. Friday morning golf, Friday afternoon relaxing, Friday evening family members visit each other’s campsites.

–        Saturday morning skeet shoot, afternoon is games such as races or balloon toss. Later comes the auction. Saturday evening is the talent show, followed by a dance.

–        Sunday morning the sharing time takes place. Sometimes the event may be a religious service. Most of the time we share memories about a particular family member) Sunday noon we have of big potluck, Sunday afternoon cousin meeting.

–        Monday morning , many of us will break camp or relax before breaking camp.

–        Camping is a great opportunity for people to sit around and enjoy each other’s company. It is also nice that there are some good cooks in the group.

–        Since our union represents people that cover more than one time zone, we have to decide in advance which clock will be used for the starting time of each event.

–        The workload of hosting of reunion is not so bad when the labor can be distributed among multiple people. And different members of the family have different skill sets that they excel at that make them a natural candidate for specific tasks.

–        For our particular reunion, we usually have a theme every year. One year, It was superheroes, another was cartoon characters. This provides a rich variety of fun for decorating the camps and determining this skits and songs that will take place during the talent show.

–        One thing I miss was something that we used to do more in my youth. We used to sing around the campfire. It is a moving experience to be sitting out under the stars and hearing young voices singing in the night. When my part of the family were in charge of the reunion one year I tried to pull together a campfire sing-along. I had the words to the songs printed, but I neglected to prepare for someone to play the music. It is also important to have a strong light source, so people can read the words of the songs. It didn’t work as well as I wanted, but if I try to do it again. I’ll be better prepared to what to do to make it more of a success. There are some very good singers in my extended family.

If you have enjoyed your family reunions that are either camp related or not, please feel free to share your ideas of what you do with your family. The rest of us will be very greedy to hear additional fun ideas to implement for our own reunions. Thanks.

Today’s title of today’s blog is inspired by the movie True Grit. I have always enjoyed this movie. Beside it having John Wayne, the protagonist was a girl who endures personal challenges with courage and spoke. So I would like to discuss what may be our aspects of grit for the 21^st century. I hope today’s lesson can be of use to youth ministries, family counselors, family devotionals and family home evenings.

Our challenges of today may not be the same as those shared in centuries or decades past. When I think of physical challenges, my mind often touches upon the challenges of people leaving their homelands in Europe and other parts of the world to cross the treacherous ocean to a new land of America. Once here, they had contend the elements of nature to start a new life. They often had to learn a new language and adopt a new country.

It’s wonderful to hear stories of people who possess such strength and endurance. One of the reasons I am so interested in the founding of our country is I get to hear accounts of great courage. One example is how the colonial armies suffered long bouts of inadequate food, clothing and an lack of ammunition during their fight. Another example is of the Mormon pioneers who crossed the plains in search of religious freedom. Many of them were weak from lack of food, or weary, from traveling over 1100 miles to Utah. Plus they had to contend against the elements until they reached their destination.

I have heard some wonderful things about the movie, 42. It touches upon an African-American who had to face persecution and hardship as a new member of the baseball team. Yet he persevered through it all.

We have some wonderful examples of integrity and courage, what is coming more in the public eye are increasing reports of greed and corruption. I remember a friend who was in $50,000 of debt because her son used her good credit to gamble online. It was far more important that he satisfied his wants at the cost of his own mother’s survival. I’ve heard in the news of family members sponging off their parents making them destitute for their own satisfactions. I’ve heard of the suffering of children because of the abuse of a parent. Thank goodness not all children have to endure this from their parents. I’ve heard of people that will call old retired people over the phone and scam them of their retirement money. There are identity thieves that will milk people’s personal finances as quickly as they are able.

There are people that will take advantage of others, charity and compassion for their own benefit. Apparently one of the reasons many church and government organizations encourage people to donate to food banks and charitable organizations over giving money to panhandlers, is because some of the panhandlers are not being completely honest in their need. Something that I learned today is that apparently a certain group of panhandlers will arrive in a van at a store be dropped off, and spend several hours asking for money. The van will come by and pick them up and rotate them to different store. The play the system. I’ve heard several personal accounts where people under hard circumstances will have children or infants in their presence. They will buy liquor for themselves over food for their child. These examples of addiction of gambling and alcohol can be addressed in a separate blog.

It brings to light for me the necessity of the phrase “trust but verify”. I am a very gullible person. There’s been a few times I’ve been ‘taking advantage of’ because of it. It has cost me quite a lot of money throughout the years. Many of you have probably had similar experiences.

To me, it looks like our necessity of needing true grit is for moral character. Just giving something a pretty name does not mean it right. It looks like that people who want to maintain Christian values are being persecuted more openly. If we let it happen, then the persecution will increase. Blacks around the world were enslaved because others of moral character let it happen. I enjoyed the movie, Amazing Grace, because it gave me a better perspective of the fight in England to stop slavery. Some people will say they have the right to say and do what they want, except when it comes to the right of expression for those who feel that certain behaviors or against God’s law.

The invitation, I have for myself and others who may be interested, is for us to have the courage to stand up for what is right. To be willing to work hard, even when there is an opportunity to sponge off somebody else. It makes me realize I need to be more observant of my actions and words. We may be having a new civil rights campaign rise in his head. That people that want to maintain and have the ability to express their religious beliefs, should have the freedom to do so. They have just as much right to express themselves as those that may not believe in God or believe the sin is acceptable.

I admire people who may boldly state that they disagree with somebody, but maintain the right, that the people they disagree with should have the freedom to express themselves.

Just some for us to consider, thanks.

If you have comments to share, please feel free to do so. Thank you.

I think a lot of people today are becoming increasingly concerned about the state of our nation. I know a lot of people who are leaving their political party. This is happening on both sides of the aisle. I think many people are coming to realize that were voting for representatives who are not honoring the desires of the people.

We have a government that is riddled with corruption. We have people who feel perfectly fine about not working if they can get a substance from the government; even though they are in perfect health do so. We have a leader of the IRS who doesn’t pay his taxes. I’ve seen this self-interest, even on my behalf. It was presented to me in a very startling manner. I waved the flag for physical responsibility even the local level. I am an aspiring storyteller. Efforts are being made to build the storytelling center. In the spirit of self-interest, this could be very appealing to me. I heard on the news, a year or two ago that $15,000 of stimulus money was given toward this storytelling center. What is my opinion of physical responsibility now?

I hosted a candidate debate at the city center a couple years ago. That evening, I was asked about the storytelling center. It made me realize that as long as funding for projects is for myself it’s okay, but if it’s for someone else’s project and we need to follow physical responsibility.  Ah, such hypocrisy. Hindsight teaches me that if I want to walk the walk or talk the talk, it needs to be an equal playing field. Last year, with much trembling, I stood before the city Council and told them that if one of the reasons for increasing the city taxes is for a story center, we shouldn’t do it. See this link for the notes of that council meeting that I took while ago: http://www.melvagifford.com/2012/05/08/presenting-the-orem-city-budget-2012/

It is amazing how much corruption, we are now finding acceptable A man who does not pay his taxes is in charge of the IRS. Unethical businesses or bailed out. People are being persecuted because of their political party affiliation. Stimulus money is directed to questionable sources. Treaties are being made with other countries, such as the UN, that will take away the sovereignty of the United States. Those that make such alliances find that their personal quest for power is more important than the good of the country that birthed them. It looks like we are perfectly willing to vote for people of questionable character. Or in my case, I may not have done adequate research on a politician to see that they are a worthy individual to represent me.

With our increasing apathy toward government corruption and the acceptability of immoral acts should we be surprised that both continue to grow?

I guess today’s blog is a reflection of my need to take a more active part in trying to maintain integrity of the people/politicians are supposed to represent me. That means I need to do a better job in being an informed citizen and take a more active part in educating others, not through propaganda, but by substantiated facts. Maybe this is one of the reasons I’m now consider myself an independent voter; since, my personal political party has failed me and the leadership of that applicable party no longer represents what I stand for. Apparently many people representing both sides of the aisle are starting to feel the same.

I invite others to also endeavor to become more informed citizens. Our actions can tell others what we stand for. Our lack of actions does the same.

Bad quality chocolate sometimes has a CHOky texture. When we love it, we never want to be LATE to eat CHOcoLATE.

If you have any ideas to help remember this word’s spelling, please feel free to share it.

Whenever God, our heavenly father needs to talk to me. He usually needs to employ a 2 x 4. I don’t get subtle promptings very well, but in this case I did. Last Wednesday, my purse tipped over in my car and spilt for ID cards between the seat in the back floor.

The next few days, I’ve frantically looked about my house trying to find those ID cards, one of which was my driver’s license, but I had no luck. I was praying a lot for heavenly father to inspire me with where they were at but I wasn’t getting any ideas.

Last night, Sunday evening, I had a prompting in my mind to look in the back seat of my car. I thought if I want to learn how to feel the direction of the Holy Spirit and I need to follow what promptings I get even if there’s no success. I looked in the back seats and no luck. So I came inside the house, feeling a little resentful that he was not answering my prayers. Faith has always been a challenge for me.

Today, I was prompted to move my seats forward and look between the seats in the back. All my ID cards were found.

I would like to publicly thank Heavenly Father for answering my frantic prayers in regards to my ID cards. I really appreciate it. There’s a lot of times that we will talk to God begging for his help on different things, but it an important thing for each of us remember is to thank him when he helps us out.

I just wanted to publicly acknowledge and thank you, Heavenly Father, for your help.

As summer moves forward. More of us are trying to organize family reunions. Summer is a great time to have a reunion that involves camping. Here are some ideas of what to consider when planning your own camping and family reunion.

The next couple of lists in this website will be devoted to things to consider when you want to do a camping trip as a family reunion. Some of the topics that will be covered are accommodations, scheduling events, and projects for all ages.

Now for the first topic, accommodations:

–        Consider your accommodations. If you’re fortunate enough to own some land that your family can camp on then you can gradually improve the amenities of your site throughout the years as each person comes and visits annually. On my father’s side of the family. They have 20 acres that they have gradually installed multiple restrooms close to individual campsites, but also a major meeting area that is covered and cemented.

–        Usually, Memorial Day is devoted to fixing up the site while labor day is the weekend when the reunion takes place.

–        Some family members may spend the summer up on the land.

–        If you don’t own the land and need to host your entire tribe on a rental site, you’ll want to consider what is offered at that campsite, not just plumbing empower but maybe potential sources of entertainment outside the schedule of Activities.

–        You will also want to determine what restrictions exist for that site such as number of people or families per campfire, pets or if generators can be ran during the night.

–        The reason I touch upon additional amenities is that my family reunion hosts a golfing exposition. Or, perhaps, you might have a campsite that is close to a river or swimming pool.

–        You will want to choose a location that can accommodate your family, but also to include the possibility of some unexpected visitors who may come along for the ride.

–        It usually advisable to get some commitment from those who plan to attend, so the appropriate number of resources can be scheduled for the family. And if there are certain meals that will be shared by everyone. This will also give you an opportunity to get precise food assignments.

–        On one particular family reunion. We will not only get an invitation to the mail, but will also start to get information through email and Internet. We even now have a Facebook group page where family members can converse.

–        Having a family website is a wonderful resource to keep up-to-date with family and to inform them of the progression of planning for a camp reunion.

–        When you consider your location, you will want to keep in mind what people will bring with them for camping. Some people may have campers or RVs, while others will be restricted to tents. Who has the Dutch ovens or if fire restrictions prevent campfires, then who has the propane stoves?

–        Try to have a clear idea of what your site offers before you arrive there. You may be told that there are trees, but for the sake of caution, you may want to bring tarps and materials to provide your own shade if necessary.

–        You may also want to check to see what restrictions. There may be restrictions for digging trenches around tents or pet restrictions. You are even consider how far away you are from water sources. Or do you have to truck your own water in.

–        You will want to be prepared to carry a trash out so that you leave your site cleaner than you found it

–        Does your location have access to electricity or will some members of the family be running generators all night?

–        You will want to determine what potential dangers exist at your site. In Zion national Park, we have to consider the following concerns: rattlers, ravines, insects, lack of mature trees that can provide shade, and intense heat.

–        Your family will want to come prepared, not just with the necessary food and water, but cooking fuel and shade as well as bug repellent, suntan lotion, and chairs, etc.

–        please see the following link for potential items that you may want to include on your camping trip:

–        http://www.melvagifford.com/2012/08/21/labor-day-weekend-my-camping-checklist/

If you have enjoyed your family reunions that are either camp related or not, please feel free to share your ideas of what you do with your family. The rest of us will be very greedy to hear additional fun ideas that we can implement for our own reunions. Thanks.

There are some very good talks today at church about fathers and I heard some good references to the Bible that depicted very positive examples of fatherhood. I hope this lesson will be of use to youth ministries, Sunday school, and family home evenings.

I remember hearing presentations about the difference between men and women, and that one of the personality traits of a male is that they can be single-minded to a purpose. So we can see how this trait can be very useful in being the father of the home. Being single-minded with the purpose of being breadwinner not only influences himself, but also his wife and children.

Since my father died when I was young I never had a chance to know Melvin Limbert Gifford. I heard he was quite a tease. It sounds like he was a delightful individual.

Before he passed away in a gun accident, he was part of owner of Gifford, Electric located in Las Vegas, Nevada. I heard that he helped install the electrical wiring in the church, we attended as a family when we lived there. He loved the outdoors. He had five girls before he passed away, he got his son and twin daughter. He passed away when Melvin and I were three.

One good example of fatherhood in the Old Testament is of the story of the prodigal son. The son had confidence that after spending the life with no restraints and losing his inheritance. He can return home to a loving environment. That trust in what kind of reception he would receive is greatly influenced on the caliber of man his father was. The son’s trust was confirmed when the father saw him from a distance, and came and greeted him. And then sacrifice the fatted calf in honor of his return.

We see several traits of the type of man, this guy was 1. he loves his son no matter what. 2. He was willing to forgive 3. He realized the son needed to have free choice.

I wager he was very glad when his son returned home to fold.

Another wonderful story is of Joseph, the father of Christ. When he perceived that Mary was pregnant, he could have been justified to humiliated her in public, instead, chose to put her away privately. This showed that even though he felt betrayed by her he did not want to hurt Mary.

The other thing that we learn about Joseph is his reception to God. When an angel told him what was really happened to Mary. He had faith and accepted Mary as his wife. A lot of times we think that Christ had all his wonderful attributes because he was a son of God. Something I hadn’t considered before, is that perhaps some of those positive traits could have been learned from his father , Joseph.

A lot of times we as adults don’t know what kind of impression with leave with others. Sometimes we may learn when someone offers a casual comment or complement. But most may just keep their observations, private and often alter their lives in respect and admiration to someone who they honor.

One can wonder what caliber of individual God the father is, that his son Jesus Christ devoted his entire life to honor God the Father and to do his wishes. Makes me realize that when the time comes that we may have a chance to meet God the father, and in his son Jesus Christ. That will meet a couple of nifty individuals.

Thanks all wonderful dads for what you do.

If you would like to share a fun story that shows a nifty trait of your father, please feel free to share in the comment section of this blog.

I have been disappointed in the lack of committement of my one time political party to stand behind the constitution for a number of years. I consider myself now to be an indepdendent.

I support these guys:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/13/revolt-among-republicans-on-immigration-bill-70-house-members-risk-careers-in-planned-showdown-with-leadership/

Melva