Deborah Winters was in Tennessee when she got word.
Teagan, an hours-old baby boy in Florida, needed her.
Deborah, in the “Volunteer State” to spend Christmas with family, gave “I love you, but I have to go” hugs, then dashed through 20-degree morning air to her cayenne red Nissan.
Warmed by faith and joy, Deborah journeyed south on I-75. It was December 21, 2023, but Deborah’s journey to Teagan truly began in 2016 in a dream.
“I woke up crying, not knowing what the dream meant,” said Deborah. In 2019, a preacher interpreted, telling Deborah that God had marked her to help mothers and babies. Deborah accepted the dream’s meaning and waited patiently for God to guide her.
In early December 2023, Deborah’s friend, who leads a women’s jail ministry in Winter Haven, told her about Tyson, a woman in jail who desperately wanted to have her baby but had no one to care for the boy after birth.
Deborah prayed. God confirmed.
On December 20, 2023, Tyson gave birth to Teagan.
Two days later, Deborah went to Winter Haven Women’s Hospital. She promised to care for Teagan until Tyson was released.
Grateful that Teagan was not going into foster care, Tyson focused all her energy on maturing. In April 2024, she connected with Better Together. Family support managers regularly visited Tyson both in jail and at Lydia’s House in Wauchula, a transitional home for women. They helped Tyson prepare for a life with Teagan.
As Tyson matured, Deborah cared for a growing Teagan. Deborah got the “happy boy” musical instruments and took him to prayer group at her church, Family Worship Center in Lakeland, where Teagan became the “church baby.” Most of all, Deborah told Teagan of his mother’s love.
On September 14, 2024, Deborah buckled Teagan in his car seat. His mother was being released from Lydia’s House. She was going to live with them too.
Warmed by faith and joy, Deborah drove her cayenne red Nissan to a reunion that was once only a dream.
Story and moments by Kinfay / Better Together
