Happy New Year

Wow, the first full week of January has come and gone, already!!!! Things are going pretty good here on Sycamore Road. I am still taking my EMT class and Dale is getting geared up for Lacrosse to start in a few weeks!

I had the most amazing award bestowed upon me by a very dear and special friend on New Years Eve morning. My friend Tara submitted my name to our favorite local radion station, Froggy 99.9 for their "Everyday Hero" award. They present this award once a week to local folks that are making a difference in this crazy world. Well, they picked me and I was presented with a very nice award, a Best Buy gift card and dinner for 4 at Jimmys Grille in Bridgeville. WHAT AN HONOR!

I am not a hero by an stretch of the imagination...but it was very humbling to know that my efforts are paying off. Tara is a member of TEAM GUMP and walked with us at the Light the Night Walk. She is a member of the Seaford Vol Fire Company and works part time at Laurel Fire Co as an EMT. She has been a huge help to me with my EMT studies and a breath of fresh air on any given day. All that and she is only 19 years old. WOW! Hopefully I can effect some others just like her. See, its Gerry's spirit that keeps me going, and I know he is very proud of me!!!!

Well gotta go, ttfn Love Deanna

My hero hard at it!!!

Station 81 had a chicken house fire on Monday afternoon that was dispatched just as Dale was arriving home from school. The fire was at an old abandoned chicken house just across the field from our house. Dale is the one in the red fire gear. I AM SOOOOO PROUD OF MY CADET FIREFIGHTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dale got his first deer!! Wooohooooo yippiieeeee

Dale shot his first buck on Saturday, November 17th....he was soooooo excited. I sure hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!!! Dont stress too much in the next few weeks, remember Christmas comes this time EVERY YEAR! LOL

Finally...its here!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had a welcome surprise Tuesday evening. I was a little ahead of schedule in heading to the LFD Auxiliary meeting, so I decided to stop by to visit Gerry. I was greeted by the head stone that has been in the works for six months now. WOW!!! It is amazingly beautiful, and well worth the wait.

A little history on the design of the stone:

I was looking for something unique (like Gerry) to define the story of his life. Everything on this stone has traces of Gerry all through them. He designed our house and did all the interior work. He dreamed and designed his shop, which houses the fire trucks. He purchased the tractor when we finally moved home from Baltimore after the initial treatments. That is his truck that he always parked in the driveway, and it drove me nuts because we had two garages he could have parked inside. And the two trees over by the shop we planted as a family on Fathers Day in 2003, to mark our new beginning and second chance at life together. Now the flag pole was an impulse purchase that he and Tim just had to have at the Firemans Expo in Harrisburg a few years back. Now, if you look really close, double click on the image to zoom in, you can see the metal barn star on the front of the house, as well as the chicken coop and rocking chair.

At the top of the stone are two logos that were a very integeral part of Gerry. The one on the left is the logo for H. Wayne Givens & Sons, which is our farming operation. This partnership was started by Gerry and Wayne in 1997. On the left is the logo designed by the Laurel Fire Department that is displayed on the shop and a sign out in front of the Sycamore Road Sub-Station. The members are extremely proud of this logo, as am I!

I hope you enjoy this picture and can stop by to see it in real life...who would think that something so sad could bring soooo much joy to me...finally!!!!!!!!


Love Deanna

P.S. I still miss him every day =^(

Just checkin' in....

Its been a while since I posted on here so here goes.....I started EMT class last month...I LOVE IT!!!! The class has proven to be all that I expected, a little challanging sometimes, but that is what I need right now! I am doing this for several reasons, the most important one is to payback some good deeds that have been bestowed upon me thru the past several years. I would not be able to function this very day without the help and support of my LFD family. Also, I needed to prove to myself that I can do things that are outside of the box from where my life has taken me over the past 40 years. Yeah believe it or not I AM 40!!

On October 13 our family and friends participated in the Light the Night walk...our TEAM GUMP was the 1 fundraisers for the Rehoboth Walk. This is amazing, we raised over $7,100 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. We are the #1 fundraising team for the Rehoboth Walk. Next year we are setting our goal for at least $ 10,000 and hope to bust that all to pieces!!! My my, Gerry would be so proud of all the people that contributed to this event, it has brought so many of us together for a united cause..we are an awesome TEAM.

Nightmare Productions had a banner year with the Nightmare at Twilley Center this year. I didn't get down to Salisbury to play as much as I wanted, but they had a good time without me, again!!!! A portion of the proceeds will go to the Salisbury YMCA and the American Cancer Society! The haunt this year was awesome, and it had Gerry's little touches all over the place. The SCREAM TEAM will be back next year, ready to scare the yell out of you!!!It was overwhelming to watch the "kids" take on some big roles at the Haunted House this year. We have watched them grow up, from the days when they were 5 or 6 falling asleep in a make shift coffin, or in a dirt pit. Some might call that child neglect, we call it bonding time and it has produced some amazing young adults. Watching Dale carry on at the HH was most pleasing. He has become everything I would ever dream of....he has taught me alot!!!!! What a brat though, he still picks on me everyday, I don't know where he gets that from...

The holiday season is coming up fast, this year will be different for our family; however, we are thankful that we have each other to lean on and look forward to remembering Gerry through it all!!!!Well thats all for now.....ttfn!!!!Deanna

Light the Night Walk 2007!

Wow!!! We had a great time at our first annual Light the Night walk for TEAM GUMP! We have about 35 walkers for TEAM GUMP and our TEAM raised over $6,600. Not too bad for the first year, huh? We are going to start planning for next years walk after the holidays are over, so look for us to start bugging you about some fundraisers in January!! Gonna attach some pic's...thanks to Ryan Whittington for his spiderman stunts in getting such good shots!! Enjoy, we sure did....

Stop by to see the BLUE RIBBON PROJECT!

Allison's fair project is on display at The Hen House! She has given the scrap book page to me, as well as donated all her ribbon money that she won to the Light the Night Walk. What a special young lady she is, I enjoy her company!!! THANKS HONEY!!