Celine & Christian

Nothing original! We met at church. Christian entered the room and kept glancing at Celine, while her heart skipped a couple beats. We talked right away and became fast friends. We had our first date a few weeks later; we ate tacos in the park while watching the sunset over the lake. We talked for hours and didn’t want it to end (this is always a good sign). Celine quickly knew Christian was the one, because he always makes time to help or be around the people he loves, he treats everyone kindly, even strangers. He is always so attentive, fun, kind and loving. He showed her interest while being respectful. He made her feel safe and at peace. God has blessed us with each other. We have been married for 2 years. Our families are full of variety; nationalities, races, languages, cultures and religions. This is probably why we both enjoy traveling and discovering new places and cultures. We spend our free time mainly with family enjoying each other’s company, but we also like to explore the outdoors and enjoy the beauty found all around us every day. We are animal lovers; we would like to get a lab puppy because they are great with children and adults alike. Family is everything to us! We have always felt that we wanted to adopt at some point in our marriage, even if we were blessed with biological children, adoption was still going to be a goal of ours. Over the last couple of years, we went through a couple fertility treatments and a miscarriage. Our trust and love for each other have grown stronger and deeper from those trials. We are happy and grateful for what we have and have so much love to share, so we feel really good about moving forward with our decision to adopt! Our families are just as excited as we are to welcome a little one and shower him/her with unconditional love, kindness and care.

Celine has one brother and one nephew. Her brother is engaged to a very sweet lady, who was adopted herself. She is bringing two children to the marriage, so Celine’s family is going to grow soon with another niece and nephew. Celine grew up on a little farm in a small French village. They raised chickens and rabbits and farmed potatoes and hay. She learned hard work and responsibility at a young age. Her family didn’t travel much but she was fortunate to experience and embrace lots of cultures from Italian, Spanish, Portuguese to Middle Eastern immigrants who settled in the tiny village. She has always found other cultures fascinating. This is probably why she loves traveling so much. Celine moved to Utah 14 years ago, and fell in love with the beauty of the mountains and lakes as soon she arrived. She has learned English since but to this day you can still hear her French accent. Celine is an accountant; she enjoys working with numbers and finances. She is planning to be a stay-at-home mom but knows that planning and budgeting are skills that can be useful in the home as well. Celine enjoys genealogy work and puzzles, learning Spanish and singing makes her happy despite being off-key and bad at it. Celine is always grateful about something, even though things might not go her way, life is still a precious gift to her and you can still see her smiling through it all. She often says “no one is made to be alone, that is why families and friends are such a blessing”. She thinks that love and kindness are gifts that are made to be shared, because it makes the world a better place. One of the best gifts she often gives are her wonderful hugs, she’s a hugger. Celine is responsible and task oriented, but has a goofy side as well. She can be silly at times and sometimes she doesn’t even know what she did to deserve the laughs.

Christian has one sister, two brothers, four nieces and three nephews. He grew up in Arizona but has lived in many places, such as, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and quite a few US states. Christian had time to improve his Spanish while serving a mission for his church. Christian is currently working as a salesman. He has a Bachelor degree in Business and is finishing a Bachelor degree in Electrical Engineering in order to make a career change soon, hopefully allowing Celine to stay at home with their children. Christian loves to work with his hands and create new things. Christmas and birthdays are usually times in which the garage is a mess with some sort of project he is working on for a family member. He loves his nieces and nephews; when visiting family, you can find Christian by finding the children; there is usually one or two of them playing some sort of game with him. He also enjoys playing the guitar and reading books, things that he finds relaxing and a way to escape a stressful day. The yard is always a never-ending project, getting outside and working with the flowers and mowing the lawn are things that he cares about a great deal. It is important to him to make things pleasing to the eye; turning a house into their home. He also loves to help others; if his brothers or father are in need of a helping hand, he is there and always willing to give what he can to others in need.

Dear Expectant Mom, This must be a very emotional and challenging time for you! It takes someone very special, strong, courageous, selfless and loving to make the choice of adoption. Ever since we got married, we have tried to grow our family. Adoption has always been on our mind. We have been praying and waiting for our baby for a while now. We know in our hearts that he/she will come to us through adoption. About half of our family lives close by in Utah. We have weekly Sunday dinner with some of them. Also, everyone gets together for our monthly family gatherings and annual family reunions. In the winter, we play games, we gather around the piano and sing. While in the summer, we like to do outdoor activities like croquet and bocce ball. We value quality time together and we make sure that everyone is involved. Family is important to us, so we stay connected even with those who live further away, like in Arizona and France. Celine is enthusiastic about her plans to teach French to our children, so they will be able to have a quality relationship with her side of the family. She also desires to inspire the children with gratitude, reassurance and positivity, while providing them with opportunities and consistency to prepare them for life. She hopes to help the children to develop a big loving heart by embracing the differences that the world offers, being open minded and not judging people. She would like to guide them to find happiness and confidence, by enjoying all aspects of life even through their struggles. Christian is very artistic and plans to introduce our children to music, drawing, painting and design. Christian is always playing with his many nephews and nieces, telling them stories, cuddling and hugging them; he will make a playful, fun and loving dad. Our families are so very excited and supportive of our decision to adopt. Everyone is impatient to meet the new addition to the family. They all have a big smile on their face and twinkles in their eyes when they talk about the baby. It is needless to say, this child is dreamt of and unconditionally loved before we even have had a chance to meet him/her. You will be spoken of often, with respect, love and honor. We will mention things like “your birth mom loves you so much that she gave you the most beautiful and sacred gift - the gift of life” or “your birth mom has blessed us beyond measure with you”. We are planning on making sure that these things are not hidden. We feel it is important to know where you come from because it’s a part of who you are. You are and always will be an important part of this child’s life. We hope to create a relationship as open as you would like with the baby. Thank you for taking the time to read our letter. With love, Celine and Christian