Danielle and U2

This is a funny story about Danielle and her mix up about the one of greatest bands in history.

Finishing up a HUGE Summer

well, as the phone calls, and emails from friends have been telling us, we need to update our blog. Naturally, when the school year starts up, (school started here on the 16th) the life of youth pastors kick into high gear. But just before the school year started Danielle and I celebrated 3 years of Marriage. This was a great time, and we finally went camping in Brown County. We have been wanting to go camping for two years now! Also, we went to the Indiana State Fair. This was my first time at the state fair, and I loved it!! I saw the worlds largest pig! Got to watch sheep be shaved, and a the greatest thing, i was able to watch a cow give birth!
This was an awesome time for me to experience a little of Danielle's history. Every year when she was in high school her high school band would participate in BAND DAY at the State Fair. Band Day is where high school bands from all over the state compete to find out who is the best marching band. Lapel High School (where Danielle went to school) always does a dance as a part of their show, and the crowd goes crazy. At one point, Danielle said she almost started crying because she was so proud of her little high school.
Zoe stayed with Uncle Micah for the week while Danielle and I traveled down south for the night, and then came home because o rain. We love to camp...at the Holiday Inn!! Next year, we will camp at the actual state park, not in the "serial killer hide out" camp ground that we stayed at. I will say, we laid in our tent until 3am listening to every sound!!! We were both scared, but did not admit it to each other until the next morning. We are officially wimps! But all in all, the trip to Brown County was beautiful, relaxing, and a lot of fun. I can't wait until next year.

Well School started and we had a 5h Quarter Party at FUSION. Following the HUGE Football Game between Hamilton South Eastern and the brand new FISHERS HIGH SCHOOL. The game was a massacre as HSE beat FHS 46-6. I really did not know what to expect for our 1st big event, and to prove how low my expectation were for the night, I only ordered 10 pizzas! But God always loves to prove me wrong, and brought 80 people to our 5th Quarter party. It was a fun night, filled with NERTZ tourn. and Ping Pong Tourn. We gave away a ton of prizes and had a lot of laughs. God was good!

Well today, Danielle and I are recovering from a long summer of moving, camping, crying, laughing, and meeting hundreds and hundreds of new people. We have been all over telling people about the Great news of Jesus Christ, and He is blessing us for it. We have adopted out daughter ZOE [our beautiful yellow lab] and have began our adventure in Indiana.

Thanks for all your prayers! Keep watching this blog...we honestly think to update it every day!! i will post lots of pictures from this coming weekend...when MOM and DAD Freed come down to visit. Also, on Friday of this week I am helping my brother in Christ Anthony move into his dorm room. I can not wait to see him!!

Much love!!

New Style of Blogging

MOM AND DAD FREED HAVE A BLOG!!!!!!

I can't believe it!! My Mom and Dad have a blog!! Check it out for yourself!!! Enjoy my parents, i love them too!

http://www.joshua-2415.blogspot.com

Away...but will be back soon

Hey Friends and Family,
we are normally really good about posting. but recently we have been traveling a bunch and have been unable to keep up with it. Last week I was honored to speak at a morning chapel at ICD Family Camp. The students were so kind to Danielle and I, and we really loved laughing with them that morning. I think I did more laughing then preaching, but it was one of those mornings. It was awesome to spend the evenings with Richard and Debbie, Danielle's Aunt and Uncle. They are so encouraging to us!

After camp, we rushed up to Mukwonago, Wisconsin to be apart of Veronica and Brian's wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony, and even made me cry. I think I am getting soft...or it could just be that town. It was great hanging out with out brothers and sister in Christ at Culver's and laughing until closing time. Great times!!!

Finally on Saturday night, we drove back home to Fishers, where we were up for Sunday Worship at our church, and Sunday night was our HOUSE Party, where we laughed again even more, and after house Party we had all our students over for Pizza and NERTZ!

Well that brings us to today...and why we can't post...well...IT"S OUR ANNIVERSARY!!!! Three Years tomorrow Danielle and I were married 8 miles north of where I am sitting now. She is more beautiful and I love her more now than then. She has been an awesome wife, and I truly see that I got the better end of the deal.

This week we are going on an adventure....we are going camping in Brown County. For those of you who hike, or live long periods of time outdoors...good for you...but this is not our style. We are truly city folk, and camping is going to be an adventure for us. We are really excited, and will bring back lots of pictures...of our camp site.

Anyways, we love you all...keep checking in with us and leaving us comments. We love them! Also, if you want to follow along with my schooling, you can read my Grad Blog http://www.freedschool.blogspot.com where I post my current papers and thoughts. I am finishing up a class on WORSHIP with DR. TODD GUY from Indiana Wesleyan Univ. and it is a great class. Take a look.

A Day at the pool with my cousins! :)

Today I, Danielle, spent the afternoon with my cousins and several of my cousins kids! We had a blast! I love playing with these guys, they are so much fun! I was really thrilled to spend time with my cousin Val's kids, Emma and Josiah! They are sweeties! I had to post these pics because they are all so cute, and especially to show you Reese's Mohawk! It's INSAINE! It's totally real and very permanant!! HA!! :)


Here is Blake having a BLAST! He loves to show off his tricks on the diving board and the slide!


Here is most of the crew I played with today!
Emma in the front, and the boys, Blake, Reese, Josiah, and Austin!


Here is the Mohawk! I can't believe it, he is Mr Cool!! :) He's showing off his big muscles!!!


Here is Bekah with our friends JB and Misty's daughter Lizzy, I've spent the last 2 days with these two, we have so much fun, Lizzy is oh so animated and very dramatic! She did signlanguage to my dog yesterday, I thought Bekah and I were going to explode we were laughing so hard!!


Is she not just the cutest thing??? She is very smart, I love her. She and her family live in Texas right now, so it was an extra special treat to see them today!! She is expecting a baby brother in September!! :)

Pop vs. Soda

One of the intresting things we have noticed since moving back to Indiana from Mukwonago is the fact that people here call Soda Pop "POP" you can walk into any grocery market and ask the person behind the counter..."Excuse me, where do you keep all your pop" and they will know exactly what you're talking about. Unlike Mukwonago, if you asked for the "pop" they would think you're loopy. So what do you say? Pop? Soda? Coke? or other...which is my other quesiton...what is other??

jf

Good Parents gone Bad!!

I don't want to say we are bad parents, I just want to say we have made poor choices in our first week of parenting our new dog Zoe....Ok, here is the story...when we first got Zoë we had great intentions of helping her become the great dog God has created her to be. We spent a lot of money on toys, good food, fancy dog dishes, fo-rhinestone collar, a long leash, balls, Frisbees, and a big fluffy bed. We have fallen in love with her, and the joy she finds in all these things. We laid down the house rules so she would know our standards of living: here are our rules:

1. NO getting dirty in yucky nasty ponds. Labs love to swim, and Zoe is no exception, she grew up swimming in a pond out her back door, however, the ponds in our area are nasty and full of seaweed, plus when she comes out she is no longer beautiful blonde but black from the mud and grime.

2. NO swimming in Rosie's (Grandma walls) pool!! Her nails can hurt the sides, and plus, dogs should not play in the pool.

3. NO SLEEPING IN THE BED! Dogs are dogs and don’t belong in beds.

Well you can see by the pictures below, we have given in on all three of our core rules. We tried to be good parents, but in one simple week we have given in to her cuteness. I just want to say for the record, all the rules have been broken through Danielle, as the one picture can show.

We love our Zoe and are having fun with her anyway!! This is good training for future additions to our family, but at this rate, we are not doing to well with rules.

Picnic

Last night Danielle and I had dinner with a small group from Church. We are unable to be apart of their Sunday school class, because we are teaching "Breakfast Club" but they adopted us for their picnic. As we all shared about work, family, life, and our new puppy, I was reminded of the deep joy that grows through community. We had a great time last night, and really loved the people we had dinner with.

Side Note: If YOU are not involved in a Christian community, and I don't mean Sunday morning worship...I mean a group of people that you know care about you personally, and connect with you. Work to get this, as if your life depended on it. Because truthfully, I believe your spiritual life does!

Thank you so much Scott and Jill for inviting us. And Patty, Mark, Jay, Ann, Kelly, Alisa, and all the kids, THANK YOU for allowing Danielle and I to fit right in! We loved it!

John's New Grad Blog

I am doing all the work, you can benefit! Enjoy and of course, LEAVE A COMMENT!

Do you love the Bible? Then check this out!

http://www.thebricktestament.com/

If you love the Bible, and have gone through Danielle's 12 Stages of the Ages teachings you will love this site! To all the CRM friends who went through a semester of BIBLE101, you will love this site!

BIBLE RAP!!! YEAH!!!!!

Pictures of ZOE!!!

Our new Daughter

Well, it has been over a week since our last post. We had ICD Teen Camp (Indiana Central District) this past week

http://www.icdteens.com

and had a great time hanging out with Jeremy and Andrea Summers. Also, this was a key week for Danielle and I to bond with our new students here in Fishers. The week went great! We love our new students and really had a great time laughing with them. Camp was rainy most of the week so that was a bummer, but it did not dampen the movement of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. God moved through the worship sets and speaking, we were very thankful to be there.

At the same time, this years camp for me was hard. I really miss our students from CRM, and found myself often thinking back to camp days in Wisconsin. God is teaching us many things, and giving us a ton of hope and love for Fishers. Our heart is growing into our new home and our new ministry here.

God has been blessing Danielle and I. We have been going going going going and my back couldn't take any more. On Wednesday after a great late night basketball game my back gave out. I guess I really hurt it bad. I suffered through the rest of the week and then went to the chiropractor on Saturday. He said I had a bulged disk and confirmed my pain. He adjusted me a bit and sent me on my way!!! It was a miracle!! Tonight, I feel awesome, and tomorrow i will follow up with him again. I have to say thanks to CK for giving us his name. ChiroSpa in Fishers Indiana gave Danielle and I a great deal because we are clergy. ChiroSpa feels that it is their business' ministry to minister to Pastors, so they give care to Pastors and their families for next to nothing. I really appriciated them and hope you choose them if you are looking for a Chiropractor. We have used them and love them!! And now we LOVE CHIROSPA of Fishers!!

[ side note...Danielle is on the phone right now with her family in Austrailia...they were singing her Happy BIrthday...because in Australia it is Danielle's Birthday!! Thanks Blackwoods, we love you all!!

http://www.blackwoods.us

Well, Danielle's Birthday is tomorrow. She is going to be 26!!!!! We are closer to 30 than ever before! I can't believe it! We are starting the 5 day celebration of Danielle's birthday, so give us a call and say hi! Mike and Tina always joke about how we celebrate such long birthdays, and this year we have a special celebration with ZOE!!!!

LET'S tell you about ZOE!!!! Zoe is a our new little girl. She is an 11 month old yellow Lab. She is so beautiful and full of energy! She really gives Danielle a run for her money when it comes to playing. And Zoe loves to fetch the ball, in fact I think she is obsessed with it! She is very well behaved, knowing how to sit, lay down, and fetch. She is very house trained, holding it today for a record 5 hours during church. We were so proud of her!! Right now, she is standing next to me holding her tennis ball, just hoping i would have a spurt of energy at 11:23pm on Sunday night and want to play fetch. HAHAHAHAHAA

Anyway, Danielle and I love our new girl. We are showering her with gifts, love and attention. Everything she does is so great! It is hard to leave her alone, because we want to rush back to her. She is a beautiful gift! She was totally free!!! We are so lucky!! We can't wait to show her off to friends!

In our next post we will give some pictures.

Some Pictures from the Freed Family Foto Booth

Here are some pictures we took this week during July 4th of friends in the Freed Family Foto Booth!


Grandma Cole, Danielle and I

Mom and Dad Freed::: i love having crazy people for parents!

Mom and Dad Freed

Crazy Mama Freed

Great picture of Grandma Cole

Some more pictures of Guatemala

Here are some more pictures of our missions trip to Guatemala. You can read the journal entry below. thanks for checking in! Leave us a comment!!

back...for now

WOW! It has been a whirlwind of two weeks. As you know...if you have been keeping up on this blog or calling us...we have been in Milwaukee and then last week we were in Guatemala doing missions work. While the trips were both really short, they were extremly "impacto" on our lives. We have been running from one project to another. In Guatemala our eyes were open to huge devistation from mud slides, along with poverty stricken fmailies that live in grass huts. They have no shoes, and many of the children have worms; however, God opened doors for us to serve in little ways, but mind you, little ways for Jesus are big ways for eternity! We gave 250 pairs of shoes to children in a little village called San Juan. These children had very dirty feet, some even bloody and we washed them with baby wipes and placed new shoes on their feet. They never asked what brand they were, or what color, they were just so excited to have something. We also gave pounds and pounds of candy away. The children, don't get a lot of candy, so we gave lots!! While we were visiting the children and playing with them, we went to a school and gave de-worming medicine to the entire school grades k-6. The stuff tasted nasty but the students knew they needed it. And finally, I helped build a kitchen. That's right...with only a trowl and knife i helped a man build a kitchen. It was a huge learning experience for me, but brought some beautiful memories.

Thank you so much for all of you who prayed for Danielle, the students and myself as we travled and ministered to people. God's truly blessed our two weeks with strength, power, and new vision for our ministry in Fishers. Danielle and I cried often while we were in Guatemala it was very hard for me to see the pain and devistation this nation has. But at the same time, I knew God was there, and these people who had nothing, really had more than what appeared to my Western, materialism driven eyes. They were all very conected with family, they really cared for each other, and everyone smiled. They did not have much food, or clean water, but they smiled, because life was about more than gaining and storing up...it was about love. God's love is very much alive in Guatemala, you can feel it in the hearts of the children when they climb on your back and whisper "thank you" in broken english because of a piece of "dulce" [candy] you have given them.

Our words nor blog could ever describe the imprint Guatemala left on our hearts. We hope to go back next year...and yes...take you with us!!

Special thanks to our family Jodi and Paul for giving us a tour of their village and home in Guatemala. The coffee is amazing and your home is very beautiful!!! (And Danielle sends well wishes to the dog!)

Well.....I am all caught up with the two weeks of Grad work I left here, our Apartment is still not all the way moved in, and we have the begining of a week of Youth Camp on Monday...life is good...busy...but really good!!

quick report before we leave again

Report:
we arrived after many hours in traffic jams and constant traveling. We boys slept in the damp hot basement and the girls staid in the hot dusty second floor of the NON-air conditioned Unity Lutheran Church in downtown Milwaukee. We woke each morning at 7:15am and took all of our clothes, toiletries and food for an entire day of serving the Lord. Each site was unique and required a unique perspective:

St Ann Center was an elderly, handicap and children care facility that provided care, compassion and programming each day for it's visitors. To help give care and compassion was a team of students, who played cards with the elderly, played with children on the play ground, help clean up the grounds, and helped facilitate adult care.

TriCorp was a home for emotionally and mentally hurting people. Our young men worked very hard behind the scenes using their strength to serve the Lord. Much sweat and hard work went into helping the facility move a ton of Mattresses and other rooms needing cleaned. Windows were washed with the love of Jesus through these tough young men.

Gingerbread Land was a whole city block managed by Mother Clara who gave care to families who needed home and a hot meal. All the houses are painted in WILD COLOR like hot pink bring green and yellow. The trees all hold signs such as "drive slow" and "Jesus loves you" the side walks are painted in wild colors as well. Our team of students help weed an entire lot for a garden, painted a playground, cleaned an old burned out church, planted a beautiful flower garden, and played with children who hunger for love.

Family House is a home for elderly people who can not afford the nursing home or other services. The team of students sorted clothes, and put on a play for the residence. They clean and organized HUGE piles of clothes, blankets and other items. Helping the home put together their annual clothing distribution to residence. Janet even help feed the patience. Which was an eye opening experience. This team also helped at "the Gathering" a soup kitchen that fed almost 400 homeless with the help of the students.

As the new youth pastor it was an honor to join them this week. Danielle and I were so proud to be counted among the Fall Creek group. We have great kids who are hungry to serve the Lord. We all look forward to next years missions trip and thank the church for providing this opportunity. Many lives were eternally changed in the process of making small changes through missions work. We fed the hungry, clothed the naked, helped the sick and hurting, and planted our sweat in a place that was not our home. We gave, and expected nothing in return. We spent everything we had for the spreading of the Gospel. It was a victorious week!! Praise the Lord!!!

pardon the grammer...i am very sleepy!! We leave for Guatemala in 7 hours.

jf

God's On the Move...and we are along for the Ride!

Where Beer is Born and Brats are Devoured


Hey Friends, Danielle and I stopped for a quick minute to ask for your prayers. As many of you already know, we are leaving for a couple missions trips tomorrow following Church. We are spending a week in Milwaukee [YES! This is very weird for us!] doing missions with "YouthWork". We hope to be working with the Milwaukee Rescue mission where we will be able to see some old friends. We will be staying on the far North side of Milwaukee and bussing in everyday to the project sites. We have never done a trip with YouthWorks but hope it is the begining of a long beautiful relationship. Many of you remember our trip to South Chicago last fall, and we are praying for the same outcome: Deep dependence on God; Stretching of Our Character and Faith; Moving past being "nice" and into the deep realm of Kindness; and finally falling into the deep moving work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of everday people. We are praying for power, and open eyes on this trip. I am expecting it to be difficult for me to see God in a familiar setting like Milwaukee.


We leave Milwaukee on the 23rd at Noon, and Return to Fishers at around 6pm...then do a quick wash of our clothes and leave for Guatemala at 4:30AM on Saturday. We will fly to Guatemala and do missions work with YES! Ministries. We are pumped about this trip because it will be our first spanish speaking missions expereince. We were in Cancun for our honeymoon 3 years ago...but we suspect this trip to South America will be MUCH diffrent. We are praying that we stay dry. We have done our research and read that it was the rainy season. So we are expecting damp clothes and short nights of sleep. We are not real sure exactly what we are doing, but we do know we will be building a wall for a church, passing out shoes to children while at the same time washing their feet with baby wipes, and finally doing a small children's bible school [which Danielle will be good at]. We wish we had our friend Brittney V. with us because of her vast Spanish skills, but we are praying the Holy Spirit gives us wise tongues.

Much of the next two weeks will depend on the Holy Spirits work in our lives. While we are excited about this, it means one very crucial thing....we must become less so that HE becomes MORE! So we are praying that our desires, plans, comfort level, and strength takes a back seat to the POWER and PURIFYING work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We hope these next two weeks will draw us closer to our new students. Taking us past the student to Pastor relationship into a deep community of brothers and sisters in Christ.

Finally, thank YOU for your prayers. And thanks FALL CREEK for providing the funds for Danielle and I to take this trip. We know before you even met us, you made the committment to provide the funds. We appreciate it, and hope to make you proud.

Love you all. Pray for us! and remember: God is on the Move!!!

Beautiful Guatemala!

Jay and Ann

Jay and Ann are cool new friends!! We grilled out with us tonight..the chicken was not that good...but they were awesome! of course we had a ton of laughs with the freed family foto booth. They are an intresting couple who moved here from California and are starting life here. They were recently married and now are searching together for God's Life for them. We are excited about connecting our lives to theirs!

Karen and Chad from Ft. Wayne

Our Friends Karen and Chad came over today on their way to her parents house. They took some great pictures with the Freed Foto Booth!!!!
Thanks guys for having fun with us!