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Christianna has overcome many challenges to get to where she is today. While living in California\u2019s Bay Area, she fell into a life of addiction and gave up hope for a while. She eventually came home to Oregon to get cleaned up and turn her life around. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Christianna currently lives in housing provided by Central City Concern, which she said has been a blessing until it was not. After everything she\u2019s been through, she feels more than ready for the next step of her journey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs far as housing went, I started from the bottom,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve lived in some rough places and I\u2019ve lived in very nice places, but the one thing that stayed steady is I know I have people that love me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Christianna works as a peer wellness specialist with the Mental Health and Addiction Association of Oregon. She\u2019s been clean and sober for the past five years, and said she loves getting to return the help that was given to her when she was struggling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRecovery, she said, \u201cgave me a revitalization of why I\u2019m here, and it\u2019s just been gifts of life since then, small and huge.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Christianna has put in many participation hours volunteering at the ReStore, working on construction sites and schmoozing at tabling events. Her friends came over to help her build the deck behind her home, and she also got to know her future neighbors while doing hands-on work together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was very impressed and grateful for the mix of people here,\u201d Christianna said. \u201cI feel there\u2019s a lot of equity here, and that\u2019s big for me as a Black woman in Oregon. We\u2019re all sincere and excited about having a home in a neighborhood that we feel safe in.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While living in the Bay Area for 25 years, she always knew she wanted to retire in Oregon, but didn\u2019t know how it would be possible with the rising costs of living. But through resilience, strength, support, and surrender, she made it happen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFamily is everything and life has just proven that over and over and over and over again,\u201d Christianna said. \u201cIf you\u2019ve got a good family, you\u2019ve got everything.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A big part of Habitat homebuyer Christianna\u2019s story is the idea of \u201csurrender:\u201d turning things over to a higher power. While applying to become a Habitat homeowner, she always returned to the mantra, \u201cIf it\u2019s meant to be, it will be.\u201d\u00a0 Well, here she is \u2013 boxes packed and ready for the next step of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":31459,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homebuyer"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n