{"id":915,"date":"2011-12-07T19:34:40","date_gmt":"2011-12-07T19:34:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kandynolesstevens.wordpress.com\/?page_id=2"},"modified":"2011-12-07T19:34:40","modified_gmt":"2011-12-07T19:34:40","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/?page_id=915","title":{"rendered":"About Kandy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Kandy Noles Stevens is the proud wife of veteran of the United States Army, mother of 7 children (although 4 of her children live in heaven), and science\/math teacher &amp; professor.\u00a0 God&#8217;s blessings have been pouring out in Kandy&#8217;s life for many years, but\u00a0abundantly so\u00a0since February 2008.<\/p>\n<p>Her whole entire life, Kandy only wanted two things: to be a momma and to be a teacher.\u00a0 She still proudly shows anyone who asks to see it her Dr. Suess &#8220;All About Me&#8221; book which she professed her desire to be teacher at the\u00a0tender age of 7.\u00a0 Kandy pursued Chemistry\/Mathematics degrees in college, and then, later her Masters of Education in Science.\u00a0 Her uncoventional path to teaching allowed her opportunities to intern at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, teaching at local universities, and then finally she felt a calling to pursue her teaching license.<\/p>\n<p>Kandy and her husband, Daniel, lost three of their children to mid-term miscarriages.\u00a0 Those children lovingly named Noah, Timothy, and Savannah Kate, are remembered each year by the family at special events.\u00a0 Additionally, their oldest son, Reed was killed in a tragic bus crash on a wintry Minnesota day in 2008.\u00a0 Two of their other children, Sawyer and Erin, received severe injuries that day as well.<\/p>\n<p>Rather than digging a hole and crawling in it, Kandy and her family (affectionately known as Team Stevens) chose to use their faith in God to buoy them.\u00a0 Reed&#8217;s services were a celebration of life complete with Praise and Worship music.\u00a0 The family&#8217;s faith sustained them through the next 3 years in which the other children received medical care for their injuries and through the dark hours of grief.<\/p>\n<p>Kandy was perfectly content being a momma and a teacher (her lifelong goals), until God&#8217;s plan for her life was presented after she spoke about the first year of grief at her local church.\u00a0 A friend in the congregation (who had lost a brother at a young age) approached her after the service to say, &#8220;God has given you a gift to speak for all bereaved families, and He wants you to use it.&#8221;\u00a0 Over the next year and half, it became very clear that those were not just passing words, but precisely God&#8217;s call for Kandy&#8217;s life.<\/p>\n<p>Kandy\u00a0felt God&#8217;s\u00a0nudging to become\u00a0a speaker and writer, and she is working on several books about her family&#8217;s experiences and about grieving.\u00a0 Kandy is available to speak at conferences, women&#8217;s groups, church events, and just about any place where people might need her.<\/p>\n<p>Kandy and her family reside in southwestern Minnesota.\u00a0 They keep busy camping, fishing, and geo-caching, but most of their time is spent attending one of their children&#8217;s various sporting events.\u00a0 In her just-for-herself time, Kandy loves to read and craft!\u00a0 Kandy volunteers in many different places, but her absolute favorites\u00a0are her work at her church and at a local nursing home where she and the family&#8217;s Golden Retriever, Huck, visit.<\/p>\n<p>She can be reached by e-mail @ mominmn@hotmail.com<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kandy Noles Stevens is the proud wife of veteran of the United States Army, mother of 7 children (although 4 of her children live in heaven), and science\/math teacher &amp; professor.\u00a0 God&#8217;s blessings have been pouring out in Kandy&#8217;s life for many years, but\u00a0abundantly so\u00a0since February 2008. Her whole entire life, Kandy only wanted two [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/915"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/915\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}