on social media
Our Next Great Adventure
Christina and Nelson
Sanford, FL
Nelson and Christina are ready to begin their GREATEST adventure yet! They will be expanding their family by adopting a girl, aged 3-5, from Taiwan. Before Christina's cancer diagnosis in 2021, adopting from Asia was already on their hearts. Now, coming out the other side stronger in their faith and marriage, they knew the Holy Spirit was prodding them to begin this next chapter of their lives. However, they needed to wait three years without a cancer reoccurance and obtain a medical waiver.
With God's healing and grace, they submitted the necessary documents to Taiwan in January 2025 and received a match in July! 
We humbly share this page with you as a way to update our support system and provide you with information on how you can be a part of our child's story. We have resources in place that should take care of most of the multiple adoption fees which range between $40 to $2,500 and are due at various intervals. We plan to cover travel expenses with points and miles when possible. The largest adoption fee is a one-time payment of $8,300 that is due upon receiving a referral. Our support system was so generous to us during Christina's cancer journey and we are forever grateful for your prayers, words of encouragement, supplies, and financial support. We welcome you to join us on this new journey in whatever capacity you feel led to.
If you feel moved to support us financially, we would be so grateful.
Any money you give goes directly toward the adoption process itself. Your generosity allows us to focus more of our personal funds on creating a nurturing space for her and meeting her needs once she’s home.
While we wait, we’ll be preparing court documents, attending virtual sessions with her to begin building connection, and awaiting multiple court rulings in Taiwan. If all goes smoothly, we hope to travel by next spring or summer to bring her into our care. 
The total cost for a Taiwan adoption is approximately $35,000 - $45,000. All donations to AdptionBridge will go directly to Nightlight Christian Adoption and be used toward their adoption.
3 Family Updates
Donors
Ed and Patti Burkhalter
So happy for you. Praying for the perfect daughter to join your family.
Christina Eaton
So incredibly happy for y'all! Parenthood is the most amazing adventure of all!
Ariel + Bailey
Best wishes to you both!!
Ginger Updike
A dear friend once told me “God wants you to be a mother. Not all paths are the same.” That resonated with during a time in which I was questioning my faith and God’s intentions for my life. The truth is that God is great and it’s HIS will be done. I have no doubt his will is for you both to experience the amazing blessings of parenthood and I can’t wait to watch it all unfold. Love and endless prayers 💙
Maria & Tony Sirica
Continued Prayers for amazing family, brought together by the hands of God.
Kim & Brian Jones
Sending best thoughts to you both and to your precious little one!
Lindsay Hinesley
Can't wait to meet the newest member of your family!
Debra Walker
Wishing you both a successful journey on your next adventure to parenthood. Love, Debra and Stanley
Rene Tichauer
My pleasure to help a little in this terrific journey. Keep us all updated.
Donnie Thompson
Get that child. You’ll be great parents
Carol Cosenza & Sal Di Cecca
We are so excited for you! What a wonderful adventure it will be.... and can't wait for her first cruise!
Craig Beverly
I know it’s not much but you took the time to help me when I was feeling at my lowest when your family was going through something far worse. I love you both and would love to see you in that parent position. I know you both would kill it.
Shelley Garza
I could not be more happy for you both! Thank you God for answered prayers. I’ll continue to be praying for you and these next weeks so much to do so much excitement. God bless you. I’m so excited for you.❤️❤️
AMEER ROBINSON
Nelson and Christina you both are amazing people and life has through so much at you but you continue to remain positive and are such amazing people that I am so proud to call friends
Christina Eaton
Wishing the best for you two and your new little peace !
Justin Register
Praying for your family now and in the future. God Bless
Kathleen Jansen
So very excited for you both.
Kelli Daniels
Congratulations to your family!! She's one lucky girl💓
Claudia Mundlos
So excited to hear that your little girl will be with you next year! Lots of love from Jose & Claudia
William Beverly
Congrats to a wonderful couple who will be wonderful parents
WE HAVE A MATCH! On July 18, we received the incredible news that we’ve been matched with a little girl in Taiwan! We were completely shocked to receive a match so quickly. Just over six months after submitting our paperwork to Taiwan.
This next step comes with a significant fee. If you feel moved to support us financially, we would be so grateful.
Any money you give goes directly toward the adoption process itself. Your generosity allows us to focus more of our personal funds on creating a nurturing space for her and meeting her needs once she’s home.
While we wait, we’ll be preparing court documents, attending virtual sessions with her to begin building connection, and awaiting multiple court rulings in Taiwan. If all goes smoothly, we hope to travel by next spring or summer to bring her into our care.
Your prayers for a timely and peaceful ✌️ process mean the world to us. Thank you for walking with us on this journey. We can’t wait to share more when the time is right.
Hi! All adoption updates can be found on our blog at https://www.livingrarely.com/adoption
We have loved reading all of the well-wishes we've received after announcing our adoption plans! We had hoped to get a start on the journey much sooner. But COVID. Then cancer. In 2022, we met with people from the His Kids ministry at our church, First Baptist Orlando. We were given some wonderful resources and recommendations and got in touch with Nightlight Christian Adoptions. Unfortunately, because of my cancer diagnosis, we learned we needed to obtain a medical waiver to potentially shorten our wait time to apply from five years to three years of remission. We spent 2022 and 2023 praying and asking for guidance and clean scans. In the summer of 2023, my oncologist wrote a letter stating my prognosis was good, and after consulting with Nighlight we determined January of 2023 would be the time to submit our official application to Nightlight. We were accepted and thus the paperwork and fee schedule has begun!
We are currently in the Orientation/Education/Background Checks phase. Once that is completed we will begin our home study which could take four to six months. But Nelson sees this as a positive challenge and is eager to see how quickly he can get all the paperwork done 🙂
We're also attempting to learn some Mandarin and have discovered some pretty cool Taiwan webcams for views of the country.