My Story

I entered this world on June 1, 1990 in a hospital in Georgetown, Ohio. I was given the name Jordan. I was brought back to our small town of New Hope, Ohio to be raised. My parents divorced when I was two-years-old, and that left me with just my mom and older half-brother. My brother ended up joining the military when I was four, and so it was just mom and I. She worked full-time, so my grandparents that lived in the house in front of us faithfully watched me.

When I was nine-years-old (one month away from turning ten), one of the most tragic things ever happened to me. My mother was hospitalized for a surgery similar to one she had undergone before. However, this time, more severe complications arose. Nine days later, she passed away. It was a very troubling time for me as custody battles ensued, decisions had to be made about if I was to continue cheerleading, moving my stuff over to my grandparents house had to be settled, and I had to get ready to start middle school after the summer was over.

Thankfully, I made it through, and my loving grandparents and another “family” raised me.  This other family I speak of was my church family. After my mother died, I had anger towards God inside me that is so hard to even explain. Maybe someday I will write a blog post about it. However, in all of the chaos of losing my mother and this life transition, the people of the church we attended before my mom passed away greatly reached out to me. I kept getting invited to events and comforted by the youth leader. Eventually, March 2001 to be exact, I made the decision to accept Christ into my heart.

I’m not going to lie and say life just magically got easier. It didn’t. At points, it even felt worse. I struggled a lot with the age difference between my grandparents and I. I felt like we had trouble relating, they had trouble knowing what kids did or wore, and I think I just felt like I still wanted to talk to them about losing my mother, but didn’t want to upset them. Overall, they were amazing people. I mean, they already did their fair share of raising children, but still they welcomed me with open arms, and they did their best to give me anything I could ever need.

During my adolescent years, I began to suffer from a lot of bullying. It resulted in some really harsh self-image issues (you can read more about that here if you wish). They were troubling times, and they still sort of impact me to this day.

Right after my junior year of high school, I experienced another horrible tragedy. My grandfather died REALLY suddenly four days after my seventeenth birthday. I mean, it was real sudden. I had just talked to him in the driveway before leaving my house, and I hadn’t even made it three miles away before my grandma called my cell phone to tell me to come home because she thought my grandpa just had a heart attack. This was a really hard loss for me as well, and my family suffered the loss of my uncle just a few months after this. It was a rough time for us, but I refused to let it stop me.

I graduated from Western Brown High School in 2008, and I began my education at Mount Vernon Nazarene University that fall. I originally started out as a music and worship major, switched to pastoral ministry, and switched one last time to social work. It is amazing I didn’t have to stay any extra time. While there, we had another hardship at home. My grandmother fell and broke her hip December of 2009. She was placed in a nursing home for a bit, but she was sent back home a few months later. She has been in a wheelchair since, so that was a rough transition. However, she stayed strong until the very end. She left us in March of 2013. I miss her greatly, and I am glad I had the joy of having her as a grandmother.

The beginning of my junior year at MVNU, I was helping move some of the new students in. I was with a friend of mine who told me her cousin had just moved in, and she wanted me to come with her as she said “hello” to her family. I just stood there and was introduced to her family members. I just assumed her cousin was going to be one of those people I knew and maybe said “hi” to in passing. He would probably be one of those random Facebook friends you never talked to, but I didn’t think anything of it. Boy, was I wrong.

This “cousin of my friend” was named Grant, and I had a class with him second semester of my junior year that helped build our friendship. We still weren’t close by any means, but he had signed on to live with some of my good friends the next year. My senior year rolled around, and after many endeavors with our mutual friends, Grant asked me to be his girlfriend in September of 2011, and a year later, he asked me to be his wife. On October 18, 2014, I get a new last name. Strange that someone you thought you would never speak to after meeting them one time becomes your best friend that you can’t imagine living life without them.

I graduated from MVNU in 2012 with my bachelor’s degree in social work. Then, less than a month later, I started grad school at Asbury University. I did an online class, and as soon as that was over, I packed up and headed to Lexington, Kentucky. In May 2013, I graduated with my master's degree in social work. At the end of June, I packed up and headed back to Ohio (Urbana, Ohio this time). I received my license to practice social work, and I began looking for jobs. I was finally offered one at a foster care agency. That pretty much brings us up to date. As for what's next? God only knows.