Denine

Author: Chris Czarnata Forster
Genre: Christian Living/Memoir

Heart-wrenchingly honest and deeply insightful, Denine tells the story of a young mother’s journey of faith with her first-born child, born profoundly handicapped. From the initial discovery of Denine’s condition and her family’s reaction to it, to sleepless nights, hospital stays and countless visits with doctors and therapists, Chris Forster tells her story with bracing insight and unwavering faith. She describes with unflinching honesty the loneliness, despair, and difficult decisions that come along with raising a child with such disabilities. She shares how her daughter Denine’s life, though fraught with tragedy, ultimately brought her to a knowing relationship with God. Brimming with minute descriptions of complex family relationships, deeply personal moments, and authentic, haunting insights into the experience of parenting a child with special needs, Denine serves as a reminder that God knows what is going on in our lives and has a plan for each one of us.

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Reviewer: Gee Dixon

Denine touched my heart. As a mom of a special needs son it gave me courage to keep holding on through the rough times when you feel you just cannot do it.

It was heartwarming seeing the baby steps that Chris took to become one of trusting The Lord and giving all to him. Trusting through the good and not so good.

Ken, Chris’s husband has a hard time dealing with the disabilities that Denine has and distances himself,  later though becoming a Christian.

Denine will really touch your life. She touched mine. It will make you cry so get your kleenex out. You will know Denine through the eyes, words and Denine’s life through her mother.

Thank you Chris for sharing your precious Denine. I do hope your story will touch others the way it has touched mine.

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Reviewer: Mary Hosmar

It was the description of this story which initially attracted me.

Chris Forster tells the story of her eldest daughter, Denine, in a factual, apparently dispassionate, manner. Yet there is no doubt of her passionate love for her daughter. She is honest in relating how having a ‘severely disabled child’ affected her, her family, her marriage and her trust and faith in God. She admits to bouts of sorrow, depression and despair but also the joy of realizing God had chosen her to be a mother to a special child . Yet this is not a depressing story. Chris’s great love for Denine comes through each page and incident. And when she finally realizes that she needs to give everything over to God, Chris, herself, experiences God’s love and peace.
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Never having had a disabled child, I knew I could not understand the trials and trauma that parents of a special needs child undergo, so reading this story was, in part, to educate myself. The other reason for reading the story was to learn more about God’s mercy and grace. I was not disappointed on either count.
Is this book great literature? No. Is it worth reading. Definitely.

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