Emily Anderson

Share your military spouse story:
I met my husband (Kyle) during my senior year of college at the University of Central Missouri. The first half of the year I worked in a building across campus writing for the alumni magazine. After Christmas break, our office moved to a different building with no explanation. I like to think it was God’s way of bringing me and Kyle together. He was destined to be my husband and I'm so grateful for that twist of fate, because here we are 13 years later more in love than ever. In 2011 I left my life in Missouri behind and we set off for Savannah, GA. This move was a huge leap of faith as we were just dating at the time, but for me, he was my future so I didn't think twice. Shortly after arriving in Savannah, Kyle got news that he would be deploying. Out of the frying pan and into the fire. Kyle got back from that deployment in May 2013 and we were married in August 2013. Shortly after celebrating our first wedding anniversary, we got the devastating news that we had lost our daughter Olivia due to a rare genetic disorder. I was 24 weeks pregnant and I delivered her sleeping on September 3rd, 2014. Having to experience that kind of loss as newlyweds, challenged us in ways we had never imagined. I can so easily see how loss like that can tear a couple apart but we were lucky it brought us closer together and closer to God. Growing in our faith was necessary for the survival of our marriage and I’m happy to say it has continued to flourish today. Currently, he is stationed at the Pentagon. This is his last tour before retirement, so we made the tough decision that he would go to D.C. and we would stay in Missouri. We have twin eight year old girls and a five year old boy and we wanted to provide as much stability as we could after our two years abroad during a pandemic. Through all the travel, loss, PCS moves, tears, goodbyes, thousands of miles, crazy time zone changes, and countless Skype and FaceTime calls, I have loved him fiercely and without pause.

Share an example of your leadership experience within the military community:
In September 2014, days after celebrating our first wedding anniversary, we got the devastating news that we had lost our daughter Olivia due to a rare genetic disorder. I was 24 weeks pregnant and I delivered her sleeping on September 3rd. In April of 2023, a friend and fellow military spouse lost her twin boys in the same way. Through my experience, I was able to offer her the support I so badly lacked during my loss, which led us to founding a nonprofit organization, Love Over Circumstances (Honoring our angel babies: Lucas, Olivia, and Collin). After a lot of discussions about our experiences, and the extra burdens that military life adds to grief, we formed LOC to support other military families through compassionate care and financial support. We are working toward filling the gaps in current policy that surround such a loss with the ultimate goal of effecting permanent change in DOD policy.

Describe your involvement in the military community:
Being a military family is hard. So often, when tragedy strikes we are far from family and our support systems are hundreds, if not thousands, of miles away. Most military spouses have an attitude of, “We just have to do it.” We created LOC to show those families they don’t have to do it alone. Our mission is to reunite families when these tragic losses occur outside of what DOD policies cover; regardless of rank or gestation age. Our aim is to provide the financial support to reunite families as soon as possible because this life is hard enough and we want these families to know they aren’t living it alone. Being a mom is hard, but military moms are cut from a different cloth and I am honored to be a part of that group. My passion for serving these women has led to the natural evolution and creation of LOC and I am grateful for every chance I have to be able to serve them.

Describe how you support your community:
In 2020 we received orders for Stuttgart, Germany. We were excited to move our young family to Europe…then, came COVID. Our tour overseas started much differently than expected. However, this move provided a unique opportunity to build our own community. We lived on base but everything was locked down and a lot of restrictions were in place. During this time I was able to support the other spouses on my street. I watched their kids so they could go to the store or run an errand without fear of exposing their children, and often went grocery shopping for families who just arrived but were quarantined. I also started a home bakery to provide birthday cakes and treats for promotion and farewell ceremonies. I was trying to provide normalcy and a taste of home for these spouses living a harder-than-normal PCS. Currently, I am collaborating with the Health teacher at our local high school to coordinate and organize a health fair for our community to raise funds for the school and LOC.

What do you advocate for? Why?
I advocate for military families going through the hardest, most tragic kind of loss; the loss of a child. When my dear friend, Victoria Abel, lost her twin boys at 19 weeks gestation, her husband had just deployed to Korea. I was determined that she would not endure this alone. I was able to hold her hand, and her husband on FaceTime as she bravely brought their angels into the world. The American Red Cross got him home 24 hours later. However, we found out that if the boys had been born without a heartbeat, because they were younger than 20 weeks, the Red Cross wouldn’t have been able to pay for his very expensive overseas flight. Why should it matter whether these babies are born with a heartbeat or they're born sleeping? Why should it matter if these mothers are 19 weeks instead of 20 weeks pregnant? Loss is loss. It’s unimaginable. It's intense. It's permanent. These are just some of the reasons I advocate for military families experiencing pregnancy and/or infant loss.

How have you spread the message of your platform/advocacy?
To spread the message of LOC, we have created a website and print materials, as well as Instagram and Facebook pages. We have been privileged to speak locally at various churches and other venues about our cause and our mission, increasing awareness, involvement and empathy for military families across our community. I cherish these opportunities to share our testimonies. It’s not an easy subject to talk about, but if it resonates with just one person, it is well worth it. We have also paired with other local nonprofits, businesses and vendors to increase awareness as we fund raise and share our mission. I'm proud to say we have been able to raise $3,500 in four short months.

What do you hope to accomplish with the AFI Military Spouse of the Year^® title?
It would be an honor to be awarded the AFI Military Spouse of the Year award. I hope to share Love Over Circumstances’ mission, as well as my personal experience, with a wider, more diverse audience. I think so many spouses can relate to our mission and we can truly impact change. I believe the wider our audience, the potential for serving more military families and that’s all we want to do. Right now, we have a strong local presence with Whiteman AFB and Ft. Leavenworth, however, we want a strong national presence. In order to expand our platform, we need more awareness and being named the AFI Military Spouse of the Year could provide an invaluable opportunity to change that. At the end of the day, this award isn’t about me, but about the strength and resilience of all military spouses. This life isn’t for the faint of heart, but with sharing the bad, along with the good, we have an opportunity to share our hearts with one another, and it is an honor to do so.