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Jennifer Saake's Page

Jennifer Saake 36, Female Reno, United States: InnerBeauty; Share

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Jennifer Saake's profile changed Jun 13

Jennifer Saake commented on the blog post Hysterectomy Success!! Dec. 21, 2007

Jennifer Saake commented on the blog post Hysterectomy Success!! Dec. 2, 2007

Sandra left a comment for Jennifer Saake Nov. 28, 2007

Sandra left a comment for Jennifer Saake Nov. 22, 2007

Sandra left a comment for Jennifer Saake Nov. 21, 2007

Profile

Profession:: wife, after-infertility mom, homeschool teacher, author

Web site:: http://www.shoutlife.com/InfertilityMom

About Me:: I am blessed wife of 15 years and homeschool mom to our 3 long-awaited miracles. I love to write and am thankful for the doors God opened to allow my first book, Hannah's Hope: Seeking God's Heart in the Midst of Infertility, Miscarriage & Adoption Loss to be published in 2005. As a consultant with Affordable Mineral Makeup (TM) my current writing focuses on beauty tips with a heart toward inner beauty. Feel free to visit my Inner Beauty Blog.

I've lived with fibromyalgia since I was a teenager then faced a significant and debilitating onset of CFS at age 18. After being bedridden for the better part of 2 years, I have gradulally regained my abilities with cycles of setbacks and semi-remissions over the nest 15 years. I "crashed" again after a visit to Disneyland in early May, 2007 and am mostly housebound at this season.

What I hope to gain from this network...: God is putting a call on my heart to write a "Hannah's Hope" style book on chronic pain and illness, using the life of Paul with his "thorn in the flesh" and my own journey through CFS and fibromyalgia. I am resisting, but He is persisting. ;) I anticipate this to be a several-year project as I'm also juggling motherhood, homeschooling, a homebased business and have been quite sick again in recent months. It is a scary, yet exciting thought and we will see where God leads the process.

Best Recommended Resource and Why: I've watched Rest Ministries grow since your earliest days of ministry and you are still the first resource I recommend to anyone dealing with health challenges!

Have you heard of Rest Ministries or HopeKeepers?: yes, both :)

Comment Wall (17 comments)

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At 8:15am on November 28th, 2007, Sandra said…: hi jenni, i did pretty well overall since i had 5 glorious days off from work (teaching pre-kindergarten). it's THIS week that is killing me! my username on hannahs prayer is hopeful heart. i will write again after school lets out today. xo sandra

At 6:44am on November 28th, 2007, Sandra said…: hi Jenni,
i want to thank you for pointing me in the direction of hannahs prayer, and also to your book. I just got it in the mail yesterday and I can't wait to jump to chapter 2! God Bless you today! :0) sandra

At 9:22am on November 22nd, 2007, Sandra said…: Hi Jenni, I want to thank you for your ministry. Oh how I wish I had found you a decade ago. I immediately ordered your book after viewing yourr webpage. It was so validating to read about your process of infertility since your emotions so mirror my own. Although my own journey has been different, there were many parallels as well. I am truly happy that you have crossed over infertility into a new life. Keep writing! You have an inspirational writing gift. Let me know when you are finished with your new book...I want a copy! Happy thanksgiving to you and your family, love, sandra

At 5:09pm on November 21st, 2007, Sandra said…: (((Jennifer))) Thank you for the links and info. I am registered now with Hannahsprayer, and as soon as I finish this I will begin reading your book. I am amazed at how the Lord is blessing me at this time through all of this. It's such a difference from where I have been. About a month ago I had decided to try and join the church that I have been attending. I went to the 1st membership class and ended up walking out after 20 minutes or so because the pain was so intolerable. I bawled all the way to the car and on the ride home, begging God to let me die. I felt so completely helpless and frustrated! It was bad enough that I was no longer in ministry, wasn't reliable enough to substitute in a ministry, and had even been shut out of attending prayer groups, now I couldn't even join the church and offer a testimony???!!! It was unbearable. I never realized how much importance I put in feeling useful and needed before all this. It was yet another level of being stripped, not just down to the bone, but down to the "bare soul". It was yet another emotional setback, and against this backdrop were people in my life who were not following Christ, making choices about fertility, marriage, children, etc that were a "slap in the heart" to me, and THEIR world was humming along without a hitch! It was kind of funny actually, because I brought all this inequity up (loudly) to God, and when I finally calmed down I had to laugh because I think I had just quoted a psalm! And now, this birthday has brought love from more quarters than I could have ever expected, and in every card, hug, and gentle remark it's like the Holy Spirit whispering to me about HIS love for me. He has not forgotten me, There IS beauty in my life, and it does have a purpose, even though the end result is hidden from me now. I remember this story that Erma Bombeck told in one of her books. She compared disillusionment to taking a trip. Initially, you want to take a trip. You are excited, you know just where you want to go, and you plan, save, and learn all about the places you will go and people you will meet. Then, once you are settled on the plane, you discover that you are going somewhere ELSE. It is a place you always heard horrible things about. A fearful place. Worse, you can't get your $ back or turn around. You have to go and stay in that place, and your beautiful planned trip will NEVER happen. You cry and rail against the unfairness of it all, try to talk to the "manager", but to no avail. So, here you are. At first, it is scary, unfamiliar, and you always seem afraid. After a while though, you learn the neighborhoods, and find beauty in unexpected places. I often find comfort in remembering that story, and it helps me to remember that THIS is not the end, but I am merely traveling in this place. Someday I will be in a place where there is no suffering, pain, loss, or questions unanswered. I hope that it will all be sweeter for having suffered here. Plus, I have to remember that every time I triumph over a temptation, an attitude, a hurt, etc. and can praise God in the midst of it, even if no one else knows but me, then at that moment God is glorified. And as I run the race that God in His sovereignty marked out specifically for me, there is a great cloud of witnesses watching on the sidelines cheering for me to persevere until the end. Thank you Jennifer for being a gift of soothing oil from God to me. Sandra

At 8:31pm on November 20th, 2007, Sandra said…: Dear Jennifer, I confess that I haven't read your book, but I will look for it. I am in a very strange place in my life where on one side of the see-saw is believing that God has a child in store for us and holding onto faith/praying and doing what I believe is His will for us as a couple; and then on the other side is the reality of my circumstances~ 42, infertile for over 10 years, sick, and a husband who is also sick. I find myself spinning between faith and circumstance, God is more or less silent, and I am so fearful that I can't recognize God's voice anymore. It's not my faith in God, if anything that is growing stronger. It's faith in my end of things. Ususally what happens is I wind through all the ifs/ands/buts/whys/circumstances/biblical scripture and principles, then I throw myself down in a heap and say, "ok God, this is your ball game. Whatever you want is ok." The thing is, I mean it too. It's just very hard to reconcile what was my life, where I thought it was going spiritually as well as all the other stuff, and what my reality IS. I keep reminding myself that what I consider success is not necessarily God's idea of success, and only HE can determine the worth of my life. Some days I can accept that easier than on other days I guess. Sorry to carry on, but you are the first person in 10 years that I have met who could even remotely understand the complexities of this from an infertility, illness, and most importantly, a Christian viewpoint. If you have any wisdom,thoughts to share I would VERY much like to hear from you when you are well enough. Love, Sandra

At 4:36am on November 18th, 2007, Sandra said…: Dear Jennifer,
I am new to the site and would love to talk to you as I too have infertility, CFS, FM, RLS and some more alphabet soup. God has not granted us a child...yet. Thank you for writing your book and May God grant you favor in your new endeavors! Hugs, Sandra

At 2:09pm on October 2nd, 2007, Wisconsinfibrogal said…: Hello Jennifer I love your blog site I have bookmarked it and I have a friend that has a young daughter that would love to read it.

gentle hugs

At 7:59am on August 16th, 2007, Linda said…: Thanks Jennifer for your prayers and your warm comments. God Bless!! Linda.

At 9:52pm on July 30th, 2007, Linda said…: Thank you Jennifer,for sharing this place with me.
God Bless!! Linda.

At 1:44pm on July 11th, 2007, Melissa Callis said…: Dear Jennifer,
I want to be just like you when I grow up!!
Blessings! Prayers!!
-Melissa

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