The Orphan Underdog
How I went from underdog to champion. (Part 1/3)
In The Beginning
This is not a me story; this is a God story.
It all started with my birth in Zalau Romania in 1993. My birth father was never named, and my mother was unable to take care of me so I was taken to an orphanage in a nearby town, Cehu Silvaniei, and put up for adoption. Three years later, I was adopted by an American couple Bob and Beth Mueller who were unable to have kids of their own.
Meet The Mueller Fam
Words cannot describe how awesome my parents Bob and Beth are. I often refer to them as B&B. I’m not entirely sure why, I just like the sound of it.
After a multi-year process, they brought me home to Valparaiso, Indiana, USA for the first time on March 1st, 1996. We celebrate this day every year just like a birthday, as well as a time of celebration of Gods eternal blessing on our family. We call it a “coming home day”.
I became the second child they had adopted from Romania; the first being a baby girl, Marissa, whom they adopted from Miercurea-Ciuc, a small Gypsy village in north eastern Romania. She’s three years older than me and is named after our aunt (my mothers sister), who unfortunately died as a baby from heart complications. We celebrate my sister Marissa’s coming home day every year on May 5th.
A Name is Chosen
I was given the name Jacob after my great grandpa Jack Mueller who had originally moved his family to the US from Switzerland in the 1930s. Why is this significant? While mowing the yard one day, he suffered a widow maker heart attached and died on October 2nd; the same day I was born many years later. As God planned, I am now happily a part of the Mueller generation.
As you can see, this is clearly a God story that’s still in the making.
When I Met Jesus
I accepted Christ as my Lord and savior early on in my life. It was after a Wednesday night youth service when I was about 10-ish. I came home and asked my mom what I had to do to be saved from Hell and eternal separation from God because it sounded “really scary and not nice”. I believed Jesus was a real person, believed in His story, believed God created everything and saved humanity, but I didn’t know what I had to do in order to become saved. I can remember sitting at our kitchen table praying with my mom, asking Jesus to come into my heart so that I could live/be with Him forever. I’ll always remember how excited my parents were because it was my own decision to follow Jesus, not theirs.
Accepting Jesus into my heart was a monumental step in my life, but I didn’t truly understand what It meant to be an authentic believer, read scripture, and succeed in a life of true freedom in Christ until my early twenties.
Growing Up In America
For me, growing up in America was like a bouncy ball on steroids. Not much has changed since then :) Things are drastically different in America and it took me a long time to adjust to this new way of life, but to this day, I’ve never stopped bouncing forward; mostly to the beat of my own drums.
When describing my upbringing, I often say I was an unsheltered sheltered kid. My parents didn’t hide us under a blanket from the world, instead, they exercised strong discernment in what we were allowed to see and experience. This was under my dad’s leadership and authority over the household. Perfect parents don’t exist, but mine did an incredible job at raising me and my sister in terms of seeking God first, respecting others, and being financially aware.
A Jake of All Trades
I have many interests and pick up things rapidly. We learned early on that I was good with my hands, was creative, and had a God given talent and passion for music. Legos are still my favorite toy; I will never put them down! We also learned that I had some behavioral and educational issues that were not able to be addressed in a public school setting, so my parents decide to homeschool me. Some of these issues were related to being in an orphanage crib for the first 2 or so years of my life with very little social interaction or knowledge of the outside world.
Looking back on it, I can honestly say homeschooling was one of the best things they’ve done for me. I was consistently involved in a church youth group or public activities such as music or sports clubs (soccer). My parents also made sure to do their best to socially integrate me through the local YMCA.
The Return To Public School
I returned to public school when I was 12, or middle school/6th grade. I thought I would be liked for being new, just like a few other kids were, but that wasn’t the case. I was labeled the “homeschooled kid” meaning I wasn’t considered normal and had problems since they thought I wasn't allowed to be in school. Long story short, we’ll say that public school wasn’t my thing. I never got used to how kids treated each other and learned that maybe it was best to keep to myself. Thank the Lord I was never physically bullied, but I was socially all the way up until graduation. However, I did find a few close friends that kept me sane and believed in me / encouraged me.
Though my time in public school wasn’t the greatest, I’ve forgiven those people and God has placed me in a position in which I am now able to sympathize with and encourage students who find themselves in similar situations. This has opened so many doors for me in student ministry and serving missions abroad.
One Band, Too Many Sounds
The only time I felt like I fit in anywhere, was playing music in band class or with my garage band, which at the time was called End of a Hero. While other kids were busy getting good grades and striving to be popular with people they would never see after graduation, I was busy playing weekend shows and yelling at my band mates for scratching up the house walls while carrying gear out of our basement. Maybe one day I’ll give my dad a fresh painted piece of drywall he can hang up somewhere as a momento. Marching band, pep band, and garage band still remain the only school things I truly enjoyed throughout my high-school career.
I grew up playing soccer, but had made a decision freshmen year to try out for marching band instead. I played bottom bass freshman year and then moved up to snare-line my sophomore year. This was a really big deal because typically only juniors and seniors get to be on snare. I worked my butt off every day in between marching seasons and my Junior and Senior year, I was section leader of the drum line. Sadly, the music department essentially gave up on us after their favored class of students graduated. This made both of these years extremely difficult. But like my mom likes to say “ya gotta break a few eggs to make an omelet. I can accredit most of my drumming skillset I have today, to marching band and garage band.
When Depression Came Calling
During high-school , I was not a happy camper. When I was 16–17 years old, I was not planning on finishing high-school. Depression had taken its toll on me physically, emotionally, and mentally. I was struggling in school, mostly because of homework and tests. No matter how much I studied, when it came to tests, I couldn’t remember anything and didn’t have the opportunity to take the test in a solo environment like they have access to today.
It was impossible for me not to compare myself to my prestigious family members and cousins who where good with school, got into good colleges, and obtained substantial jobs. To put it visually, I was the skier on the lake who was being dragged behind the family boat, struggling to stand up on my own. But over time, I’ve learned to ski on water my own way. God has provided me with so many incredible skills and opportunities. From working within the creative industry to traveling the world, I feel more than prestigious. I know have a global network of people whom I keep in close contact with. Now I have a new confidence in all my various skill sets and working with people that I no longer compare myself to anyone. I’m in my own boat; Jesus asleep at the bow.
What am I saying here? God has special plans for all of us, we just can’t see them sometimes and we need to use our free will and allow Him to work in us. Jerimiah 29:11
Finally Graduating
Coming to a conclusion for part one, the Holy Spirit was working inside of me and the thought dawned on me one day to apply for a media arts college in Chicago, IL. At the time, it was called Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy, but nowadays it’s just called Flashpoint College. The timing of this decision was about 3 months before high school graduation, and I applied on a total whim.
Lo and behold, two weeks later, I was called in for an interview and told that I was selected to be apart of a brand new program called “Design + Visual Communications”, where I would get to choose and create my own career path, kind of how business entrepreneurs do. I was one of ten students chosen, and couldn’t believe I had actually passed the reading and writing tests to get into a university. Either they were really hurting to have new students, or God had already gone ahead of me to make a way for what is now my main occupation, Graphic and Web Design. I believe with all my heart and soul, this was Gods plan.
By His grace, after taking Junior level english twice, Junior level Algebra twice, economics and government twice, failing personal finance, and barely passing senior algebra, I graduated Chesterton High-school with a Core-40 Diploma. WOOT PTL! (Praise The Lord) The school administration told me that I was getting a technical honors diploma because I passed all my tech classes with flying colors, but they mislead me and told me last minute that I had to be in honors classes in order to get that type of diploma. At that point, instead of being frustrated about being lied to for four years, I was just happy to get on with the rest of my life's adventure.
Believe it or not, I only missed three days of school my entire high school career. There was another girl who was top of our class and only missed 1 day of school . . . they gave her a nice laptop for college.
My graduating GPA, 1.8. The average needed for good state colleges, 3.5 , how did I get accepted into a media arts academy in Chicago? . . GOD.
He had a plan. . . He still has a plan.
(to be continued )
Part 2/3 — life in chicago as an 18 year old, playing in a real metal band, touring of the US, recording an album with over 1.5 million streams, first design freelance work, first design internship, graduating college, first paid design job, starting my own design business, moving back to Valparaiso, IN….more.