Welcome to Linda’s Place!
HELLO!
My name is Linda Wingfield. I am 74 years old, a born-again, Spirit-filled Christian, one of five siblings (only three of us currently remain here on Earth), married (to my “second-and-forever” husband David) for 40 years, mother of six (one = his; four = mine; one = ours; all = adults with their own spouses & children), grandmother of 22, great-grandmother of five; and “aunt” to a growing number of cats, and assorted other animals (including a variable amount of chickens, geese, ducks, pheasants, quail, guinea fowl, and turkeys).
David and I live on a small (8.5-acre) hobby farm in NE South Dakota, U.S., with our youngest daughter Judi, her husband Harry Jr., and their eight children (Ethan Graham, Harry Edward III, Isaiah Alexander, Michael Sebastian, Elizabeth Nadine, Wesley Leonard, Abigail Dorothy-June, and Eliel Judah…ranging from 19 years down to nearly 4 years).
I included middle names in that list above, because Judi used all of those names, right after Eliel was born (January 31, 2020), to write a very special statement. Each of the kids has been named after much prayer, and as God directed.
All of David’s and my own children were named after much thought (not necessarily with prayer, in the beginning but definitely with prayer as the years went on).
(1) Jeanice Arlene…I had thought, early on, to name my oldest daughter Michelle. The more I thought about it, however, I realized that Michelle often turns to the nickname Mickey. Since my first married name was Mock, it was a simple transition (in my mind) from Mickey Mock, to Mickey (or possibly Minnie) Mouse. I finally decided to use the same basic name as my great-aunt Janice (pronounced juh-neece’), whom I had always admired. I altered the spelling, though, to “Jeanice,” because growing up I had always wondered why my aunt’s name wasn’t pronounced jan’-iss, like others I had known, with the same spelling. After her (Jeanice’s) birth, she quickly became either Jennie or Jen.
After I began to learn about the etymology of names, I discovered that Janice/Jeanice is an extended version of Jane/Jean–a feminine form of John/Jon. It means “God is Gracious” (from the Hebrew language).
Arlene was my mother’s middle name, which she passed on to me–her firstborn daughter. I passed it to Jen for the same reason. Since then, Jen has passed it to her own first daughter, who has now passed it down as the middle name of HER first daughter. Arlene is derived from Arleen, which is a derivative of Carleen or Charlene. The male derivative is Arlen. The original meaning comes from the French name Charles, which means “free man” (one who is not owned by another man).
When you put Jeanice Arlene together, the meaning is something like, “God has graciously given us this freeborn child.”
(2) James Alan Mock, Jr….He was named very obviously after his father. Before his birth, his father had stated several times that he did NOT want a Jr. I don’t remember which name we HAD settled on before his birth, but while I was asleep after he arrived (an interesting story in itself–involving a flight on a helicopter and a military hospital), Jim officially named his firstborn son after himself (which was fine with me…it had been my original intent).
Tracing the name James is a little difficult, but basically it comes down to Jacob, which comes from the word Hebrew word “aqab” (pronounced ah-cawb’) meaning “to take by the heel, or supplant” (as in what happened when the twin (Jacob) that was expected to be born second, ended up passing by his brother (Esau) and being born first). Basically, it’s called a patronymic name–simply meaning that he was named after his father, because of being the firstborn son. These days, we use the designation “junior” to show that. Literally, being named James Jr. is kind of like being called James James or Junior Junior.
There’s a spiritual meaning to the term “supplanter,” however. A supplant, in farming, is a plant that occurs from beneath another plant…in other words, from its root (not from a seedpod). Any plant that begins that way, has a huge advantage. The name given to the first man created by God was “adam” (pronounced ah-dawm’) which means “from the blood,” which is to say that God took from His own makeup, to create mankind. Jacob (“aqab”), then becomes one who grows from THAT root. So James, then (as the Greek version of Jacob), other than being simply patronymic to an earthly father, also accrues back to God, in spiritual terms, as “one who follows after God, with His authority.”
Jim’s middle name “Alan” (or any other spelling of that name) can mean a number of different things–possibly “rock” or “stone”–possibly “deer”–generally perceived as something coming out of the wilderness, from what I’ve been able to gather. In our Jim’s case, it seems to have given him some pretty solid ROOTS!
(3) Jackleen Alanna…We named our Jackie after her father’s FATHER! Little did we know at the time, that what we were actually naming her was the same thing as her big brother…only more solidified!
I did NOT know, at the time, that James was a derivative of Jacob!!! When James Sr. was named, his parents MAY have actually known that (at least as a derivative of the name from his father’s tribe–the Cherokee. Instead of naming my ex-husband Jack Jr., he was named James–the supplanter. Essentially, Jackie’s father was (still is) James Jr., and Jackie’s older brother would be James III…or they could have been named Jacob/Jack Jr. and Jacob/Jack III.
Instead, we honored our second girl with the name “little Jack” after her grandfather who had passed away when her own father was about 13. We then had to explain all of that to my Aunt Jackie, whose given name is Jacquelin (pronounced Jack-leen’).
Since our first two children had middle names that began with the letter “A” we simply lengthened Jimmy’s middle name to Alanna…simple as that. Jim and Jackie, then, are rather like those early twins from which their names accrue. Both of them have grown into their strong names very well, I’d say.
(4) Jonathan Andrew…By the time our fourth child was born, I was aware of the meanings of names (having studied out the other three and being quite astounded by them). Jonathan was named intentionally…not as just a follow-up to his older sister, but because at the time of his birth, his father and I were in the process of divorce. Even in that time of grief, to me the coming baby was a gift from God given intentionally to me as something good–a blessing–even though I was being “thrown away” so his father could marry a different woman. Jonathan is derived from John (just as is Jeanice), and like Jen’s name, it means “God is Gracious.”
Jonny’s middle name means “man,” as in “strong man,” or “warrior,” I never really realized until writing this, that Jen’s middle name being “free man” is at least somewhat the same as Jonny’s middle name being “strong man.” They are different in that hers is more like “born free,” and his is more like “fighting to be free.” I’ll leave that right where it is. They are both beautiful gifts from God.
(5) Jon Christopher…Jon is David’s son by his first marriage. The only thing I know for sure about his first name being given to him, is that his mother didn’t understand that David wanted his name to be spelled “John,” which makes no difference to the meaning. In our family, Jon Wingfield is another example of “God’s Graciousness.” He has been yet another blessing to me, as long as I have known him (since 1983).
I’m not sure why he was given the name “Christopher” as his middle appendage. However, it means, basically, “one carrying the anointing.” For us, it means that Jon was sent as yet another reminder of how God has been extremely gracious to us over the years. He’s not #5 by age, by the way…just in events. He comes in at #3 of the kids, by age…between Jim and Jackie.
(6) Judi Beth…Her name was chosen after much thought and prayer. Even then, David and I weren’t really looking at it spiritually. We already had five children with the first names beginning with the letter “J.” My first four had the middle initial “A.” His son had the middle initial “C.” We knew we “had to” name OUR child as a “JB,” since she (we always KNEW the baby would be a girl) would become “the glue” to our previous offspring. We had thought of Julie as her first name, but there was already a Julia on David’s side of the family, so we went with Judi (which we spelled that way simply to be different than the norm…she has never been Judith, as some people think).
On the day she was born, there was a visiting pastor/prophet (Tim Tanner) at our church. He called me forward to lay hands on me, during the service, at which time he spoke of the Lord’s blessing upon the child being born. That was no surprise to me, since there had been many such indications during my pregnancy. In fact Sonjia (our pastor’s wife) had called me out right at the end of my first trimester to prophesy the life and love of the Lord over the baby, saying that God had shown her that the devil had tried to kill the baby, but that the Lord had totally healed her (yes…HER) and made her whole, and that she was a sign of His blessing.
When that prophecy came forth, I cried for quite some time. Unknown to anyone (not even David), I had thought I was going to lose the baby. I had started bleeding, and not just a little. I began to pray at the first sign, and kept telling the devil to get his hands off of my child, in the name of Jesus, whose I am, and whom I serve. The bleeding stopped after about a week, but my mind kept going back to it, and the devil tried to tell me the baby could be born with some sort of birth defect. I kept telling him to keep his hands off, but it was a continuing battle in my mind.
That prophecy by Sonjia opened the floodgates. As my tears fell, I shared all of that with others for the first time. After the prophecy, I knew that I knew that I knew that I knew, that Judi Beth (already so-named in our family discussions) would be just fine. So the prophecy by Tim Tanner, on the day of her birth (a week earlier than she was expected) was just a confirmation to us.
Interesting side note: ever since her birth, Judi has had a very faint line all the way from under her chin, up over her face and head, to under her hairline at the back of her head. That line has always indicated to me where the Lord “mended” her during that time of intensive prayer and standing on His Word.
Two years after Judi’s birth, Sonjia noticed Judi clapping her hands, dancing, and praising the Lord during our worship time at church (some of which I was leading–in rotation with others on the team). Also, when we were practicing, Judi would be allowed to pick up the mic and sing into it after it was turned off, which she loved to do.
So Sonjia called me into the church office after the service was over, and told me “the rest of the story” about Tim Tanner’s prophecy on the day of her birth. He told Dave (our pastor) and Sonjia (his wife) to NOT tell us until they saw it confirmed in their eyes. The baby, he told them, was born to praise the Lord, and she would sing unto Him, and her peers would be blessed, and people would come to the Lord through her words and her songs.
As Sonjia told me that, it HIT ME…we had named her Praise House! Judi (from Judah) = Praise. Beth = House. God gave us her name for the FAMILY, but also for all others who have and will continue to come in contact with her, for her entire life. Hallelujah!
I’m a YouTuber. I have three channels (as of December 24, 2022).
#1 — My personal Channel…
…………..Linda Wingfield
#2 — My Gaming Channel…
Grandma’s Gone Gaming
#3 — My Scripture Channel…
Grandma’s Got Grace
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As a creator, I like to support other creators that I highly admire–some who make wonderful music, and one who makes my gaming time more fun–all who make great videos for YouTube, and who also keep their content very “family-friendly.”
If you check out the Top Menu (under the “banner”), you’ll find a listing for “Creators I Support on Patreon) that will tell you about (at least some of–depending on updates I may or may not have made at any given time) the artistic groups that I support in my very small way. I would like to encourage you all to check out Patreon to help people like this, as well–not necessarily the same ones I do, though that would be great, but the ones you admire yourselves. At some point in time, both Judi and I may start Patreon accounts (or a joint one). We’ll let you know if/when we do. 😉