Elva Resa Publishing

07/03/2025

07/02/2025

Well, this is fun! Check out this sneak peek inside the new edition of Deployment Journal for Kids by Rachel Robertson!

07/01/2025

One of our most popular resources, Deployment Journal for Kids by Rachel Robertson, turns 20 today! For two decades, Elva Resa has partnered with a variety of military support organizations to bring this special journal to military kids whose parent or other loved one is deployed. What better way to celebrate than with a new edition!

https://elvaresa.com/deployment-journal-for-kids-3rd-edition-releases-july-1-2025/

The updated and expanded third edition features:
> Fun colorful design throughout
> Enhanced writing prompts
> Ideas for keeping in touch
> Goal-setting pages
> Pages for understanding feelings
> Glossary and fun military facts

Especially helpful for kids ages 7-12. For all service branches.

Bulk and case discounts available: MilitaryFamilyBooks.com/DJK

Congratulations and thank you, Rachel!
Special thanks to all the military family organizations who support our mission and our military community!

Elva Resa is pleased to announce the July 1, 2025, release of the third edition of Deployment Journal for Kids by Rachel Robertson. Created especially for military kids, this popular journal offers encouragement for difficult days, ideas for healthy activities, and plenty of journaling pages to expr...

06/24/2025

Congratulations to author Rachel Robertson on today’s release of her 4th edition of Deployment Journal for Spouses: Memories and Milestones.

Deployment is one of the most challenging aspects of military life. Journaling offers loved ones a way to reflect on and process complex emotions during their service member’s assignment away from home.

Rachel used journaling to support herself and her children through her husband’s deployments with the Marine Corps. “I used journaling to help make sense of a very difficult experience,” she says. “Keeping records of my thoughts, fears, hopes, and memories gave me perspective, serenity, and sometimes it’s what helped me sleep at night. Journaling allowed me to hurt and heal at the same time.”

Bound in a beautiful gold matte hardcover with a yellow ribbon, this special journal includes a variety of page formats for personal expression, as well as a section for recording special moments. Gentle writing prompts, inspirational quotes, and practical ideas and tips offer encouragement and perspective. The subtle botanical design evokes thoughts of growth, hopefulness, and progress through the days of deployment, from saying goodbye through homecoming.

At Elva Resa, our family of authors, artists, and team members has experienced numerous deployments, including combat situations. We care deeply about our fellow service members and military family members, and it is our honor to offer resources that make the hard times just a little bit easier.

(First edition published in 2008.)

Elva Resa will release the fourth edition of Deployment Journal for Spouses: Memories and Milestones by Rachel Robertson on June 24, 2025. This popular journal guides spouses and partners through the emotional journey of their service member's deployment.

06/18/2025

We know it's frustrating to read a purposely vague update, but we're doing it anyway. Last week, we had a great meeting with these two people about something big that we know you're going to be really excited about!

Feel free to guess in the comments (but we won't tell you if you're right or wrong 😉)

06/06/2025

Congratulations to author Corie Weathers and the Elva Resa team for winning the 2025 International Book Awards best History: Military book!

Special thanks to our creative and logistics team members, especially Christy, JuLee, Vashti, Alexander, Nelson, Debbie, David, Curtis, Eric, and Karen.

Congratulations to our colleagues at Hay Market, She Writes Press, Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Wiley, Hachette, Rowman & Littlefield, and University of Nebraska Press who were also honored, and cheers to all the winners and finalists.

Thank you American Book Fest!

Awards: Internationalbookawards.com/2025pressrelease.html
Get the book: MilitaryFamilyBooks.com/Military-Culture-Shift

Corie Weathers I Lifegiver

06/06/2025

Thank you Foreword Reviews for naming Snapshots Sent Home: From Afghanistan, Iraq, Ukraine—A Memoir by JT Blatty a Foreword INDIES Silver Winner in the War & Military category!

Congratulations to JT and the Elva Resa team, especially Allison, Ashley, Christy, JuLee, Debbie, Alexander, Nelson, and Karen, as well as our fellow winners!

Award: ForewordReviews.com/awards/books/snapshots-sent-home/
Get the book: MilitaryFamilyBooks.com/Snapshots

06/03/2025

NEW! This week our team is busy shipping direct preorders of the beautiful new Deployment Journal for Spouses (4th edition) by Rachel Robertson!

This hugely popular personal journal guides military spouses, fiancées, partners, or special friends through the emotional journey of a loved one’s deployment, from getting ready through homecoming. Sewn yellow-gold matte hardcover with yellow ribbon.

Features:
• Gentle writing prompts
• Inspirational quotes
• Practical ideas and tips
• Variety of page formats for personal creative expression
• Milestone log to record special moments

IN STOCK and NOW SHIPPING direct orders from MilitaryFamilyBooks.com. Available from other select retailers beginning June 24, 2025.

Available as single hardcover journals, in cases of 24, and bulk packs of 96.
MilitaryFamilyBooks.com/deployment-journals

05/29/2025

NEW! Deployment Kids Bulk Pack supports kids in your unit, school, or organization whose parent is deployed. Includes 100 copies each of three picture books, an activity book, and a deployment journal created especially for military kids!

Bulk Pack = 500 Paperbacks

100 Night Catch by Brenda Ehrmantraut
When a soldier's work takes him halfway around the world, he enlists the help of the North Star for a nightly game of catch with his son.

100 The Wishing Tree by Mary Redman, illustrated by Christina Rodriguez
When Amanda's dad deploys, she creates a wishing tree, writing her wishes on yellow ribbons she ties onto the branches. As she wishes for her dad to enjoy good meals, make new friends, and return safely, the little tree comes to life with yellow ribbons of hope.

*100 Countdown ’til Daddy Comes Home (or Countdown ’til Mommy Comes Home) by Kristin Ayyar
A young boy waits for his parent to come home from a trip. To make their separation easier, his family creates rituals to stay connected and count down the days.

*100 My Dad’s Deployment: A Deployment and Reunion Activity Book for Young Children (or My Mom’s Deployment) by Julie LaBelle, illustrated by Christina Rodriguez
This activity book features mazes, dot-to-dot, counting, matching, coloring, crafts, telling time, and other activities familiar to young preschool and early elementary children. Shown within the context of common deployment and reunion topics, the activities reinforce concepts young children are already learning and offer an opportunity to ask questions, talk about their feelings, and feel connected to their deployed parent.

100 Deployment Journal for Kids (3rd ed) by Rachel Robertson
Created especially for military kids, this popular journal offers comforting words and a special place to express feelings and record experiences during a loved one's military deployment. Includes encouraging writing prompts, ideas for keeping in touch, goal-setting pages, understanding feelings, fun military facts, and plenty of journaling pages for kids to tell their own story through words and pictures.

*Countdown and activity books are available in editions specific to a deployed dad or mom.

Deployment Kids Bulk Pack (Dad) https://militaryfamilybooks.com/products/deployment-kids-bulk-pack-dad
Deployment Kids Bulk Pack (Mom) https://militaryfamilybooks.com/products/deployment-kids-bulk-pack-mom

Free shipping on bulk packs!

05/21/2025

We are honored to have Military Culture Shift: The Impact of War, Money, and Generational Perspective on Morale, Retention, and Leadership by Corie Weathers added to the Defense Acquisition Professional Reading List and reviewed in the Spring 2025 issue of Defense Acquisition Research Journal.

“Military Culture Shift is a thoughtful review of the U.S. military’s sometimes tenuous relationship with families after 20 years of continuous combat operations. … The work is striking with insight on generational cultural norms and communication styles. …

Weathers, a licensed professional counselor, starts with the ambitious goal of untangling the military’s current ‘wicked problem’ of wellness and morale … succeeds in explaining how well-intentioned solutions to one problem end up creating new challenges. …

Weathers’ depiction of the burgeoning family support programs and infrastructure is where the acquisition community should hone in. The financial tension between prioritizing readiness and service member well-being under budgetary pressure sheds light on the military’s conflicting goals of ‘mission first, people always.’ …

The strength of this work is Weathers’ analysis of generational ‘imprinting’ of military experience, which shapes perception of continued service. … carries profound insight for leaders and policymakers. … Weathers’ recommendation of authenticity is exemplified in her narration of family struggles during the Global War on Terror, which repeatedly rang true to this reviewer. …

Weathers’ recounting of the military family support structure, generational attitudes to service, leadership, and communication all provide valuable understanding of the military’s current cultural malaise. This wicked problem can not be solved in one book. However, Corie Weathers provides a needed starting point.”
(See full review by LTC Jess Rankin, USA, Ret., in Defense ARJ, Spring 2025, Vol. 32 No. 1.)

The professional reading list is intended to enrich the knowledge and understanding of the civilian, military, contractor, and industrial workforce who participate in the entire defense acquisition enterprise. Each issue of the journal includes one or more reviews of books readers believe should be required reading for defense acquisition professionals.

DAU
Corie Weathers I Lifegiver

05/06/2025

Congratulations to author Lindsay Swoboda on today’s release of her memoir, Holding On and Letting Go: A Life in Motion!

When dancer Lindsay marries a Marine, her dream of following her passion for performing collides with the realities of their military life: back-to-back overseas moves, navigating pregnancy during deployment, and creating new support systems again and again.
As their growing family moves around the globe, Lindsay finds both tension and beauty in each new beginning.

She creates a dance program in Korea. Becomes a mother in Hawaii. Morocco offers healing for her marriage after multiple deployments. In Ecuador, a fire, riots, and a high-risk pregnancy remind her there is uncertainty even in what appears to be a peace-filled chapter. Looking forward to being closer to family after nearly a decade away, the Swobodas nestle into Virginia just in time for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Seeking new ways to cope with constant change and challenge, Lindsay writes her way through loneliness, self-doubt, and anxiety, and shares the burden and brilliance of each season with a community of friends.

In her memoir Holding On and Letting Go: A Life in Motion, Lindsay unfolds her military spouse journey with lyrical storytelling and sensory imagery, encouraging readers to champion both big and small victories, make space for grief and goodness, and find the courage to persevere.

The gorgeous cover art painting was created by military spouse Lindsay Wilkins.

Available in paperback, ebook, cases of 32 books, and bulk packs of 160: https://MilitaryFamilyBooks.com/Swoboda

Author: Lindsay Swoboda
Cover painting & hand lettering: Lindsay Wilkins
Publishing team: Elva Resa Publishing
Senior editor: Terri Barnes
Senior copyeditor: Christy Lyon
Operations director: Alexander Pavlicin
Warehouse lead: Nelson Mejia
Publisher: Karen Pavlicin
Distributor: Military Family Books

04/28/2025

Congratulations to these 27 schools in Colorado for becoming the state's first Purple Star Schools! Special thanks to teacher, military spouse, and Elva Resa author Amanda Trimillos (Seasons of My Military Student) for your leadership in this effort, helping your school receive this designation, and for all you do to support military kids at home, school, and in your community!

Via KRDO13

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - 27 schools in Colorado, 26 of them in Southern Colorado, just received the state's first-ever Purple Star School