Jenni's Journals - Hannah's Hope Book

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.

Labels: adoption, beauty, blog, book, contest, event, give-away, Hannah's Prayer, infertility, miscarriage, pregnancy loss, promotion, public speaking, resource, retreat

Event: Hannah's Prayer Retreat
Date: Fri, May 01, 2009 - Sun, May 03, 2009
Place: Cincinnati, OH
Details: This retreat is for married women who have experienced infertility, pregnancy loss, or infant death. Join other sisters in Christ who know the pain these experiences bring, and be encouraged together to look to Christ for hope and healing.

Location: Sheraton Cincinnati Airport Hotel, 2826 Terminal Drive, Hebron, KY 41048

Cost: $200 per person for event, hotel, and all meals. $65 per person local option for event and Friday dinner only.

Speaker: Ginger Garrett, author of several books, including Moments for Couples Who Long for Children and Beauty Secrets of the Bible.

The theme is "Beautiful in His Sight." Through worship, prayer, encouraging messages, various workshops, and fun & fellowship, we hope to strengthen our relationship with Christ and one another and be reminded that even though our bodies don't work the way they're "supposed to" and our lives are not turning out as we'd planned, we are precious and beautiful and loved by the Lord, and He has a great plan for our lives, whether He sends us children or not.

God brings beauty from the ashes in our journey!

For more information or to register, please visit Hannah's Prayer Ministries at http://www.Hannah.org

Labels: Hannah's Prayer, infertility, miscarriage, resource, retreat

Tomorrow is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day - http://www.october15th.com/

Labels: event, grief, legacy, miscarriage, pregnancy loss, resource, support

I recently started a fun new blog called Let Your Inner Beauty Shine as part of my Inner Beauty Girlz outreach. The blog features Affordable Mineral Makeup and offers a ton of great beauty tricks, makeup tips, devotional reflections on beauty that delights the Lord, book and product reviews and of course give-aways! I would love to invite you to come join me for a little light-hearted fun to lift your heart and Let Your Inner Beauty Shine today!

Labels: beauty, blog, contest, fun, give-away, Peace, resource

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.

Labels: interview, promotion, resource

OK, I will admit that this information is a little more blunt than my standard blog fare, but I pray that it will be useful to someone. As noted in chapter 4 of Hannah's Hope, and more fully detailed in appendix b, for some couples the most sucessful way to obtain sperm samples either for testing or insemination is through the use a a special sterile, medical grade, non-spermacial condom.
At the time my book went to press, I did not have a current resource to offer for those seeking to obtain such a device. While most fertility clinics can obtain them for you, if your clinic cannot or does not have a resource to do so, here are some links that may be of help. Please note, these links are for informational purposes only, not a specific endorsement on my part of any specific clinic, product, company or medical procedure:
Understanding a Sperm Analysis
Using a Sperm Collection Condom
"Pre-seed" Semen Collection Kit
Semen Analysis Supplies (scroll down to "Semen Collection Condoms – Male-FactorPak)

Since it took us more than a year to track down this information when we needed it, I pray that someone who will benefit from this information will stumble upon this blog entry and find the information you need to help reduce one aspect of all the stress that infertility brings.

Labels: resource

I sometimes am more moved by fiction than by other kinds of writing. I'm starting a running list of Christian books that include infertility or loss in the plot lines.

What have you read that others might find interesting??? As a "comments" reply here, please give the title, author, and enough about the plot line that someone can decide if they are "ready" to give that book a read or if there are any unexpected surprises that could be painful triggers if caught by surprise. Here are a few I have enjoyed:

Chosen: The Lost Diaries of Queen Esther by Ginger Garrett (this author is a former member of Hannah's Prayer, by the way) is a fictionalized look at Esther, and in Ginger's telling of the story, she is never able to bear children. Spellbinding reading!

Rain Dance by Joy DeKok (also a past HP member, still living with primary infertility) is a compelling story about what happens when a Christian woman facing a childless future and a woman seeking an abortion are waiting to see the same doctor. The infertile woman feels like she could have been pulled from the pages of my journals!

Empty Womb, Aching Heart: Hope and Help for Those Struggling With Infertility by Marlo Schalesky is a fictionalized compilation of many real-life infertility stories (including my friend Julie Donahue's adoption story!) spanning all aspects of fertility challenges. The short stories are fast reading, realistic and great at getting to the emotional and spiritual heart of each challenge!

The Marriage Wish by Dee Henderson is about a young widow who goes into preterm labor shortly after the death of her husband and their little girl lives only 3 month, all in NICU. It's a tearjerker for sure, but very realistic in dealing with the grief emotions that she processes as she slowly learns to risk loving again.

Several books by Janette Oke include infertility and/or loss themes:
The Love Comes Softly series, while the main character is quite fertile, also includes a subplot of a friend with recurrent losses and eventually giving birth to her only living son with special needs. Later in the same series, there is stillbirth.
Canadian Mountie series, especially by the second and later books, is very much an infertility story and also includes adoption loss and sucessful adoptions.
A Bride for Donnigan has the main character being very unsympathetic with her friend's miscarriage grief until she herself suffers a stillborn baby.
- I know there are other titles that are strong fertility-related plot lines, but these are the ones that come to mind off the top of my head.

Karen Kingsbury has too many fertility-related stories for me to even list. Visit her website (where you can read her own adoption story!) at karenkingsbury.com

Julia's Hope by Leisha Kelly is an after-infertility mom of twins who opens her home as a bed-and-breakfast type place and her first client is a pregnant teen who is sent away to give birth and relinquish her child for adoption to save the family's disgrace. There is a lot of after-infertility emotional processing and conversations with God here.

While I have never had a chance to read it, I've often wanted to pick up The Long Awaited Child by Tracie Peterson. From the Stepping Stones bookstore review: "Novelist Tracie Peterson has written or co-written over 35 novels. This novel is the dual story of a woman, who wants nothing more than to be a mother, and a frightened pregnant teen, who wants nothing more than to run away from that responsibility. Be ready for some tears as you read how each of them overcomes past heartache to give the other her heart's desire."

Angela Hunt has written some compelling things. While not directly related to infertility, both "The Pearl" and "Unspoken" were thought provoking for me. I would not advise reading either when feeling emotionally fragile, and since not written specifically for an infertile audience, there will be things that might not sit well. But Pearl deals with the death of a child and a mother's depth of grief that drives to a splintered marriag and desperate measures including cloning, while Unspoken is a sweet story for anyone with a loving "Fur Baby" (animal/pet that is a stand-in child) in her life, though it does also relate a lot to grief (and has a subplot of miscarraige through another character) and has a rather tragic ending. I have never read "The Truth Teller" by this same author but believe it is a story about an infertile woman who is widowed and tries to still have her husband's child - as with any of Hunt's books, I would expect there to be a lot of plot twisting, no easy answers and ethically challenging complexity involved.

So, what hidden infertility/loss plots have you discovered? Have the books been helpful or hurtful as you have read? Please share your finds by posting a "comment" to this topic!

Labels: books, resource

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. :)

Labels: book, promotion, resource

Here's a broad-range resource list I have compiled to hand out at my talk next weekend in Washington. Though not exclusive to fertility-related issues (in fact, some relate to unplanned pregnancy or parenting), I am posting in hopes of bringing a bit of hope to someone who might need it:

- Devotional Journals for Infertility, Pregnancy Loss, Infant Death, and Grieving the Loss of a Loved One - www.HopeLifters.com/resources.shtml

- Grieving the Loss of a Family Member or Friend - GriefShare.org/

- Death of a Child (any age) - www.CompassionateFriends.org/

- Infertility or Pregnancy Loss Support - www.Hannah.org

- Infant Death – www.mend.org

- Continuing Pregnancy After Learning Your Baby Will Die - www.erichad.com/wwl/

- Poor or Difficult Prenatal Diagnosis - BeNotAfraid.net

- High Risk Pregnancy – www.sidelines.org

- Postpartum Mood Disorders and Post Adoption Depression - OutOfTheValley.org

- Adoption – www.ShaohannahsHope.org

- Unplanned Pregnancy - www.care-net.org/

- Abortion – www.HopeAfterAbortion.com/

- Depression - cdp.gospelcom.net

- Suicide - www.road2healing.com/suicidal.html

- Widowhood – www.foycwidows-widowers.com/

- Living Single – ChristianSinglesToday.com

- Divorce – – www.DivorceCare.org

- Divorce, Domestic Violence or Abuse – www.FocusMinistries1.org/

- Pornography, Sexual Promiscuity, Homosexuality www.NationalCoalition.org/

- Abuse and Addictions, Life Stresses, Relationships, Transitions – TroubledWith.org

- Drug/Alcohol Abuse, Addictions, Depression, Eating Disorders and Unplanned Pregnancy – MercyMinistries.org

- Family Life Issues - www.FLToday.org/

- Chronic Pain or Illness - www.RestMinistries.org

- Cancer – www.AmyGivler.com or www.cancerclub.com

- Homeschooling Special Needs Children - nathhan.com/

Labels: resource