A Week In Ontario

Good morning! I'm sitting here in Glenn's house in Ontario after having slept in this morning... it's kind of nice! I really haven't been able to sleep in for a LONG time... Poor Glenn is off at the dentist this morning as he had a filling come out while eating Easter candy - Ouch! What else can I tell you? Wedding plans are coming along (I'm getting married in 46 days!) and it stinks to be away from home right now. We're still in the negotiations phase of our new record contract, but Lord willing we'll have some definition to it by the end of next week. And I'm about to go out on another run - I've finally been able to start running again just this last week which has been a huge answer to prayer. I hurt my knee about 8 months ago in the gym and haven't been able to get out on the road, so this is awesome - I'll probably need surgery at some point still, but that's okay... at least I can still be getting some exercise! Make sure you check out my blog and see what's going on there - you can also link to Glenn's blog from there... Thanks for stopping by - if you're in Ontario, we hope to see you in the next few days. If not, we'll see you soon, I'm sure! :)

Jeremy

It's Still Cold!!

Well we have a bit of time at home before we embark on our little Ontario tour. Time at home is always welcome. Especially since my little 9 month old boy Jonah is changing so much week to week. He's just figuring out the whole walking thing. Today we put a margarine container on the couch and gave Jonah a ball. Then I backed up from the couch a few feet and Jonah just wanted to put the ball in the container so bad he would walk there on his own. It is very cool to watch a child learn and discover things.
Another thing I like to do with him while I'm home is take him out with me while I run. He's got a pretty sweet ride when it comes to running strollers thanks to the people Sherri used to work with. But man, it's near the end of March and there's still a bunch of snow here! Grrrrr. That means the sidewalk are not good for strollers and the trail I like to run on is doable by myself but with a stroller . . . forget it. I figured the cemetery would not be busy and the snow should be cleared so that's where we went yesterday. I think it's good to visit a cemetery every once in awhile. It helps me to remember where our Earthly shells end up. It also helps me to remember how important the time we have on Earth is. Plus it gives me a sense that yes there is a history. We are not the only ones who have ever lived. As silly as that sounds I think that's how a lot of us live. I know I have been. I think I've forgotten about history and how important it is for us to know how we got to where we are today. Part of this feeling is from listening to lectures about Islam by Dr. George Grant as well as reading a book called "In, Not Of" by Hugh Hewitt. I now have a good book list to start reading to hopefully gain an understanding of our history. Anyway, there's my rambling thoughts for the day!

Glenn

Writing

It's been a whole week off from the road. It's great having periods of time
like this because that is when I can really dig into song-writing. I've
never been able to do a whole lot of productive song-writing while on the
road because the ever-changing environment really complicates it. Finding a
quiet place where I can be creative on my own time rarely happens when we're
meeting people, setting up, performing, packing up, and traveling from place
to place. Also, we're working with a bit of a time crunch because we are
hoping to start recording our next album in May and June. Despite all this,
the writing has been coming along quite well. So far we have approximately
30 songs to choose from. So these last few days have been spent trying to
make those songs as good as they can be, also allowing for time to come up
with more new material.
My biggest inspiration lately has been a book that seems to be the "book of
the moment" in our circles here: "Blue Like Jazz" by Donald Miller. It's a
collection of essays about nonreligious thoughts on Christian spirituality.
Miller has put into words a lot of what has been at the back (and front) of
my mind over the past couple of years concerning my faith. I highly
ercommend it. But you know sometimes things don't always line up the way
you wish they would. Even with all this ammo to create songs with, I've
been sick for the last few days, and since it's in my throat, I can't sing.
So that makes writing pretty impossible! Hopefully I'll be ready to sing in
2 days when we'll be in Minnesota. I'm living on a diet of Robitussin,
Sudafed, various herbal teas, chicken noodle soup, and rest. So hopefully
that works.

Marc

Great Weekend On The Road!

Hey everyone! I trust you had a great weekend... We sure did, although we spent most of it in transit - airports, airplanes, vans, gas stations, etc... The highlight of the weekend for me was the time we spent in Caronport, SK playing Youth Quake 2005 at our alma mater, Briercrest College. It was a lot of fun because I got to see a whole bunch of people that I knew from my years there as a student. We shared the stage Friday night with Pillar and had a great time rockin' out with our Canadian brothers and sisters (there were even some people from the US as well as a girl from Slovakia who was there to play on the guys hockey team... crazy!). It was also great to see my family again, as they live on campus there. However, I definitely didn't get to spend as much time with them as I would have liked... but it was a work weekend after all. Oh well - I'll get to see them again in May when I GET MARRIED!! Hey - make sure (if you haven't already) to check out my new blog - I'm pretty excited about it and have had some great response already. Don't be afraid to leave a comment to share your thoughts too - just remember that everyone will be able to read it, not just me! :) Thanks for stopping by - you can be praying for us this week as we get some rest, work on songwriting and preparing for the next record, and work on finalizing our new record deal... We appreciate you and are looking forward to seeing you on the road - God bless!

Jeremy