They had nothing except each other.
Barbara and Christopher Pincheira-Ramos, now in their 30s, met while suffering from severe substance abuse and chronic homelessness.
"She was the only thing that made me feel alive," Christopher says about Barbara.
To say that this isn't a traditional love story would be an understatement. The fairy tale of wedding bells and diamond rings actually started when the couple hit rock bottom. They were heroine addicts, sleeping on the ground just a few tents apart.
In April, however, the county evicted everyone, and the couple went back to living on the street. It proved to be a turning point.
"We both decided we wanted to change our lives, didn't want to do drugs, didn't want to be in streets no more," Christopher says.
Persistence led them to the Illumination Foundation, where counselors say that the connection between the two was clear. They were on a mission.
"Folks come to us in different levels of disarray," says Jason Wofford of the Illumination Foundation. "And putting back the pieces is what takes place. They have far less work to put back the pieces."
Slowly, the pieces fell into place. Barbara's son, Daniel, and her other children reconnected with her. The couple is now three months sober and committed to one another.
"Our lives have changed so much, it's almost unreal," Barbara says. "I keep thinking this is all too good to be true, but it's not."
Barbara says too many of the homeless slam the door on help, so now, she wants to connect and help others.
She says, "I believe God brought us together to help people who have been in the same situation we have, to just maybe give people hope that there is a way out, a way you can change."
The newlyweds say their past has been conquered, their present is fulfilled and their future is in their own hands.
