Hanging out with Christina and Christal will make everyone wish they had a twin. With an unbreakable bond, the girls know each other so well that they often complete the other’s thought.
“Not a day goes by that we don’t finish each other’s sentences or say it at the same time,” Christina said. “We do it all the time!”
This is no surprise, considering the longest the girls – now sophomores at the charter school at Methodist Children’s Home – have been separated from each other is less than nine hours, and that was when one attended an out-of-town volleyball game. After moving into the new Daniels Home on the Waco campus this summer, the girls will have their own rooms for the first time in their lives.
Christina and Christal came to MCH a day after their 12th birthday. They had been living with their aunt due to a difficult family situation, and she was no longer able to care for them. When they first arrived at MCH, they were unsure of their new surroundings.
“We weren’t very open,” Christal said. “We didn’t talk to the home parents. We didn’t talk to anybody.”
“We were shy and we didn’t want anyone to feel bad for us,” Christina said. “It’s so opposite now. We talk to everybody.”
Christina and Christal soon warmed up to their new environment and began building close relationships at MCH. They both enjoy staying active through volleyball, basketball and track and learning how to work with others. They have grown up and are now confident in sharing their individual personalities with those around them.
“It’s been really great to watch them grow from little girls into young ladies,” said Steve Callison, home parent to the girls since they first arrived on campus. “They’ve come a long way.”
Christal and Christina say they are grateful to have had each other to grow up with. Even when they argue as all sisters do, they are quick to make up.
“She can be helpful,” Christal said about her sister. “I can tell her stuff and she can tell me stuff and we just help each other out.”
“She’s a person you can count on,” Christina said. “At the end of the day, she’s family.”
As their journey continues, Christal hopes to carry over her love of sports after high school graduation and plans to attend University of Houston to become an athletic trainer. Christina has dreams of getting into the fashion industry as a model or fashion designer and aspires to create her own clothing line. Both girls love clothes and shoes and their unit manager, Bethany Parrott, jokes that when they go shopping, “it is an event.”
Parrott said she is proud of the growth she’s seen in Christal and Christina.
“It’s been a joy to watch Christal and Christina mature over the years,” Parrott said. “They have grown individually into their own unique personalities while maintaining a strong connection with each other. Christal and Christina represent the MCH values well in how they care about others, are respectful to staff and peers and are just fun to be around!”
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