Journeying With the Jackson's

Hey y'all!

This blog has been severely neglected the last two years, but what a better way to start back up then with an update on our family and what we have been up to lately. When I last posted, we were about to move to VA for a 6 month course.

We moved, had a baby boy, Trey finished his course, and we received our orders for our current duty station in Alaska. We have been here just over a year now and it has definitely been a journey.

PCSing is so hard. Rebuilding community, planting roots, making a new house a home, adjusting yourself and helping little people adjust as well has been a lot. I think now, almost a year after arriving I can say confidently that I feel planted here. This comes with knowing that in a years time we will be looking at the job marketplace and looking forward to our next station. We are set to PCS again in April of 2026, which sounds far, but we all know how quickly time goes.

The military life offers such a unique and difficult life experience with all the moves we make. We are called resilient and really there is no better word for it, but I think if you ask most military families if they like being resilient, the answer is probably no. Being resilient means making huge life changes every few years. Sometimes it means a small move, sometimes a large move, new climates, new cultures, new everything. We are resilient, because we have to be. We don't have a choice, and before you come after me and say "well you signed up for it" believe me when I say yes, we may have signed up for it, but that doesn't make it any easier. We have to say goodbye to so many loved ones and friends, we have to be open and vulnerable to build the kind of community we had before, and we have to do it quickly before our military spouse leaves again. Resiliency, while a great thing is still not something most people desire to have as a character trait.

We go through things that most people never have to go through and we do it every few years. We grieve when our friends leave, we grieve when we leave our stations

, and then we start over. Again, and again, and again. Such is the life of a military family.

I sound pretty bitter, and I'll admit, sometimes I do get bitter, but in that bitterness I also feel such a resounding conviction that God has ordained us to be here for this time and for a specific purpose. Even if it solely is for my own mental stamina to be built. The Lord has been so faithful the last year. It has been a very hard year for me personally, but God has been so good. I have learned so much about myself, about God's faithfulness, about our sanctification, about his goodness in the midst of the hard. And for all of that, I am extremely grateful.

We have about a year and 8 months left here in this beautiful place, and I am going to be using it to the best of my ability. There is so much to explore and learn. There is so much beauty in God's creation here. It truly is mind boggling to live in this state. We get lots and lots of snow, and have lots of dark days, but in the darkness we know as believers that Christ's light shines the brightest. So that's my goal. To let Christ's light shine the brightest, to be faithful in this season he has given. To be a faithful wife, mother, and friend, and to give God the glory in it all. Come along on our journey friends. It's gonna be a good one!