I am the husband of a beautiful wife, her name is Joeleanna. Joeleanna and I have four kids, 1 boy and 3 girls. We live in Northern Indiana; we have lived here all of our lives. We seek to be a vessel for the lord, to be a light in the world by striving to live as examples for those around us.
There was a time in my life when I could not picture having a family and living the life I am living now. I made some very poor choices in my tween and teenage years, which led me to drugs and alcohol. I was in and out of trouble with the law, and my thinking was so distorted that I became lost. I wanted to be better, but after so long of thinking wrong, I did not know how.
In 2013, I began to examine my thinking in a very deliberate manner. I was married and had two children at that point. I knew I wanted to be a good example and lead my family, and doing so would require some real work—brutal honesty. I cut back on my drinking, and I quit altogether in 2014. That is when I began to make real progress. I started devouring Self-help and leadership books and began woodworking as a hobby. Our finances improved significantly, and we bought our first house in 2015, the same year we welcomed our third child into the world. We fixed it up to sell it. I continued to build furniture on the side between working on the house and working. We sold our first house two years after moving in and bought our second and current home.
Then, I made the bold decision to go back to college. I started working towards my B.S. in business management in 2017 when we welcomed our fourth bundle of joy into our lives. I graduated in 2021 and have since gone on to earn a master's in management and leadership, and I am set to earn my MBA by March 2024.
The past four years have been challenging. Joeleanna and I encountered a series of storms beginning in 2019, culminating with what I would call a category-nine hurricane. Despite our current challenge, we have held on to our faith, continued growing, and looked toward the future.
With both of us coming from poverty and broken homes, it has taken a considerable amount of work to get to our current place in life. Not always having the best role models makes it hard to know the right thing to do. We parent our children intentionally leveraging critical thinking skills to be kind to them as best as we can in every area of our lives so that our days are not wasted, and we desire to leave the world better than when we arrived.
But we both have hope, and we both have dreams, and we both intend to continue to grow and prosper; WE want to continue to defy the odds because we know that our family legacy is in our hands, and we know that our lives serve as an example for those around us, we desire to be a ray of hope and proof that with effort and proper decision making, everyone can overcome their obstacles and live a successful life.
My story has not always been pretty or pleasant. But the journey has given me unique experiences, skills, and knowledge that I want to share with the world.