Once her parents divorced was finalized Maryanne found love once again. The two of them had a beautiful ceremony that both Nastasja and her younger sister namehere were part of as flower girls. Her mother married a good, Christian man, a minister; who had all of the girls baptized into his church and became fully fledged members of the congregation. The family was taken and embraced by his flock as if they were his own children. Stas was happy that her mom was happy and she could feel a difference in the air. The family unit didnt change much when the newest edition, Zinnia; was brought into the mix. Though she was both Maryanne and her new husbands biological child he didn’t treat Stas or her full sister differently. Stas treated Zinnia as if she were her baby. She protected her with all of her might and made promises to both of her baby sisters that they would always be the best of friends.
Maryanne and her husband decided to home school their girls through a faith based home schooling program which allowed for the girls to still socialize with peers their own age but they would have similar backgrounds and home lives as the Cole girls did. They remained in the faith based organization until they entered the ninth grade and they then attended public school. Nastasja did not adjust well to high school life and felt as if she were behind all of her peers. She joined choir and poetry club in an attempt to socialize herself while also doing something she enjoyed. She began to develop an attitude along with a drug and alcohol problem. She wasn’t an abuser to the point where she needed rehab but she wound up running around with the wrong crowd and landing herself in a lot of hot water. It took some time but she found her niche and began become a well mannered, better adjusted version of herself.
After high school Nastasja went to college at NYACK at Manhattan, a Christian college with great reviews who worked with those who had home school education backgrounds. She originally wanted to major in Social Work she decided that her calling was elsewhere and moved her career focus on achieving a Bachelors of Science in Youth and Family Studies to become a Youth and/or children’s Minister. She landed a job working with at risk youth within a group home where she ended up putting both of her loves for helping others and leading youth. There is where she met a man by the name of Justin Benza, he was with the Big brothers/Big sisters program.
The two of them hit it off and the couple married in 2008. The two of them had two son's together Christian Marcus whom was born on January 20th, 2010 and Ryan Matthew born on March 26th, 2013. Nastasja, like her mother; had stepped away from the workforce once her first child was born and decided to become a stay at home mom. This gave her a chance to form a bond with her son(s) and work on her art as well as her writing. Shortly after Ryan was born in April of 2013 Nastasja lost her husband due to a horrible freak accident. Justin had been a firefighter and during a rescue he was the one that became in need of rescue and unfortunately lost his life. Stas was mortified at the loss of the man who she had intentions of building a bright future with. She knew that his job was dangerous but not once thought she would lose him at such a young age. She was faced with the harsh reality that she was not only without her partner but she had to put on a brave face for her two little boys.
Stas was pleasantly surprised when the guys at the firehouse along with their families took her and her two boys under their wings. They would invite them to holiday functions and they made sure that not only her boys were well taken care of but she was as well. They wanted the young Benza family to be happy. Over time as people came and went one family in particular took special care to make sure that the Benza’s were well taken care of. The Colazzo family, the only son Ben was eighteen at the time that Justin was lost to the family but he took a special interest in Christian and Ryan and entertained them with his funny faces and his antics. Nastasja was pleased and in return she would make home cooked meals for him and encourage his art. They began falling into a pattern and became comfortable with each other and accepted one another as a family of sorts so much in fact that young Ryan calls Ben daddy. Eventually, over some time; the two of them ended up developing feelings for each other. They are currently letting the flame grow brighter and throwing caution to the wind.