INTERVIEW WITH ALEISA CRAIG
Aleisa and her family have graduated from Finding the Family in March of 2021. She is very loud in her testimony and in her faith. We asked her questions about her life before, during and after coming to Finding the Family! Check out her responses and be sure to watch the video to find out why we called her our ‘Disney Princess!’
DESCRIBE WHAT YOUR LIFE LOOKED LIKE ONE YEAR BEFORE COMING TO FINDING THE FAMILY.
“It was sad. Awful. Lonely. Very suicidal. Nothing about my life was good. I wasn’t even a mom.”
WHAT WAS THE ONSET OF YOU DIVING INTO DRUGS?
“My dad dying. I didn’t have the tools to cope with that pain. I didn’t have God in my life to take that from me. But as soon as I had God in my life, the pain went away.”
WHAT WAS THE BREAKING POINT THAT MADE YOU WANT TO COME TO FINDING THE FAMILY AND SEEK GOD?
“I honestly didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to stop using drugs. My husband was the one that made that call. Something inside me said just go ahead and do it, but I didn’t want to. It wasn’t until I was in your house and I decided that this was it! It was all or nothing at this point.”
WHAT WAS THE MOMENT THAT YOU KNEW THAT YOU HAD TO DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT?
“I had nothing. I didn’t have my children. I didn’t have my husband. I didn’t have my family.”
WHY DIDN’T YOU HAVE YOUR CHILDREN?
“They were taken from my home. My son was born with meth in his system because I used drugs throughout my pregnancy, so they took him. And then they took my other two children too, which was very hard.”
WHAT DID IT FEEL LIKE WHEN YOU HAD TO CALL THE FOSTER MOM FOR THE FIRST TIME?
“I asked a friend that went to the same church as her. She told me that I needed to call her and set a time up to do that. It was really hard. I didn’t want to look like a bad person or a bad mom but I was already a bad mom. It took the whole day before I finally called her otherwise my children were going to be put into the system. It was hard.”
WHAT WAS THE CONVERSATION LIKE WITH THE FOSTER MOM?
“We laughed and we cried at the same time. I told her that she would not regret this, I have three beautiful babies, and they are awesome kids.”
YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE FOSTER FAMILY IS VERY SPECIAL. WHAT MADE YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE TO BE AROUND THEM?
“I had never been in that situation before. It was all new to me. I’m just different, I don’t have a mean bone in my body. But there were times I’d be off in my drug-induced world and I would not speak to her. I could see it on her face wondering why I wasn’t taking to her. It had nothing to do with her, but the inner demons that I was fighting. So I’d pull her aside and tell her that I’m so sorry that my struggle was wearing off on her.” The foster mom was always so kind and patient towards me and my children.
WHAT DID IT FEEL LIKE WHEN YOUR KIDS GOT TO COME BACK FOR GOOD?
”It was difficult. It was bittersweet. I told you guys that our children were perfect and then they came and they had lasting effects from the damage that we did to them. They’d be breaking things and throwing fits and I didn’t know how to react to any of that. Kristen, the foster mom, wrote me a book of my then 8 month old’s schedule. She had him since he was five days old and told me that she didn’t want to overstep her boundaries but offered to write out all the things he liked. I had to learn what he liked when he was 8 months old.”
WHAT IS IT THAT YOU TELL YOUR KIDS EVERY DAY BEFORE THEY GO TO SCHOOL? WHAT DO THEY KNOW THAT MEANS?
“BE LIKE JESUS! I want my children to set the example and be the example just like Jesus was.”
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO CONSECRATE YOURSELF?
“My family was set aside for a bigger purpose. I feel like we have a hand of protection on us. That’s why I want them to know what Easter means, they get to have the candy and the presents because we celebrate what happened on that day.”
DO YOU CONTINUE TO DO THE THINGS WE TAUGHT YOU NOW THAT YOU’VE GRADUATED FROM THE PROGRAM?
“Yes!”
WHAT DOES GRACE MEAN TO YOU?
“There’s consequences to everything that we do, good or bad. And grace is no matter what you keep coming back and He’s going to love you. As a Christian, we are going to love each other, regardless.
DID ALL THE RULES BRING YOU TO JESUS?
“No. I was a rule breaker, not in a bad way. But it was His loving kindness.”
If we treat Finding the Family specifically like a program then we lose the safety and structure of the family. But if we treat Finding the Family just like a family then we lose the safety and structure of the program and when you have that interwoven together then that’s what makes it unique. We love every family that has ever been out there and cherish our memories with each person. We love the Craig family and their beautiful testimony!