Starting Fresh

JenniferSaake
  spring 2019

I grew up on the mission field, spending 7 years in Japan. (No, I did not learn more than a very few words of the language.) While I moved about 17 times in childhood, most recently I lived in Northern Nevada, 45 minutes from Lake Tahoe, for over two decades. We moved to Arizona in 2019. I can touch my nose with the tip of my tongue and can pick up items with my toes. There were 6 Jennifers in my first grade class in the the late 1970s. Find out more on the Saake Pronunciation Guide.                                                                                                    Our journey to parenthood took the long path of infertility, miscarriage, and adoption loss that I've briefly recounted at JenniferSaake.blogspot.com/2021/04/hannahs.html. Since 1996, I've participated in a variety of online forums and platforms, first using pseudonyms related to Hannah, then over the past two decades, as @InfertilityMom. I founded Hannah's Prayer Ministries in 1994, and authored Hannah's Hope: Seeking God's Heart in the Midst of Infertility, Miscarriage, and Adoption Loss in 2005.

Please enjoy a free pdf version of the introduction, my personal infertility / loss story, and the first chapter of Hannah's Hope at www.hannahshopebook.com/media/HannahHopeChapter1.pdf .

While my main social page is HarvestingHope on Facebook, with specialty Facebook pages for DeceptionUnmasked , HannahsHopeBook, and  StrokieGal / Stroke Of Grace, I tend to use @InfertilityMom as my identification almost everywhere else. (I'm still HannasHope on the Hannah's Prayer Community Forums.) You are most likely to find me actively participating are on Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. 

In addition to fertility challenges, God's grace has carried me through many other significant health issues. You may read the short version in the next 6 paragraphs, or grab several more details on my ME/CFS, EDS, and Young Strokes post. (There is a divider below, were you can pick up after the health stuff and catch my contact info at the end of this post.)

I've lived with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) since my teens. To grasp how, even on "good days" ME/CFS differs from just "being tired," think of a time when you had a nasty case of the flu with aches, fatigue so severe you couldn't think straight, system dysregulation like unanticipated blood pressure drops and chills and fevers.

JenniferSaake
1 year before strokes

Chronic illnesses like ME/CFS are common among "zebras". In recent years, I've also been symptomatically diagnosed with the connective tissue disorder Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, hypermobile variant (hEDS). 

Due to the events of 2011, I want to publicly reiterate that, though our family has since undergone multiple rounds of testing at several different clinics and genetic labs, NO MUTATIONS in the genes related to the vascular variant (the only form of EDS linked to arterial dissection) were ever found. I DO NOT HAVE vEDS, thus the type of arterial injury I suffered cannot be pinned on my collagen makeup. My diagnosis is hEDS, meaning that my joints are hypermobile ("double-jointed") and can be easily overstretched.

On October 25, 2011, my writing and online activities came to a screeching halt the morning I suffered an arterial dissection during chiropractic neck manipulation at age 39.  I endured two catastrophic brain bleeds while still laying on the adjustment table, instantly resulting in unbelievably severe dizziness, a seizure, total blindness, slurred speech, then loss of consciousness. 

JenniferSaake
1 month after strokes

I started the Stroke of Grace blog in early 2012, processing my recovery thoughts, emotions, spiritual, and physical journey on young stroke survival, 6 strokes at age 39, started during chiropractic neck adjustment. With severe memory issues, I needed to document my recovery. Over nine years later, the blog now hurts me more than it helps. I am putting my Stroke Of Grace blog to bed, at least for a season as I decide what information I want so publicly accessible any more. For an overview of my three primary health issues, please visit JenniferSaake.blogspot.com/2021/04/health.html

I will likely recycle the "Stroke of Grace" name someday because it so beautifully captures the story. I have never abandoned the conviction that I am a sinner, saved by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ who died in my place, then bodily rose to life again, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father. By His death and resurrection, my sins that separated me from God were fully atoned for, allowing me to one day stand in His perfect presence without shame or fear because I confess Him as my God.  

============= If you skimmed the health info, start reading again here, please! ----------------------

With thought processes impacted by brain injury, I followed some theological tangents I am no longer in agreement with. I added sensuality (feeding the senses) to Biblical Truth. My co-author, Carolyn, and I are unpacking our spiritual back stories, exposing lies in light of God's word, in our upcoming book. As we continue writing, please join our growing community of like-minded *faith contenders at facebook.com/DeceptionUnmasked.

*Jude 3b-4 ...I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed...who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

All Scripture on this post is quoted from the English Standard Version (ESV) as posted at Bible Gateway.

FREE pdf version of the introduction, my infertility / loss story, and the first chapter of Hannah's Hope downloadable at www.hannahshopebook.com/media/HannahHopeChapter1.pdf

 

All Scripture on this post is quoted from the English Standard Version (ESV) as posted at Bible Gateway.

I would love to meet you through social media:

author page - facebook.com/HarvestingHope

Specialty pages:

    infertility / loss - fb.com/HannahsHopeBook

    stroke - fb.com/StrokieGal

    current book project on church deception - fb.com/DeceptionUnmasked

Pinterest @InfertilityMom

Twitter @InfertilityMom

Instagram @InfertilityMom

My books:

Read more about infertility, miscarriage, adoption loss, and my first book, Hannah's Hope (written pre-stroke), at JenniferSaake.blogspot.com/2021/04/hannahs.html

 

Please enjoy a free pdf version of the introduction, my personal infertility / loss story, and the first chapter of Hannah's Hope at www.hannahshopebook.com/media/HannahHopeChapter1.pdf

Read about our current book project I am co-authoring with Carolyn Howell, author of Foodborne Dementia, about deception in the church, at JenniferSaake.blogspot.com/2021/04/DeceptionUnmasked.html