It's A Bird! IT'S A PLANE!!! ...IT'S.....

Well we are getting ready for our Halloween season here in Fishers. This Friday night is our annual BARN BASH 2006! We are excited about the awesome games, prizes [tv], hilarious costumes [hillbilly] and an opportunity to share the gospel with some students.
Tonight, Danielle and I are trying to think of some costumes for halloween. Even though we don't celebrate the scary stuff of halloween, we do celebrate the free candy and funny costumes.
This year we got an awesome little Super Dog and we are HER pet dogs. She is going to walk us door to door for free candy!! We plan on going to all of our student's houses. This should be fun!!


When we put Zoe's costume on, she loved it!! She could tell we were laughing really hard [and you know what that means for Danielle!] and it was at her! But then things changed when we showed her our costumes. She was not laughing, not having fun...she was scared...scared to death! Rather then laughing and being excited she was barking, and all the hair on her back stood straight up! She did not like our costumes!

Well this is our first halloween with Zoe, so we hope she has fun!! We also hopes she learns that Christian dogs don't celebrate halloween, we just celebrate the fact that everyone is handing out free candy!!!

FINALLY....An update on the Freed's crazyness!!

WOW, what a past few weeks!
I started a few weeks ago with a week of training about an hour away from here, 8 hours a day...and the monday morning that it all started, I rear-ended a ford F150 with the Sable....hurt the sable, but not me, the other driver or the truck! That's the good side of it, however, we are still driving a rental car, so that kinda stinks.
Then several days later, a HUGE tree hit our apartment building, and the coolest part is that I saw it happen. No one was hurt, but it messed up the roof and gutters, and punctured the side of the building way down at the bottom, which was weird.
Here is the wreckage, this is after they began chopping it all up, only 1/3 of it actually fell, they cut the rest down!



So, it's been crazy around here, we also started our afterschool program, "The Rock" and that is going well! we have about 40 5th and 6th graders!! Talk about a room full!!:) It's a good program and good kids and a fantastic staff of 6 adults and 7 or 8 highschoolers. Check out the website www.hserock.com

Here is our cute pup amongst the rubble! Tell me she isn't adorable!!


Do you think this log was rotten?!? HA! They said it was lightning, and I saw it fall, but didn't see lightening, either way, it really fell. I thought it was just rotten and the thunder shook it...but the more I think about that, the more it doesn't make sense?!?


I'm sure this is what I looked like after the log fell! However, this pic is from a nature walk we took with friends...and we saw a REALLY FREAKY spider!!:)



If you regularly check our blog, leave us some love in the comment area!! That'll make us smile. We love to update this, but we love it even more when we get comments and know that we aren't throwing our time away posting!! Also look at our new youth ministry website that John created on his fancy Mac www.fusionstudents.com

Toodles

Zoe's Top 9 Pet Peeves about Us!

Ok I don't normally like forwards...and honestly unless I really love the person, I don't even read them anymore. But this one was from my wife, and of course it was really funny. So I thought i would post it here. If you have a dog, and love them like we do...you will love this list!!

All dog owners and lovers will understand

1. Blaming your farts on me... Not funny.. Not funny at all !!!

2. Yelling at me for barking.. I'M A FRIGGIN' DOG, YOU IDIOT!

3. Taking me for a walk, then not letting me check stuff out. Exactly whose walk is this anyway?

4. Any trick that involves balancing food on my nose... Stop it!

5. Any haircut that involves bows or ribbons. Now you know why we chew your stuff up when you're not home.

6. The sleight of hand, fake fetch throw. You fooled a dog! Whoooo Hoooooooo what a proud moment for the top of the food chain.

7. Taking me to the vet for "the big snip", then acting surprised when I freak out every time we go back!

8. Getting upset when I sniff the crotches of your guests. Sorry, but I haven't quite mastered that handshake thing yet.

9.Dog sweaters. Hello ???, Haven't you noticed the fur?

I LOVE MY MAC!

IF you are thinking about getting a new computer...get a MAC. Going on my 4th year with my MAC I am stuck for good. Thanks Gerry for getting my hooked!!

Check out these funny video's by clicking on the title of this post.
have a great day, tomorrow we leave at 3:30AM for Cedar Point!!! We are looking forward to this trip because it will be another great time to bond with our students. However, Danielle is really looking forward to the roller coasters!!

Who Knew??

WOW, who knew our leaving CrossRoad Ministries would have such an affect on our Adult Life Coaches! We hope everything turns out okay for them!?!



HAHA!! These guys ROCK! They are so much fun, we miss you! Rock ON!!!!

More Labor Day Fun!!

More Labor Day Fun!!

Grandpa Freed's first meeting with his first GrandDog! :)

Zoe was ALL tired out after a weekend with the Freed Family!!

The Bud Freed Family! Thanks Aubree (James' "friend") for taking the pic!!


A quick reunion with some high school friends. Randie, Nicole, Shanna and Julie!! We had some Chilis and Starbucks to follow, we had a great time!! It was really good to catch up with these gals! This was the perfect ending to my fun friend and family filled weekend!!:)

Happy Labor Day!!

Happy Labor Day to all our friends and fam! We had an action packed weekend with friends, old and new, and family! We kept very busy heading from here to there, seeing so many people, it was very exciting!! :) We had alot of fun, even though it was a big cool outside.
I (danielle) started the weekend with a class for the Afternoon's ROCK in Indiana program that I am becoming certified to supervise. I had to go downtown with my friend Mark, who is the current director of Fall Creek's program to get curriculum training. That was short and sweet, which was kind of the teacher since it's a holiday weekend!! John headed up to IWU with Zoe for move in day to see our friends from WI & IN move in! We are excited for the Freshman and his brothers who are Jr's this year.
Saturday we headed to Wabash to see Zoe's Mom, Star, oh...and my family!! hehe I love to go to my Aunt and Uncles new home up there, there is so much to do, and it's so beautiful, and the added bonus now is that Zoe gets to see her mommy!
Here they are, can ya tell they're related!!!!!:)



PLAYING!!:)




This is for real, we stopped in Wabash to take a pic, we thought it was funny yet disturbing?!?! What do you think??


After we left Wabash on Saturday afternoon we headed back to Marion to see Lynn and baby LEVI!!! I was SO happy to finally meet Levi! He's a DOLL! We had alot of fun cathing up, I wish we had more time to have connected!! Anyway, here we are!:)

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.