Snow, Snow, SNOW!

So tonight for the second time, we enjoyed one of the many joys of homeowning: shovelling the driveway. I remember as a kid, I used to really dislike shovelling the snow, mostly because I didn't really see the point. But tonight in the quiet darkness that comes so much earlier in the evening these days, perhaps I discovered something different about this driveway; it's mine. And as my breath steamed past my eyes in the cold, I realized the audacity the snow must have, landing on MY driveway. Smiling to myself, I turned a chore into a game, a battle of will. "Snow on my driveway? I don't think so!" And for the second time, we procceeded to let the snow know who's driveway this was. "That's right, there are some new shovels in town, and we're clearing out the riff raff. Tell your friends."
TeamFreed 2, Winter 0.
I'm pretty sure after tonight, the snow will start falling just on the yard, in an effort to avoid another embarrassment.
On a side note, my sister asked me if I thought my kids would be competitive. The only way that could happen, I responded, was if we had kids. ;)

Paint, Paint, and more Paint!

When buying a house you have to make it feel like your own. That usually means painting. Painting we have done. Luckily it has not all been done by just Wilder and I. Thanks to both of our parents, Amy, and Alan we were able to pretty much finish it in one weekend. Here are some before and after shots of a few of the rooms in the house.
Kitchen (after only):

Living Room:

















Dining Room (after only):


Family Room:

Turkey Day!!!

Well, what's a brand new house without a rush to clean everything up? We ambitiously decided to host Thanksgiving this year, and didn't really realize what we were getting ourselves into until about a day before the inlaws started showing up. But, since we're not the sort of people who admit when we're in over our heads, April and I scrambled to get everything ready for our first large scale meal. Amy and Kash drove in wednesday night from Des Moines to join us, David, and the Freed parents in an amusing night of Nintendo Wii fantasticness. Anyone who is wondering, "Is the Wii fun?" It sure is. And you know it's especially amazing when my mother is celebrating after serving an ace right past me in Wii tennis.
So late Thursday night DJ and Alan roll into town, and Thursday morning the preparations begin. We had all the classic Turkey day stuff, including my crowning achievement, a 22 lb bird (cooked brilliantly, if I do say so myself). But it was my wife that was the star, coordinating the first beautiful multi dish nine person meal in the history of our new home. This year, I decided to flex my creative muscles, and put together a comic book commermorating our first Thanksgiving. I took pictures of everything, and it came out prett well. I'm not quite sure how to share it with the world yet, so stay tuned. It was a fantastic day with friends and family. Not everyone could be there, but hey, there's always next year.

New House!

Wilder and I finally bought our first home! We are so excited. We closed on October 31st, which was only about three weeks after we first saw the house. God was really faithful in our search even though I did not always realize that. He stalled us with another house for just the perfect amount of time to be able to get this one. We first put on offer on a different house in the beginning of September, hoping to close by the end of September. We knew it needed some work but offered below asking in order to be able to do that. We were so excited. We waited over four weeks to get a response of no from the seller. It was a long discouraging process. We started looking agian even before we heard back. We weren't see anything that we liked as much as that house. The the first week in October we found the perfect house for us. It had only been on the market for a few days and we made an offer the very next day. We are pretty sure that we got a great deal on the place and are looking forward to many years here to grow as a family.

A New Gopher Football Season

So last night we went to the Golden Gophers' home opener football game against Bowling Green. Every year, the Gophers' first game is a tune up game against a lesser school, so they can iron out some of the kinks in the system before they play someone dangerous... Well, that was supposed to be the plan anyways. So April and I went to the game with our friends Kim and Ellen, and we sat in the student section near where the players run out onto the field, and there was excitement in the air as the possibilities of a whole new season hovered only moments away.
Excitement turned to frustration as a pourous defense and an inexperienced offense let Bowling Green (who?) head into half time leading the Goph's 21-nil. Not exactly the start we were expecting from the tune up game.
Alot of the students started leaving, and the fans didn't look very happy. And then the gophers did something amazing. They got a stop on defense. We finally scored a touchdown, and April told me to start taking pictures of the score and the game as it progressed, in case we were about to witness an impressive comeback.
And slowly but surely, The Gophers got back into the game...
And then tied it up...
And with two minutes left we took the lead!
It was an amazing feeling to watch as looming embarassment turned to new hope, but unfortunately, our defense had to make a stop for us to win. And so into overtime we went, and after regaining the lead, we lost to Bowling Green in overtime. So begins the Brewster era in Minnesota. It could be a long season.

Cabin Fever

Unfortunately the title has nothing to do with a cabin. We neither own a cabin or have been to one in quite a while. It is referring to us being in the midst of a home search and being ready to move out of Wilder's parents' house. They've been so great to let us stay here while we look for jobs and then a house but it is now past time for us to have our own place finally. We are beginning to look seriously now, instead of just on the internet like I've been doing for the last two year. What an overwhelming process! We're in the middle of trying to find a realtor so we can then start looking at houses and not be restricted to open houses only. We are also praying that the right place will come along; by right I mean for the right price. We really only care about location and price (and a little bit about size). We are very willing to buy a place that needs some updating as long as it is nothing to big that needs to be done. Now I just need to be patient for the right one at the right time.

Hole in one!

One thing that we have been enjoying this summer is disc golf. Brent gave Robin some discs at the start of the summer, and so we decided that we would get a couple discs to play as well so we could play a round every now and then with Baby sister. We did not realize how much fun we would have! So we've been playing more and more, and learning about different discs and different courses. My favorite course, of course, is at Covenant Pines. What I like most about it, besides being at the ever amazing Pines, is that there are three sets of tees, so while there are only nine sets of chains, you can play twenty seven holes, and the courses range in difficulty.
So we were up at the Pines this past weekend, and I was playing the yellow course with some of the guys (yellow is the shortest set) and on the first hole, I threw a hole in one! I was really excited, because it was my first hole in one. I ended up seven under par for the yellows, and it really encouraged me to get better; it's funny how we tend to work harder at the things we're better at. Shouldn't we work more on the things we're worse at? Anyways, I love Disc Golf.

Tulsa, The Paris of the US

So last week I was in Tulsa, OK for work. We have to go down there to
transition the work to ourselves (long story that I won't go into). I
got my own room in the Radisson, equipped with a sleep number bed (I was
at a 55 I think). I also got all my meals paid for since I was on a
work trip. All this to say that if you have to go to Tulsa it helps to
have everything paid for. I actually had a pretty good time though.
There are quite a few people at my new job who are in their 20's. There
are also quite a few who have a twin. With myself included there are at
least 4 twins just in the accounting department. Crazy, I know.
One night we left Tulsa and headed to Bartlesville
to go to the Price Tower. This is a Frank
Lloyd Wright building that was made in the '50s. It was very
cool to see. He was very innovative. It was amazing to see all of the details he took the time to make sure were perfect.

BLOOD BLOOD BLOOD

If there's one thing I love, it's Covenant Pines Bible Camp. April and I just spent a week up there volunteering for Senior High 1. It was a really great experience, mostly because I had a great cabin of guys. They were really good about not excluding each other, and spent a large portion of their time playing ultimate frisbee.

April and I were a little nervous when we first arrived at camp, because we didn't know as many staff members as we had in years past. By the time we had to leave, however, we were sad to go, because we had made about thirty new friends. It was a great week of playing games and going on the blob, and it rekindled my sense of responsibility toward high schoolers. It seemed like a bunch of these guys were really yearning for some strong male role models, to show them how to be a strong Christian man and how to love others. So many of them seemed to go out of their way to meet me, hang out with me; it made me realize that some of them actually look up to me.
Sometimes I forget things like that in my daily life, while I wonder about what's next or how to pay the bills. There's more than just me. I grew up with these strong christian role models at camp, showing me how to love God, love others, and how to have fun, and that was a big factor in how I turned out. I think it's important to pass those lessons on to these kids by example. And I love it.

Buck Buck, Anyone?

I actually spent a whole day in the middle of my week at camp without speaking. I decided to listen instead. I talk all the time, so I took a day off. (My throat was also sore) It was funny how the people around me reacted. Some were intrigued, and ventured to understand not only what I was trying to communicate through gestures, but my reasons for remaining silent. Others were completely disoriented and uncomfortable in a world where Wilder doesn't speak. It was a fun game with my co-counselor Nate, who began interpreting my motions and translating my meaning to others.

April didn't like it, and was visibly frustrated by not hearing my voice. But it was a great experience, because the huge expanse of silence I left was filled by voice that might otherwise be silent, or unnoticed. My campers came out of their shells and I heard them joke with each other, converse among themselves, and play blues piano. I got the chance to hear and observe those who might have been quiet if I had been talking. I learned a lot about the gift of silence, and how different people deal with it. After a week of fun in the sun up north, We came back to the Twin Cities refreshed, and ready for April's first day of work.

A JOB!

I got a job! After we had been back in Minnesota for about a week or so I e-mailed my friend Melissa that we were back so that we could get together for lunch sometime. She e-mailed back to inform me that Carlson Companies, where her husband works, was looking for accountants and wanted to know if I was interested. I let her know that of course I was interested and applied online and sent my resume. I had and interview within a few days and an offer two days after that. I took the weekend to "think" about it and let them know on Monday morning that I would accept. I'm very excited about it!

Mr. and Mrs. Awkward

So a day after we got back to the big TC, Team Freed hit the road again, this time for Denver CO, and our Friend Ben's wedding. Now one thing about Ben and Dana is that they live in a state of awkwardness.
Ben is an awkward kid who finds awkward things funny. It's great; atleast he doesn't take himself too seriously :) So we went to the wedding, which was a little bit awkward, but then, it was perfect. Speaking of awkward, we were going to get Ben a box with a hole cut in it for a wedding present, but ended up getting him a musical card instead. Yay for Mr. and Mrs. Ben "awkward" Ewing. We love you guys.

THE MOVE! pt. 2

Saturday was the day of the move. We set our alarms to go off at 3:30 Eastern time with the hopes of leaving by 4am. We were close to that time at least. We were on the road leaving Atlanta for for home at about 4:20am. An early morning to say the least. Remember that we were heading for the Midwest which meant we would be in the Central zone and that we actually woke up at 2:30 in that time zone. We were very excited at the beginning of the day. A new adventure lay in front of us and we had to drive to chase it down. The biggest disappointment of the morning was that we were hoping to have one last Chick-Fil-A breakfast along the way and did not see one on a highway sign as we drove.
Luckily we had walkie-talkies with us so we each came up with a call name (Wilder-Loud Mouth and April-Hurricane) so we could communicate throughout the trip. We also called a lot of people on our cell phones to help keep us awake since we were in different cars. It was a fun trip but a long trip; something I would not want to do again by myself.
About seventeen hours later and about six states we arrived in Des Moines for the night to stay with April's brother and his family. It was so fun to get to see family again and to know that we will be close to most of them now. We played with our nieces and nephew for a while and then had to go to bed for the night. It was great to go to bed in the Midwest again!

THE MOVE! pt. 1

What a long week! We've been preparing mentally to move back to Minnesota for months but it still seemed to sneek up on us. I think as we longed to be back home with our family and friends we slowly started to make friends in Atlanta and it began feeling a little bit like home (although it would never fully be home to us). We spent the few weeks prior to the move trying to fit in everything that we hadn't done in the year and a half that we had lived in ATL. Unfortunatally we put that off too much and missed out on a lot of things. I guess we'll just have to go back for a visit.
The pods that we were using to move were dropped off on Wednesday and we started loading them that night. Matt and Janey came over to help us, which was huge, and we got most of our furniture and a lot of boxes done before trivia night started at 8pm. Thursday was my last day of work! They let me leave early. That night Dan and Jen came to help us finish up packing the pods. We had pretty much everything loaded by about 8 again. It was so great to have the help so that the packing wasn't too prolonged. Thursday was also the day that the battery on the Accord died. Not really was we needed as were in the process of moving but at least it gave us Friday to get a new one. Friday was a long day. It felt like a summer day in Atlanta even though it was only the middle of May. Hot and Humid. We had to get a new battery for the Accord get the trailer from U-Haul and finish packing everything into the trailer that we would need for the next few months. It took pretty much the whole day to finish packing and then get the entire apartment cleaned and ready for us to leave the next day. We were so excited to be done with everything including having our air mattress set up for us so sleep on that night by about 5 or 6. Then we went out for dessert with TJ and Melissa our fellow midwesterners. After that it was tiem for an early night in bed so we could leave in the morning.
We are going to miss everyone so much.

Winning one

This past weekend I played with my third handball team this season. After playing in the UNC Invitational with the Atlanta Metro Condors, and then playing in the USOC National Tournament with the New York Athletic Club aka Garden City aka the Evil Empire, I played this past weekend in the Falcon Cup at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, For the Condor's crosstown rival, Atlanta Team Handball. ATH and the Condors are big rivals, but practice together often at the Georgia State rec center, so I knew all the guys on the team, and am friends with some. I think rivalries are great for clubs to get excited, and a fantastic part of sports in general, but I'm willing to play for ATH and Garden City because more than anything else, I just love to play.
So down to the Springs we went to represent the ATL, and came away champions. I actually really enjoyed playing for ATH because I understood our basic gameplan, and enjoyed carrying some of the scoring load. I think every tourney I play in I learn something, and get better at handball. If I can just cut back on dribbling and bonehead moves, I might be half decent someday. One thing in particular about playing for different teams, is experiencing different coaching styles. While Darrick Heath is reasonably quiet during games, Chris Cappelman (ATH) is, to understate, quite vocal on the bench. I knew just what I was doing wrong right as I was doing it, and I could hear Cap everywhere on the court. While this would probably be tough for a younger athlete to bear, I appreciate his willingness not to sugarcoat things, and say exactly what he thinks. Garden City is like a whole team of coaches, because most of them have been playing since I was in middle school. Their strategy is no turnovers, period. And since the other team gets the ball after missed shots, you're not allowed to miss. Which is a pretty tall order, but when you're a team of past Olympians and National players, I guess you can have ambitious expectations.
At any rate, this was the first tournament I've ever won, and it feels good. It's nice to win one, finally.

Easter in Newark

This past weekend, which happened to be Easter weekend, I travelled to Newark, Delaware for the National Championships of Team Handball. My Atlanta Club, the Condors, didn't make the trip, because A) it was pricey and B) many of our better players and our coach were in Chile with the National team, competing for the last slot in the Pan Am Games. I was elected as an alternate for the Chile trip, which means I would fill a void if another player had to drop out before the trip. No one did. The coaches wanted me to play in the national championships to add to my experience, and Coach Cappelman set me up to play with the two time defending national champion NYAC team, aka Garden City, aka The Evil Empire.

On the court, Garden City has the reputation of being the meanest team in the nation, measured largely by penalty minutes and red cards received. They are also a very veteran team, anchored by a number of former olympians, and the only team to my knowledge, with a full blown sponsor. The New York Athletic Club sponsors the team, and gives them a budget for tournaments. This allowed them to pay for my travel costs and for team hotel and entry fees. That was a great blessing, because airplane tickets can be expensive.
We got to the semi finals, and found ourselves down three goals with four minutes left when I got into the game against New York City, a largely foreign-born team, and in three minutes I managed to score three consecutive goals to tie the game. We ended up losing by one in the closing seconds, but it felt good to make an impact for a veteran team. We ended up taking fourth place overall, referred to as "the wood" as opposed to Gold, Silver or Bronze, but it was a fun tournament.

I spent some time alone Sunday in reflection. I don't really enjoy missing Easter with my wife. Ultimately, it is most important that we are aware of the great gift given to us all, a gift that is worth more than anything we could attain ourselves. It is moments like this, during opportunities to live fully and richly, to play a game I love, that I'm so thankful for all the blessings in my life, and for my Lord, who died for me.

Dead last is a good thing.

So the other day my buddy Matt McNair, a friend of mine from church, called me up to see if I wanted to go golfing. Does anyone ever really NOT want to go golfing? Because if I ever decide not to go golfing, it's not because I don't want to, but rather, because something else has precluded my opportunity. In this particular case, Matt wanted me to go golfing during a shift of mine at Starbucks, and I wasn't sure whether I could get it covered. Then he told me we'd be golfing for free. I've never gotten a shift covered so quickly in my life.

What Matty didn't tell me was that we were playing in a charity golf tournament at St. Ives Country Club, one of the nicer golf courses I've ever seen. Matt and some of the other church musicians had been given a foursome entry by someone at Perimeter who wanted to support the cause, WellSpring, a program that helps women who are victims of abuse. The ticket price: $1200 per group of four. Safe to say, this was a rare opportunity.

When we got to St. Ives that morning I noticed that everyone else on the driving range was much better at golf than we were. They were driving out of sight and I was still getting used to having free range balls.



We had a blast golfing, and I think I did pretty well for me, considering I was the only person at St. Ives who forgot their putter. I was lucky we were playing a variation of best ball where you get to play from the best drive, because I'm confident that I hit more houses than fairways (Houses 3, Fairways 2). I'm not sure why they live so close to the golf course anyway; just asking for trouble. House hunting has a whole new meaning at St. Ives.

So after our round we went into the clubhouse for lunch and the awards ceremony. They posted the scores for the 30 different foursomes, and we noticed ours was the only one in black, the rest listed in red. I soon discovered this was because our score was the only one over par. They also announced the awards for closest to the pin and longest drive holes. Apparently you can't win closest to the pin from a sand bunker, and when they say longest drive, they're not talking about the amount of time in the golf cart looking for your ball. I should've gotten an award for most balls donated to the local habitat...

So the Winners of the golf tournament got new Golf Bags, which looked amazing, and second and third place also received some amazing prizes, and then they decided to call up to the front the group that got dead last. I figured they had a right to have a chuckle at our expense, which they did in good fun, and then came the greatest part of all: Last place got a prize! To encourage us to improve our game, so as not to come in next year with such abysmal scores, we each got 6 free golf lessons!
I've never had a lesson, so I'm really excited to learn about all the things I'm doing wrong. I think it's safe to say this is the first time I've ever enjoyed being dead last.

Fishy Fishy Fishy

Wilder and I both took today off to go to the Georgia Aquarium. We have heard so much about it and I know that I was very excited to go. We woke up early this morning, 6:30, to try to get there before the crowds did, which turned out to be a great idea. We were there for a little over an hour before all the school kids and other people became a factor. I could write a whole page trying to best descibe everything we saw but pictures are better than words so we'll show you some of our favorite shots. Are favorite parts were by far the huge salt water aquarium with a lot of the big fish and the jellyfish.



This is a Largetooth Sawfish.




These are Moon Jellyfish. They were pretty sweet. They changed color from a white, to a light blue, to a yellowish-green.


SHARK!

We had a great day! Worth taking the day off from work. I only wish there was more time and money to get to do things like this.
April

The Burning Building Next Door

So today April and I went for a stroll, because it was such a beautiful day outside. We walked down to the mailbox, around the little pond in our apartment complex, and then headed back to the apartment, when we heard those magical words, yelled from a balcony; "Call 9-1-1!"
We paused, and looked at each other, as if making sure we heard right. Call 911? Why, what was happening? So we peeked around the corner, to find out where the yelling was coming from. That's when I heard the crackling. The next building over from us has someone on the top balcony, trying to put out a fire on the outside of the wood chimney with a fire extinguisher, but the fire was resisting, and starting to grow. I got out my phone to call 911, but was told by a fellow onlooker that they had already been called, and April and I watched from below as a small chimney fire turned into a small rooftop fire, which turned into a large rooftop fire. The crackling sounds that once used to remind me of calming summer night campfires were evoking totally different emotions in me as they slowly turned from little crackles to a dull roar. As I watched and quickly debated my own role in any attempt to help was my poor selection in footwear for the outing, and that I wouldn't be much good to anyone trying to help fight a fire in my floppy sandals. I swear everytime I wear shoes that have poor stability, I miss a chance to fight a fire, outrun a bear, or save the world. Frickin sandals.
So we yell to anyone who might be left in the building, telling them to get out as the fire works its way down into the upper apartment, with us watching helplessly. The 5 - 10 minutes it took the Fire department to get there seemed like forever. The smoke plume was like a sky scraper. We were amazed by the up close and personal look at the destruction that can be caused by a tiny fire.

(Thank goodness no one was hurt)
I felt so helpless in my sandals as we watched the building burn, in a crowd of onlookers, nothing to contribute. And ulitmately, even if I hadn't been wearing sandals, I'm not sure there was anything I wouldn've been able to do to help save that builing. The realization that there are things in life that I can't stop from happening, situations I can't save others from, is a sad one, but probably one that I best learn sooner or later. There will probably be more days like this one, when I'm on the sideline, in my sandals.
Does anyone else remember when they were kids in sunday school class and someone asked them, "if your house was burning down and you only had time to grab one thing, what would it be?" and everyone was like, "my Bible." And I guess the point of the conversation is to think about the importance of God over everything else, which is great, but if you asked me today, it wouldn't be my Bible. I can get another Bible for ten bucks. I'm grabbing the iMac, because insurance never covers you the way you're hoping.

It's amazing how a small flame, if left unchecked, can destroy your whole world. Just a little space, a little air to get it going, and before you know it, it's too strong to put out on your own. Before you know it, a small problem can become fatal.

-Wilder

Cheering for Grey Duck

Yay for the first post on our Blog! As it explains in our "a look at the team section" April does numbers and Wilder does words. And, as one can imagine, a blog is mostly words, and therefore will be written mostly by Wilder. But to prevent any confusion, each post will be accredited to the author. But I digress.

This past sunday, we had the pleasure of spending the day at the polo fields of Cumming, GA watching Terminus, a large Ultimate Frisbee tournament. And we went to support our friends Joel and Jerod Johnson, who play for the University of Minnesota club team "Grey Duck". Where does such an interesting mascot come from, you might ask? It comes from the fantastic children's game, duck duck grey duck.

Wait, isn't it Duck duck Goose? The debate has gone back and forth, but history is on the side of Greyduck. You see, "Duck Duck Greyduck" was originally inspired by the popular children's story of the Ugly duckling, who doesn't look like the other ducklings, and is singled out for being such an odd grey color. Hence, the calling of a Greyduck is an affront which inspires chasing around the circle. Over time apparently it has been adjusted by a lack of understanding of the roots of the game or possibly by improper storytelling. Because at the end of the story, the ugly duckling doesn't turn into a goose, he turns into a swan. Hence the moral, don't make fun of ugly kids becaue they might turn out to be hot. Anyways.

So Minnesota Greyduck drove down to "Jojah" and found themselves in an underdog position. The tournament director had put them in "the Power Bracket" meaning the most competitive one, and there were a lot of people upset about this, nay sayers quick to pipe up about how garbage Geyduck was, how they didn't deserve to be in the bracket, and how they wouldn't win any games. Playing as an unranked underdog against all the big tough teams who don't think you're good enough? Grey Duck didn't mind, and Team Freed wouldn't want it any other way.

Grey Duck went 3-1 on the first day of the tournament, beating three teams that it wasn't supposed to have a chance against. And Sunday we got to be their number one fans (1 and 2? Where's April when I need her?) as they entered the tournament playoffs. And with Jerod leading the way with a collection of aerially impressive points, Grey Duck dispatched with relative ease the Michigan State Burning Couch (which needs a better mascot) and the Dogs of War before finding themselves in the semifinals. Ah the smell of haters, eating their words. In the Semis they met UGA, who prevailed, but Grey Duck played them in a great game that was tight through the second half, losing narrowly at the end. But hey, what do you do, right? Third place in a bracket that you weren't supposed to have a chance in, with an overall tournament record of 5-2? Bravo.

What I love about watching (and playing) Ultimate is the way the disc floats. Every now and then, there will be a toss into the endzone, and two players are there, just waiting to try to snatch it out of the sky. And the disc just floats, slightly out of reach, as if building suspense, demanding your complete attention, before it drops just enough for both players to leap for it, and the result is either a fantastic point, or a fantastic defensive play.

The other thing I love about Ultimate is the chanting. As I hear one player yell, "Duck Duck!" and the rest in an adrenalous mob cry out "GREY DUCK!" and the pattern repeats three times, I get tingles. It feels like they're going into battle. And I love it. Hopefully some of the game footage I got will be online soon.

So after Ultimate was done for the day, we took the Johnson brothers to Fat Matt's Rib Shack, a staple Barbecue restaurant of the ATL. If you're ever in Atlanta, eat at this place. The line is out the door, the tables are packed, and it's not a fancy place, but if you want barbecue ribs or chicken, this is the place. We tore into a bunch of ribs and some potato salad as we caught up on life, and I felt like a messy carnivore, tearing into it's dinner. That's the way Barbecue needs to be eaten. (I got a hard time for not being messy enough, but it was so good I needed to get as much as possible into my mouth, and so I kept licking my fingers clean.)

And we talked about how we're going to have to get together sometime this summer and grill. I'm looking forward to it already.

-Wilder