God's Works

Video recorded for WEGO Health nomination (written transcript is half way down page, at this link), February, 2014.

Please Vote for Hannah's Hope

Hannah’s Hope has just been named as one of the top four nominees for "Best Book" for the Team RESOLVE Choice Awards.

RESOLVE opened voting for the Team RESOLVE Choice Award for Best Book today. You can vote for your favorite infertility book and favorite infertility blog at www.resolve.org/vote. Voting will close June 24, one vote per email address.

The winner will receive notification after the 4th of July holiday weekend. The winner will be presented with the Hope Award for Best Book at the 13th annual Night of Hope, September 28, 2010.

I am overwhelmingly honored by this nomination and want to thank each person who took the time to share Hannah's Hope with RESOLVE. I would be greatly blessed by your vote and no matter the outcome I'm excited that HH has received this national spotlight and praying many hurting hearts will find hope in Christ as a result.

Best Infertility Book?

RESOLVE is looking for the "best book" about infertility and family building. If anyone would like to nominate Hannah's Hope, here's the info you will need for the simple, 3-question survey:

Book title is Hannah's Hope: Seeking God's Heart in the Midst of Infertility, Miscarriage & Adoption Loss
Author is Jennifer Saake
And yes, it is available for purchase online

Thanks for your help! :)

Woman's Health Hero Nomination - Please Vote for me

I was blessed to be nominated as a Woman's Health Hero and I need your help! (Head's up to my friends who are sensitive to mentions of pregnancy, the sponsors of this award do promote pregnancy-related books on their website, so please be for-warned before following this link.) Out of all entries, just 20 names will be inducted into a Health Hall of Fame. Two Hall-of-Fame selections will receive special honors as either Staff Pick or Audience Choice award determined by the public (that's you!).



You will be allowed to vote on all entries between now and May 14 (extended one week from the prior May 7 deadline), 2010. The entry that receives the highest overall ranking will win the Audience Choice award. Last year's Audience Choice winner was my dear friend Lisa Copen from Rest Ministries. I would be delighted to add a similar honor to my "resume" as I continue working on writing my book on the life of Paul as encouragement for living with chronic pain/illness.

Will you please help me by heading to www.ourbodiesourblog.org/blog/2010/05/comforting-those-with-fertility-challenges-jenni-saake and selecting the "thumbs up" voting button at the bottom of my profile? Thank you so much! :)

Join me for Virtual Spa Weekend!

This weekend about 40 beautiful ladies from Hannah's Prayer are gathered in Ohio for a retreat that will bless and encourage them in the midst of their infertility and/or loss journies. But since only these few ladies could gather, I wanted to provide an alternative for everyone else. Thus was born Virtual Spa Weekend on my InnerBeautyGirlz blog. So come on over and join the fun for a weekend of beauty tips, video clips to make you laugh and cry, and a ton of great give-aways including chocolate, books, jewelry and beauty supplies.

If you don't get to read this post until sometime after May 3, it will still be worth your while to come check out the Virtual Spa threads! Even after the contests are closed, the other encouraging posts will still remain. :) So let's kick off our Weekend with this YouTube message I recorded from my bathroom just last week. This video was created specifically for the ladies of Hannah's Prayer Ministries who are gathered in Ohio, but I pray the message of the video will give you a reason to smile, maybe even make you laugh as you see me with no makeup, unbrushed hair and sitting on the side of my tub in a bathrobe, or be an encouragement to you in whatever season of life you find yourself tonight.

I'll be on blog radio next week!

Press Release:

Christian Organization Unites the Millions Who Live with Invisible Illness

Contact: Lisa Copen, Rest Ministries, 858-486-4685, rest@restministries.org

MEDIA ADVISORY, Sept. 3 /Christian Newswire/ -- Nearly 1 in 2 people in the USA live with a chronic illness and about 96% of the illnesses are invisible.* Rest Ministries, Inc., the largest Christian organization that serves the chronically ill, an affiliate of Joni Eareckson Tada's International Disability Ministry, is encouraging those with illness, as well and family, caregivers, and churches through their annual outreach event, National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week, September 8-14, 2008.

This year the week features 20 workshops with well-known guest speakers who will be presenting and answering questions via Blog Talk Radio, September 8-12.

Speakers include:
• Leslie Vernick, author of The Emotionally Destructive Relationship (Harvest House, 2007)
• Julie-Allyson Ieron, author of The Overwhelmed Woman's Guide to Caring for Aging Parents (Moody, 2008)
• Lisa Copen, author of Beyond Casseroles: 505 Ways to Encourage a Chronically Ill Friend (Rest Publishers, 2008)
• Jennifer Saake, author of Hannah's Hope: Seeking God's Heart in the Midst of Infertility, Miscarriage and Adoption Loss (NavPress, 2005) Tune in to the archived program at www.blogtalkradio.com/invisibleillnessconf/2008/09/09/Medications-Illness-Fertility-and-the-Desire-for-Motherhood.


Lisa Copen, 39, founder of Rest Ministries says, "Since we began in 1997 we've found that despite the strong foundation Christians may have, illness can rock it. Feeling like no one understands how much your life has changed since a diagnosis can be more spiritually detrimental than the illness itself. It can make one feel isolated, misunderstood and even bitter."

Copen, who has lived with rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia since the age of twenty-four explains why Invisible Illness week matters. "Those with illness do have to accept that other people aren't going to 'get it.' Only God understands. But it's nice to encourage peers and find strength in validating the mixed emotions. You don't have to explain why walking twenty feet may be impossible some days."

Rest Ministries extends their outreach about illness awareness to churches, providing materials to start up HopeKeepers groups, books, cards, tracts, etc. About 96% of those with illness may appear perfectly healthy on Sunday mornings, but may struggle to get out of bed the remainder of the week.

Ken Chambers, Director of Church Relations at Joni and Friends International Disability Center, says, "It is vital that Christians understand the emotional and spiritual trials of those with invisible disabilities, as well as those with visible disabilities. Rest Ministries is dedicated to educating churches to not only serve the chronically ill, but to involve them in the church body. I encourage church leaders to take advantage of the wealth of resources at Rest Ministries and to participate in the National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week."

Get involved by joining the hundreds of people who will blog about invisible illness on September 8th, attend a seminar, or tell someone who has an illness about the event. Typically, people with illness are unable to attend a traditional conference, so a "virtual conference" is widely anticipated. All seminars will also be recorded and archived.

See www.invisibleillness.com. Rest Ministries is at www.restministries.org.

*Source: Chronic Care in America, U.S. Census Bureau


-------------------------
Press Release written by:
Lisa Copen
Rest Ministries, Director
HopeKeepers Magazine, Editor

National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week
Founder & Coordinator



“HOPE CAN GROW FROM THE SOIL OF ILLNESS!”
This is the theme of 2008’s National Invisible
Chronic Illness Awareness Week in September.
Drop by and find out ways to encourage a
friend, be encouraged yourself, and spread the word.
http://www.InvisibleIllness.com and our blog
http://www.InvisibleIllness.Wordpress.com

Book Signing, June 14, Reno, Nevada

I will be one of four authors participating in a book signing on Saturday, June 14, from 1-4 at His Word Christian bookstore (7689 S Virginia St.) in Reno, NV. Two of us are from right here in Reno, the other two are driving over from the Sacramento area. Please come support and encourage your local authors!

Diana Symons has written two Children's fairy tales with a Christian influence called "Tales From the Thone" - DianaSymons.com

Jeanette Hanscome (leader of the Reno Christian Writers critique group) has written several pre-teen and young-adult bookes including "Want More? Joy" Brio Devotional #3 and two books in Focus on the Family's Brio Girls fiction series. - JeanetteHanscome.com

Jan Kern will be sharing her recent teen and young adult releases, "Scars That Wound, Scars That Heal--A Journey Out of Self-Injury" and "Seduced by Sex, Saved by Love? A Journey Out of False Intimacy". - JanKern.com

And I will be signing Hannah's Hope: Seeking God's Heart in the Midst of Infertility, Miscarriage & Adoption Loss - Read the first chapter and find out more at http://www.HannahsHopeBook.com

I would love to see your smiling faces on the 14th! Please feel free to pass this news along to your local church, teen group, youth group, women's group, book club, or anyone you know who may be interested in any of the topics we are touching on. Or if you know anyone who simply might like to meet local "real, live authors," we would love to meet them too.

Latest book review for Hannah's Hope

There is a radio program / podcast called Journeys To Motherhood that I stumbled upon earlier this year. I was thilled to find an entire radio series dedicated to nothing but issues related to fertility challenges and I've enjoyed listening to several episodes.

There is a lot of "spiritual" content in the programs, but often not from a specifically Christian viewpoint. So it was especially delightful to find the kind review of Hannah's Hope written by host Barbara Winters in her blog this week. I hope to be a guest on Journeys to Motherhood this spring, possibly late February.

Want to help people hear about Hannah's Hope?

If you would like to use the image at the right as a link to direct friends to this website, please feel free to save it to your computer and link it to www.HannahsHopeBook.com from your website. :)