Our Christmas Tree

This is sorta silly and I don't ever want to make light of God's activity in my life or anyone else's. He is amazing, awesome and all powerful, but what I find so amazing is that He doesn't have to be intimate and personal with us, but He chooses to. One little thing this holiday season is our Christmas tree. Typically I go all out for just the right live tree. I tend to be rather extravagant when it comes to Christmas trees. David and I have had major fights on what to spend on a Christmas tree. This is serious. Well, last year I bought just the right tree and then felt horribly guilty because of the big deal I made over a tree and how the money I spent on a tree could have fed orphaned children for a month. Soooo, this year on our way to get our tree, God reminded me of last year. By the time we got to the place we normally go to buy the perfect tree they were closed so we headed over to Lowe's. Somewhere between the two I was committing to not spending as much as last year, but didn't have a set price in mind. When we got to Lowe's they were closing up too. I asked the guy if he would let me in if I picked a tree real quick and he allowed me in. He had to turn the lights back on for me and everything. We walked in, he held up a tree and I said, "ok, we will take it" wanting to be true to my word. It didn't look like much, but it was a tree. The remarkable thing was the transformation of my human extravagant heart...suddenly the tree was in its rightful place....it was just a tree....not a statement of my value or decorating ability, or a sign of our income or a prediction of the holiday experience....it was just a tree. We paid $30 for the tree and I was just thrilled. We brought it home and David put it in the tree stand and I said, "Well, it is not much of a tree...the best thing about it is the price...but, God could transform this tree like He did Charlie Brown's. He loves me that much." David just smiled and said, "yes, He does." I asked God to bless our skinny pitiful tree on my way to bed and woke up wondering if He had done that. On Saturday my sweet friend came to put lights on the tree for me (one of my favorite holiday traditions...and yes I know I am spoiled by her gift). Still, not much of a tree but the lights helped and we turned it a quarter way around and that was better, but still, the best thing about it was the price. Last night the little girls and Catherine began to put their ornaments on our tree. By the time they were done I looked at the tree again and said, "look at the tree...it is beautiful...look how full it is....God did it! He made our tree beautiful, just like Charlie Brown's" Of course everyone laughed, but no one could deny the transformation, nor could we account for it. Now, if you don't believe in Christmas tree miracles or that God cares about my tree one way or another, I would beg to differ. God cares that we can now sponsor another child for 2 months with the money we saved and He cares to teach my stubborn heart to trust Him and to watch with expectancy what He can do with my tiny steps of obedience. I am celebrating my tree this morning and the God who cares for me. Have a story to share? I'd love to hear it. With love, js

p.s. Another wonderful blessing of this season...we celebrated Davie Anne's 6th "I gotcha day" at Panda Express, her favorite restaurant. It was so fun. After that we headed next door to Chickfila where Matt was due to get off work and had some ice cream. It was a fun evening. All we were missing was Sarah and Chris :) Our other fun blessing is my Christmas present for the dog. Samwise Gamgee is now the proud owner of a Petsafe training collar and it has changed his life and ours. I can't believe we waited so long to be able to enjoy our dog. It is amazing!!!

"Scared" the book

I just finished reading this book. It is powerful. God has been getting my attention recently in many ways regarding our finances and how I use His money. I won't go into all the details, but I will tell you that I have been missing some passion in my life. I asked God just this week to give me a dream again...a passion...something to drive me to act for His kingdom in a way I did when I was pursuing the adoption of our daughters. I have a dream of another adoption...but at this time David doesn't feel called to that dream and I truly appreciate his wisdom in this matter. I needed a different dream...after finishing this book I believe God has given it to me. My new dream is to cover my fridge with photos of children all over the world sponsored by our family. It costs about $40 a month to sponsor a child...right now we sponsor two. I want to sacrifice and live so frugally that by the end of next year we have 5 photos on our fridge...3 new little lives we are affecting for the kingdom...and in 2011...3 more....If we can sponsor 3 more children a year for the next 5 years that would be 15 more children who have hope in life of medical care, education and a future in their homeland. What about you? Can you maybe sponsor 1 child today? Here are some links to consider...Compassion is one organization that I have a link to already...also, www.hopechest.org, is the organization Tom Davis works with. Won't you pray about this opportunity to be used by God? Adoption is also a wonderful option(couldn't help it, had to say it...you knew I would)Many blessings to you all...oh, and Happy Dreaming! love, jackie sue

Pictures for fun....cause we're still alive

It has been a crazy past few months. Our road trip to Iowa was so fun...except for the drive. Vacationing in Alabama was such fun. The wedding plans continued to grow along with my todo list. Our last family vacation was over Labor Day and it was just such fun. God has been so good to us...especially regarding the wedding. It was a lot of work, but the team of friends who worked with me made it so beautiful. I owe them such a debt of gratitude. I can't promise that I will blog anymore faithfully, but I will try to keep you updated a little bit on our family. Sarah now lives across town and I am making use of her room already. Thanksgiving is just around the corner...time flies too fast. Celebrated 30 years of being a high school graduate last weekend with folks who are so dear to me. There is something about being with people who knew you way back when and remember you skinny...what a fun fun weekend. Sure hope those of you reading this are well and maybe you might even leave me a comment so I can know you stopped by. This is a tough world we live in...hope you know The One in charge of it all(and I don't mean Obama). If I didn't, I think I would just quit. Until He returns for His own, I'm gonna keep plugging away, learning and applying new things and celebrating the future I have in Him. What a future that will be! Much love, js

David celebrates a birthday
Ellie and her "jupy"(juice please)
Our first grader...Davie Doo
Our lovely bride and her super cute bridesmaids
The beautiful bride and her adorable flower girls
Sarah Jacqueline Wimberly for one more day....
siblings
the happy couple...my soon to be son-in-law, Christopher




Just a funny face from a funny girl.

I 'm Still Alive

I received a blogger award today..."most boring hardly ever updated blog". Fits, don't you think? Well, there is a good reason for my absence. It is called-per my husband, "the blue screen of death". Yes, my computer died. Totally. Blue screen of death and all. I did mention to him that IT people are just a little bit dramatic. While my computer is officially dead, the rest of us are doing ok. Matt is on the mend, but will still go to the doctor tomorrow to try to get an official diagnosis for his recent illness. Sarah is moving on with wedding plans. Catherine has completed 7th grade...so far she has survived...we both have though it has been touch and go at times. Davie graduated kindergarten this last week and if I could I would absolutely without hesitation freeze Ellie right where she is for at least another 3 years. She is so stinkin'cute! I mean her little voice and the way that she leaves out lots of consonants when she talks is just adorable. Completely make you smile all the time adorable. At this very moment all my people are sitting in the dark watching Horton Hears a Who and laughing together at all the funny parts. David was just laughing really hard so someone must have been experiencing some major pain. :) Priceless. Just priceless...save this moment in a bottle priceless, so I'm gonna get off this machine and laugh at the movie with them. God Bless and keep you and your peeps safe and give you His peace. With love, Jackie Sue

Easter and Vacation in Reverse Order

The fam on Easter. (ignore the bright red shirt please...had to wear it for choir)

The little ones at Spring Fling. Don't you just love Davie's eyes in this!

Davie and Eliana at the Easter Egg hunt at our church's Spring Fling.

My mentor, Jo Moberg, and her namesake, CatJo(who turned 13 this month!(Lord help me!)When in the world did she turn into such a beauty???

More vacation photos: the end of the hike to Duke's Creek Falls

Dad of the year....for the 22nd year running! That's Davie on his shoulders!

Our three little girls. It was a beautiful hike that went really well. Nice memory.

The day we were leaving. We set up the camera and then smiled. I love this photo!!!

A Daddy's Love

I had a couple of thoughts while on vacation that I wanted to share. They came when we were hiking at Deep Creek. We took a break so the girls could stop and hang their feet in the cold stream. As we were hanging out someone, probably Catherine, asked her dad if he could skip rocks across the creek. We began to look for flat rocks for him to use. While I was watching David with the little girls it hit me anew all that God had given them in their earthly father along with all they would have missed if He had not chosen us for eachother. Most of the time I don't think about this kind of stuff. They are just our girls and that's that, but sometimes it comes over me in a goosebump kind of way that He has big plans for them. I watched David with them on vacation and saw again that there are some things only a dad can do. I couldn't skip rocks for the life of me and his ease at doing these kinds of things amazes me. By the end of every hike he was carrying at least one of them. No way I could carry them up or down a hike. David is tireless with them in these type of settings. He is a wonderful and patient daddy. As I watched them, I noticed the girls and their absolute faith that their daddy can do anything. At their age, he really can. If I remember right there is something in God's word about "coming to Him as a little child" and I saw again that the feelings my girls feel for their earthly daddy is the feeling we all need to have for our Heavenly One. We need to trust completely that He can do anything. We need to watch Him in all His wonder and wait for Him to wow us with His strength and love and power. I know that our girls will someday figure out that their earthly daddy is just human, but by then I hope and pray that they have transferred their absolute trust and confidence into their Heavenly One.

2 Years Ago Today

On April 2, 2007 they placed Eliana Joy Lin in our arms. If you know her you know how well she fits with our family. We are on vacation right now and she has enjoyed her 'gotcha day'. We had lunch with a precious friend, my mentor, Jo and we bought the little girls "webkins" in honor of the day. Here are some photos just to travel down memory lane...

This is our Gotcha Day, April 2, 2007...I was one happy momma! It had been quite the journey to get this little one and I was pausing to give the good Lord thanks...

This is Eliana Joy Lin on her 1st birthday...she was home and our girl for good.
This is Ellie just one year after being home...what a difference a year and a family can make.
This is the whole gang in November 2007. It was our Christmas Photo.
This is Ellie's 2nd Birthday photo...all smiles
This is just a week ago...won't she be a lovely flower girl...
This is Ellie on the potty. We have been potty training for a while now. It is so funny that she holds her nose while she poops...I just had to take a picture. She's gonna love this one in her wedding day slide show :)
Here we are on vacation this week. We hiked to see some water falls. The little girls loved it. I will show more vacation photos later.
Ellie and her daddy had some great bonding time this week. I'll tell more about that later, too.
Precious Lord, Thank You for seeing fit to bless us with Eliana Joy Lin. She has added so much to our family and we would certainly not have been complete without her. Glory to Your name for all You have done. We stand amazed. Thank You, thank You, thank You for this little girl! Use her for Your glory all the days of her life. She belongs to You. We love You. amen.

Spring Has Sprung

I love Spring in Florida. I know it is going to get blistering hot in a very short time so I spend as much time as I can outside right now. I took some photos today of all that is going on here. Things are blooming like crazy and growing inches in a day. I love all this new life everywhere. My little birds will soon be gone, but flowers and butterflies will take their place. Hope Spring has sprung at your house too. Want to share?(if you get bored with plant stuff you should just skip this post)

This year I tried planting some bulbs. These are Freesia. They are supposed to be very fragrant flowers. I hope to enjoy them all season. I'll post a bloom photo later.

These are my 2 pots of Gladiolas. I planted 3 bulbs in each pot. So far only 2 in each are sprouting.


We moved all our Day lilies this last year and they love where we planted them. I am excited to see all the blooms we will have. I'll post a blooming photo later.

This is my almond tree/huge bush plant. It has the most fragrant blooms and the butterflies love it. The only thing bad about it is that it is HUGE and it took over my front butterfly garden. I've adjusted to it now, but it was sort of a shock at first.

This doesn't look like much, but this is a healthy, growing, coveted Paw Paw tree. It is the host for my favorite butterfly, the Zebra Swallowtail. These are hard to grow and this year mine is getting huge. I'm so excited about this one!

This plant is called a Hercules Club and it is food for the Giant Swallowtail caterpillar. It has wicked thorns on it and is slow growing.

These plants are food for Black Swallowtails and White Peacock caterpillars. You can find host plants at Biosphere Nursery on the west side of town or Lucus Nursery on the east side. To have butterflies you need nectar plants and host plants.

This is my crazy gone wild Lady Banks Rose Trellis. We didn't trim it back this year at all and it is absolutely filled with fragrant little white blooms.


This is my honeysuckle vine. It went crazy this year and did not freeze like everything else. I'm going to have to get another trellis for it to grow on. I planted it for hummingbirds...no luck so far. The yellow sulfur butterflies like it though.

Another reason I love spring. The flowers are so beautiful. This is by my front door. I love lots of color!

This is my latest butterfly project. My sweet husband indulges my passion for butterflies and helped me to set up this new area in our back yard. I shook seeds from a specially designed bag over the ground he and Matthew had prepared. It is supposed to be flowers for butterflies and hummingbirds. If anyone knows how to attract hummingbirds I would love to know. I've planted stuff, hung feeders and in 7 years I've seen maybe one or two.

Cute Catherine and her cute friends. Ours is the 3rd one from the left. She'll soon be 13...she is growing up and will soon be Sarah's Maid of Honor..."da moh" according to Sarah..."da pain in my bootie" according to the momma sometimes, but I wouldn't trade my girl for anything.

Davie ran 25 laps in her first "Race For Education". She did a great job. Unfortunately I said I'd pay $1 per lap. Bummer.

Hope the weather is lovely where you are. Spring has sprung...now get outside and enjoy it. Love, js

A Book Review from Jackie Sue

Now isn't that the catchiest title ever? I KNOW! Ok, while I hate to preempt Sarah's lovely face with a new post, I find that I must. I just finished the most amazing book. It is called "Riven" by Jerry B. Jenkins. I've never read anything by Mr. Jenkins before, but my friend Lisa recommended this one and because I read whatever Lisa says to read, I began the journey. It started sorta slow and it certainly wasn't a happy book, but b/c the afore mentioned Lisa said it was good, I kept on. I finished it this morning, in the wee hours with tears streaming down my face. LISA WAS RIGHT! YOU SHOULD SO READ THIS BOOK. I DON'T WANT TO TELL YOU ANYTHING ELSE...JUST READ THIS BOOK...AND THEN COME BACK AND VISIT ME AND TELL ME YOUR THOUGHTS. I will stop yelling now. Seriously, read it. You will not be sorry. Love you, Jackie Sue

Exciting News for the Wimberly Family

So this is my first born. Notice her ring finger? Yesterday was her 22nd birthday. Honestly when old people say time flies, it really does. I can't believe 22 years ago I was in labor(it was a long,hard one by the way)and the result was this beautiful little red headed bundle. I still remember the doctor putting the internal monitor on her and saying,"well, your baby has hair" and me wondering, "hair??? I never thought about hair". Our Sarah was everything you would want your first born to be. She was such a delight to us. Here, 22 years later it has not all been delightful, but it has been a wonderful journey and I am so blessed to be her Momma. So, yesterday her beau of nearly 3 years proposed to our baby and asked her to be his wife. We knew it was coming. He,Chris, aka "the boy" talked to David, aka Eddie "the father" on Monday and asked for permission to marry her. I've known it was coming all week and didn't tell anyone!(Isn't that amazing???) David saw the ring on Monday, but I hadn't seen it. We had her birthday lunch at home yesterday and then they headed to the beach. I was at my Bible study small group when my cell phone rang and so I put her on speaker so all my "peeps" could hear her news. It was fun. We waited up for her to get home and I got to see her ring. It is GORGEOUS! I'm so happy for Sarah and Chris. We have had our reservations about their lack of future plans, but honestly God has so confirmed in our hearts that this is His plan for them and we are just thrilled to watch what He is going to do in these two peoples lives. As they commit their lives to each other and again to Him it is going to be quite the adventure, as all us married folks can attest to. I am so pleased with their love for Him and each other. It is a sweet love story...two young people committed to Christ first and then at ages 23 and 19 began their very first relationship that has blossomed into a forever love. Sounds like a happily ever after to me....Congratulations Sarah and Chris and "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."(ephesians 3:20-21)