Smiles for Gabe

08/19/2025

Saturday August 23
Plummer Funeral Home
983 Ridge Rd, Windsor
10-11 Visitation
11 Funeral Service
Celebration of life to follow service at:
Windsor Christian Fellowship
9 Reed Rd, Windsor

Share Memories & Support the Family.

08/16/2025

Hi Smilers
A message from Mandy and the girls.

"The girls & I would like to give a heartfelt thanks for your prayers, support, love, encouragement, & gifts over the last two years. As a community you have helped lighten the burden.

It is with heavy hearts we share that Gabe has fought the good fight, but The Lord has called him home. We ask that you continue praying for us in this time of mourning. We truly thank you for all your support."

Chris here.
Smilers, I can't find words suitable to express my thanks and appreciation for all of the care and love you have shared with our family over the last 2 years, and I know it will continue. I am broken hearted, and I am also comforted in the sure knowledge of where my brother is and that I will see him again there in the blink of an eye.

Gabe passed yesterday, and indeed he has found the smile he was looking for; his Lord and Savior smiling at him and saying "Well done, good and faithful servant."

Gabe, we love you, and are grateful for your time with us and the impact you had on the lives of those around you.
God is good! All the time!

I love you dude.
Chris

We will share information on upcoming events when available.

07/03/2025

Hi Smilers!
We're ready for the next step.

Got up first thing this morning to get the supplies and head over to get this pool pad down, flat and level! Well, here it is, in all its flat and level glory! Got it all pushed in place and flattened down, then we went to work on leveling to a precision heretofore not seen on an above ground pool except in song and legend!

Special thanks to our Uncle Pete DeRaps and his company P G D Construction for bringing all the tools we needed to make sure this pool will be within a quarter inch!

Thank you all for the support and love with this latest project for Mandy and the girls. In the midst of this venture, naturally, their refrigerator decided to bite the dust, so it has been replaced! If anyone is able and willing to help out with grabbing the old one from the driveway and hauling it off, that would be a huge help.

Once the ground cover is down we'll get the pool framed up and be connecting with Whitefield Volunteer Fire to put the water to her. We're almost there! I can almost smell the chlorine!

God bless you all and we love you.
Chris

07/02/2025

Hi Smilers!
We're almost there!

We're well on our way on the pool project, and we've got the pool location leveled out and sand ready to go down for a pad. Just need to source a few things and start hitting it with my tractor then get it leveled, and we'll be ready to set up the pool!

Thank you to everyone who has commented and messaged with support and donated towards the project. We greatly appreciate it!

A special thank you to Andrew Federman at Sheepscot River Land Services for donating his time, energy and equipment to getting the area leveled and delivering the sand.

A special thank you to the Smalley family and Family Tree Lawn and Landscaping for covering the cost of the sand.

Thank you all again for your love and support and if you are able to donate towards completing this project, it would be a big blessing for Mandy and the girls!

We love you all and God bless!
Praying for a happy Independence Day for everyone.

Chris

06/14/2025

Good morning Smilers!
This is incredible!

Since yesterday, we have had an outpouring of support and offers to help and it is an incredible show of love from the community!

A local contractor in Whitefield, Andrew Federman who owns Sheepscot River Land Service, has donated his time and equipment to getting the landscaping accomplished and is donating the sand to make the pool pad.

I'm bringing my tractor over this evening to prepare for the fence removal and tree work on Monday and we've had some young men and families who have offered their time and energy to help.

We've had individuals and families who, in lieu of living anywhere nearby, or lacking the time or equipment needed, have graciously donated money to the cause. I would love if we could have more donations for this project so that we can go above and beyond and bless those involved who are using their time and resources. Maybe to get food for everyone while we're working, and maybe bless the kind contractor. And finally to get all of the supplies needed for the pool itself once it's set up.

Whitefield Fire Chief Jesse Barton has taken on the task of ensuring we will have water to fill the pool when the time comes and we are grateful for the heartfelt gesture.

Please contact me if you are able to give, and we will make this pool happen!

God bless you all and we love you.

Chris

06/13/2025

Good morning Smilers!

We need your help!

We are one week away from the start of summer. Mandy and the girls have been faithfully undertaking their roles in the household throughout the winter. Mandy cares for Gabe, who remains unresponsive, 24 hours a day, and she and the girls have been blessed by God to find the energy and drive to continue living a Godly life and taking care of their little homestead. Mandy created a lovely little gravel pathway with Gabe's fire pit as the centerpiece in the backyard, and the girls have shared some heartfelt memories around the fire about their dad and the times spent sitting there with him.

Now we need to get them ready for summer, and we need your help to do it! Since Mandy can't usually be away from Gabe, they won't have much opportunity to enjoy the beautiful weather or hit the beach to cool off, and thankfully they were gifted a nice, used above ground pool, and have limited space to spare for it, so it is going to require a small amount of clever landscaping and leveling of some of the lawn, along with a clean sand base to place it on. I have a tractor with loader and box blade, but this may be more of a mini excavator type job.

Here's where you all come in!
Who can help us with their equipment, time and materials?

Who can share a few hours to pull fence posts with their equipment (if I haven't gotten them out yet)?

Who can help us trim back the branches from the giant maple to give the best sunlight and keep the plethora of helicopter seeds out of the pool!

Who can donate a load of sand and create a level pad?

Who can donate pool water to fill it up?

I'll be starting on this project with my tractor in the next few days, but my hope is to get the help we need to have the pool ready for the start of summer!

God bless you all and thank you for your continued love, prayers and support! We love you all.

Chris

12/03/2024

Hello friend and family!

We have an update on Gabe.
Thank you all so much for your prayers and support. Gabe has been recovering with no more fever and his breathing has improved.
We are so thankful to the Lord for all of your love and support and ask you to keep praying for Gabe and the family, especially through Christmas time.

God bless you all.
Chris

11/30/2024

Hello friends and family.

We need your prayers.
Gabe has come down with a fever and is sounding like a bad cough may be setting in.
Since he is unable to react to this, it's challenging for him to deal with. We appreciate all the love and support and all for continued prayers for him and Mandy to get through this and stay healthy.

God bless you all.
Chris

09/07/2024

1 year.
Hello friends and family. I wanted to share this message from Mandy.

Today marks a full year since Gabe's accident. I felt led to give an update & expression of gratitude.

While his progress hasn't been as drastic as we might hope, small progressions have happened. Which have felt huge in the moment. He reacts to voices & certain stimuli. While having him home has definitely had its challenging moments, it's been for the best overall. Our family & friends have been able to sit with Gabe, sing to him & bring life to his room. The girls are able to walk in & talk to their Dad when they need to as well as all the other kids in Gabe's life. We can tell when he is frustrated & having a hard day or when he is moved by something. Our hope is to continue to push for ways that allow Gabe to heal & make larger strides towards being fully aware & engaged.

I am overwhelmed by the outpouring from our family, friends & community. If you have ever left me a note or message, please know that I still have it. I wish I could personally thank each of you. Life has me pretty busy, but you have encouraged our family. I have watched people step up & love our girls in such a drastic way. While this has been one of the most challenging years of our life, God is still good. He still provides. He's taking care of us.

I do not pretend to know the why behind the situation. I do not know when it will change. Our prayer is that whatever happens be used for God's glory.

We continue to covet your prayers. Please do not stop praying for God's will to be done, sooner rather than later. Thank you. 🤍

~Mandy

05/22/2024

Miracles are happening.
Your prayers are pushing us forward.

Spring is here, with the hope of new life and growth, just like our beautiful azalea bushes in full bloom. It has been as long road to where we are today. Mandy is on duty 24/7 and caring for Gabe non-stop. We're waiting on God's provision for nursing care to be provided and her to have a moment to breath. Friends and family are coming along side her to try to lighten the load as much as possible, and we know God has a plan.

Gabe remains much the same, partly the reason for the lack of updates here. Mainly unresponsive, but reactive to stimulus to a small degree, with some slight but noticable change in his demeanor when he reacts to touch or talking, and noticable eye tracking. For Mother's Day, I bought my mom a book that Gabe and I had as children and gave it to her to read to him. He seemed to react strongly to her narration of this beloved, familiar story from our childhood. And then, this past week, Mandy was stopped in her tracks, hearing Gabe start coughing, and then hearing what sounded like a labored, airy, drawn out word... "heeeeelp". She thought maybe she was hearing something from one of the kiddos, but realized it was coming from Gabe's room. Then she heard it again, and went in to his room and spoke to him, asking if he was asking for help. He seemed to be vocalizing something, but she wasn't certain if he was just exhaling and sounding like an attempt at speaking a word. So she asked him if he could say "hello" and she inflected the two syllables like "high low" to delineate the sounds with a high tone and low tone in her voice, to which he seemed to mimic a similar high low sound!

We're pretty well beside ourselves in awe at the evidence of neurological healing taking place for Gabe and ask for your continued and much appreciated prayers to continue to cover Gabe and Mandy and the girls. He is gaining weight slowly and getting good nutrition which we pray is feeding both his body and his mind.

No matter our outcomes here on earth, we know our future beyond this life is secured, thanks to our loving Lord and his sacrifice for us.

God bless you all and we love you.

Chris