Jennifer Saake

I had a different post planned for today. Actually, I've been carefully researching, designing, and typinging on my laptop, two different posts, for the past four days. I'll likely still post those later within the next few weeks, but today I just don't have the heart to.  So I'm winging it from my telephone, laying on my back, holding the phone steady by threading the pop socket Rick recently bought me through my left hand that is resting on my tummy. My kids tease me about my texting methods, but I'm actually faster with just my right thumb or pointer finger on the phone keypad, than I am with my whole right hand on my computer keyboard. This won't be fancy, is likely to be rambly and unedited, but these are my two main thoughts today.  Ten years?  And overwhelming thankfulness ! Several months after getting home from the hospital, wheelchair-bound to ever leave my house, legally blind due to severe double vision (going to the movie theater was tri...

  What happened? I've given you the back story and the (long) update 10 years later . Now for the event itself. I ended my back story with, " Since 2-3 day migraines were part of my world as often as every few weeks, with the occasional 10+ day migraine a few times per year (my record had been over 30 day when hormones were adjusting after my daughter's birth), I let the headache and accompanying symptoms keep me down in bed for about a week before getting proactive and heading to my doctor for pain shots, then on to the ER again (at my doctor's insistence) for something even stronger. After trying all they knew to do, ER sent me home without relief on the evening of October 24, 2011.  My decision the next morning impacts my life and the lives of all who love me, to this day." So what was my decision? I did what is commonly done with headaches, one of the specific things their services are advertised to help. I went to a chiropractor. Yes, I had used chiropractic...

I'm taking a brief break from my stroke anniversary series because today is "Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day". I've prayed all day about what to post. I'm not into the 7pm candle lighting personally. (Not a sin, just not my thing!)  My parents attended the funeral of a 6-month-old today. I've prayed, but did not know what to post. Then I listened to this seminary podcast, for training pastors and counted at least 3 first-hand child loss stories, along with the comfort of the gospel.  Look for Season 1, episode 7. While there are multiple touching loss stories throughout the episode, starting 10 minutes from the end and going until 2 1/2 minutes from the end is especially powerful to me. Six minutes from the end is very comforting! (The last 60 seconds are a rainbow baby hope story, so you can specifically decide if that would encourage you tonight or not.)  While most of us are not training fo...

"Occasionally, weep deeply over the life you hoped would be. Grieve the losses. Then wash your face. Trust God. And embrace the life you have." - John Piper Though I talk much about my strokes online, in my day-to-day life, though the daily impact is significant, I talk about my strokes very little. It is obvious that I limp by watching me walk with my cane. People who spend large amounts of time with me notice plenty of other telltale signs that "something happened", But I am no longer immediately identifiable as severely disabled to many people I interact with.  In fact, over this summer, I shocked both our pastor and his wife (we have had personal interaction with them at least once a week for over a year) and, last month, another couple from our church (also frequent interaction, including kids at same school and a couple dinners together, one evening in a larger group where we had a chance to talk for an hour, and another evening where it was just the four of u...

This day, 10 years ago, was just another early October morning. I was a busy, thankful, mini-van-driving, homeschooling mom of 3 long-awaited miracles. My first book had been published almost 6 1/2 years prior. I was juggling teaching, crafts, homeschool co-op, library time, play dates for the kids, and coffee dates and phone calls with my own friends. The holidays were quickly approaching, plans and lists were being made: the calendar was starting to fill with fall and winter performances and events, as was my gift collection closet, with the clearance items I had been stashing away since day-after-Christmas sales the prior year.  Decorations were being made and set around the house. Pumpkin spice, cinnamon, and apple smells filled the air. Grocery store trips were built around meal plans I hoped my family would find delicious, but could also be prepared with my limited culinary skillset, budget, and time/energy. Oh, and occasionally I would even manage to scrub a toilet or two! T...