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