Our story made the paper!

Overseas trip ends with a marriage proposal

News from Highland/Fulton

By Chuck Gait
chuckfg@gmail.com
301-854-0867

Posted 7/30/09

I got an e-mail from Highland resident Gina Gulliford. She and her husband, Jay, have lived in the Highland area for 21 years and have raised their five kids here.

Jay works as a manufacturers' representative in the area of electrical and industrial controls. Gina ran a family child care out of their home for more than 25 yrs. Now she works at Howard Community College's Children's Learning Center, a day care, a lab school for students in the education track and EMT students.

Gina also teaches continuing education for the Office of Children Services and in her spare time is a real estate agent.

Their oldest son Stephen, 27, graduated from River Hill High School in 2000 and then from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in 2008.

Adam, 24, is a 2003 graduate of River Hill High School and graduated from Towson University in 2008.

Jared, 18, is also a River Hill High School graduate, class of 2008 and a sophomore at Howard Community College. The youngest, Ben, 16, and a sophomore at River Hill High School.

I purposely left out their daughter, Anna. She also graduated from River Hill High School, class of 2004. She went on to Towson University and graduated in 2008 with a double major in elementary education and special education. After graduation, Anna left on a missions trip to Australia and the Philippines, departing in December 2008 and returning home again in June 2009. She went to work with Camp Sonshine/Australia and Camp Sonshine/Philippines, satellite camps of a well-known ministry, in Silver Spring. The camp in Australia was the first day camp offered in that country.

One day, Anna sent home a picture of herself surrounded by children from the Philippines. Her mother asked her what was the vegetation in the background. You won't believe the answer: it's trash.

The children surrounding her in the picture live next to the dump and use the dump as their playground. Anna stayed in Iloilo City on the island of Panay in Western Visayas, Philippines.

Gina and Jay were very glad when their daughter returned back home safely June 10. Shortly after her arrival, June 14 to be exact, her boyfriend, Aaron Arpasi, a police officer with the Baltimore County Police Department, popped the "big question," asking her to marry him and she accepted.

Before she left the country for her mission trip, Anna had a guaranteed contract with Baltimore County Public School system and will be working at Sandy Plains Elementary School, in Baltimore, in the fall.

Well, that's all I have for this week. Look after your neighbors. Say a prayer our troops who are serving in harm's way. And remember their families too. Pay it forward and commit a random act of kindness.

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