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

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067: A lifestyle blog for military spouses, significant others, and their families with Christina Etchberger

While her husband is deployed and she's home with the kids in the midst of a pandemic, Christina decided in summer 2020 to to immerse herself into community by creating her lifestyle blog It’s A Military Life. She shares how her blog quickly grew from serving military spouses to now including a curation of articles and resources for significant others, military families, and veterans. 

Learn more about It's A Military Life at https://itsamilitarylife.com/ or connect with Christina on Facebook / Instagram @itsamilitarylife or Twitter @itsamil_life

To learn more about the Veteran Pen Pal Project’s Holiday Initiative: Operation Holiday Salute, visit https://itsamilitarylife.com/2020/10/11/veteran-pen-pal-project-veterans-last-patrol-operation-holiday-salute/

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Jen Amos 0:00

Welcome to holding down the fort, a podcast show dedicated to curating knowledge, resources and relevant stories for today's military spouses so they can continue to make confident and informed decisions for themselves and their families. Because let's face it, we know who's really holding down the fort. I'm Jen a Moe's, a gold star, daughter, veteran spouse and your host for holding down the fort by us that wealth. Let's get started.

All right. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of holding down the fort. I am your co host, Jenn aImost. And I also have to actually let me repeat myself. Welcome back to our award winning show holding down the fort. I am your co host and a most and very often, I am very lucky to have my co host with me Jenny Lynch true. Jenny Lynn, welcome back.

Unknown Speaker 0:58

Thanks for having me. Glad to be here.

Jen Amos 1:00

Yes. And Jenny Lynn has been a great addition to our show as an active duty military spouse currently stationed in San Diego, mom of two mental health advocates. And actually, we're about to find out that Jenny Lynn, and our guests have a lot in common. So let me go ahead and introduce our guest today. I feel like these two are sort of twinsies. But we'll find out and hear what they have to say and how they engage with one another. But today we have with us Christina edge Berger, who is a military spouse for four years now at the time of this recording. She's also a mother of two like Jenny Lynn, a lifestyle blogger, Jenny Lynn is also a blogger, also a former full time educator turned homeschooling teacher. And that's also gentleman's background, this is crazy, and also an entrepreneur. And we actually talked offline last week before we started this recording, which is why I'm sort of having fun with this. So Christina, welcome to the show.

Speaker 1 1:54

Well, thank you so much for having me. Yes. I'm so excited after talking with you. And then getting to know a little bit about Jenny Lynn, and now that she's involved in, this is just a conversation that just needed to happen. I'm so excited to be here.

Jen Amos 2:12

Yeah, no, absolutely. And I just have to say, when we first talked last week, I just really felt your heart and your passion for the community. I feel like you have such a Go Giver heart, you know, in wanting to contribute to the community and also, like amplify other people's stories and resources for our community. On your website. It's a military life.com. So I just want to thank you for having reached out to me. And I have a feeling we'll have a good friendship I had and collaborative type of partnership ahead. So I'm very much looking forward to seeing how that unfolds between us.

Speaker 1 2:49

Oh, yeah, of course. Definitely. Yeah. When I saw that you were doing and listening to your podcast, and that oh, my gosh, her story is so just real, and so much amazing things that you've done for the military community. And then I listened on your husband's episode as well about finance, like, Oh, my God, that's so much like my husband, his obsession with finance and making sure that we're educated as a couple and as a family. So just all around a lot of future connections and collaboration. I see.

Jen Amos 3:24

Yeah, I agree with you. We also talked about how both of our husbands were West Point grads. And so we're just like, okay, he's in the money. They're West Point grads. They have like some kind of conversation eventually, like it's going to happen.

Speaker 1 3:38

Oh, yeah. I already told my husband. It's happening. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, with the Western connection, too. And it was so funny when you mentioned something about how he'll ask what year. And then when I was corresponding with him because I was wanting to reach out about his book. The one of the last questions he asked was, so what year was he?

Jen Amos 3:59

It's true. It's true. They're just really big on talking about the year they graduated. So like, I don't say that about college. Like, no one cares that I graduated, like at a certain year, but Westpoint what year are you what you know? And then they always say like, if it's the same year, it's like, oh, that's my classmate like, even though they never like shared class together. Yeah, it's just like a weird thing. It's a wonderful thing. I'm gonna, I'm not gonna say weird. I'm gonna say it's a wonderful thing that they have that sense of camaraderie, you know? Oh, for sure. Yeah, absolutely. Well, before I jumped ahead to my next question, I just wanted to quickly check in with Jenny Lynn here and see if she wanted to add anything.

Speaker 2 4:34

Oh, that was super fun to listen to you guys chat back and forth about that. And I of course, was like, oh, West Point. I used to work there. So you know, one more connection. There were Navy family. I've done a little little stint with the army. So

Jen Amos 4:46

Speaker 1 5:22

Yeah, of course. So, right. When it started happening, we were with the pandemic, I had two kids at the time, and my husband was trying to figure out whether or not he was going to deploy. And that was very scary times, because we didn't really know the protocol for deployment and all that was going on with just safety measures. And his Italian did an amazing job. He did actually end up deploying, I believe it was in April, and I decided during the deployment, okay, you know, I'm with these two kids. Being a teacher type, I kind of have that knack for schedule. So my kids are really great on schedule. And there's always a learning activity each day. So I stay busy that way. But just for myself, I thought, well, I am someone that's very social that wants to be immersed in some kind of community, especially volunteer. So I decided to create its military life.com. And especially with all that was going on, not just with pandemic, but just a lot of this unrest with society think everyone being in their house and isolated was causing a lot of that. So I decided, well, let's create this community for military spouses. So I started there, and I started blogging, and then it really grew from not only military spouses, but then military children, the military teens, and now the veteran community.

Jen Amos 6:51

Wow. That's amazing. Can you talk about kind of like that process where I mean, obviously, it grew very quickly. But in the time when you started, it's a military life. And then you knew, it was like, Oh, it has to also be a military child's life and military teens life and our veterans life, essentially, how did you start a knew that you needed to start adding that, you know, to your overall building of your website? Yeah, of course.

Speaker 1 7:17

So, for me, I do wear many hats. And especially with my education background, I knew my audience was going to be more than just military spouses. And within the military, spouse community, there are so many different interests and topics, you have military spouses, that are pros about deployment, PCs, seeing all these different topics. And with me only being involved with the military for about four years, I felt like utilizing my education background would be a great gift that I could give to the military community, those that expertise. So that's how I read about military child life. After realizing that with its military life, I was touching on too many topics that were not only just related to military spouses, but then I was jumping into family life. And with family life, I had so much to talk about. So that's why I built it Military Child Life. And that's a component on my website, homeschooling learning activities. And then I even segwayed into its military team life after just connecting with this wonderful group called Bloom. And it's a wonderful website community of military teens, and their writers. And they are phenomenal. So after connecting with them, I'm like, Ah, I don't talk about the children. But I also want to talk with the teens. So I decided to include everybody.

Jen Amos 8:52

Like no one gets left behind, like, yes, it's not just a spouse, like, obviously, a lot of spouses are parents. And so yeah, it's include the kids, but hey, it's not just about the kids, it's about the teens. And, you know, I really appreciate you accommodating all the different demographics in the military. Because, you know, very often when, like, for example, the Month of the Military Child, right, like I forgot what that is, but that's like an entire run. Thank you, January. April, is a Month of the Military Child. Thank you, Jenny Lynn, and the theme is purple. I know that much. But, you know, that's all I know about I don't know much about like, oh, you know, military 18 month or, you know, veteran month or military spouse month, it's usually about the child. And so in times where I wanted to kind of get in touch again and reconnect with that part of my life. It's like, oh, do I have to like is there anything about like, military child adult, you know, like, and so I really appreciate you encompassing all the at least these particular demographics, into your community into what you're building with its military life. Oh, of course, and

Speaker 1 9:57

even with my tagline So my original tagline was military spouse stronger together. And one of my friends, she's very active in the military community. She posted something about how she was a military girlfriend, but she was active. And she was commenting on one of my posts. And this woman is amazing, so active, so I had to kind of rethink that. Like, wait. I want to make sure I include her as well. And so that's where I was kind of brainstorming, thinking it through with the tagline. And that's where I created mil so and that network, so it's military, significant other because they really are a huge part of the military community as well.

Yeah, absolutely. Before I go to my next question, I want to check in with Jenny Lynn, and see if you wanted to add anything.

Oh, I'm just fascinated. I'm like, ready to hear more? Yeah, we're currently in National Military Family month. So there you go. This another one to mark on your calendar, November's National Military Family month,

asked me to add that one. The Friday before

Mother's Day is Military Spouse Appreciation Day. Love it. Oh, that

was definitely the mark on my count.

Everybody else gets a month. That's awful. We need to advocate for spouses or millstones as well to have an entire month dedicated to you. Because that's like, a course children get a month. What about the people that raised them? Anyway? I'm sure that's a soapbox for another time. Yeah, you know, what I love about what you shared so far, Christina, is that you know, because you were very well aware, at least for yourself, you identified being fairly young in the military community as a whole, having only having served for four years, I'm not gonna say only because four years is a long time for like anything. Yeah, but even so you knew that you were at a stage where, you know, you couldn't provide all the resources. And so you very much leaned against the community to ask for their own resources. Like even for myself when we connected for the first time last week. I mean, first of all, thank you for doing all your research before we chat, because you knew more about my stuff than I was keeping track of. So you know, just being proactive. And like I said, having that kind of go giver mentality to take that kind of initiative and want to curate all of these resources. I mean, that's essentially what we're doing on holding down the fort is bringing on people who are movers and shakers of our community today, you know, to share what they're doing, what they're actively building and letting the world know, like, I want you to reach out to me, like, I want you to know that I'm a friend in your community, and I can be here for you. And so I just want to say how much I appreciate that you're doing something similar. I'm not a blogger myself. So I applaud you for doing that. Because that's like, not my strength at all.

Yeah, podcasting that is on my list of to do, but writing definitely comes more naturally. For sure.

I love it. So I'm curious to know, Christina, with it's a military life. Let's talk about for people that may be visiting your site and your community for the first time. What can they expect when they come visit your website?

Yeah, of course. So with its military life, it's definitely in this is one on one spouses. I guess, quote, she said that she loves all that I've done with its military life, because it's become a hub. And what I mean by that is, it's not only blog posts and contributions from myself, but it's contributions from military spouses and veterans from around the world, essentially. And it could be anywhere from topics pertaining to fitness, wellness, health recipes. The whole military child section, were homeschooling learning activities, teen guest blogs, which was fantastic. They did a whole week for me. And then I also have a feature where I talk about all these different pay it forward movements initiatives, such as veteran pen pal project, which is something that I started, we're focusing in on all our efforts and operation holiday salute. We're writing letters to veterans and hospice. So my hope for the next month or so, is to even further develop my website to include a page dedicated to helping military spouses and veterans, with their careers with their jobs and aspirations, especially those that are transitioning. So there's a lot going on with his military life. And the happiest part about my mission with what I do is that it's not just me that the military life and the military community and my website as a whole is showing that when we come together, this journey is So much easier.

Yeah, no, I think that's beautifully said, Gentlemen, just want to check in with you.

I'm just overly amazed. I'm simultaneously listening and scrolling through all of the resources on her website. And all of this you've done since April,

like June? Yes. June of 2020.

It's really impressive. Really through with all of the different aspects you haven't, it's wonderful. And thank you for curating such an excellent resource space.

Oh, of course, yeah. How I developed it. It's very much like a magazine, I guess you could say, I know, we have a lot of military spouses that I correspond with follow. A lot of it's focused on content of their life. And for me, I'm a little bit more of a private person. So I know when it was that time where I was deciding, okay, do I focus in on my social media, personally? Or do I go beyond that? And kind of create my own community? So that's, I heard someone one of my friends said, so how are you dedicating so much time to this? I said, Well, I backed away from my personal account. Now I'm focused on Unreal account, which is at the military life and that brand. So yeah, it's been fantastic. And it's a very positive space.

Yeah. And you know, what I've come to find is, because when I started holding down the fort, I mean, I did talk a little bit about my story here and there. But I think that people are more intrigued to learn about your story. Well, after they've seen, like, how much value you've provided to the community, like, I'm just absolutely curious of you to be like, Wow, I mean, she's reaching out to me, and she wants to collaborate with me. And I mean, you know, I think for the most part, the military community is pretty collaborative. I mean, that's sort of how we're trained to be. But, you know, you could still have those, you know, kind of competitive, like, bad eggs in the community, want to, like keep things for themselves, or act like they have like the best like Golden Egg kind of thing. And so it's just really awesome that you have that kind of heart to give back in that way. And obviously, the growth of your website is a result of you being okay with asking for help, and networking and stuff like that, I think, is very admirable for you to have done that. And really just a short matter of months now.

Yes. And back to what I was mentioning, the military spouse I've connected with and all that online, the ones that I was mentioning, where they focus really in on their content of their life. They're so amazing about it. They're so real, they're so genuine. And you know, you have some that they really do dedicate time to make their life as a story, beautifully done through social media. And for me, maybe it's being a middle child, I have no clue. But I'd rather have the light shine on others, because I just for me, I'm like, Well, yeah, I have my story, I guess is inspiring to some. But I want to shine the light on all of these inspiring men and woman more than myself. But that is something definitely that I would like to do a little bit more. I also have an account just for myself. Yeah. And that's probably the hardest part is sharing about myself. I'm all about sharing about everyone else. That's way easier. myself for sure.

Wow, I love that. I mean, as a fellow middle child, as well, I feel like I get to live the best of both worlds where I do like to put other people first and make them feel seen and heard. But because of the neglect I had growing up, in a way, that's fine. I love my mom, you know, neglect that I had, it's like I always wanted to stand out in my own way, too. So I think it's probably a good thing that you both don't have a middle child to raise because I think I think we're very complicated, very complicated. So Christina, I am also curious to know, you know, on the journey, so far of creating its military life, what do you feel like has been the biggest epiphany or the biggest lesson you've learned in the short time so far of building this community?

I would definitely say that, as a military spouse. When I started off, I was the one being helped looking for the resources, trying to find myself and it's very new life. But then there's this whole other part about the military life. That's her helpers. And when I went to a workshop by Brittany Bowsher, it was a USO workshop. And her workshop was called discovering your spark. And I sat there and I was pregnant with my second and I was just trying to figure out Okay, this is my life. Now, I can't just keep thinking about my life. I'm from the Chicago area, and all that, that entail with family and friends, this is my life, and I should embrace it. And I sat there with all these other military spouses, some are so positive, while others wanted to complain a little bit more about their situation. And I thought to myself, Okay, I can either be the positive one in this room, or the negative one in this room, we all have our moments. But I really do feel that there's two types of communities that you could immerse yourself in, within the military world, ones that are positive, and then ones that are negative. And the ones that are positive or more the helpers, were ones that are negative, or really just maybe even just haven't found themselves yet in the military world. I was a little bit there in the beginning. But then when I saw the possibilities of being a part of the more positive community, it was outstanding with Brittany Bowsher, just all that she went through in her life, her personal life and her military life, she was still so positive, even though these negative things happened to her. And one quote that my military spouse friend sent me was Bo Rambo in someone else's cloud, by Maya Angelou. And I really thought about that, I'm like, well, it's okay to have a cloudy day. But hopefully, there's someone there to be your rainbow. And that was me my first deployment, I had a lot of wonderful rainbow moments. But then the second deployment, I really had a strong understanding of who I was, and where I wanted to go. So then it was my turn to be that rainbow.

Wow, that's beautifully said, Jenny, Lana. Sabe, like chuckling little earlier. So I thought I would check in with you. I think you have something you want to add?

Well, I'm an oldest child, so I was chuckling and all the middle child jokes. Well, I wonder what that says about me, because I am the person that does a blog about myself and my life and my story. And I'm the oldest. So that's what I was thinking. When I was laughing. And, you know, as far as like the military spouse community, I mean, I think you nailed it, I think it does take a while to figure out who you are within this space. Now, I'm a former educator, too, and really thought I'd be doing that for 30 years, and you know, get my state pension and be done. And, well, that's not how it worked out. Now, I'm a mental health outreach coordinator. And because of the military life, I've lived, like, my military life has now determined what I do for my job. And I'm not sad about it. Like, it's great. I really, really love what I do. But it did take a while. And I have to say, it's been interesting to me, I've been married, and in this military life for almost 12 years. And, you know, what I've learned is having mentorship was so helpful. And I was very fortunate didn't realize how fortunate then but very fortunate to come upon it very early in my military spouse life. And it's been in the moving around that we've done that I realized how many people haven't had that and what a difference it makes, and how they feel about the military and how they share about the military. And so I very much like you. I love that Maya Angelou quote, you know, I'm much more of a like me to kind of person like I'm willing to share about myself in hopes that then you will share something about you and that if I say something, it may unlock something in us. So yeah, I think you nailed that. As far as you know, the military spouse community goes, and I appreciate your rainbows, because there are certainly some cloudy days.

So yeah, then we for sure, because my older sister oh my gosh, she was just growing up just so fantastic with her leadership and really sharing her stories to lead and motivate. And I know my strong suit, I guess maybe with growing up with such a big family. So I was one of four was really shedding that light not only on my sister because he breathing you're the oldest, but on my younger siblings and just building each other up. And that was at least my experience with my siblings, and with my parents. But yeah, for sure what looking at all those military spouses that focus really in on their personal lives. It's inspiring. It's so inspiring.

Awesome. Well, I really like the analogy of be a rainbow to someone else's cloud. I know I'm butchering the quote, but I like how you say that there are people in the community who are going to be negative and there's ones that are going to be positive the negative ones probably because they haven't really maybe owned their identity yet or found themselves yet so you know, it's normally if you're uncomfortable, you're gonna complain so your feelings are valid. What you're doing is valid. I Think eventually though it is about getting to that place of positivity. And I have found that the people that are easiest to collaborate with in this community are the positive ones. And just like what you said, they're big helpers, like they want to contribute, they want to, you know, like, spread the goodness of the military life amongst one another and with their civilian counterparts. So I really appreciate you sharing that, and also the quote about clouds and rainbows. Before we wrap up, I just want to make sure that you were able to share everything you wanted to share about it's a military life. So is there anything else that's missing that you'd like for us to know about?

I wouldn't say that with this community. We're always looking for people to join our community. What I mean by that, as contributors, I would love anyone to reach out to me at its military life to join as writing contributor, even if you'd like to be featured, whether it be with your own platform nonprofits, we even do small a small business segment, where I do currently have a YouTube channel on its military life where I do a really fun segment, I m l must read, where I do IML book chats. And I also feature small businesses and I will be working with spouse Lee, featuring different small businesses. So there's so much going on. So if you feel like this community resonates with you reach out to me at crusius. At its military life.com. I am always available to talk and find a resource, whether it's on my website or somebody else's, I'll find a way to make you truly feel at home in the military community.

Beautiful. And gentlemen, I have to check in with you because that's what I always do.

Oh, no, I, again, I I love the website. I love that it is very much like a magazine. I couldn't put my finger on what I thought it was until you said Oh, I do it like a magazine. I'm like, yes, it's like quick snippets of information that you can, you know, look up what you need, and take what you like and leave the rest. And, you know, again, thanks. Thanks for supporting the community and getting this all together.

Well, yes, of course, of course. And thank you so much for having me. And if there's anything that you ever need for me, just let me know. And I'm happy to contribute.

Wonderful, yes, this will not be our last conversation. And it's recorded now. So I have to stay true to my word. Christina, it's been an absolute pleasure connecting with you and having you on the show. And again, I look forward to continuing our conversation and future collaborative opportunities together. So thank you for just taking some time even though we had timezone differences here today. It's been such a pleasure having you.

Yeah, well, thank you so much. And gentlemen, it was so nice meeting you. And I know I'll be talking to

both of you. Yes. Nice to meet you, too. Thanks for coming on.

All right. And so 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. Until then, tune in next time.