Stolle Christmas 2008 ROCKS

GRISWOLD FAMILY EAT YOUR HEART OUT!

November 2008 Portraits

Our House

We love our home. However our home at times has been like the movie money pit. We bought it in August of '03. It was the only home we saw in our price range we even considered. The outside of the house was in very good shape. The inside need a update into the current century. We still love our home even though we have probably had to sink around $20,000 or more into it (some planned some not)! I hope to begin a several part series breaking down the different areas of the house we have had to work on (both planned and unplanned) with pictures if availiable. This was our first house we purchased together after we married, both our kids were born into our house, and we have gone thru all our trials and tribulations in this house. Anyway look for these posts to come soon.

Life

IS HARD, no really it is! Life for me over the last 6+ years has been different. I have had to do a lot of growing up in that time and taking what some people say as "a big person pill". I grew up an only child and the oldest grandchild of my living grandparents. Now I know most of you are saying "spoiled" and while I was to a certain extent I don't think I act like it. A lot of people who didn't know me well wouldn't even guess I was an only child. So a little over 6 years ago I married the love of my life Rachel. Now while that was one of the best moments of my life it was one of the biggest changes of my life. Instead of it all being about me, it was about me and Rachel. Well I think I have finally adjusted (maybe) to the life with a wife :) Rachel and I do butt heads but I think it is because we are so much alike. Then came the birth of our first daughter Reese 2 yrs 8 months ago. Now you talk about a life change for me! This crying baby that never stopped crying, I was in shock. You talk about nothing being about yourself this was it. Over time you learn to get used to it and enjoy watching them growing up. Then came the birth of our second 5 months ago Raeleigh. Now myself is not even a word any more. There is no time for anything but the kids! They are true blessings from God though. So many more things happened over these 6 years. Huge struggles with family, faith in God and leaving a very well established church to help start another, having to spend probably 20,000+ in house repairs and you don't even have $200, Rachel quitting her job to stay at home with the kids (which is the best thing ever), huge medical problems with Rachel, Reese and Raeleigh that of course brings huge medical bills, big money problems that required us to sell about half our belongings, selling my truck, and almost selling our house, my grandpa is dying of cancer, and I am probably leaving something out! So today it just really hit me. We had a king size bed we bought way back that was in bad shape, and despite all of our money problems we went out and bought another one. Well we put it in credit and what was supposed to be 12months no payments/interest. Well long story short we were not informed of some things and the payments were going to be around $100 a month. I talked with corporate and after all was said and done we are left with them coming to get the set and us having no bed. Talk about a wake up call from God. We actually do have a bed, when they came and brought us the new mattress set they took our old one away and of course don't have it so we had to move Reese full bed to our room and put the exta twin in the nursery in Reese room to sleep on. This is the bed Rachel and I used to sleep on way back when we we were probably both 5o pounds or more lighter, LOL!! Anyway the point of my story is not for you to feel sorry for me or to say what an IDIOT!! :) It is that God has showed me material things don't matter, it is not about me, it is about family. Family that I wouldn't trade for the world. I would give up anything to make sure my girls were taken care of (oh yeah my two kids are girls so I live in a house with 3 females!!) It is not about me any more, it is about my wonderful wife and two sweet girls who I would gladly give my life for. As long as they are happy and taken care of, then I am happy and have a peace to my life.

Neighborhood Association

Well I am now President of the Meadowbrook Neighboorhood Association. It is made up of three streets: Darden, Meadowbrook, and Brewster. Meadowbrook was the first street formed so it is actually the meadowbrook subdivision. Anyway Rachel and a neighbor down the street have been collaberating for several weeks about starting it up. They passed out fliers to everyone on all three streets with our two girls!! Rachel has also started up the monthly newsletter and weekly email newsletter and she also volunteered to be secretery. So last night was the big night of our first meeting. We had no idea what kind of turn out to expect and we ended up with around 20-25. That was a very good number and we hope to have more turn out and we keep going. Most of these people had been involved with the MNA in the past. Most of the same people had to do everything and in the end they were looking for a "youth movement" to take over and help out, well they never got that so they just disbanded. This is where Rachel and I come in. We had a huge turn out from the older crowd and a small turn out from the middle age crowd, and then just Rachel and I from what I will call the "youth movement crowd" (LOL). Anyway we really hope to changed that. So anyway we just kinda spearheaded this with no idea what to expect and what type of format to do and just kinda went with it. I had planned on letting Rachel do all the talking as I don't do very well in front of crowds, however at the last minute something came over me and we probably split the talking time. Anyway we talked about a good bit of stuff, then it came down to electing the officers. Well Rachel had already volunteered to be secretery and a neighbor down the road had voluteered to be President so we were told, we had talked a new couple that just moved in across the street into joining and she said she would be treasurer. I said I would go ahead and be vice president if nobody else wanted to. Well when it came time to ask for volunteers for President no a single soul raised their hands (you could hear a pin drop)(LOL) so I knew it would be me!! LOL Well when it came time to ask for vice president the same thing, finally the guy I thought might be president volunteered and we were set. I can't blame people for not volunteering though because most of them had been stuck doing it for years!! We have good ideas and I am excited about where this could possibly go and it is always good to meet new neighbors and just to have people look out for you. The MNA will be hosting a christmas party in Dec so hopefully we can have more people turn out for that who will be interested.

President Bush

As we prepare to see the exit of our current President and enter in a new one, I thought I would share my thougts on President Bush. I was 20 years old the first term Bush was voted in. I voted for him then just because I could vote and he was Republican. I was 24 the next term and voted for him again, this time based off his morals as a man and many other things I admired about him. I know I am probably of the 10% of the population who still approves of him, but hey that is ok because that is my right as an american. I always commend Bush because he wasn't afraid to get in there and do what he thought was right, and voice his opinion about it. We as america surely have to Give bush credit, has any other president had to endure what he did with 9/11, being attacked on our own soul. Do you remember how you felt that day? The revenge on your minds? Bush talked about seeking out these cowards and bringing them to justice, which he has followed thru with. Maybe not the way some of you wish but it did happen. As far as the economy goes that could be traced back to 9/11, is that Bush's fault? Here is an exert from an article I read: The attacks had a significant economic impact on the United States and world markets.[169] The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the American Stock Exchange (AMEX), and NASDAQ did not open on September 11 and remained closed until September 17. When the stock markets reopened, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) stock market index fell 684 points, or 7.1%, to 8921, a record-setting one-day point decline.[170] By the end of the week, the DJIA had fallen 1,369.7 points (14.3%), its largest one-week point drop in history.[171] U.S. stocks lost $1.4 trillion in value for the week.[171] This is equivalent to $1.7 trillion in present day terms.[172] In New York City, about 430,000 job-months and $2.8 billion in wages were lost in the three months following the 9/11 attacks. The economic effects were mainly focused on the city's export economy sectors.[173] The city's GDP was estimated to have declined by $27.3 billion for the last three months of 2001 and all of 2002. The Federal government provided $11.2 billion in immediate assistance to the Government of New York City in September 2001, and $10.5 billion in early 2002 for economic development and infrastructure needs.[174]
The 9/11 attacks also hurt small businesses in Lower Manhattan near the World Trade Center, destroying or displacing about 18,000 of them. Assistance was provided by Small Business Administration loans and federal government Community Development Block Grants and Economic Injury Disaster Loans.[174] Some 31.9 million square feet of Lower Manhattan office space was damaged or destroyed.[175] Many wondered whether these jobs would return, and the damaged tax base recover.[176] Studies of the economic effects of 9/11 show that the Manhattan office real-estate market and office employment were less affected than initially expected because of the financial services industry's need for face-to-face interaction.[177][178]
North American air space was closed for several days after the attacks and air travel decreased upon its reopening, leading to nearly a 20% cutback in air travel capacity, and exacerbating financial problems in the struggling U.S. airline industry.[179] Should we blame the terrorists instead of Bush? I could go on and on and I am sure many people could argue with me their points against him and that is fine. Over the last several years I have asked people to just support him whether you like him or not, he is the leader of our country, which is no easy job. So to myself I also say I did not support Barack Obama but I will support and pray for him as he takes on the job of leading our country. So from myself, Jason Stolle, Thank you President Bush for your 8 years of service to our country and may God bless you.

Stolle Halloween 08