Empowering Military Spouses to Conquer Adversity and Thrive: The Mission Milspouse Journey

Christine: Hello friends. I hope you are getting back into the swing of things. So many of us have kids that are going back to school. Organizations are kicking off, and you may or may not be settling into a brand new community, trying to build that community, that network from scratch.

If that is you, you are absolutely not alone. The longer that I’m a military spouse, the more I appreciate the power and the supportiveness of our global military spouse community. There are so many resources that are available to help you thrive as military spouses. I know sometimes it can be challenging to find those resources.

[00:02:10] That is why I am excited to bring you today’s conversation. We are talking with the current executive director of Mission Milspouse, Dr. Sharita Knobloch, formerly known as the Army Wife Network. Mission Milspouse exists to globally empower military spouses with resources, supporting them to conquer adversity, foster confidence.

[00:02:36] And thrive in this military life. And as you’ll hear in this episode, Sharita began serving with the organization in 2014 as a blogger, and as they say, things escalated quickly. She is an army spouse of over 12 years, a mama of two. And a dissertation chair in the Department of Community Care and Counseling at Liberty University in 2020.

[00:03:03] She was named the Armed Forces Insurance Fort Bliss Spouse of the Year. I cannot wait to share this conversation with you, but. Before I do, let me remind you that resources like Mission Milspouse, like the Milspouse Mastermind show they exist to help military spouses thrive and they grow because you share them with others.

[00:03:31] No military spouse should have to navigate this life alone. When you do things like share this episode online or with a friend. Or you leave a podcast review on Apple Podcast, it helps more people learn about this show to learn about the resources that exist, and that ultimately helps us help more military spouses.

[00:03:58] So thank you for sharing. Thank you for talking. Thank you for leaving a review. All right. Here’s my conversation with Dr. Sarita Nala. Today we are going behind the scenes of Mission Milspouse, formerly known as the Army Wife Network. Mission Milspouse recently rebranded and launched as a 501C3 nonprofit.

[00:04:20] Today we are talking with the executive director of Mission Milspouse, Dr. Sharita Knobloch. Welcome to the Milspouse Mastermind Show.

[00:04:29] Sharita: Christine, thanks so much. Super pumped to be here.

An Unexpected Path to Milspouse Life

[00:04:30] Christine: Okay. The place I always love to start is just by hearing everyone’s military spouse origin story.

[00:04:38] Sharita: Oh boy. Okay. That’s a fun place to start. So, as many of our milspouse listeners probably understand, becoming a milspouse was never part of my no plan. I had big plans of graduating my undergraduate and then going to work for corporate America and ruling the world. I. All that kind of stuff. And Interstage left this blonde-haired, blue-eyed infantryman stationed at Fort Riley, uh, 40 days before my undergraduate graduation.

[00:05:09] And as my mom always said, when I fa when I fell in love, I was going to faceplant. And that was to, I was toast. I was so done after that. Um, and so we started kind of dating. He was my first real ever boyfriend. You know, I’d gone on a few dates in college, but never. Anyone that I would call like this is my boyfriend that was just never went that direction.

[00:05:33] Probably because I was kind of a feisty, super strong woman, and so I think I scared boys a lot, so you just got to find the right one, right?

[00:05:44] Sharita: Brandon was not scared. He was like super, like in charge. I was like, he picked the restaurant, he like, Drove us there. I don’t have to like work so hard. This is cool.

[00:05:52] So we did the long-distance thing. Uh, we went on one date and he’s like, oh, hey, I’m going to Fort Benning for, uh, what was it, Bock, a basic non-commission officer school. I was like, I don’t know what that means, but all right. Sure. He was gone for 30 days talking on the phone, calls me again, or calls me in one day, is like, Hey, great news.

[00:06:10] Got an airborne school also. Don’t know what that means. I’ll be gone for 30 more days. Okay, you’re going to miss my college graduation. It is what it is, you know? Um, and so that just kind of started the no plan, plan journey of my male spouse experience. He told me from the get go that he was in the inventory and couldn’t give me the time, the attention he deserved.

[00:06:33] And I just remember laughing with my college roommates. Like, this guy needs to just chill. We’re going on like one date. It’s not like I’m going to marry him. Uh, and here we are. 14 years later, uh, since we’ve met. So he deployed later that year, just four months after we started dating. I’d moved to a different town by then.

[00:06:51] He was gone for nine months, came home on r and r, proposed, left again for three, came back, got married, and then we just started moving all over the place. Uh, since that time we’ve been five or six different duty stations. Two. Two more deployments. Yeah, just two more deployments since then. I think maybe three.

[00:07:14] I think it’s just two. And then, um, had two kiddos now a 10-year-old girl and a six year old boy. And we’re currently stationed at Fort Bliss, so that’s the how I became a milspouse. Part of my story.

[00:07:28] Christine: So you really got thrown into the deep end and, and went through the whole thing and you’re, you, you kind of knew like, okay, like this is not a normal life that I’m getting into.

[00:07:42] Sharita: Right? And it was very funny that that was the direction things went because I am such a planner and I’m like, I need details and I need things written in ink and Nope. And so it was really hard adjustment at first, but now, again, years later. I’m, I hold it so much more loosely, and I was like, oh, all right.

[00:08:01] Like, Whatever, have a great time. How, you know, how can I support you? I got, I’m taking care of the kids and doing admission milspouse stuff and professor things and not that kind of doctor things over here. So, um, still cheering him on. He’s been in 19 and a half years. So we’re kind of getting close to that home stretch.

Embracing the No-Plan Plan

[00:08:21] Christine: So what was that like as someone who was planning to go into corporate America and realizing that you’ve got to start moving all over the place? Talk about that transition and kind of what you figured out that worked for you.

[00:08:36] Sharita: Well, it was definitely a blessing. I didn’t really know it at the time because I remember being like, I want to have a career and all these things, and.

[00:08:47] It ended up being a huge blessing too. Be his support because the corporate job that I had planned to be my dream was an absolute disaster. Like it was a disaster. And so almost having him as like, oh, sorry, I have a new plan and it’s way more fun and way less stressful and makes me cry less, I’m going this direction.

[00:09:12] Was kind of a great, beautiful, out on my behalf. And so I’m really thankful for that. But, I remember a couple years in, you know, I’m, I’m a woman who, Really leans on my faith. My husband was a huge catalyst for that and I remember kind of asking the Lord like, how am I supposed to like do stuff and move every five minutes?

[00:09:33] And that’s when he called me to ministry, went back to get my master’s, and just started like serving and volunteering, blogged on my own for a while. Apprenticed as a church, as a serve pastor. These things that were fulfilling didn’t necessarily make any money at the time, but were really planting those seeds of what would eventually blossom into volunteer opportunities bigger and more impactful than I could have ever, ever manufactured on my own.

[00:10:02] Christine: I love that so much because so many times we think we have this dream and, and that we’re like, this is what I want to do. It’s almost a blessing in disguise to be able to say, Hey, this is not what I thought it was gonna be.

[00:10:16] Versus spending Right. 10 years of your life, building this thing that you think is the thing that you want, and then get there and realize. Mm-hmm. It’s not at all fulfilling and so, To be able to recognize that I can’t do the thing that I thought I so desperately wanted to do. Mm-hmm. Um, but to have all of these other doors open to you that you probably never would’ve walked through otherwise.

[00:10:42] Uh, but to learn to find the things that are truly fulfilling and truly make a difference in the lives of others.

[00:10:50] Sharita: A hundred percent like what I have done and not really what I have done, but the things that I’ve experienced and the people I’ve met and the opportunities I’ve had to serve, I feel like have such a greater impact than anything I could or would’ve, should’ve done in corporate America.

[00:11:05] And plus, I get to love a great guy and raise great kids and see new places and have this experience as a male spouse that is a perfect fit for me, um, in so many ways that I, again, never could have like picked or planned. On my own

Finding Purpose in New Opportunities as a Milspouse

[00:11:21] Christine: So talk about how you were first introduced to what I, what I guess was still Army Wife Network at the time, um, and how did you start to get involved with them?

[00:11:32] Sharita: This is one of my favorite pieces of my journey because to be perfectly honest, the reason I started blogging, like I started out as a blogger with what was Army Wife Network back in 2014. So Army Wife Network. Started podcasting with Army Wife Talk Radio in 2005, which is bananas to me. I was like 18 years ago.

[00:11:54] What? I was not listening to podcasts in oh five. That’s crazy talk. Um, and then the website was built in oh nine, and so I joined the party as a blogger in 2014, strictly with the intention of me becoming a less cranky male spouse because I was feeling kind of jaded. A little crispy kind of burnt out already on the journey and a little pessimistic, and I was like, you know what?

[00:12:22] I’m not gonna write publicly in a negative way. That’s not my jam. And so I didn’t write inauthentically, but I would write about the tough stuff and then force myself to find the good things to hunt the good, to highlight what I’m learning, who helped me. How other people can help because I do love that encouragement piece.

[00:12:44] And so it was encouraging not only to myself, but also to people who got to read it. And so that was the initial motivation. Pretty kind of selfish of like, I need to stop being so cranky and negative. And that forced me to like see the milspouse life in a completely different life light with that intention.

[00:13:06] And then the more I acclimated to that, the deeper in community I got in real life and also online, it really just escalated into what a powerhouse demographic, and I’m so glad I get to be part of it.

[00:13:21] Christine: I think it’s kind of crazy to think first of all, that podcasting really has been around for that long and, and just to think, you know, most of us come to podcasting as this thing that’s been around for a few years now.

[00:13:37] But yes, there was people all the way back in 2005 that were putting out podcasts before, you know, all of these apps. That exists. So I just have to say like, let’s stop and just think for how long podcasting has really been about. Mm-hmm. But what I love about your story is just number one, how so many of us who have been on this military spouse journey for more than a few years can relate to your story.

[00:14:04] And getting to that point where you feel a little frustrated and jaded and you know, there, there are challenges and to be able to. Force yourself to change, to shift that mindset and to take the focus off of. Me and put it on, okay, how can I use my life and my story to encourage others? And when we can begin to shift our focus and think of it outside of ourselves, not just, Hey, this is what happened to me, but this is what I can take from this.

[00:14:41] These are the things I’m learning from this, that is so, so powerful and, and it really can transform our lives.

[00:14:49] Sharita: A hundred percent. And it really did, like, again, it gave me community, it, it showed me solidarity of like, man, all of us are needing to embrace the suck together. Um, but then also how it’s just grown sim really organically in a way of like, I didn’t, I didn’t manufacture this, I didn’t come up with this.

[00:15:14] Everything, everything, everything just really kind of cool. Um, and so that’s been really cool as part of my journey too.

[00:15:22] Christine: So then talk about going from, Hey, I’m blogging for this community. How did your role kind of evolve over time?

[00:15:32] Sharita: That is very much part of the no plan, plan that I adopted very early in the milspouse life and then have now, That’s the vision casting.

[00:15:41] It’s not profound, it’s not deep, but that’s kind of our joke on the command team with Mission Milspouse is the no plan, plan because as milspouses, we have a plan and then it changes, and then we have a new plan and it changes and we might go back to the original plan. So it’s a no plan, plan. Uh, I was blogging just for, I feel like maybe like a year.

[00:16:02] A little over a year, maybe a year and a half when, um, the leadership was changing within what was then Army Wife Network. The original founders were essentially giving Army Wife network up for adoption. And so they were transitioning out because they had been doing it for, what’s the math on that? Nine, uh, like 12 years or something.

[00:16:23] Wait, 16. I don’t know. There’s math. That’s a long time. I don’t know how long it was. Um, it was a while since they were doing the podcast and when they founded it. And so they were transitioning out and, um, the new owner stepped in with Army Wife Network and she needed a deputy director or a deputy commander.

[00:16:42] And so she invited me, they invited me to join the blogging, the as, uh, blog editor in chief and then quickly put me up to second in command. Just to like help drive the cruise ship. And so I was deputy commander, uh, for from 2016 to the middle of 2019. And then at that point, the current owner, she passed it on to me and I moved into what we call then the commander role and now what we call the executive director position.

[00:17:15] Christine: It’s just so great to see what happens when we can just be available for what’s next. And just be open to the pivots. The things that, you know, we don’t know, we can’t see into the future, but just putting yourself in those places where there is opportunities and, and we don’t know what the path is gonna look like, um, but it, but it’s mm-hmm.

[00:17:41] Really. Encouraging and inspiring to hear from people that have just made themselves available and then said, look at what has happened because of that. Yep. ’cause I just showed up and made the most of where I was

[00:17:56] Sharita: today in that season. Yep. Yep. Knowing that every season is different, I feel like that’s huge.

[00:18:00] Christine:  Yes. I mean, I think it’s so important to understand that your contribution, it’s, it’s so important to have that way for you to. Encourage others, but that looks different in each season. Mm-hmm. And, and just to be okay with that, because I know for me, when I had three kids under the age of four and I felt like I was drowning, and I’m like, life just feels so overwhelming and I’m not able to use my skills in the way that I want to, but that season doesn’t stay that way forever.

[00:18:34] Sharita: Right. It was absolutely only a season that your hair’s on fire with little kids for a season, and then it’s like, oh, look at that. Their potty training and going to school, and this is new, you know, and then you can lean back into some of those other things. And it doesn’t mean that it’s more, less than or greater than none of that, but it’s just different in a really beautiful way of embracing the season of whatever male spouse season that you’re actually in.

From Army Wife Network to Mission Milspouse

[00:19:01] Christine: For sure. So I would love for you to kind of unpack when you took over that role of being in charge and saying, okay, like let’s rethink the way, let’s reshape this organization and can, can you kind of talk us through that process?

[00:19:16] Sharita: I would be honored to do so. Alright. So I stepped into the executive director role in proof middle of 2019, and at that point, the thought of becoming a nonprofit, Was really on my heart.

[00:19:31] The rebrand wasn’t on there yet ’cause we didn’t know that we needed it quite yet. Um, because I was like, I am learning so much about the structure and how this works and how people view the organization and very steep learning curve in that season. And so the other great thing about that is that was not the time for us to start moving that direction.

[00:19:52] It was on my heart, kind of in the back of my head. We have a little chitty chat on the command team about it. Something. I was still working on my dissertation at that time, so I was like, Hmm, probably need to chill. I don’t think I can do, do two giant things at once. Plus, as none of us knew the pandemic was coming, so it was really for me, you know, a, a self-protective thing.

[00:20:14] We didn’t know it, but that was a transition season of we moved our podcast from live to prerecorded. Which was extremely empowering because it freed up our command team where all volunteers, myself included it, freed up our command team to do the interviews and do their host and co-host recording anytime of day instead of at a specific time hoping that the guest shows up live.

[00:20:39] You know, we couldn’t edit ’cause it was live and so it just, it just blew the doors off of the flexibility of the organization as far as what we were producing. And so we made it through the pandemic. Without missing a beat. We made it through my dissertation. I may have missed a few beats there, but we still kept functioning.

[00:20:57] I was like, you guys have to keep going. I gotta go do all these things and survey a thousand spouses and all, does the stuff and things during a pandemic while homeschooling a second grader, kind of against my will. But that’s story. Big deal for another day. Uh, no big deal. Uh, when everyone in my house is home.

[00:21:14] I was like, all these humans that I love so much, I cannot write a dissertation while you’re here. And there’s nowhere to go. So that was a memorable season for me. We’ll call it memorable, but you did it. Um, but oh my gosh, we made it, it was, we were running on fumes at the end of 2021, but I made it recovered from that.

[00:21:35] And at that point, in 2022, I was able to look at my team and be like, alright, let’s do this. Like, we had already started the process. Like I think we had. We’d already landed. They already started the process. They had landed on a name a re, like the colors, the logo, all of this stuff. Not my brainchild at all.

[00:21:55] I was like, you guys are geniuses. Look at this stuff you’re creating. And so that’s when we really kicked it in high gear and we’re like, we’re moving to not only become a 5 0 1 c three, officially get that stamp from the i r s, but also let’s rebrand because we realize that. Army Wife Network was really incredible for the season that it was in existence as Army Wife Network.

[00:22:19] So back again in oh five and oh nine when those things were first founded, army and Wife was a very specific powerful demographic. But since that time, in almost 20 years, the, the demographic has changed and it’s more of a universal military spouse experience. And so when we would go to like conferences or share our resources, It was a hard stop with a lot of spouses we were trying to reach because they were like, we’re not army or we’re not wife, which makes sense.

[00:22:47] Even though 90 plus percent of our resources are applicable to all spouses, all branches, all components, most folks PCS, most people. Have babies, most folks deal with the deployment, homeschool or go to public school or you know, go back to school and you know, further their education, higher education, transition out, just deal with medical issues.

[00:23:12] All of these things were universal, but we weren’t able to reach that universal audience. And so that was when we were like, okay, army Wife Network needs to move to something milspouse so that we can reach those folks. And that’s what we did. The command team. Man, those ladies crush it. Their creativity, their drive.

[00:23:30] As volunteers. We probably did more work in a year, uh, with this rebrand and really in the last three months before we launched publicly than we need to talk about because it was super intense, really exhausting, but really, really rewarding. And so this, earlier this year, we launched as Mission:Milspouse publicly, and we’ve just seen a gradual uptick in the, the response, the feedback, and the engagement on a variety of fronts.

[00:23:58] Christine: I love it because there’s so much that unites us as military spouses and, and while we each have our unique experiences, um, the, the things that each of us create can really help so many people across the spectrum. What would you say were some of your biggest learning points through that whole rebrand process?

[00:24:18] Sharita: Oh, I learned more than I never wanted to know about the process. Oh my gosh. IRS paperwork. That’s a fun project. Um, man, need some adults for that. And then just the, all of the pieces that you had to think about because you know, you’re like, oh yeah, it sounds like a big project. But then, You know, coordinating the giveaways and again, landing on a name and a logo, which turned out beautifully.

[00:24:46] But that was a labor of love to try to encapsulate what we were doing and still make it unique enough that it’s ours and not be like copying someone else, but still encapsulate what we’re doing. So I really think the biggest learning piece was how I already kind of knew this, but it was just affirmed in a very deep way.

[00:25:07] How important a really strong team is for something like this, because again, I was not on the task force to come up with a name. I was like, look, I am writing my dissertation. I have no creative brainpower at all. I trust you gals to make something happen. And they picked the name, they created it, came up with it.

[00:25:26] Um, our marketing team came up with the campaigns and again, worked really hard on the logo and all of those things. So really empowering other people. To step in, to lean in to those hard places, to do what they do best and let them shine. Because I’m not a marketer, I’m not a designer. I am not a name. I’m, I’m a good name maker upper, but I’m too cheesy.

[00:25:49] So they were like, no, that’s, nope, you’re fired. You, nope, Sharita, you can’t say that. You know, because I was like, this is fun, and it rhymes. And they were like, it’s terrible. I was like, all right, I’m going to go work on my dissertation. You guys do this. So, um, that was kind of really letting them. Shine with what they brought to the table because we have such a talented team of volunteers.

Volunteer Opportunities: Fueling Personal Growth

[00:26:11] Christine: Well, and one of the things that I love about your program, is that it enables military spouses to use their skills. And yes, it’s all volunteer, but you’re able to take those skills that you’re going to be able to use later on in life. I. Opened up my, my Facebook feed this morning just to like, somebody saying, Hey, like, how do, what, how do I put, I raise kids on a resume?

[00:26:39] Um, but when you have these outlets that allow you to use your skills and your passions mm-hmm. You’re building that foundation for the future, so, I’d love to have you talk a little bit more about these volunteer opportunities and, and how you’ve attracted people to that and, and what that offers to spouses.

[00:27:04] Sharita: Our team has grown significantly in the time that I’ve been executive director. I feel like we started out maybe with like 10 people on our command team, and right now we are running at like 23. So we have doubled essentially since in the last three, almost four years, I’m doing the math right. Um, our blogging team were, we were probably at like, you know, the blogging team would rotate just based on their life seasons and PCs and in transition.

[00:27:36] But since we’ve rebranded, we have a full blogging team and we’re producing new content every day. Like daily, like 30 plus people writing for mission milspouse now. And the really empowering part of this whole process is when we have a position open on our command team or our board or as bloggers or even podcasting, people come to us wanting to serve in this capacity, first of all.

[00:28:03] ’cause they love military spouses and they want to do something to give back. But even more so what you just kind of said, Christine, having something. For themselves. You know, and again, I’m not at all saying that to say that being a mom or dad or a parent or the supporting spouse is any kind of less than, absolutely not extremely vital component to the military process.

[00:28:28] But there is something so beautiful about having something for yourself to work on yourself, to polish those skills, to have this really cool volunteer opportunity and to have. A great recommendation when you do, if you choose to transition into the workforce or move to a different volunteer organization or whatever that looks like, it brings such a deeper substance that we’re able to be even stronger.

[00:28:55] Moms, dads, milspouses, service members fill in the blank when we’re not just doing the one thing that sometimes feels. A little more draining than encouraging. You know, it’s parenting meal. Spousing can be kind of a thankless job, but when we get to do stuff like this, it fuels and supports the rest of our callings in our life.

[00:29:18] And most of the command team members when they interview and I ask them the question, you know, why do you want to serve with Mission Milspouse? They’re like, I want something more. I want to do something for our community, or I want something for myself to be a professional. What a privilege it is to give them that position and to turn them loose and watch them go.

[00:29:40] Christine: Yeah. I mean, it’s so powerful just to have that thing that really allows you to, that lights your soul on fire. That you’re doing something, that you have a way to give back and, and to not take away from the importance of raising families. Sure. Raising the next generation and supporting our spouses and what they do.

[00:30:01] But there is something so powerful and feeling like you have a. Your own purpose and that sense of there is something that I have to offer the world. And when I’m able to step into that, we become the most alive parts of ourself and we’re able to serve our spouses, to serve our kids, to serve our community better when we are using what God has given us.

[00:30:31] Sharita: A hundred percent on point. I totally agree.

Mission Milspouse’s Empowering Mission

[00:30:34] Christine: Yeah, so talk about what the mission of Mission Milspouse is and, and really what you’re hoping to do for the community at large.

[00:30:44] Sharita: So Mission Milspouse is continuing that super long, really legacy of Army Wife Network and um, bottom line, um, our mission is to globally empower military spouses with resources.

[00:31:00] As we support them to conquer adversity, foster confidence, and thrive in this military life. So that’s kind of a mouthful, but the first point of that is empower military spouses. And the reason we chose the word empower, that’s what, um, you know, what our mission was with Army Wife Network is empower is the opposite of deprivation.

[00:31:23] So sometimes milspouse life can feel a little bit. Depriving in the way of, we don’t necessarily maybe get to choose where we live or where we work, or when our service member is here or not. Do we get to go home for holidays? All of those things that we don’t get to. Again, it goes back to focusing on the.

[00:31:44] Blah part of the process as opposed to being empowered. So taking that upon ourself, what we can celebrate, what we can do, what we can do in this season, and the other components, the resources. Man, we have so many resources. This year we will hit 300, not 300, 3000 blog posts on our website, 3000 blog posts, and then later this year we’ll also hit.

[00:32:11] We’ll broadcast our 1000th, I can’t even say it, episode number 1000 for our podcast, a thousand episodes over the years of podcasting. So amazing. You name it, we probably have a resource on it. You can search it. And from PCSing to our super popular series called Embrace Your Base. So we take each military installation.

[00:32:36] Right now most of them are still Army ’cause we haven’t had quite enough time to expand to all the branches. But embrace your base. So we take military installations and say where they’re at, what the weather’s like, what are the units, are there who, you know, what’s the housing like? Schools recommended and you know, Nail shops and dentists and doctors and yada yada.

[00:33:00] All the things, you know, getting them plugged in, um, with that. And then, um, we also have, again, our podcast, which drops twice weekly. Monday is our full-length episodes where we do interviews, kind of like we’re having here. And then Thursday we have what we call our mini cast. And so they’re the little short bite-sized episodes.

[00:33:17] Our team members individually or maybe like a pair, will share and talk about something that they may be. An expert in or navigating or just want to encourage our spouses in a specific way in little bite-sized trunks. Um, so we have tons and tons of resources from, again, PCSing Mental Health, transitioning out med board space, a OCONUS things, homeschooling Parenting.

[00:33:46] You name it, it’s probably on there. And the, the purpose behind all that is to conquer adversity. ’cause we all know there’s plenty of adversity that we face. Foster confidence. So get you the resources to be like, oh yeah, I can do this. And really thrive. You know, go beyond that surviving mentality, thriving in this military life by creating that solidarity of, Hey, yo, you’re not doing this alone.

[00:34:08] It feels like it. We’ve been there, done that, cried those tears, lost that kitchen table somewhere in a pawn shop in the PCS, right? Like solidarity. And that’s really what we’re trying to do here at Mission Milspouse.

[00:34:21] Christine: Love it. So one of my favorite questions to ask on the podcast is, what’s your big dream for the future?

[00:34:30] Sharita: Oh man, we have so many. Really, our big dream, my big dream would be. To be the go-to sort resource for military spouses that when they say I do to their service member, whether that’s right before they deploy at the courthouse or a big, huge wedding after the deployment, or whatever’s in between that that mission male spouse would be the foundational component for support and service, and that we would have so much support.

[00:35:04] Not only, um, Physically as far as like hands and feet, the, the labor, the hours, the bandwidth for that, but also financially that we could do fun Giveaways, like do really big programs for our spouses to bless them. And also, honestly, to pay our command team members like these ladies that work so hard are worth, I can’t even put a price tag on it.

[00:35:29] Like last year they volunteered I think almost 7,000 hours to serve Mission male spouse. To recognize that and for this to be like something they not only love and get paid for to support their family. Oh my gosh. That would be the absolute dream come true.

[00:35:47] Christine: For sure. I mean, I think it’s so empowering because we are all about wanting to serve and so many in the military spouse community, they want to be able to give back and we all see these needs and we are willing to step up and fill it.

[00:36:03] But when somebody is willing to to say like, You deserve to get paid for this and there’s a way to give you that monetary compensation for the blood, sweat in tears. Yeah. That we pour into the community. That is incredibly powerful and my hope is to see more people stepping up and being able to pay military spouses.

[00:36:25] Mm-hmm. For what they have to offer. Because it is incredible the work that I see so many military spouses doing. Yes. All right, so let us know what’s the best way to find all the resources, what’s available. Share a little bit about what you offer and how to find you.

Joining the Mission Milspouse Community

[00:36:43] Sharita: Of course we’ve got our website, mission milspouse.org, just like it sounds. Follow us on all social media outlets at Mission Milspouse. So that’s Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn. Twitter’s a little funky cause it has like shorter characters, so it’s Mission Milspo over there. That wasn’t our choice. They just said we couldn’t say our whole name because it wouldn’t fit.

[00:37:05] But um, We’re all over the place. We, again, we drop our podcast twice a week, so subscribe, Google Play, Spotify, apple, subscribe to the Mission Milspouse podcast. We’ve got. Great folks on there all the time. You’ll be on soon. Um, I checked the schedule and I was like, I’m coming. I know. I was like, I want to interview her.

[00:37:25] So I was like, call dibs on that, um, conversation. So yeah, just get connected with us online if you want to, you know, of course, we’re always seeking folks to support us financially, even if it’s like, Hey, I have five bucks. Awesome. That pays for part of our newsletter subscription, right? Or the things that we do.

[00:37:43] So subscribe to our newsletter. The sit rep comes out just twice a month. Or if anyone listening is like, man, this sounds like an organization I would love to support, email us hello@missionmilspouse.org to volunteer with our command team to write for us blog or. If you’re a milspouse that you’ve written a book or have your own podcast or have resources that deal with military life, hit us up podcast@missionmilspouse.org and sign up to be a guest on our show.

[00:38:17] Christine: Awesome. I’ll have all of that linked below in the show notes. Dr. Sharita Knobloch, thank you so much for taking the time out to share about what you’re doing and the impact that Mission Milspouse is having.

[00:38:31] Sharita: I appreciate your time so much and can’t wait to share this with your listeners and can’t wait to showcase you and the Milspouse Mastermind show on our podcast very soon as well.

[00:38:41] Christine: I absolutely enjoyed this conversation. I cannot wait to be a guest on Mission Mills spouse, but I especially love when Sarita talked about how she was in a season where she did not love her life and she challenged herself to do something, to share something that helped her as she put it.

[00:39:03] Be less cranky and negative about what she was experiencing. Oftentimes, when we are able to take the focus off of ourselves and what we’re feeling and we’re able to look at a situation a little more objectively, we realize that we can almost always find a bit of a silver lining, and that’s what we’re going to be talking about next week on the show as I share my worst-case scenario of traveling solo with three kids this summer and what I learned that can help us all as we build our resilience toolkit and learn how to thrive despite the challenges of life. I. If you have not left a review of the show, please take a couple of minutes to do so. It means the world to me. Alright, have a great week, friends. I will meet you back here next week on the podcast. Until then, may you live filled, fueled and full of joy.