Hey everyone,
Ginny just wanted to say thank you to everyone in the United States that came to the memorial service, and to everyone that helped with the arrangements.
She's back in Rome now though, so if you are trying to get a hold of her please use her normal contact information.
Becky Davis posted this story.
Christina and I first met when we were both 7 years old in Mozambique. Our families both moved there in 1994. We went to the same school for the next 5 years. During that time, we became best friends. The Newberg family lived about a block away from us. We had so many sleep-overs, play-dates...etc.
Christina always knew how to make someone laugh. We would laugh at silly parts in movies, funny lyrics in songs, and just goof around a lot. She loved hanging around my sister Sally as well. I would get jealous sometimes when she would invite Sally over to her house to cook or bake and they wouldn't share their "secret recipes" with me.
Since our Birthday's are only 5 days apart...hers Feb 7th and mine Feb 12th...we used to have combined Birthday parties in Mozambique. Sometimes we celebrated it at the pool down the street from our house, sometimes we celebrated it at her house or my house. I remember this one time, we were at my house with Ginny writing out our Birthday invitations to our classmates and Christina thought it would be a good idea to write "Bring two gifts" on the bottom of the invitations and Ginny told us to cross that off. It was pretty funny.
The neat thing is that I was able to stay in touch with Christina over the years. She was my best friend for 15 years. Our families moved from Mozambique back to the states the same year. The Newbergs ended up in Virginia and my family ended up in Maryland. Over the years, we somehow ended up living pretty close to each other...or if we were overseas again, then we managed to see each other over the summer...etc.
Every time I hear the song "Sunny Came Home" I will think of Christina. We used to go around the playground in Mozambique singing that song to our classmates and they thought we sounded so good singing together. We even wrote some of our own silly songs that I still remember the lyrics to.
I have so many great memories and stories to share about Christina, too many actually. I think living in Mozambique was the best time we ever had though, and if it wasn't for that place, I never would have met Christina. I miss her so much and I will always remember her and love her like a sister.
My prayers go out to Rich, Ginny, Alyssa, Thomas and the rest of her family.
Lots of love, Becky Davis
Thank you very much to Cathy Crary for sharing this.
Christina Newberg stepped into my world and the life of my family when she was a mere 3 years old. What a whirlwind of vibrancy and life she was! It was hard to keep up.
My two boys and I were at the community swimming pool when Christina's mother, Ginny, and I struck up a conversation. We discovered our children (her Christina and my Nicholas) were attending the same preschool down the road in Falls Church, Virginia, and we quickly devised a handy car-pooling plan. What was convenience for us became a beautiful friendship for our children.
I don't remember too many other details of that day, but Christina and Nick instantly bonded and became inseparable. Every day Nick was at the Newberg's house or Christina was at our home. Nick was shy; Christina was exuberant and outgoing. Nick had pale, pale white skin and white-blond hair; Christina had creamy brown skin and gorgeous black, curly tresses. These two children were perfect opposites in personality and physical appearance—yet they were perfect compliments to each other.
In my mind's eye I see Christina and Nick dashing up and down my staircase, wearing handmade satin capes—he was Superman, she was Batman. There were riotous sleepovers, explorations into local parks, and long, lazy days at the playground endlessly pushing the swings higher, higher, higher…
Our two families shared days at the water park and October visits to the pumpkin patch. What a lovely, magical time it was.
This is something I learned from Christina—revere life. Once, at home, I was on the verge of squishing an invading spider. "No!" Christina cried. "Let it live." To this day, when I find any spider, beetle or other bug interloper, I pick it up with a Kleenex and deposit it outside.
For some reason, one moment is frozen in time for me forever. Near our two homes was a steepish grassy hill next to a golf course. One warm day Ginny, Christina, Nick and my younger son Alex and I trooped over to the hill with the grand idea of rolling the kids' Big Wheels (those low-slung plastic tricycles) down the hill. Once we reached the top, Nick wasn't so sure it was a terrific idea. It looked pretty darned high to me, too.
Christina did not hesitate. She hopped on her tricycle and flung herself wildly down the hill, shrieking all the way down. Seeing her joy, Nick took the plunge and overcame his fear. This was the gift Christina gave to Nick.
Christina was bright. Christina was beautiful. I think maybe this world was just too slow for Christina, and the rest of us simply couldn't keep up.
Nick, Alex and I are blessed to have had the shining spark of Christina in our lives. We love her and we miss her.
Cathy Crary
I'm so upset and shocked about Christina being gone. She was one of my very best friends. I love her and miss her so much. I have so many amazing memories of us. She was one of the greatest people I've ever met. I will always think of her and pray for her but mostly I will look back and smile and laugh. When I remember her, I think of all the fun we had and I think that's perfect.
We went to college together in Kansas our first semester. We didn't know anyone else and honestly, we hated it. But we had so much fun! and I know that without her, I would have been miserable.
My condolences go out to her family. I'm sure this is incredibly difficult for them.
-Sarah Darner
On Tuesday, February 17, Christina Newberg passed away in Rome. A memorial service was held at the Rome Baptist Church on Saturday the 21st. If you would like to see pictures of Christina and of the memorial service in Rome please click on her portrait to the right.
There will also be a memorial service on Friday, February 27th, for those family and friends who can attend. It will be held at The Community Covenant Church in Springfield, Virginia. Click here for directions.
Christina had friends and family all over the world, and the Newbergs understand that many will not be able to attend a memorial service. This blog is an opportunity for any one that knew her, or knew the Newberg family, to post stories, memories, or anything else they might like to share by adding a comment below.
If you have photos or videos of Christina that you would like to share, just send an email to fotoqanda@gmail.com with your picture or video as an attachment and we will see that it gets posted. If you have pictures already in a web album, like a Flickr page, just send a link to the email address and we will post it.
Also, if you have a longer story that you would like to see posted, send it to the email address above. Stories can be sent either as text in an email or as an attachment. Any format is accepted. Please understand that all materials will be screened prior to posting.
Thank you for coming and thank you for your support.
White Deer Run is a drug and alcohol treatment center with multiple locations in Pennsylvania.
Hope house is a drug and alcohol treatment center in Crownsville Maryland
The Family would also like to thank the Priory Hospital in London and it's staff for their efforts.
We love you Christina, Tim Van