Hey there, listener! Thank you for checking out our older seasons! We're adding this note on the top of the show notes to keep you up-to-date with the show. Connect with Jen Amos and get bonus content when you subscribe to our private podcast show, Inside the Fort by US VetWealth, at http://insidethefort.com/

Last Updated: September 2, 2024

---

084: Monthly deployment countdown boxes for military kids with a deployed parent with Ashley Weinert

Military Spouse & Creator of Counting Our Heroes Home Ashley Weinert started her business during her husband's 13-month deployment while solo parenting 5 kids on the home front. She shares the benefits of a monthly deployment countdown box for military kids with a deployed parent, the community that comes with this subscription, and much more.

Learn more at https://www.countingourheroeshome.com/ or follow Ashley on Facebook / Instagram @countingourheroeshome

--

We're now accepting guests! Apply today https://forms.gle/sDY5nPkEMu665FXn6

For our latest news: https://mailchi.mp/2c444e4b65c0/holdingdownthefort-10016697

Stay updated! Subscribe to our newsletter http://eepurl.com/gTTOdT

Visit our website https://www.holdingdownthefortpodcast.com/

Sponsored by US VetWealth - The moment that you leave the military is the biggest opportunity of your lifetime, and you’re going to need money for it. Download the first three chapters of Scott R. Tucker’s (Jen’s husband and business partner) Veteran Wealth Secrets for FREE to learn more at http://veteranwealthsecrets.com/

Connect with our co-hosts Jen Amos jen@holdingdownthefortpodcast.com and Jenny Lynne Stroup https://jennylynnestroup.com/ or jennylynnestroup379@gmail.com

November 2020, Jen Amos and Holding Down the Fort Podcast was awarded “Media Professional of the Year” at The Rosie Network Entrepreneur Awards! Check out her acceptance speech at https://therosienetwork.org/entrepreneur-awards

Enjoy our show? Kindly leave us a review on Apple Podcasts https://apple.co/30SJ7NW, Podchaser https://bit.ly/3dnCacY, or write a LinkedIn Recommendation for Jen https://bit.ly/3jNobzB

Unknown Speaker 0:00

Alright,

Speaker 1 0:00

hey everyone. Welcome back to another episode season four of holding down the fort. I am your co host, john Ramos. And as always, I have my incredible co host with me, Jenny Lynch troupe. jennylyn. Welcome back.

Unknown Speaker 0:11

Hey, thanks for having me. Glad to be here.

Jen Amos 0:13

Yes. And you are going to help me. You're going to kind of like balance us out today because I'm highly caffeinated. So, yeah. And I have to like, just be mindful of pacing myself and enunciating and pausing. Because I've just been like 100 miles per hour today, which is I mean, it's normal for me, but I guess it's been more so today, for some reason, which, oddly enough, I have like less meetings this week. So I don't know why I'm acting this way. On that note, let's go ahead and bring on our guest today. We have we have military spouse and creator of you guys can't see this, but jennylyn just like laughing at me. She's like, what?

Speaker 1 0:51

Unknown Speaker 1:15

I'm sorry, I

Speaker 1 1:16

Jen Amos 4:32

Wow. Yeah, that's incredible. The only subscription box I get nowadays, I mean, other than when I order just stuff for that house cleaning stuff is a cocktail boxes. So every month I get a cocktail kit, and it gives me everything I need to create a cocktail except I have to go to the store to get alcohol. So that's the only thing I have to do when I have to get out and get alcohol for the cocktail kit. But that's my understanding of subscription boxes for a lack of better experience. Give us some examples of Like subscription boxes that inspired you to create your own.

Speaker 1 5:04

So one in particular is brave crate, which is actually a subscription box for military wives that are going through deployment. And so I was subscribed to I didn't find it right away throughout my husband's deployment, but I'm subscribed afterwards, like a little ways into it. And so I was receiving that I knew that something like that was available for the spouses that were at home, in particular, the wife's that were at home. And so that's kind of where it came from, I think is that kind of served as a countdown box, in itself, you know, each month, you know, your last box means that your significant others coming home, you know, so it's kind of something exciting like that. Some other really common ones that I was already a part of is like Stitch Fix, which is a clothing. Yes,

Unknown Speaker 5:47

I have used that.

Speaker 1 5:49

Yeah. And a fabfitfun was one that I tried when my husband was gone to, which is like beauty products and just different like seasons they do. They're a seasonal box, though. So they only send them four times a year. So they can kind of however you want to format it. But especially like during the pandemic, I was like, you know, we weren't sure, obviously, how long it was going to last. I mean, I feel like we're still kind of in it. Yeah. And just not knowing like, Can you go somewhere? Can you do anything. And I tried really, really hard to keep my family busy during deployment. And when the pandemic happened, it was a blessing in disguise to slow down to just be like, it's okay to take things slow, it's okay to take a step back. It's okay to just stay home. But at the same time, you still want to have stuff to do at home. So one thing that we always include is like a family activity, whether that's like arts and crafts, or like a science experiment, or whatever it is for the month, we always include some sort of activity that they can work on and it's sent directly to home can be done at home. So it's kind of perfect. I mean, if you're having to stay at home, but also if I mean, even if you are out and about again, but just having all the supplies sent directly to your house and not having to worry about it, which I think most people buy stuff online for convenience. Yeah, yeah, definitely. I think a lot of us have really transitioned to that. I literally just got something online, I got like a cute little like vanity mirrors. Because I was like, man, I need a mirror in here, because I can only do so much with my phone and the camera on zoom. But it's just so easy nowadays, just go online and click on something and no, it's gonna get straight to your house. It's almost too easy sometimes. My husband would say it is way too easy. Make it a little bit harder to click Add to Cart because,

Jen Amos 7:33

yeah, exactly. It's like you almost just kind of do it. Because it's just too easy. You're like, Oh, I could just get that right now like, and you know, the sad part. And this is very unfortunate for small businesses is that a lot of times it's cheaper to I mean, you know, a lot of these companies have just gotten really better at the whole shipping and handling and making products like just cheaper material to make. And of course, if America is driven off of instinct, gratification, you know, so just be like, click on that. And there you go. And so I've definitely done that. I'm guilty of that is what I'm trying to say. And I like to believe that I justify every purchase I make. But, you know, my husband can be the judge of that.

Speaker 2 8:12

I mean, I was chuckling like I think your strategy for surviving deployment in a pandemic is strong. We were not in the middle of a deployment and still on a first name basis with our Amazon guy, our FedEx guy and our ups guy. Because I live in California, and we haven't been able to go anywhere for like 10 months straight, except for a few weeks here or there. So subscription boxes became super fun at my house, too, as well as Amazon. So strong strategy, I appreciate you capitalizing on that and doing something for the military community. Because I think you're right. I mean, most of us are, if we weren't already doing a lot of online shopping for sure are now after this last year, and to be able to provide something that's, you know, for the whole family during a time that really sucks, like, is is awesome.

Speaker 1 9:00

Yeah, I sometimes feel like it was I mean, and obviously I didn't plan to start a business, I don't have a background in business. My background is actually in social work and school counseling. So not really like in my wheelhouse. I mean, obviously, that is very helpful with trying to support families and kids, because that's totally, you know what I can do, but sometimes people tell me, it's a great thing to start it in a pandemic. And sometimes it's like, well, you also know that pandemic is hard times for people financially. So it's like, while it can be great, and it can be an awesome, like, supportive thing. financially. Also, I understand when families are like, Yeah, I just can't. I just am right now.

Jen Amos 9:40

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Oddly enough, though, I think there's still a lot of consumerism in America despite that, and it's so interesting, because growing up I was always so familiar with ice cream trucks driving around the neighborhood all the time. You hear that ice cream music, and you're like, Oh my god, that ice cream truck was here. I mean, nowadays, I see the Amazon Truck all the time now or the Amazon ban? And I'm just like, Wow, it's so crazy how times have changed. You know, these Amazon trucks are like, like Santa's elves of Amazon. That's sort of how I started to see. I was like, Oh, the Amazon trick is here. I wonder if they're gonna or the UPS one or the FedEx, but it's like, yeah, I mean, although I don't know, my people at first name basis, like you genuinely and I definitely them all the time. And I get a little giddy like, oh, are they coming to my place? Like, I'll like, look at my Amazon orders. I'm like, Is there anything I ordered? You know, and I definitely very much look forward to that. So on that note, in talking about subscription boxes, Ashley, you have an interesting type of subscription box here, you have a monthly deployment count on box for military kids with a deployed parents tell us what that's about.

So it's all about I think, like before deployment, I didn't really know that much about deployment, like it didn't know what it was going to be like, I'm very much type a planner, like I want to know and have all the resources. So it's very much like the resources are out there. And every single family could go through and find those resources. But I want to make it easy, and have those resources sent directly to them, and have that support there for them right away. So it was very important to me, especially with kids to have the box. And the reason where it came up with like counting our heroes home was having a countdown, some sort of visual countdown every single month, which is really important, especially with kids to have that visualization. So every single month, we include a different countdown tool. So we've done like electronic timer countdown, we had a countdown chain, which we did like closer to the holidays to so they can kind of dual purpose and use it to countdown to the holidays. Chains were a really big one like we we were kind of we were old school in my house. And we did a chain, which for 13 months was a very long chain. But my kids like it, they've always liked them, they've asked for them for like their to count down to their birthdays. And when I was pregnant, it was really good for my older kids to see like how long mom would be pregnant and when is the baby coming and things like that. So we were very familiar with that. That was an easy transition for us to just have a different type of chain. And then I color coded it to like count down to their birthdays and different things that were going on throughout the year. So that they knew like the good things, too, that were coming along the way through all of that time. And we did obviously weekly, not daily countdown, because otherwise, they probably would have taken up my entire house. But just having that type of visualization. So it always includes a countdown tool. And then there's always a deployment related children's book. There's a lot of great ones out there. But then I like to include like discussion questions of things that could be talked about within the household. Just if they're not really talking about their emotions, or they're not talking about how they're feeling it kind of gives that safe space to have those discussions. There's a lot of really great ones that every single month I include reintegration type questions to for them to come back to, you know, when reintegration comes because we my husband's at home for five months. And I would say we're still in reintegration phase like it's been a different season. I guess for us, it's great to be back together again. But my kids still have a lot of big emotions and are still really worried when dad has to leave the house and different things like that. So I like to include different questions that they can then revisit like whether, you know, obviously, they might not be in that season yet, but that they could come back to it and still use those books to kind of help have those conversations. I like to include a fun treat. So I guess I don't know if other people are snack people. But whenever I got subscription boxes that had a snack, it was the first thing to go like I would eat it on the first day as soon as I opened it. And that part just brought me joy. But so

I like to include usually

like a sweet treat where it's like if you're having a hard deployment day, you have something that you can like, you know, snack on. And I usually while I eat them all in one setting. I like to include like Ziploc bag, you know, things that are resealable. So obviously you can have it throughout the month when you're having those tough days or you're having something that you want to celebrate. You have kind of like a fun treat to be able to enjoy throughout the month. And then I also like I mentioned before, have the family activity. So some sort of activity that's going on that you can do. So we've done like bath bomb making kits, like my kids love bath bombs, they were so excited about them throughout deployment and just in general and so then being able to have something that's practical, they could make the bath bombs and then they use the bath bombs and it's not like you have a ton of stuff that's sitting around that you'll never use again. So as a parent of five kids, we have an abundance of stuff in my house. So it's like I also want to think of it from a parent perspective and have it be really useful to them and then not just like sit there and they never use it or look at it or do anything with it. So always having something with a purpose. And so one month, our activity was actually like a care package activity to send to their parent. So then the whole family can get involved with doing the care package with the care package, stickers, and just different things to be able to, because again, they're going to use it, and then they're gonna send it. And so also that's helping them stay connected to their parent who's deployed, I know, my kids loved being able to pick out stuff for care packages, though, oftentimes, the cart was falling, it would be three boxes worth of stuff, so but you know, just finding ways to keep them involved, keep them connected. And like I said, having something that's really practical and purposeful for what they're going through, and then a parent tools. So just finding ways to help like streamline parenting, I guess, during deployment in different like, I feel like as a parent of five, I have to be pretty like, organized. And I have a set way that I do things, you know, to keep me on track with where we need to be and how things work. So being able to provide a parent tool. So we done like meal planning, because having a big family but also during like deployment, you know, you don't want to be running to the store every two days to go grocery shopping or during a pandemic, then you're doing grocery pickup, you know, or whatever the case might be. So having those practical tools that the parents can use. And so we do a parent tool, and then a training that usually goes along with whatever the tool is. So if they've never done meal planning, then I provide training and how I use it. And then, because we have like a separate, like online community for our subscribers to then, like, have our trainings online and be able to offer ideas and suggestions to the other families that are also going to deployment. Mm hmm. Actually, for someone who has lived this life for only five years, sounds like you have it locked down. Sounds like sounds like you mastered it. Well, I told my husband, I was like, I am a perfectionist, which I like to tell people that my first rule or like thing for conquering deployment is to let go of perfection, which is a very hard concept for me. I had to be more like go with the flow. But I think what prepared me most for deployment was just that I am used to having five kids. I mean, the kids didn't appear out of nowhere, like deployment. I mean, I always tell everybody, it was kind of an interesting initiation, we have never had a deployment with kids before. So it's like our first deployment, five kids is a little overwhelming and a little intimidating. But I have different things that I already had in place that were helpful. But I think, like I said, it's that whole, you still feel isolated, you still get overwhelmed, like you can have, you know, the best laid plans? And obviously, who could have planned for 2020 in general. Right, and I would say and for us, too, like a big piece of the reintegration phase is that what my husband came home to was very different than the world that he left, you know, so it's like that has added a whole new level to reintegration for families. So, you know, I think that's part of the interesting transition. But I feel like as military spouses or significant others, we adapt really well to just different, different situations. And for me, especially like coming into it, my husband had already been in for 10 years, like when we you know, start even when we started dating, so it's like, I kind of joined the game late, but it was kind of like, when I came into the relationship, I knew that this was important to him. And I knew that he was a lifelong military man. So it was like, how can you?

Yeah,

how can you adjust in form, like into that life? And I said in the past that I did think that I can do it. And I think deployment gave me a chance to prove to myself that I could, like, wow, I could do it. Man, that's like a tweet worthy phrase you just said there. I have. I have a lot of thoughts. But I thought I'd check in with Jenny Lynn because you were nodding a lot. So you know, it's important for me to check in with you.

I mean, I'm just I am very impressed with the thoughtfulness of all the things that you put in the box. We have not done a deployment since my boys were toddlers and there was a time when I thought that my children might refuse breakfast if it didn't come with a Hershey Kiss because that's how we counted we did daddy kisses and they ate their Hershey Kiss every morning before they ate breakfast. And we kind of did that for like three years straight. He was loved back to them. One day the Hershey Kisses stopped and dad was so it was this complete stranger that we were trying to reintegrate with there is no chocolate at breakfast and so you know, it was a little you know, exciting in our house in the morning. And so I just I have a lot of appreciation for like all they really thought through of like the countdown and the provide things for the parents and the and the kids. And I guess my question would be like you said you provide some parent tools or some reason Sources? Are those that you come up with on your own? Or are you using things that are like already exist within the military community resources for.

So as far as like our parent tools and training, I do that all by, like myself. So sometimes, like if there's a free resource or something that I know about, I share it to my whole, like my public page, because I want to share that with everybody if I know of something that exists. I've had other and that's kind of like how I got connected, you know, with it's a military life, too, is just connecting people to other blogs or other places where they can get that support. Same with some podcasts, some people have reached out to me and they're like, will you include my information in your box? Absolutely. Like I would love to connect people to the resources that are going to be beneficial to them. I did have somebody do like a guest training, it was the first time that we ever did it. In January, I had like a guest trainer come in. And she's a military life coach Jessie Ellertson with the simply resilient podcast and she, she does military life coaching, but she did a goal confidence training in January. So it that was something new that we were just kind of like trying out, it definitely took a weight off of me for the month, you know, because being able to put together all of these resources, but I want to teach about the things that I do well, like the things that I feel completely confident that I could tell you like how to do it, but then also provide you with other resources. And especially for my group, if I don't have the answer, if I don't know, I'm going to find a resource for that family. And oftentimes, that's what they'll like, reach out to me about it, they'll be like, hey, do you know a resource that does this? And I'm like, Yep, absolutely, I'm going to find it, you know, I want to be able to be that go to person that can help connect them with the right resource that they need in that moment. And it's nice, I would say, you know, we're small right? Now, eventually, it might get to the size where it's a little bit harder to handle all all of those things, like I'm a one woman show. So at some point, it's gonna get too hard, but I kind of enjoy being that go to person for them, and being able to connect them with a person, you know, not like, hey, just email my team and somebody will get back to you. Like, they know that it's me, they know, they can connect with me and have those like personal. I say, personal connections. It's so weird. I feel like I know, all of my subscribers, like I write personalized, like notes of encouragement to each subscriber every month. And it's like, I feel like I know them. Because I know what's going on. And they you know, they reach out to me and talk to me about different things. But it's like, again, I've never actually met them. But I think I think that's kind of great to be able to be like, I feel like I know you I know your family, like you just had a baby or whatever the situation is, it's like they kind of feel like my family. And I like being able to like take care of them and make sure that they're doing okay, throughout deployment. That's powerful. Does that answer your question? jennylyn.

Did it did?

Yeah. I mean, I have a lot of thoughts. Honestly, I kind of feel like my, my heart was like turning or it felt a little tense. Because for the first 10 years of my life, I was a military child. And you know, we moved every two to three years. And dad was gone months at a time being in the Navy. And there was never that discussion of like, oh, when's daddy coming back, it was just kind of like, when he was back, he was back. And I mean, the thing with my family, which I absolutely love, by the way, I'm not trying to throw him under the bus here. But you know, my mom is she was very, like, very action oriented, very task oriented, very, like, you know, provide when Dad's not here, make sure your basic needs are met, like you have a roof over your head, you have food and stuff like that. But it was always really difficult for me to like, explore my curiosity around my family. I think the benefit of that though, is I became very introspective. And I kind of became my own friend. And, you know, I would journal and I had all these things that I enjoy doing by myself or when Barbies were a thing back then I would play Barbies. And then when my sister was born, I'd play Barbies with her kind of thing. But, you know, unfortunately, when we did lose my dad, when I was 10, again, there was still no communication around that. And I had, again deal with that in my own way, like later in life. And so one thing I really appreciated about military spouses today, including you, Ashley is like, you know, to just keep those communication lines open with your kids. Because if you're not talking about it, they're trying to fill in the answers themselves, you know, and sometimes it's not going to be very positive answers that they tell themselves. So I just love how Oh, and I'm like getting emotional, just saying that. Yeah, therapy's been great. And so I really,

I really,

I don't know. I really love how well thought out this is. And even I mean, I'm sure your kids appreciate it. I'm sure they probably tell you but if they don't I know that. You know, as they get older, they'll be like, wow, mom was awesome. You know, mom was awesome to like, make this military life so easy for us. You know or not, I mean, obviously it's still difficult but smoother ride smoother and manageable. And do it together as a family as opposed to just kind of holding your breath till the service member comes home kind of thing. I am curious to know, because because this is all very well thought out, and you did mention that your background is in social work, do you feel like your background in social work has kind of played a role in creating these boxes,

um,

probably more. So just in the sense that I just always have been driven to help people. And I think I've never actually worked a day as a social worker, I do like to tell people, I've never actually worked a day as a social worker, I did work, spend some time as a school counselor. But the interesting thing is, the job that I was in before I started this, I was actually helping families that have dealt with their, like the kids who have dealt with trauma, so trauma informed care and understanding how kids overcome traumatic experiences. So I feel like that added a different perspective to but I was at the point. I mean, maybe that's where the jump really came to start this as I was kind of at the point in my career, where I felt like I wasn't growing, I felt like I wasn't excited to go to work anymore. Like, I was super passionate about it for like five years. And I was like, I just don't want to go to work anymore. And I just don't feel like I am fulfilled on this path anymore. And so I think that was, I mean, that was a big piece of it, and just having that like helper instinct to be like, how can I help other people? I don't want other families to struggle. Obviously, I can't take all the struggle out of deployment, but I hope to make it a little bit easier. My kids see. I mean, we always feel like maybe we don't get appreciation as parents, but you know, my kids seeing they're like, how many boxes did we send to families this month, like, and they were kind of like, the interesting thing is they're like, I can't wait for you know, if dad deploys again, we can get this box. And I was like, Well, I mean, I could just get you the stuff that's here and our house, because my office is at home, I'm like, Well, not really gonna send you a box in the mail, but I could probably get you off, to be able to do it. And I like to think too, that this, you know, this prepares me and my family for if we are ever in that situation again, but I know how hard it can be to know exactly what you need during deployment. It can be to know how to ask for help. And so I think that's the hard part is that the families who get this, they're so grateful to have it, but how do you know that you need it? And also, it's like, you know, it's everybody kind of has to discover that at their own pace, like I have people who have come into it have stayed throughout the entire deployment. And I'm so grateful for that. But again, oftentimes you don't know what you need, or you don't know how to ask for help. And you don't know how to communicate that I'm very much an introvert. So that was really hard. Like, even though my family was like, What do you need? What can we do for you? What What can we do? You're still like, I have no, okay. It's not like, you know, you want to, you want to act like you can be this picture, perfect division, I guess of strength. And, you know, you're going through all of these different things, and then you feel like weak if you can't do something. And so I think, again, it goes to that whole mental health thing too. Like, we see that as a negative stigma, but it's okay to ask for help. It's okay to not be okay. Like, that is absolutely okay. So I think even in my community to try to normalize those things to be like, it's okay to take care of yourself. Like one of the first trainings we did was self care. At my old job, one of my favorite things I always said if it could be like a full time job and absolutely love it, but like, I did all the employee appreciation and like, making people feel like good, you know, like, how do I brighten up people's day, I guess, was my responsibility at work. And so, being able to provide that keeping spirits up, helping people take care of themselves and rewarding people for taking care of themselves. Like they should and I think as a parent, when you're home by yourself, you don't feel like you don't feel like you can take a me day because you're like, well, if I take a me day then who? Yeah, what do my kids do or what you know, so I that was one of the very first things that we talked about is just so we can normalize that whole it's okay to take care of yourself, but it's also okay to not be okay. And so I don't want anybody to think that my deployment was easy or picture perfect by any means. Like I think it was definitely out of our struggle that came like this is where things need to change and I'm going to be the one that helps make it change for families. Yeah,

Jenny Lynn,

you must enjoy how we always do some mental health plug into our shows.

I do you guys do all the plugs for me. It's great. I am curious though, and this has nothing to do with mental health so hard transition. Sorry. Are you finding that more people subscribing, our national leggies because they're looking for community or do you have people across the services and across like the reserve National Guard active duty community

Yeah, so we are actually pretty good mix, like the subscribers that I have right now are I believe we have somebody from every branch, and they're all I mean, they're all spread out too. So I do think that for National Guard families, it's probably like, Hey, I can connect with her, I totally feel this right now. But I also know that some people who live on an active duty base or close don't always feel that sense of community. And in creating this, I was like, military families move, like your community is constantly changing. So why not have a constant like space that you can be a part of like an online community that you can be a part of, and there is a lot of great, like online deployment or different, like support communities, but I think that's probably what unites the whole situation is that not everybody? Especially during the pandemic? Some of us can't go anywhere? I mean, so could you might have a community but you do really feel like you can be a part of it right now? Do you really feel like you can go and do it. So maybe that's a blessing for the pandemic, but we have a pretty good mixture, I believe, and like, I know that one of our subscribers like they live, it's like a rapid deployment base. So again, it's like families that are constantly like in that deployment, like rotation. So whereas like, that's kind of the thing, too, about being a National Guard family is that typically, our deployments are less frequent than some other family, you know, some other families, but my husband has been on two, but they were 10 years apart. So we don't know. I mean, you don't know. And more often than not, obviously, with us, it's more like state active duty that he would get called up for, or he's been called to other states for like hurricanes and, like, for like the election and different things, they get called up for stuff like that. But it's actually it's a good mix, which I love. And just more recently, now, were marketed to like everybody, but more recently, we've had like the female service member, and the, you know, significant other that's at home, you know, which is different, you know, because I feel like a lot of things are maybe more catered to like the wife that, you know, the wife, that's not the service member, and the husband is or you know, the male that is in that couple. So it's been interesting to kind of see that transition over the last few months, I would say that's been a shift, it was just all it makes it a little bit harder. I think sometimes when I want to add something to the box, because I just try to make every applicable to everybody. And like, like I mentioned before, with being smaller, I can do like more customization, I guess, you know, we don't really have that. But if I do have the ability to include a book that is about a mom, you know, that's gone, I will do that. I mean, and that is what we're doing. Now, it's hard. Somebody asked me they're like, Are there any books that are aimed towards moms that are deployed, and I was like, they're a little bit harder to find, but they do exist, you know. So just being able to point them to those resources. And some places have been really awesome. And like, I'm like, I need a few of these ones. And a few of these ones, you know, so they'll give me a mixture of books when I ordered the books, which is nice, because I want it to make sense for that family, that they're not always reading these books about how it's the dad that's gone. And they're like, But Dad, you're right here.

This doesn't make sense doesn't represent you. Genuine, we should probably introduce Ashley to misty, because misty Should

I know misty would love this cheap. Like,

let me tell you how to put a children's book together. She's a female service member. Her episode will be out soon. I'm not going to give you an exact date. But we'll just say soon.

But yeah, no,

that's that's really,

really powerful.

You know, I was just thinking, how you were saying there's this common theme where, you know, very often in the military community, we feel isolated. And it got me to think about this tweet I put out the other day said along the lines of we don't know that we need community until we have it. You know, and I think that initially, when people get these subscription boxes, they think they're getting it for the box, but what they quickly come to find or maybe why they stay with you actually is the community, right? And I just love this ongoing theme of like, Hey, we gotta stick together, we got to help each other out. We got to be in community, it's okay to be in community, like, you don't have to act strong or you know, independent, like, you can't do it all. You have five kids, you can't do it all.

You know,

I just been real, real talk with that kind of stuff. Right. And so, so yeah, I think that's just what I wanted to add and what was on my mind and hearing you talk jennylyn anything.

I think it's awesome that you have such a good mix of community of people that are from all different branches and styles of military being an active duty Navy spouse, like my community. And my experience is very rooted in being Navy, like, you know, and through this podcast and some other avenues like I've gotten to learn about the other services and what it's like it has been eye opening in a lot of ways because it's very different, but there's always the common thread, and I think it's Great that like through a box, like Jen said, I mean, they're subscribing for the box. But what they're getting is a place with people. And that it's able to unite people that wouldn't typically come together, we had an A typical deployment at our house. And it was, I lived in the town I grew up in, I lived with my parents, I had physical family support. But I was very alone as far as the military community went, because it wasn't a typical Navy deployment. And none of my Navy friends had done something like that. And I didn't, I didn't know what I didn't know. And I didn't know who to ask for help, or what to look for, because it was so different than most people's experiences. So I just really applaud the fact that you like, we're like, Hey, here's where we're at. And if we're, if we're here, there are probably other people that are here too, and filling that gap. That's awesome.

When I feel like for my kids, there were no other kids around, that's parents were gone or deployed. You know, and as a kid, like, that's, I mean, I can only imagine, I mean, I wasn't obviously a kid during that, and having experienced that, but, you know, it was very isolating. Because, I mean, I just, I feel like there's so much more. And now, I wish there was more than I had done to kind of like advocate for that. But the schools didn't do much to support that, you know, didn't really have, you know, didn't really have that in place, because they didn't know what to do. They know what to do, they didn't have parents that were deploying or that were gone, or different things like that. So. So another thing, when I include my note, every month, my kids actually have been troopers, and they write a note to the kids, that we're sending the boxes to as well, so that they can feel like, hey, there's somebody else that understands what I'm going through. And I'm not alone in this journey. So I feel like being able to, like help the kids, even though the kids are a part of the online community, it really helped them to see like, hey, like, I'm not the only person that's going through this, there are other kids out there, just like me, they got through this, they were able to do it. So that I think has been really great too. Because oftentimes, it is just you know, if you don't live near a base closer to a base, there would probably be more resources, like within a school community, you know, to help support those kids. But if you're the only kid for 100 miles around that dad is gone, you know, how can we help support them? So definitely, I think, now creating this community, I know that there's more that I would do like to help advocate for my kids and help educate like our community about how to support those families, even if it's not us going through a deployment. And it's just somebody else in our community to be able to support them. And we've been lucky enough recently, we received like a donation from one of our local, like veterans, like organizations to help sponsor some free boxes. So being able to send out some free boxes to families and to be able to provide that support however we can.

That's awesome.

So I'm curious, Ashley, in theme of community, do you need help right now? Like, is there anything that our listeners can do to contribute? I do know that you mentioned it'd be great, for example, to have more, let's say children's books about military or about the female service member, for example, but anything that might be helpful for you that we could sort of put out there.

Definitely, what I tell people is just like, spread the word, I mean, to share that we exist. I know a lot of people were like, Oh, I wish I found you, you know, six months ago, you know, and it's hard. Like I said, just getting things out, there is the tough part. I also say like, if you have a really great resource that you want me to share, I am more than happy to share it with my community and put it out there for them too. So definitely in building like resources, it's great to have that but then I always just say word of mouth tell people you heard about this company for them to check it out. With my subscribers to you know, we talked about that. But obviously, I think a lot of people are joining because they do feel isolated. So in that sense, they don't feel like they have anybody that they could share it with. So just being able to share and support other military families, you know, beautiful, beautiful, awesome, Ashley, thank you so much for joining us on our show. remind people this will be provided in the show notes. But for people that just want to hear it right now. How can they learn more even subscribe to counting our heroes home. So our website is www dot counting our heroes home.com so pretty straightforward, all lowercase, and then on social media, on Facebook and Instagram, we are just at counting our heroes home so like to keep it simple. So you can find us on any page on any social media platform. Awesome. I love it. Oh, wow. This is very refreshing. Thank you again, Ashley for having this conversation with us. Gentlemen. Any closing thoughts before we go?

No, this is awesome. Yeah, pumped about this resource.

Alright to our listeners, we hope that today's episode gave you one more piece of Knowledge resource a relevant story so you can continue to make confident and informed decisions for you and your family. We look forward to speaking with you in the next episode. Tune in next time.