Howdy y'all. My name's Jessica, I'm 16, and I'd like to tell you a bit about me. If you want to know what's going on in my life now, use the "tell me what you thought" link at the bottom of the page.

As you may be able to tell, I'm kind of a country girl, and I've found that my accent reflects that! I was born in central Arkansas and we moved up here to Missouri in '96.

I am a girl of many interests, and thankfully most all of those interests have been able to be wrapped up in one particular program. If you've looked around this site at all, you may have noticed that we as a family are heavily involved with a group called ACTION Impact Missions, or AIM, International. This group trains young people 7 and up (basically) in the skills of mime, drama, sign language, and public speaking. However, mime's not all we do - AIM is also a discipleship ministry geared towards raising up today's young people to make a difference in today's world. Our family got involved in AIM in segments - I was first in February of '05. Then my younger brother Josiah in summer '05 and my older sister Katie in fall '05. We've been loving it ever since.

AIM makes up a huge part of my life. During the usual session we spend Thursday afternoons from 1-4:30 doing Bible studies and practicing the mime songs, not to mention the outreaches we have every month. In September - November '06, I went on a 6-week mission trip to the East Coast with AIM and 8 other homeschooled students from across the nation. We had a blast and were privileged to see God work not only in our lives, but in other people's lives through us. That mission trip wasn't only good for the ministry aspect of it - although that was awesome. I was also blessed to meet some lifetime friends that I am still in contact with today and love very dearly.

However, while AIM does account for a substantial part of my life, it's not the only thing I spend my time on. In 2004, 2005, and 2007 I went with Dad on three-week trips to China to do ministry there. I made some awesome friends while there and was also able to do some Bible teaching to some young people over there. I have such a desire to return to that country as a missionary that I am now taking Chinese as my foreign language! On my most recent trip, I had the great privilege of traveling with one of my AIM mentors and good friends. We got to teach mime, drama, and challenging Bible studies (that is, challenging for both the students and the teachers!).

Speaking of Dad, he and I have an awesome, close relationship. Our personalities are much alike and we share a common love for the ministry in China. We've been close for a long time. When I was younger, he'd take me out on "dates" and we'd just hang out. My dad is the best in the world!

A date to be remembered - as of January 29th, 2007, I am 100% braces free and loving it! While I didn't really have them on for that long (just two years and two months), it is really a blessing to be rid of them. My teeth are straight and smooth and metal-free. YAY! (Oh, and by the way, the picture above was taken right before I got my braces off. Updated picture is hopefully upcoming!)

As of November 2007, I can officially drive without an adult in the car. I have been loving it ever since. Of course, it means more gas money, but there's something about being able to drive by one's self. I passed everything with flying colors except parallel parking which I flunked. Oh well. So long as I have the license, I can choose where I park! =)

One more interest of mine is writing. I love to write, fiction or non-fiction, but specifically Christian fiction. Inspired a lot by Frank Peretti's Darkness series, I have written a book called "Through the Darkness" and am now in the extremely long and amazingly painstaking task of editing it. I also enjoy writing personal experience narratives and in 2006 won first place for a piece I had written in a local language arts fair. Admittedly, that's the only writing award I've ever won (quite different from Katie, who is literally drowning in blue ribbons), but I do intend to win more!

My church is also a big part of my life. I have so many wonderful friends from church and it is almost a game, seeing how many of them I can greet and drown in a bear hug before Mom says it's time to leave. Our pastor is grounded in the Word and his sermons always hurt (but he's always right, since he uses the Word). Our worship team is awesome - worship is my favorite part of church. And the friends I've made there are going to be with me for a long time.

I'd like to close this little bio by saying that I hope and pray for my number one passion to be God. I am constantly asking Him to help me love and serve others out of pure motives and while I certainly haven't arrived yet, I'm getting there! God is my life and I couldn't live without Him. Everything I've done so far and everything I'm doing can all be attributed to Him. Without Him, I'm nothing.

I hope that you too can say the same in good conscience.

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Favorite authors and favorite books:
Frank Peretti - the Darkness books

Ted Dekker - the Circle trilogy

Francine Rivers - the Mark of the Lion trilogy and the Sons of Encouragement series

Tell me what you thought of my page and I'll do my best to get back with you.

This page was last updated on Monday, July 28th, 2008