Having Fun Not Going to BlogHer

There's an amazing conference happening this weekend called BlogHer09 where 1,500 female bloggers will be meeting up in person to talk blogging. I won't be there, but I'm not letting that get me down. Instead I'm participating in several Twitter events including #BlogNerd #PityParty09 #NonBlogHer and #BlogHop09. One BlogHopper is even giving away a $50 gift card on her website. I'm actually quite happy to be home with my family this weekend and I would love it if you could read my Top 10 Reasons why post and leave a comment there (as I'm trying to win a cash prize for most comments)! If you have no idea what I'm talking about, that's OK! You can either not worry about it, or find out by following one of these links. :)

To join in the these parties I need to start with an introduction. So if you are a regular reader here, please bear with me, while I share a few things you might want to know with new readers.

I'm Jennifer (Jenni) Saake, with the A.K.A. "Hannah". I'll be celebrating my 37th birthday next week and my amazing husband and I will mark 17 years of marriage next month. We have three living miracles (ages 9, 6 and 3) after a long journey through infertility and 10 losses (miscarriages and failed adoption attempts). I am the co-founder of Hannah's Prayer Ministries and author of Hannah's Hope: Seeking God's Heart in the Midst of Infertility, Miscarriage & Adoption Loss (NavPress, 2005). We are blessed to enjoy the journey of homeschooling and are currently planning our first family RV vacation after winning a week's free RV rental through a local blogging contest (and could really use your tips if you have RV experience)! :D

I have lived with multiple chronic health challenges most of my life, starting with mono at age 8 that set my immune system off ballance. All through my teen years I dealt with the debilitating pain of endometriosis and in my late teens also developed fibromyalgia (though it went undiagnosed for several years). Early in our marriage we also discovered that I have polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and as our years of infertility progressed we uncovered several other female issues such as uterine deformity, hormonal imballances and immne factors causing my body to attack the children I tried to carry. :( I finally had a hysterectomy last fall (age 26) and am encouraged to be mostly free of female pain for the first time!

My freshman year of college mono swept through the campus and upon that exposure to this virus, my immune system went into near-total shut down with the dramatic onset of chronic fatigue immune dysfunction syndrome (CFIDS, also called CFS, ME and a variety of other names). The first two years I slept as much as 18-23 1/2 hours out of every 24. I gradually gained more freedom from my bed and more ability to function when out of bed, but nearly 19 years later, the impact of this illness (including pain like your body aches during your worst case of the flu, nausia, memory issues, muscle control problems, hormonal fluctuations, and nearly unmanagable exhaustion) remains a daily battle.

While it is a slow process, I hope to write a book on the life of Paul as an encouragement for Christians dealing with chronic pain and illness. Hannah's Hope took me 10 years to write, so I know not to rush this project either. In the meantime I keep an encouragment blog called Harvesting Hope from Heartache for hope and help in the midst of life's hardest seasons of grief, loss and pain of every kind.

On a lighter note I also am passionate about beauty, yes of the body, but especially of the heart. I am a consultant with Affordable Mineral Makeup™ as well as with Gurrlie Girl™ Christian Jewelry and I love to write share natural, healthy, green, and affordable beauty tips and tricks on my InnerBeautyGirlz blogs. :) And since I'm often asked how I became a published author I thought you might enjoy the link to that story as well. :)

Please leave me a comment here or on any of my other blogs. You never know when I might pull a random give-away and be emailing someone who comments, offering to mail you a book, jewelry, makeup or some other fun treat! ;) I'm also extending a 10% discount on Affordable Mineral Makeup™ to my blog readers who mention BlogHer this month - details posted at InnerBeautyGirlz.com.