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Here's a special bonus episode for you! It's an episode of the MilSpouse Coffee House that I was a guest on earlier this month. I talked with Britni and Leslie about what it's been like getting a diagnosis for our son and learning to adjust after. I hope you enjoy and happy holidays!

Have you heard about the changes to the TSP? In this last episode of season 5, I talk to the president and COO of First Command about all the changes. And we also talk about how military families should be setting themselves up for success for their whole career. Spoiler alert, you can't just rely on the retirement you get from the government! Mark Steffe is the President and Chief Operating Officer of First Command. Mark leads the company on a number of important strategic priorities, including the advancement of the First Command brand and the continuing adaptation to a rapidly evolving digital world. In this position, he is tasked with helping First Command effectively adapt to inevitable changes that come with company growth. Mark started his First Command career as Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff of Advisor Operations. During this time, he led company efforts to streamline processes, facilitate collaboration between advisor and corporate leaders, strengthen company-wide communications, improve efficiencies in Advisors’ daily business operations and add value to advisor-client relationships. Next, Mark pivoted to a field leadership role as the Senior Vice President and Director of Advisor Operations for the Midwest Division. In this role, he directed sales growth and market penetration efforts in the Midwest and advanced the company's recruiting priorities and talent management programs. In April 2014, Mark was promoted to Executive Vice President and National Director of Advisor Operations, where he led the company's Field Force, Advisor Operations and Marketing. In this role, Mark pursued efforts to build the First Command brand and grow the company, through collaboration between advisor and the corporate office. He was also named to the company’s Executive Leadership Team and the First Command Board of Directors. Before joining First Command, Mark served in a number of leadership roles with major companies in the financial services industry, including TIAA (formerly TIAA-CREF) and UBS Financial Services (formerly PaineWebber). Mark earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from the University of Illinois, graduating with high honors. He holds Series 7, 8, 23, 63 and 65 securities registrations, plus Life and Health Insurance licenses. He is a devoted father of three children. Find First Command: FirstCommand.comFacebook.com/FirstCommandIG: @FirstCommandTwitter: @FirstCommand

Preparing for a deployment can be a hectic time. There are so many things to do and lists to check off. But what about those well meaning friends and family members? Sometimes it feels easier to swallow their blunt comments and hard questions about what your service member will be doing "over there." One military spouse says, you should prepare them for deployment too and explain how they can support you better. Becky Hoy believes that deployment is one of the best things that has ever happened for the growth of her marriage and her own personal development. As an Army spouse whose husband has been deployed or otherwise away from home for roughly half of their seven years of marriage, Becky realized quickly that wishing away the days during deployment could not be an option for her. To share this message with other spouses Becky founded Brave Crate- the deployment countdown box for military spouses. She shares weekly tips and inspiration as a blogger for Brave Blog and and has curated the deployment-positivesupport community for military spouses called Brave Board. Find Becky: www.bravecrates.comwww.facebook.com/bravecratewww.instagram.com/bravecrate This episode is sponsored by American Forces Travel. Take care of your travel needs and give back to your branch of service at the same time.  

 One of the biggest sucks of military life lately is PCSing and specifically how military families' things are moved, stored, and delivered by contracted moving companies. One Army veteran and Military Spouse is helping to change the process and try to make it better for everyone. Megan is an army veteran after serving 4 years with a combat deployment, a military spouse of 13 years and mom to 3 wonderful children. She is a professional volunteer who jumps in to help wherever a hand in needed from supporting the FRG, PWOC, her children’s schools, and other organizations. During the last year, Megan has advocated extensively for PCS Reform from working with members of Congress on legislation, briefing the office of the second lady, and working directly with Transcom and moving industry members through the Personal Property Relocation Advisory Panel. In her free time you’ll find her refinishing furniture, and searching the best chocolate in the world! Find Megan: https://www.facebook.com/MilitarySpouseChronicles1/Www.militaryspousechronicles.comWww.instagram.com/militaryspousrchronicles  This episode is sponsored by American Forces Travel. Take care of your travel needs and give back to your branch of service at the same time. 

Ask any military family the most difficult part of any deployment or separation, and they're going to say reintegration. The actual time spent a part is not as difficult as trying to bring two (or more) lives back together after a significant amount of time living separately. How do we help this process? One word: communication. Samantha McKenzie graduated from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a Master's Degree in Communication Studies. She recently did her Directed Project on Military Reintegration where she decided there was a gap for partners during their communication about reintergration so she developed a booklet for partners to know what to experience during deployment and reintegration in terms of their communication patterns. She has also created a project centered around reintegration called Care Reintegration. Find Samantha: https://www.facebook.com/samantha.maine21IG Personal: samantha.abigale_  IG Project: care_reintegration This episode is sponsored by American Forces Travel. Take care of your travel needs and give back to your branch of service at the same time. 

Military spouses are some of the hardest working people I know, and it's time we pay more mind to how we are taking care of ourselves. Often we are the ones shouldering all of the responsibility at home (and more at work) and we're doing it with little to no support network. So here are some great suggestions of how to take care of our selves better. Bernadette Soler is a proud military spouse, 500-hr yoga teacher, yoga therapist-in-training, Certified Personal Trainer, Reiki Master Teacher, and owner of wellness lifestyle company and chic leggings line, Doll Yoga Wear, LLC. She has been teaching group yoga classes for over seven years, and specializes in developing unique yoga practices for individuals and special populations, including (but not limited to) military personnel and their families, corporate wellness settings, kids, and seniors. She enjoys applying the authentic teachings of yoga to your modern lifestyle in a simple and effective way. Having experienced the powerful life-changing effects of yoga, Bernadette is excited to help others move in the direction of their highest potential by way of these ancient teachings. Find Bernadette: bernadettesoler.com@bernadette_soler on instagram At Ease book This episode is sponsored by American Forces Travel. Take care of your travel needs and give back to your branch of service at the same time.

Our military kids need positive role models and interactions with other adults. One organization is trying to bring athletes and military kids together in positive interactions to show milkids what they can aspire to one day. Operation Teammate creates positive experiences for military children who is separated from their service member parent because of deployment, trainings, or school. And they do all of this for free! I talked to Timothy Montjoy about the organization he started and how it's helping our military children. Timothy Montjoy is a retiree of the United States Air Force and currently resides in Augusta, Georgia. His Air Force career spanned from 1996 – 2016 and took him to such overseas assignments as Osan Air Base, South Korea to Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, and Zabul, Afghanistan. Tim and his entire family have a passion for making an impact with our military children - this dedication directly supports the betterment of the military and civilian communities across our great nation. Find Tim & Operation Teammate: Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/operationteammateTwitter – https://twitter.com/OperationTeam8Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/operationteammateLinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothy-montjoy-90630245Website - https://www.operationteammate.org This episode is sponsored by American Forces Travel. Get discounted travel rates and help your branch by using americanforcestravel.com

Yesterday was Veteran's Day, so I've got a great episode about a podcast just for Military veteran dads. Dads that served sometimes need to talk to other dads about how they're feeling and how they're adjusting to civilian life. Ben Killoy has created a new podcast this year just for this demographic. Because we need to take care of the dads that served our country and let them know they can transition and become a great veteran dad.   Ben Killoy, is a U.S. Marine Veteran turned blogger, life coach, speaker, and now podcaster who seeks to bring Military Veteran Dads home to their families. He resides in Janesville, WI, with his wife and three beautiful kids! Ben, went through what most transitioning veterans go through of redefining identity and rediscovering your passion and purpose for life. A seminar changed it all for him, and realigned him to his passion for leadership. Since then he has been on a mission to master leadership principles & use his passion for leadership to help dads understand who they are, develop the skills to overcome adversity, and own their life and choices truly come home to their life.   Find Ben: MilitaryVeteranDad.com MilitaryVeteranDad.com/Blog Instagram @Ben_Killoy Instagram @MilitaryVeteranDad Twitter @benkilloy Facebook Page @MilitaryVeteranDad Facebook Profile

We hear all the time that voting is so important, but being a military family can add challenges to even the simplest of activities. I talk to two military spouse friends about where they vote, how they found, the challenges we are up against. And of course why it's important to vote!   Susan Reynolds is one of the founding members of Tricare for Kids and has advocated for better healthcare for all connected to the military for years on capitol hill. She also started and co-hosted her own podcast called Spouse Spouts. She is the proud spouse of Jeremy Reynolds, an Airman and mother to their son Ian. She cannot wait for her husband's retirement to come next year.   Paige Grymes is an avid Moms Demand Action volunteer and has been busy the past few years canvassing and phone banking. She is married to Jamie, a soldier, and is raising three wonderful boys with him currently in Virginia.   Find out where & how to vote: https://www.vote.org/

The area of spouse licensure has had an eventful year with all branches of service announcing that they will reimburse spouses for their licensure fees after PCS. A group of military spouses has been working in this area for many years and plan on making more strides too.  For the past decade, Josie Beets has put her extensive expertise in comprehensive problem solving, strategic communications, and regulatory frameworks to transform the landscape of licensing for mobile military spouses. Through her fight for common sense accommodations for military spouse attorneys, she discovered the overwhelming and often unfair licensing regimes across the country. She is passionate about helping people find ways to make licensing work with their mobile lifestyles. Josie is a licensed attorney, a nonprofit executive, a wife and a mom. She has presented on licensing issues to the Department of Defense, the White House, the American Bar Association, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Find Mission License: MissionLICENSE: missionlicense.comfacebook.com/missionlicensetwitter.com/missionlicenseFind Josie:twitter.com/JosieBeetslinkedin.com/in/josiebeets

We have all heard the stories in the news about the mold, pest, maintenance, and water issues that plague military housing around the country and globe. But sometimes the answer to our problems is not so easy to find. In this episode, I talk to one military spouse who is on the front lines of the military housing crisis and has even testified before Congress to explain how terrible it has really gotten which sparked investigation and changes across all branches of the military.  Crystal Cornwall is the co-founder of the Safe Military Housing Initiative and has been a lead advocate in addressing the military housing crisis our military and their families have been experiencing in recent years. She is a USMC spouse, mother of 3 beautiful children, and is a commercial underwriter for a Northern Virginia bank. She also testified in front of the Senate in Feb of this year about her experience and advocacy as it relates to the health and safety of military service members and their families living in housing. Find Crystal: www.safemilhousing.comhttp://linkedin.com/in/crystalcornwall  

One deployment can be hard enough, but what happens when your spouse deploys often? You definitely have to get used to things changing and Murphy being around all the time. In this episode, I talk to Noralee Jones of Mrs. Navy Mama about her experiences with her spouse's deployments. Noralee is a 30-something spouse of an active duty Navy officer, mother of 3 little ones and a self-proclaimed expert of getting things done. She is a photographer, foodie and lover of organizing, planners and finding hacks to navigate through this life. She created Mrs. Navy Mama when her husband was deployed as a way to document her family's journey as a military family. It grew into a military lifestyle blog, connecting with many military spouses and significant others in all branches and walks of life. She focuses on the importance of self-care, finding a tribe, home and mom hacks and military life hack for spouses and their family. Mrs. Navy Mama is a place for people to gain insight into how military life works, support one another through deployments and manage home, marriage and military, one duty station at a time. Find Noralee: www.instagram.com/mrsnavymamawww.pinterest.com/mrsnavymamawww.facebook.com/mrsnavymama

You meet a service member. You fall in love. You move with them to their next duty station. You become a resident of their country? Is that what you think of when you think of a typical military love story. Sometimes becoming a resident is easy and sometimes it's not. I talk to one military spouse who had a relatively easy time for this episode. Gems Collins has 15 years' experience in Business Operations and Project Management for start-up organizations, in the UK and UAE. When she moved to the USA to be with her husband she discovered that her calling was to use her previous experience to help Military Spouses to create their own location independent businesses. She wants to help them overcome professional challenges or career progression and limited prospects in some areas of the country. She believe everyone has an inner entrepreneur and she's here to help MilSpouses discover their own incredible business. Find Gems: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gemscollins1Instagram: www.instagram.com/gems.collinsLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gemscollins/ Website: www.gemscollins.com

The military is not know for incorporating spirituality into its culture. But one veteran and military spouse is on a mission to help other veterans with PTSD and other ailments to find peace and healing with energy work.  Jeanita Kennedy us of the Red Streak Clan born to the Towering House People, maternal grandparent is of the Salt People and paternal grandparent is of the Bitter Water. She was born into a long linage of medicine men and women, and the healing medicine runs deep in her blood. Since the beginning of her spiritual path, she has learned that her way wasn’t the same as her ancestors. She was meant to step out of her comfort zone, away from her people, and bring Navajo medicine beyond the Four Sacred Mountains. The past three years she has learned the modern way of energy work and learned to integrate it with the Navajo ways. She joined the Air Force and deployed to the Middle East multiple times before separating in 2008 and moving to Minot, North Dakota, with her children and husband, who is in the Air National Guard. Find Jeanita: Red Streak Medicine (public facebook group)https://jkennedyservice.zenfolio.com/rswelcome

Military marriage is hard! And you can have a positive attitude and mindset, but it still helps to get authentic and real about it. One military spouse is on a mission to have more honest conversations about marriage and other topics that affect those of us in military life.  Pam Chavez is a Certified Holistic Nutritionist and helps Military Spouses take back control of their life through mindset, connection, health and well-being. Showing women how to honor their personal goals despite their physical location. She is the Nutrition Expert for the 2019 Military Spouse Wellness Summit. Her articles and recipes can be found online and in print magazines to include Military Spouse dot com and FoodMatters. Find Pam: https://www.healthonthehomefront.comhttps://www.instagram.com/health_on_the_homefront/https://www.facebook.com/healthonthehomefront/https://www.pinterest.com/healthonthehomefront/

There can be so many decisions that can go into using money for school. One veteran and military spouse, Dina, decided to use it in an unconventional way to help her family and do something that she enjoyed! And she's still using it now in her small business just not the way you think. Dina is a military spouse and a mom to two wild and free-spirited boys. She and her husband both come from military families and met while both were stationed in Japan. She found joy in planning trips. More specifically, planning trips to Disney. Her interest in travel stems from being a military child and getting thrown into different countries around the world. She loves learning about different cultures, relaxing on sandy beaches and riding the e-ticket rides at theme parks such as Disney. Tokyo Disneyland was the place where her husband asked her to marry him. With the birth of their first child, she decided it was best to stay at home with him due to his early arrival Earth-side. She left active duty and joined the Air National Guard. Shortly, after the birth of their first child, her husband deployed and she was left to raise our baby alone for almost 7 months. Needless to say, it was a big shock to her husband to see a tiny newborn grow into a crawling chatty toddler. She wanted to find a way to quickly reintegrate her husband into their family life. She booked a cruise with a travel agent they worked with before and off they jet-setted with an infant to Alaska. At that point, she knew travel was for them. They've had the unique chance to travel around the world due to the military. When they got assigned to Hawai'i, she finally separated from the military completely. She found she was booking vacations around and out of Hawai'i for the duration of their time there, right up until their final trip which was an amazing 2-week vacation to Tokyo with another family. She decided for health reasons to stop traveling after this trip because they discovered she was pregnant with their second child. She found joy in working on the details of the reservation and naturally, booking tickets for the Tokyo Disneyland Resort. It was inspirational to watch everyone's face's light up during the trip. That joy everyone felt during the vacation was because she helped make it memorable and fun. This trip is the spark that inspired her to pursue a career in travel. She loves to plan a dream Disney vacations, and she enjoys helping create new adventures for families, couples, and singles in locations around the world. Whether it is a mom’s getaway to Hawai'i, a romantic couple’s getaway to Italy or a family trip to a Disney Resort – the knowledge that she played a part in helping others experience different cultures or craft a dream vacation to Disney is what inspires her to create memorable and lasting vacations. Find Dina: www.kithandkintravels.comwww.instagram.com/kithandkintravelswww.facebooks.com/kithandkintravelwww.pinterest.com/kithandkintravels

It's Back to School time, and for military families it's an extra sensitive time of year. Those of us that are parents want our kids to have a great year, make new friends, being included and inclusive, and do their best. But this time of year can be even more stressful for those of us who have special needs children, ones who have an IEP or a 504 plan. In this episode, I spoke to a special needs parent turned educational advocate for all military children. Michelle Norman’s story began over 15 years ago when her daughter was prematurely born at 27 weeks in Norfolk, VA. She suddenly found herself navigating the medical and educational world of special needs and refused to accept the status quo for her daughter. In 2016, Norman successfully battled their school district over the appropriateness of her daughter’s educational plan resulting in the establishment of a case law in her daughter’s name. She continues to pursue change by promoting awareness of the challenging special education issues military families face. Among many things, she engages with legislators, supports bills that will help low income military families access an appropriate education and co-founded the support group Parents for FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education). Norman not only continues to fight for her daughter’s education but is committed to supporting the many families struggling to find a way to effectively advocate for their own children’s education. “Being a parent in a military lifestyle is difficult as it is. And if you are parent of a child with special needs in the military, it is exponentially more challenging. Moving every two or three years makes it almost impossible to make any positive change when the education of our most vulnerable children fails to meet the minimum legal standards, even for the most determined parents,” says Norman. “As united military families, our collective goal is for ALL of our children get the opportunity to learn and be productive members of society. I am thankful that the Armed Forces Insurance Military Spouse of the Year program allows me to shine a spotlight on this important issue and am honored to represent these extraordinary military families.”  Find Michelle: FB page @MichelleNormanMSOY

Books, books, books! It is my go to way to help my kids through any difficult situation. Child diagnosed with autism? Find a book. Starting school? Go get a book at the library. Moving because of your parent's job? Scour the interwebz looking for books for military kids. And there are so many great books out there just for military kids. In this episode, I speak to one half of a couple that decided to create a whole series devoted to the experiences that MilKids go through.    Meet the authors: Dr. Johanna Gomez is a military spouse and licensed Mental Health Counselor. Johanna has dedicated her life to supporting military families, both in her personal and professional career.Daniel Gomez is a US Army Special Operations Officer and Combat Veteran. A proven leader and certified military instructor, Danny specializes in both education and training. Find Adventures of a Military Brat: www.adventuresofamilitarybrat.com

Our tips and tricks from our semi-DITY move from this summer.

It's officially summer and that means vacation time! And there is a service that is available to all active duty, retiree, and military beneficiaries to help offset the costs. You really can see the world when you are a part of the military family. And whether you call it Space A (space available) or MilAir, it's still a great way to travel for little to nothing. I talked to the voice behind the blog Poppin' Smoke about her life traveling around the globe and how easy it is for military families to use this wonderful benefit. Stephanie Montague is the founder of the military travel website Poppin’ Smoke. She created Poppin’ Smoke to encourage members of the military community, particularly retirees, to use the benefits they earned through their service to travel and explore new adventures. Stephanie and her husband have been traveling and living overseas since her husband retired from the Army in 2015. After flying military Space-A around the globe, they spent two-and-a-half years living in Fukuoka, Japan. In February, they hit the road again and flew Space-A from Japan all the way to Europe, where they are looking for the next place to call “home.” Find Stephanie: https://www.poppinsmoke.com/https://www.facebook.com/PoppinSmokeSite/https://www.instagram.com/poppinsmoke_militarytravel/https://www.pinterest.com/poppinsmoke/https://twitter.com/PoppinSmokeSite Join the Facebook group The MilFamily! Take the Season 4 Listener Survey!