Happy Thanksgiving and praise God for all those blessings!!! As it is soon Thanksgiving (and we have failed to release an EP yet) I wanted to send Thanksgiving Day wishes of God's loving kindness as we all have plenty to be thankful for. I did place my band members on absolute and strict orders (I'm a slave boss) and told them that we have one week left to get everything we can done for the EP. And possibly get it released before the end of the age or this year, whichever comes first. I had hoped to have finished it by now. I do apologize. We have decided to release it ASAP. After this Thanksgiving we'll record one more time. And that will be it for our rough draft/raw cuts Astonished Doctrine EP. If it doesn't finish the processing with our distributor before the end of the year it will be released as soon as they can get everything finalized. Please understand that these songs for the EP are unfinished works. Not for radio. They have errors. Many errors! Part of me says don't do it! Don't release it! Bad idea!!!,.... But, then I realized 2 things. 1.) You have all been waiting patiently (except for ONE OF YOU and she slightly upset for more songs to be posted):) And 2.) We haven't released anything since War Song. I just thank God so much for bringing us to the place that we are in with our music journey. I miss John Hayes. He was a good friend, our encouraging motivator and a great drummer! He will always be missed. You will hear him on the song written by Dennis Reeves, "Walk With Jesus Boogie." And I am Thankful and blessed that Dianna Hayes remains in the band. When you loose your spouse you're not sure of everything for awhile. She and her family are doing well. Thank you all so much for all your prayers. TOUR, Did I tell you about a tour? Well, it's not final but I will share. About 3-4 weeks ago I received an email inviting Jeff Schmidt Band to go on The Extreme Tour. If it be God's will we will go. Not all the members can afford to go on tour. I'll need to find a bassist and a keyboardist and/or a guitarist. It's not the kind of tour you can afford to quit your job. God knows I am not going to ask anyone to quit their job and step out in blind faith. I know He is practical and that is not bad. Remember the Tower of Siloam? And the disciples ask about what sin caused this to fall on those people? "Jesus responded to the question, answering that the calamities suffered by the victims of the falling of the tower of Siloam were not related to their relative sinfulness." Wikipedia. No sin caused the tower to fall on anyone. It just fell. Not a happy story. But it demonstrates Christ explaining that things occur naturally not always by divine intervention. As Thanksgiving is near I am thankful for so much including the all time favorite forgiveness of sins by Jesus giving His life. And coming back to live forever. Encouraging and leading us each day! What a wonderful God. Blessing to all your families & friends forever! HAPPY THANKSGIVING Jeff Schmidt Band