I just got off the phone with my Grandfather, almost definitely for the last time. I don't know the whole situation yet, but apparently he has been in increasingly more pain. Due to what, I am not sure. So him and the family had to make a decision; whether to artificially prolong his life using a ventilator he has been on, or to let him go peacefully in the next few hours. They have chosen the latter.

I was put on speakerphone, and the phone was put beside his ear. I said,

"Grandpa, I have been thinking back to all of the wonderful memories we have had together. Specifically, I remember the first time we went fishing early in the morning, one day before kindergarden, and instead of catching anything, I fell in the lake! I am thankful for all of the memories, and for what an incredible role model you have been and are to us all, and most importantly for your spiritual leadership. I love you a lot."

"I love you too" -- were the last words I heard. If there had been more time I would have said, "See you soon". But I was thinking it, and that is the most encouraging thing. He is ready to go and to see the Lord. He has been anxiously awaiting for the last few years, and he is almost there. I am sad, but so excited for him.

Thanksgiving will be different without his joking and picking on us, and different without him saying the prayer of thanks for the meal. But we will be remembering all of the special memories, something a lot of people do not have with their grandparents, and I am thankful.

Thank you for your prayers in this time, I love you all very very much.

Yesterday was my first day of work at Starbucks, and I think I am really going to enjoy it. My new coworkers all seem great, as well as the management. I am just beginning the training courses, so it will be a little while before I am "let loose", which I am thankful for. There definitely is quite a bit to learn.

On another note, I received a phone call this morning from my mother. Last night she called as well to let me know that my grandfather had been taken to the hospital for a serious case of pneumonia. This morning she found out that he had suffered a heart attack as well. At his age, there is no safe way to operate. He is my last remaining grandparent, and I am thankful for the time we have had, and so thankful he lived to see me married and to begin pursuing my career.

I was also very blessed to be able to see him twice this summer. So I feel at peace with what happens. Of course that does not make it easy, but I am feeling thankful in the midst of sadness. Please be praying for my family during this time, and that if/when something happens I will be able to make a trip out there. Having just begun this job, finances are especially tight, which will make leaving more difficult. But this is all in His hands. Thank you for your prayers.

As planned, the photo shoot took place yesterday for the album cover. We got a lot of good stuff, and I am excited to see how it all turned out. A good friend of mine, Brandon Benefield, tagged along and took a few pictures of Matt and Meghan of Aus10 Photography taking pictures of me. I believe they are self explanatory, so enjoy these pictures of, well, pictures!

Today is a day that I have been looking forward to for quite some time. At 5 (PM), we will be taking pictures for the cover of "The Sun Still Rises". We shot a few images a couple of months ago, but were not quite pleased with the results. This time we have a great location picked out, and should get what we need. Even though everything is taking longer than planned, it is so exciting to see all of this come together.

Speaking of which, it is looking likely that I will be going back to the studio to wrap up quite a bit more of the album in the next few weeks. We are just waiting on a few answers, but we are very encouraged, and it is very likely this will happen. It will be great to be back in making progress and just in general doing work that I love.

And speaking of work... I got a message on my phone today from Starbucks that went something like this,

"Hi Jeremiah. I wanted to let you know that we have decided to not continue with the second interview... :pause: We would like to go ahead and offer you the position."

Let me tell ya, I was so freaked out there for a second. I thought that meant they had decided to not even interview me a second time and had chosen someone else! This is great news, as Hannah was hired on the spot with her first interview at a different Starbucks location. She will be starting training on Monday, and I should start soon as well.

I had better get back to preparing for the shoot, but I wanted to let you all know what is going on. Hope to have good news to report about the album cover soon!

It has once again been a little while since my last post, but there is good reason for this: there is not too much to report at the moment. Hannah and I have been busy setting up house and looking for jobs. I will be interviewing tomorrow for a position at Starbucks, and will hopefully get the job. I will also be starting to do some video work for an organization called M-dat. All this is keeping me very, very busy.

Okay, so on to things related to music... You may have noticed the new look the site has. We have been thinking a lot about the best way to really finish out the look, and I am very pleased with the results. Hope you like it!

In addition to this, the Forum is now working as planned. This also means that we are beginning to put together the Street Team! Several of you signed up to the mailing list that I mentioned a few months back, so be sure to check your email for updates regarding this.

To be a part of the Street Team, you will need to sign up for an account on the Forum. You may do so by following this link, or by choosing "Interact" from the menu up top, and selecting "Forum". Once you have joined, you may either find the group called "Street Team" and request to join, or just send me a message from your account requesting to be added.

We are currently appointing "Officers" to be in charge of various regions, so expect to hear more about this soon. Please make sure to get in touch if you would like to be a part of this.

Well, that is all for now. Hopefully I will have something to report about the job situation very soon. And thank you for all the prayer, we sure appreciate it.

Hey everyone! Seeing as it has been awhile since my last post, I figured this was overdue. I left Chicago on Wednesday morning, and spent a few days in St. Louis visiting friends and taking a bit of a break. This morning I headed down to Bentonville, Arkansas, to check out a house. Hannah is still in Washington State, so it was interesting to make this sort of decision over the phone. To make it more complicated, I wanted to send her some pictures so she could see what we were getting ourselves into. Of course we do not have an internet connection here, so I fired up the Internet through my phone, and 30 minutes later, Hannah received the photos.

So long story short, we now live in Bentonville, Arkansas. (When I say our house, I do mean the house we are renting, not buying). It is a very beautiful neighborhood with many trees, and is very quiet. However, it is within a couple of blocks of downtown and Wal-Mart headquarters. We have a Starbucks and Panara Bread Co within half a mile, and a bunch of restaurants. Our neighborhood has a small town feel, with the convenience of a larger place. We are within 15 minutes of the airport, and 5 minutes from the main highway. It really is the best possible place for us, both with work opportunities, and for travel.

Hannah gets back on Saturday, and we are going crazy to see each other. When she arrives, it will have been 5 weeks since I said goodbye to her in Chicago. It will be fun to set up a new place together.

Now regarding the CD... We are continuing to move forward, and I hope to put in some more work in the next week or so on it, in between hunting for a job and setting up house. This last week I also made a bit of a difficult decision on the CD. For the last few weeks I have been really wanting to add two more songs to the album, and felt they needed to be included. However, with the financial situation being how it is, I just was not sure. After much thought and prayer, we have decided that the album will now be a total of 14 songs. The two new songs with be my recently written piano piece entitled "Letting Go" and a new song called "Afraid Of This World".

Afraid Of This World was a very difficult song to write, and details a lot of thoughts and feelings over the last couple of years, and I recently completed the final verse during the last couple of months. This was a hard song to add because it is a very vulnerable song. On one hand I love meeting new people and am very relational, but on the other hand, I am becoming more and more of an introvert, and these things conflict. I am scared of being hurt, scared of opening up, so this song is very near to my heart. I'm sure most if not all of you can relate to that.

I hope to have some news about how this project will be completed soon. We are praying God will provide and in His time. Thanks for the prayer and support, we could not be doing this without you!