OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — A mother turned her life around after her children were found living in uninhabitable conditions.

“If you put your mind to it, you can do it,” said Armanda Coulson.

Armanda Coulson celebrating recovery

Coulson looks a lot different after she was arrested in October 2022 when Enid Police found her and her two sons living in a filthy trailer.

“The conditions of the trailer were uninhabitable,” said Cass Rains with the Enid Police Department last year.

“I literally was staying in there for two days before I got arrested,” said Coulson. “My whole life has been rocky. My mom had been in addiction my whole life.”

Armanda Coulson mugshot
Armanda Coulson after being arrested in 2022, courtesy of the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office

Coulson said she had just moved out of a tent and detoxed from meth.

“I was working overnight,” said the mother of two. “So, that was like the only way I found to be able to stay up and do everything I was supposed to do.”

The boys were taken into DHS foster care, while Armanda was taken to the Garfield County Jail on child neglect charges.

Armanda Coulson and sons, courtesy of Armanda Coulson

“Reality just hit me in my face and was like, you know, ‘Armanda, you got to get your stuff together for your kids.’ And so I was in jail. I just read my Bible and I prayed,” said Coulson.

Coulson applied for drug court and got in. She went through rehab for the second time, intense therapy and parenting classes. Six months later, she was reunited with her kids and DHS closed her case.

“The judge and everyone just stood up and started clapping for me because they said they were like Armanda, not all moms do this,” she said.

Now, the 27-year-old lives at the Oklahoma Baptist Home for Children in Oklahoma City, where she has her own cottage, attends meetings and classes. Meanwhile, the boys also have a place to grow and learn.

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“I couldn’t be more proud of them from all the trauma that they’ve been through,” said Coulson. “They just shine so bright and they’re just so happy.”

Coulson is also going to school at the Moore Norman Technology Center. She has big dreams.

“My calling is to go help single mothers with children, like out on the street or like, you know, in rehabs,” said Coulson. “It was a lot, but it was all worth it.”