Welcome Home Family!
- 6 hours ago
- 3 min read
Some Rooting Days feel like milestones — and this one will always hold a special place in the story of Rooted Interiors.
Emily, Cody, and their seven children became the first family Rooted Interiors served in Jackson County, Georgia, making their home in Jefferson a very special first for our organization.
But the real story isn't that they were our first.
It's everything it took for this family of nine to get here.
Both Emily and Cody have experienced homelessness. Their journey has included addiction, incarceration, separation from their children, recovery, reunification, and the long process of rebuilding a life they once weren't sure was possible.
Emily has shared openly about growing up around addiction and eventually battling addiction herself. There was a time when that struggle cost her custody of her children.
Cody knows what it means to live without a home at all — including seasons spent in tents and places without running water, power, or food.
Their past could have convinced them that this was simply how their story would end.
Instead, they chose something different.
They found their faith. They committed themselves to recovery. They rebuilt their family. They saved. They worked. And eventually, they accomplished something neither of them once believed would be possible:
They bought their first home.
A home with a yard.
A home where all seven of their children could belong.
A home representing just how far their family had come.
And then came another challenge.
After pouring their resources into purchasing the house and creating stability for their children, there wasn't enough left to furnish an entire home for a family of nine.
Seven children needed beds.There needed to be places to sit.A table large enough to gather around.Dressers, linens, lamps, artwork, and all of the everyday things that turn empty rooms into functional spaces.
That's where our community stepped in.
On Rooting Day, our team of volunteers and designers filled their Jefferson house with everything their family needed — creating bedrooms for each of the children, gathering spaces for the entire family, and a home designed intentionally around who they are and the life they are building together.
For Cody, the timing felt like another reminder that God had been present through every part of their journey. He later described Rooted as another way God provided a way when their family needed it most.
That is exactly why we do this work.
At Rooted Interiors, we believe securing housing should not be the end of someone's journey out of homelessness. It should be the beginning of what comes next. A bed can mean rest. A dining table can become the place where a family reconnects. A living room can become the place where seven children pile onto a sofa together. And a thoughtfully created home can quietly remind a family every single day:
You made it here. You belong here. Keep going.
Emily and Cody have done the hard work.
They chose recovery.
They chose faith.
They chose their children.
They chose to believe that their future could look different from their past.
And today, their children get to grow up watching what it looks like when people keep choosing to move forward.
Their family isn't defined by where they've been.
They're planting roots in where they're going.
Welcome home, Emily, Cody, and family. We're so grateful Jackson County was able to welcome you home with us.
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