The Adventure Awaits

I’m going to try to make this short and sweet, friend. The next Mans family adventure will be to…. Kansas. 

I’m sure you may have read that going why the heck Kansas. To be blunt and simple, home is where the Army sends us. Though, we intentionally make each house a home, cozy, and inviting for each place we live. We were able to hand pick Dubuque, Iowa after leaving Germany and AJ matched with the job here. We will have a bit more say again after this move in his next jobs. But Kansas, while not the very first pick, was basically the second pick for us because there aren’t many options for what AJ has to do next year. 

He will be attending school there for ILE (intermediate level education). Here’s what the Army says about this particular school:

“The Command and General Staff Officer Course (CGSOC) is the Army’s graduate-level curriculum and instruction for field. grade officers and is commonly referred to as Intermediate Level Education (ILE). It is the next required professional. military education course to be completed after Captains Career Course.” 

In simpler terms, because he is being promoted to a Major in July 2024, he cannot stay in the job he is in because it is for a senior level Capitan. And because of that promotion, he goes to school to learn how to lead and do the jobs he will have for this new rank.

Each time we move we have pieces of the current location, town, house, and most of all amazing people that we grieve leaving. On the flip side, we also have many pieces we look forward to in the next location. This time there are many things and people we will miss in Dubuque. It’s been a wonderful place and season for our family. But we are very much looking forward to having the close proximity of military events, clubs, and community that Kansas will have for us. 

I don’t share it often, but Dubuque has had some very hard moments and felt more isolating than we expected. But the parts we enjoy, and the beautiful pieces of this season have also been wonderful. There’s pros and cons to each place, we just choose to focus on the pros, the areas we can control, and give the rest to God. Both AJ and I strongly believe that each place our family is sent is for a purpose. Whether to grow us, challenge us, or give us rest, OR to be a blessing to those around us. Usually, we hope for both side to this in each move. We don’t think any place we go is on accident, and so far, we have added an extraordinary about of blessings to our lives in each place we’ve lived (this will be move 5 in 7 years in case you are wondering what count we are at.) 

I’m sure there are many questions that you may have, and I’d love to answer them! I know those we have just told two days ago here in Dubuque have had many questions and I’m so honored to be able to share this part of the military life with those who may not have much exposure to it. So please if you do have questions, email them to me and I will do a whole email just answering as many as I can. 

I will also continue to share this process as we go. We don’t have a ton of information yet, but more will come in the next few weeks. So far we have a report date, and hard orders saying where we are going. But one piece we are figuring out is if we are moving ourselves this time or having the military move us.

Feel free to put your questions below in the comments or email them to me at hello@happinesswithsamantha.com