Christina’s life is truly a practice of patience and love.
As a single mom, Christina devotes much of her time and attention to raising her three kids: Nadia (15), Christian (9), and Syncere (1). As a family, they love bowling, swimming, cooking and going to the park together. Her two older kids are both active in sports, with Nadia on her school’s swim team and Christian involved in soccer and baseball at Emerald Youth Foundation. Christina loves how much her kids care for one another, even with their big age differences. “They have grown up looking out for each other,” Christina says, “They play well together. They love each other. It’s something you love to see as a mom.”
In her career, Christina cares for people with intellectual disabilities. Christina started working in healthcare after earning her associate degree in Administrative Healthcare. She quickly found she had a passion and a gift for helping people with their physical needs rather than through her administrative role, and when her coworkers saw her incredible potential as a nurse, they encouraged her to go back to school. She is now a Licensing Practical Nurse (LPN), and she loves how her new job allows her to serve people.
Right now, Christina and her three kids live in an older two-bedroom rental. It was originally one bedroom, but her landlord converted the garage into a master bedroom before they moved in. During this transition, the master bedroom was never properly insulated, so it is constantly too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter, causing high utility bills and physical discomfort. Christina regularly deals with unresolved maintenance issues, and this year, her rent has been raised two separate times.
“It was really steep for me, having rent go up twice back-to-back,” Christina explains, “It was hard to figure out where to get (the finances) from. You’re put in a position where you’re trying to figure out if you can ask your job for extra hours to make up the money, but then you know that will take away from your time being home with your kids. You have to cut out other expenses and cut back on food because you have to have somewhere to live. It’s a lot.”
After several years of frustration as a renter, Christina started seeking affordable homeownership options in Knoxville. “I knew I wanted to be a homeowner,” Christiana says, “But with me doing it by myself, I knew it was going to be more challenging.” Through her search, Christina found information about Knoxville Habitat for Humanity and applied.
Christina is excited to begin building her home with Knoxville Habitat soon. “I am just excited to have something that’s mine,” Christina smiles, “Something I can invest in and say to my kids, ‘This is our home.’ I’ve always wanted to be a mom that could leave something to my kids, and now we will have a home that can stay in our family forever.”
Christina’s new home will bring strength, stability, and safety for her family. They will be able to sleep soundly, knowing their home is well insulated to keep them warm during the cold winter. They will feel financial relief, knowing they will always have affordable and stable monthly mortgage payments. This family will experience all the joy and peace of mind that comes with affordable homeownership.
