Baby Blessing for
Tonya – A Modern Miracle
I was born and raised in Idaho. The first few
years of my life were very lonely. My real mom was a meth addict,
as was my dad, when he wasn’t in jail or prison. Unfortunately,
my loneliness wasn’t replaced with something better.
Instead, I was taken by the state and placed in one abusive
foster home after another.
Finally, when I was 8, I got the
wonderful news I was finally going to be adopted. Was it
possible that the nightmare I had been living would soon come
to an end? Little did I know, that my so-called dream-come-true
was just the beginning of a nightmare that would last 8 long
years. The abuse I endured from the adoptive parents made those
18 foster homes look like heaven. One afternoon, I was late
returning home and was hit with an object so hard that I only
remember the first blow. When I worked I was being rushed to
the hospital. After this incident, I was placed back in the
foster system where I went to four more homes and a group home.
After I turned 18, my read dad got out of prison,
found me and we moved in together. I honestly thought that
this was my chance to have a real family. This was not the
case; instead we did drugs together, and committed crimes right
up until I was arrested. Then my dad was locked up again, this
time for murder. Lost and confused, I jumped head first into
the drug world.
A lifeline was thrown out to me by a high-school
friend, who invited me to move to Portland. The offer came
with a job and housing. Since I was 5 months pregnant, homeless,
jobless, and hopeless, I agreed and hopped on the first bus
I could, but discovered that due to my criminal history,
I was not allowed to live in the place I had planned to call
home. I was ready to just give up, but this friend had already
donated to Bethany House and knew about their ministry. She
asked me to give it a try.
Well, that was in November of
2007, and thanks to Bethany House giving me a chance at a
different life, I am now the proud mom of a beautiful baby
girl named Jozlyn Marie. Jozlyn was born on February 26th 2008.
While living here at Bethany House, I’ve learned the importance of living a life that includes
God, making wise choices, and I am working on building healthy
relationships with trustworthy people. I honestly believe if
it weren’t for Bethany House I would be neck deep in
the drug world, and my daughter would be in state care. I can’t
find the words to properly describe how incredibly grateful
I am and will always be to Bethany House and their supporters.
-Tonya