Wedding Bliss

 

My heart is full.  My husband's oldest daughter recently got married and I couldn't be happier for her and our new son-in-law.  Of course, I must admit that he had me at "chickens."  Yes, he is a fellow chicken lover and I've been blessed with a few cuties of his flock he has shared with me.  Follow up to that later in another post.

I have known this sweet girl since she was only 7 years old and I have always had a special place in my heart for her.  Her mother and I have always gotten along and I feel so blessed that she has shared her with me all these years. I am so over the moon happy for her.  Little Bug got to be one of the flower girls and that just made her year.  To be able to dance with "Sissy" was just the best too.  The teenager got to be a groomsman too and I think that made him happy and proud to be a part of his sister's big day.  Thank you Jesus for the many blessings and those to come!

Kids Email Safe Email for Kids REVIEW

I AM "THAT MOM."  I protect my kids sometimes to the verge of too much.  Or, can there really be a "too much" in today's society.  Each generation seems to say, "It just wasn't like that in MY generation."  With the dangers of today's technology, I was more than happy to have a chance to review Kids Email Safe Email for Kids by Kids Email.

She thinks it's pretty cool to have her own email!

We received a free 1-year subscription for up to 6 kids.  This is a digital product so you, of course, must have internet access to use this.  It is very customizable.  It was easy to sign up for the account and add the kids in.  You basically have a parent account with a dashboard to customize all of your settings and set up accounts for each child.  I even chose the more "adult" teen version for my 14 year old son.  The extension on his email is kmail instead of kidsemail and he has the extra option to customize his folders in his inbox.  Now my kids can communicate safely with our family members and those I choose to allow.  Don't worry, there is also an option to review all ingoing and outgoing mail in your kids email account.

Customized templates

Teen version has a little different interface that
 also allows for custom organizing of folders

I just don't think you can be "too safe" with what is out there today in cyberspace.  It is too easy for strangers to connect with our kids.  Did you even know that a lot of "innocent" game apps allow your kids to communicate with strangers?  I have the tablets for my kids on lockdown (or so I thought) because I just don't trust what is out there.  My son was telling me a story one day and I said, "who were you talking to and how?!"  He said through his game!!  I said, "well we will just fix that," much to his dismay until I explained to him that he really has no idea who this person claims to be.  I even have a net nanny to filter stuff out, but the "chat" feature from an app got missed.  Mind you this was one of his game apps, not anything like facebook or musically.  I just didn't realize that they have "chat site" options in these games that allow them to play with others over the internet.  I have tried to not allow those games in, but this one got missed.
Kids Email Safe Email for Kids seemed the perfect solution for us.  I have not allowed him to have email, but now he can and I can rest easy.  It allows you to only allow contacts you choose or approve of if you want (or you can allow it to work like regular email with no restrictions except their safe filter).  There are NO ads!  Yup, no worries on crazy images or inappropriate advertisements your kids might accidentally see.  This alone is worth a lot to me!  Especially with a teenage son.  Other features include:

• email filters that can not just block certain people or allow all emails, but also any attachments, pictures, or links
• time of day restrictions or even "grounding" for a period of time
• contact manager that allows you to have a list of approved contacts
• spam filter (no spam!!)
• mail queue that allows you to review emails going in and/or out if you choose
• custom mailbox that your child can organize (teen version) and customize their own inbox (some cute templates are available).

There are so many customizations available and it really does work to block unwanted content.  It also blocks any offensive words.  The activity log not only shows you when they logged in and out but also when they try to access it when not allowed.  Customizing it is fun for the kids and really makes it "their" email.  I love that they can now safely communicate with our relatives that do not live locally.

For my K5 daughter, there is a READ IT feature that actually reads her email to her!  What a great thing while she is learning to read right now.  I love it!  Some other really fun features include the option for them to DRAW a picture in the email (on the tablet and mobile devices) and send it.  They can also send their own attachments if you allow that.

Little Bug LOVES the drawing feature!!

Another bonus for us is that it is also available as a Kindle app!  I love that! I chose Kindles for my kids because of the safety features, now they have kid friendly email to go with it.  The dashboard does look different on your mobile devices and tablets as compared to the computer or laptop, but just as user-friendly.  If your kids have mobile phones, no problem, they have the apps available.

The interface is a little different on the Kindle tablet

If I can't convince you how awesome this is then I have even more good news.  You can try this out for FREE using their 30 day trial.  You don't even need a credit card or anything to sign up.  Just register and you can try it out for 30 days with nothing more to do unless you choose to continue your subscription. How cool is that?!  

If you choose to continue they have 2 options and the annual option is by far the best.  If you choose annual it is only $38.95 for the year (approx $2.99/mth because you get 1 free month extra) and 6 email accounts.  If you choose monthly it will be billed at $4.95/mth and you only get 4 email accounts.

I plan to continue our Kids Email Safe Email for Kids subscription and highly recommend that you check this wonderful resource out.  You can connect with Kids Email on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, PINTEREST, INSTAGRAM, and GOOGLE+.

Please take the time to see what other Crew Review members are saying about this.

Trust Fund by Mapelle Films REVIEW

We really enjoyed watching the movie Trust Fund by Mapelle Films recently.  It's a modern day Prodigal Son (Daughter) story. I really like that the cinematographer/producer, Isaac Alongi, was an early homeschooler back in 1982.  He and his wife, Sandra Martin (who wrote the story) shot the film in 2014 and were only able to get it into the Kansas City market in 2016 due to lack of funds.  It is now being released to the home entertainment market.  Learn more about the Trust Fund producer, Isaac Alongi.
The main character, Reese Donahue (Jessica Rothe), is a typical spoiled child with money.  Thus far she has been able to live a carefree life while spending daddy's (Kevin Kilner) money (and her book advance) on things she wants and trips to distant lands.  She is a writer by nature and actually has a book pending to be published.  She has already exhausted her advance monies on her book and has come home to request more funds from her dad.  He informs her she needs to get a job now because she just keeps wasting her money away.  He offers her a position with the firm but she is not interested.  When that fails she tries to get another advance from her publisher but that also fails.
Reese does have an older sister, Audrey (Louise Dylan) who works for her dad's publishing company.  She is the responsible one in the family.  She loves her sister but is tired of her irresponsibility.  While waiting on her dad in his office Reese finds out that her deceased mother has apparently left her and her sister some money in a trust fund.  When she queries her dad about a possible trust fund he eludes the answer and she ultimately decides to "steal" the money ($5,000,000!!) and take off back to Italy and her newly found beau, Milo (Sean Wing).  
You'll need to see the movie to see what decisions she makes.  Why did she need so much money?  What has she gotten herself into?  Is her new beau all she thinks he is?  Why does he need so much money?
When decisions are made, are the consequences always final?  Is there room for forgiveness and starting over?  Reese finds out that her mother had good intentions on withholding the money until her and her sister had matured a little more and found their way in life a little better.  She also learns about unconditional love and forgiveness.  Will Reese find true love?
Reese does end up coming back home and working for her dad's company.  The movie doesn't end there and you need to see it to see how the story turns around for her.  
We definitely recommend this movie.  There are so many lessons to be learned and ultimately, true love and true repentance can go a long way to healing.  A job well done and the rewards that follow can be priceless.  Reese learns what it is like to become responsible and accountable for her actions and choices.  She is ultimately rewarded with wonderful consequences.  You won't be disappointed in this movie.  Good, wholesome, family movie with lots of life lessons.  There's plenty of drama and suspense to keep you interested and intrigued.  It's rated PG for mild thematic elements and brief smoking.  It is Dove approved for ages 12+ or for younger children when watched together as a family.  Get it, you won't regret it!
BONUS: There is a FREE downloadable study guide to go with this movie.
There is also a book that Sandra wrote, Love Was Near.  It is the background story to the movie.  Definitely worth checking out and you can read more reviews about the book below by selecting the "read more reviews" banner.

You can connect with Mapelle Films at FACEBOOK, TWITTER, PINTEREST, and GOOGLE+.