Jamie was born and raised in Washington State, just a few hours south of the border. She felt called into missions, and particularly to Africa, shortly after coming to know Christ in her early teen years. After several several short-term trips during high school and college to various places (Ukraine, Romania, West Africa), she headed to Tanzania with an open-ended return ticket, and a very vague idea of what she was doing. The Lord then led her to adopt a baby from Tanzania and, a year and half later at 25 years old, she returned from Tanzania with her son. Jamie landed in Colorado, immediately taking a job working with youth at a church where she met her husband, Jeremy.

Jamie and Jeremy were married in 2005, and joined Wycliffe in 2006. Their family grew, adding two daughters, as they spent time working in Kenya, Tanzania, and back in Colorado. In 2020, they moved to B.C. during the coronavirus pandemic to work at CanIL.