Harvest Festival

Today is Harvest Festival! October 31st and it is going to be an awesome evening. The night kicks off around 4pm and if you get there at 4 I know there will be very few lines for any of the rides. Also come help at the Amped Booth by making Cotton Candy. The only rule is you have to sell more Cotton Candy than you eat, but that shouldn't be too hard, cause everyone wants to buy Cotton Candy. April and I will both be dressed up, she will be dressed as a ??????? and I will be dressed as ???????. Matt and Kira are also coming, Matt told me what he was dressing up as, it was either E=Mc² or a ????????, I can't remember. And as for Kira she is either dressing up as a bunch of question marks, or a ???????. Guess you will have to come tonight to find out! Also there will be a prison, and you can pay like a buck and get anyone arrested, even Pastor Evan. I would not reccomend this, but you theoretically could do it.....

Caleb Benjamin Bates Born October 29th 2lbs9oz

At some time around six o'clock this evening Baby Caleb Benjamin Bates joined us. The photo to the right may not be of the best of quality (its a photo i took with my camera phone of a photo) but Caleb is doing very well. He weighs 2 pounds 9 ounces, but according to Mark is very long and is going to be an amazing soccer player, cause he wont stop kicking. In the photo you can see that Caleb had to be intabated, but Mark told me that Caleb started to cry after he was born and is able to breathe on his own. These are all amazing things for a baby, especially since Caleb was only 27 weeks along and most pregnancies go 36 to 40 weeks. Caleb is going to have to stay in the hospital for a while, but it looks like Gilda will be able to go home in 3-4 days. Please continue to keep the Bates in your prayers, God has been doing miracles in Caleb's life this entire time, and we know that He will continue to do so. Mark and Gilda are both doing well and told me that they really appreciate all your love and support. If you have any other questions, feel free to email me.

Consistency, Cooperation, and Confidence

Last Night Paul talked about the three C's that we need to learn.  First we need to be Consistent in our Christian lives, always living as Jesus calls us to live.  Secondly we need to Cooperative, to work as a team.  And finally to have Confidence knowing that God wins!

No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service

Normally when I see that sign, "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service" I think about going somewhere else. I mean if I cant enjoy your establishment in bare feet, then it aint worth it. But this past Sunday was No Bare Feet day and I had to wear shoes. I didn't enjoy it very much and even tripped on the stage and ate it pretty hard. But the villagers demanded pictures and Mark was kind of enough to bring his camera (as well as point and laugh a lot) so as you can see a photo of Evan wearing shoes. I did however write a script so you cant save the photo for black mailing purpose. So don't even try right-clicking the photo and trying to download or save a copy of it....

Widgets and Gadgets

So much to post about, so little time. I still want to post about the weekend and the wearing shoes and all that, but first I thought it might be fun to share the brand new Amped OC widget. Yes thats right we have our own widget. So if you want a box to stay on your screen and easily check when new things have hit the site then this is the thing for you! Just click the link from the right! When you download it, its going to be a zip file, so you're going to have to unzip it, so just double-click it and let windows or apple do their magic!

To live is Christ, to die is gain

Last night we looked at a passage in Philippians where Paul bluntly says, "To live is Christ, to die is gain." Paul is telling us that we are to live life, to really live it. And the only way to really live life is to live a life for Jesus. Paul then says that death is gain, because Paul knows that when he dies on earth he will be in Heaven, a place with no pain or sorrow, a place that where God is worshiped. So Paul's attitude is something like this, "If I die and go to Heaven sweet, but the best thing for everyone is if I stay around and keep preaching Jesus" We too should have this focus, knowthat one day we will be in Heaven, but until that day comes live a life of sharing Jesus with our friends, family, and anyone else we may encounter.

Pumpkin Carving

April and I carved some pumpkins last night with friends. Here are our final creations, April carved a cute and lovable Gizmo. I carved Jack Sparrow while my friend Glenn carved Jack's arch Nemesis Davy Jones. And Finally Valerie carved Lightning McQueen from the movie "Cars".