Meet the Turners: A Resilient Habitat Family
Kelly Turner shares her family’s heartfelt journey to homeownership—a long-time dream that is finally coming true. . .
“Hello – we are Troy and Kelly Turner. We have five children, Jordan (15), Jonathan (11), Moriah (6), Grace (5), and Luke (2).
Troy was raised in Wildwood, Florida, and I (Kelly) was raised in multiple places with the longest being in Oxford, Florida. We are family-oriented and love to do things outside with the kids.
I am so excited to have an acre for the kids to explore! Being the first person in my family to become a homeowner, I’ve never had a place that was mine. We’ve been extended renters at our current home for 9 years, but we had two children when we moved in, and we have certainly outgrown the space!
Troy Turner comes from a long line of Florida-natives. He’s strong, supportive, and can fix just about anything. Troy is an amazing dad and has been hands-on since day one. He is stern, yet compassionate and keeps our children in line.
I (Kelly Turner) am the sensitive one who can cry at the drop of a hat (looking at you, cute puppy video!). I enjoy nature and serving others.
We have been avid volunteers at our home church, Frontier Church, for over seven years now. We lead the children’s ministry department and Troy also plays in the band. Jordan serves in the Tech Team and Jonathan helps set-up the classrooms each week. Troy owns and operates a full-service lawn care company, and I own a consulting firm that specializes in
land development permitting.
I heard about the Habitat for Humanity Homeownership program and immediately became curious. I was able to join the Financial Literacy Course last spring and sign up for the newsletter. We had been interested in buying a home for quite some time, but it seemed so out of reach. Once the applications opened, I jumped on the opportunity to apply. I prayed about it and gave it to God. We heard back some time later and weren’t sure if we could meet all of the requirements.
The kind people at Habitat of Lake-Sumter never gave up on us and worked diligently with us to overcome all of the challenges we faced. Being business owners, the approval process was more involved than with the typical applicant. When we finally received the “Your Approved!” phone call, I was in shock at first (I’m one who doesn’t like to get my hopes up) but cried and jumped up and down when it finally hit that this is real!
One of our Turner family traditions is having game night each Friday night. I cannot wait for our first Friday night game night in our new home!!
Jordan is most excited about finally having his own room. He joked that he can finally display his Legos instead of taking them apart and boxing them up after the build (2 year olds and Legos don’t mix). Jonathan can’t wait to have another dog. We have one sweetie (Shelby) that we found near death a few years ago, but our current yard is not big enough for another.
Moriah and Grace can’t wait to make cookies in our new home. Luke just says “Yay!” but I’m sure he will be happy to move into the bottom bunk and give up his toddler bed. Troy is excited to finally have land to eventually build a workshop for his business.
We are all overjoyed with this opportunity!”