Jennifer Saake

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...

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...

With babies in Heaven as well as the blessing of raising children on earth, Mother's Day is always a mixed bag of extreme emotions for me. Undoubtedly, I am overwhelmingly thankful for my living miracles, likely much more aware of what a gift they are than I would have been had they come easily. Perhaps intensified by "knowing what I am missing" as I watch my earthly children grow, though it has been over 19 years since my 3rd pregnancy loss, my heart is still tender concerning my kids no longer here. Read more  about infertility, miscarriage, and adoption loss, at  JenniferSaake.blogspot.com/2021/04/hannahs.html  and be my guest to read the first chapter of my book, Hannah's Hope , free at   hannahshopebook.com/media/HannahHopeChapter1.pd This will be my first MD in a new church and I already know that there will be a baby dedication ceremony this week, so I'm half holding my breath as I wait to see how the service will unfold. Thankfully, we are a verse-by-ve...