She walked into the restaurant with a pep in her step that screamed confidence. She came right over to our table and without any hesitation she said, “I want to sit by your little daughter!” I moved over and she jumped into the booth with us. Within 30 seconds she looked Paislee in the eyes and said, “I like you! Do you like me?!” In all of Paislee’s shyness, she nodded her head, smiled softly, and in her squeaky little voice said, “Yes!”
Paislee spoke for all of us in that moment when she answered her. All four of us were instantly drawn to this beautiful little girl’s contagious joy and excitement about life.
She didn’t know us.
She had never met us.
And yet she showed us love and kindness within the first three minutes that made Brody ask if she could come over and play and gave Jon and I a huge sense of honor to be a part of capturing her story of rescue, grace, and love.
The little girl we met for dinner was far from who she was when she was first placed with Chris and Cristina. She was hurt. She was broken. And she didn’t know what true love was. But God redeemed all of that for her. He gave her a family who changed her story forever.
Cristina was in college earning her degree in Family Studies. Before she and Chris were married, she saw a video during a church service about a family that had adopted 14 children! It was a beautiful story that touched her deeply and instilled in her a strong desire to have a family of her own that would be used for foster care or adoption. Not long after, she was sitting in a World Mandate Missions Conference and felt that the Lord had called her to be involved with foster care. She didn’t know what that would look like or what that would even mean for her and Chris’ lives. But she was excited to see how He would use her in His calling on her life.
When thinking about starting a family, Chris had never thought of starting his own family through foster care or adoption. He worked with several different children and families within the system as his job, and saw first-hand how difficult it was. He experienced how much it required of himself spiritually, physically, and emotionally – and that was just as an employee! Cristina would often share blogs and videos about adoption and foster care with him, and each time Chris found himself putting his guard up. He felt the heaviness of what he experienced at work. Seeing more of it in videos just made him want to keep his work life separate from his family life. He saw just how emotionally taxing it was. But one day, right before they attended the World Mandate Missions Conference, Cristina sent him another video. This time he felt God tugging at his heart and felt encouraged to break down the boundaries as he watched it through.
The first night of their conference, Chris felt the Lord speak to his heart so strongly about God’s love for him. About how much God cares for him and loves him. About how much He loved him before Chris ever took his first breath and how much He loved him even while Chris pushed God away during a time when he was growing up. Chris felt the God’s unconditional
love stronger than ever.
The second night of the conference is when Chris felt that the Lord had confirmed his and Cristina’s calling into foster care. He had to sit and process those feelings. He had to take the time to pray about what he was feeling because of all of the things he had read and seen about the poor, innocent kids that are in the system. And then it led him to asking God how in the world would any of these precious kids would be able to know and feel the deep love of the heavenly Father, when all they’ve experienced is everything except for love from their earthy father.
That’s when he heard the Lord tell him, “Chris, I trust you to be their father. Show them the same love that I’ve shown you. Unconditional deep love.”
Chris and Cristina left the conference and became licensed foster parents and started the process. They started by trying to get a set of brothers that they had found out about. If you’re not familiar with how the system works, reunification with the biological family is the top goal in every case. Even if the family situation is less than ideal for the child, it always takes priority. Chris and Cristina experienced that right from the start when they found out that the brothers had been reunited with their biological mother. They were heartbroken as they knew the boys were going into a rough situation, but they also knew that the emotional process was what they had signed up for.
That is when they first met a beautiful blonde haired and blue eyed 3 year old girl. They were drawn to her and so badly wanted her to be a part of their family. She had been in a local shelter for 2 months after being separated from her biological mom. After three visits in Chris and Cristina’s home, she was placed with them. Her name was Madison. Maddie was now in a loving home, but she had never experienced what that was like. She was scared. She was afraid of men. She harmed herself and had tantrums that came as a direct result from the crazy amounts of pain she undeservingly experienced at just 3 years old.
Despite all of that, Chris and Cristina were in.
They were committed and they loved her as if she was their own.
And right in the middle of all of that, they found out about some other exciting news. They found out that Cristina was pregnant with their first baby!! All at the same time they got to experience what it was like to have their first daughter out of foster care and their first biological daughter.
“At times, the process felt like it was too much. But it’s worth all the tantrums and feeling like I’m not gonna get this right or that I’m gonna mess up. One day something clicked like “oh, this is working!” All the correction and love does end up working even with the behavioral and tantrum issues.” -Cristina
“It’s been tough just as we knew it would, but I wouldn’t change it and neither would my wife for one second. Its just been such a joy to watch her transform under the love of her heavenly Father.” – Chris
“I remember when we first got her, she was a scared, quiet little girl. She was afraid to be left alone with me and when Cristina had to run out to do an errand she would just scream the whole time and now thats not the case. She is not a quiet little girl. She’s probably the most confident little 4 year old I’ve ever met. Its not anything that my wife has done. All we have done is try to reflect to our kids that same love that our heavenly Father so graciously poured out on us. It’s just a blessing to watch that transform her life.” -Chris
To anyone who is in this exact process that Chris and Cristina were in, Cristina says, “Even in the hardest moments, it was all worth it so stick it out.” It took time for them to see positive changes in Maddie but just after one month, Maddie decided to start calling Cristina “Mommy” and not too long after that, she took to Chris as her loving earthly father and started to call him “Papa”.
Maddie initially thought Cristina was crazy when she asked to pray with her. When she went to church with them, she looked around at everyone as if they were crazy too! But within the past year, she has found her own love for church, her own confidence in the love God has for her, and praying and singing songs to Jesus are some of her favorite things to do!
Chris and Cristina, you guys already know this, but we want to commend you for making an eternal impact on a precious young life. You’ve set aside your own conveniences, comfort, and plans for how you thought your family would start for the sake of a fragile soul that needed love. And your love has completely transformed her life forever. We love your family, and cannot wait to see you guys continue to grow together and watch Maddie flourish with your love and care.
We were honored to photograph their family, and to celebrate Maddison’s official adoption day! This entire family exudes and radiates love that we are sure you will see as you scroll through their gallery.
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