Okay, so I had the most amazing day yesterday. First, The Grammy’s decided to do a Salute to Gospel Music, honoring some legendary figures who have made so many contributions to the Gospel music industry. They held it at the Lincoln Theater in Washington DC and decided to honor The Winans, Sandi Patty, and Walter and Edwin Hawkins. They brought special guests in to sing a tribute to each of the honorees. This is where I came in.  So, when they asked Sandi Patty if she could have anyone come and sing a tribute for her who would it be, she said…. (drum roll please) ME!

When I was a little girl singing Sandi Patty songs into my hairbrush, if you would have told me that I would be singing for her one day at a Grammy event I would have said you were crazy. What a special night. I sang Love In Any Language, an oldie but a goodie Did I mention Patti LaBelle was there? Oh yes, in all her glory and she raised the roof. And Sandi showed why she was the female vocalist of the year for 11 years in a row as she sang We Shall Behold Him. It was so awesome. (For all my young friends on here, you may not know Sandi’s voice, but she is a legend. Just ask your mom*wink*)

And if that weren’t enough, check out what happened earlier in the day. There was a press conference at the Capitol. The president of the Grammy’s spoke, several members of congress and a few senators and…..ME! Yep, I was playing with the big dogs. It was so very surreal. I asked myself a million times in my mind, “what am I doing here”? Surely there was someone more important and eloquent than I who could have spoken, but God opened the door for me and I nervously walked through it. Something very cool is happening this September. Thanks to The Gospel Music Channel president, who had the dream and determination to make it a reality, every September from this year on has been proclaimed by the United States Congress as “Gospel Music Heritage Month.” How cool is that? I spoke about it on behalf of the Artist community during the press conference at the Capitol. I am so grateful for such a memorable day.

It’s easy, isn’t it, to get caught up in the snags of life. Wishing for something more, something different, something better. And often, God drops little surprises from Heaven that make us smile and the journey a little easier. That was yesterday for me. If we’re not careful, we may miss our daily God-moments. Don’t miss yours. And hold on, because a blessing is right around the corner. 

with a grateful heart….

Natalie

Have you ever cut your own hair? My bangs were constantly in my eyes and driving me INSANE! So, I’m in St Louis for Women of Faith and I decided to give myself a trim in the dressing room bathroom. It turned out pretty good, actually. Considering the scissors were eyebrow scissors. (Tiff, we must talk about why you have eyebrow scissors!) Anyway, now I’m thinking my layers could use a little trim. Uh, oh, I’m moving past the bangs! Put down the scissors, Natalie!!! Have you ever had a hair debacle?

My worst hair moment of all time was in the fifth grade when my sister Allison gave me a perm. My hair looked like a bunch of cauliflower. Then there was my new-wave phase with one side short and the other side long. Oh yes, that is a true story. Thank God for hats. When you see me wearing one, there is a bad hair day being hid underneath.

Cheers to a good hair day!
Nat

Hey guys.  I hope you all are well.

I just wanted to share two quick things with you about the blogroll thing. I am getting a lot of submissions that I am not able to post because a blog address isn’t being added.

If you don’t put anything in the ‘your domain name’ section, I won’t have anywhere to link to.  If you have more than one blog that you want me to link to, add a second one with another name.

Also, make sure that you are also putting a link to this blog on your blogroll.  That way we can share the love.  If you have already submitted your name and/or blog but needed to fix something, go ahead and submit it again and I will get you added.

Thanks everyone.  Have a great night.

-nat

Hey Internet friends.

I know there are a lot of you out there that have blogs and are already linking here, but I wanted to mention something new we are starting here where you can add your blog to my blogroll in the spirit of creating a special community.  Here’s how it will work.  Over on the right you will see a new link called “blogroll”.  Click on that and enter your information.  I will check out your blog once it’s submitted and as long as there isn’t anything inappropriate on it I will link back to you.  Make sure your blog is linking here.  Sounds fun right?  

Also, once you are linked on there, make sure to go check out some of those blogs.  

Happy Linking.

-nat

g’day, mate!

Wait a second….wrong country. Sorry about that. I’m not in australia, but I am in England and it is AMAZING! We weathered the flight okay, the babies slept the entire flight (thank you for your prayers), and have adjusted incredibly. BIG news….Bella is now walking - everywhere! She is still stumbly-bumbly, but she’s walking! And now that gracie sees her walking, she has taken her first steps. She is now up to 7 steps! Yep, and all this happened in England. Incredible. The church we are working with here is amazing. Check them out. They are Abundant Life Church in Bradford, UK. This place is awesome. The worship is so authentic and real and the teaching is life-changing. Order their stuff. you won’t regret it. We have also had a bit of time to see around the beautiful British countryside. It is so breathtaking. I haven’t seen a billboard since i’ve been here. How refreshing.

I’m back in the good ‘ol USA on Monday. I’ll write more soon. Till then, I’ll
tell the queen you say hello

xo,
natalie

 hello peeps,

i have some many things i want to talk to you about. actually, there are 2 things that have been on my heart in particular, that i want to blog at length about and just don’t have the time
today. so check back often in the next little while and i will get to it very soon!

okay - just a quick little update on what’s been happening. we finished the “Relentless” tour on sunday night. oh my goodness, we pulled off some pretty funny tour pranks. first, when Ashmont Hill started the show, we had to do a few things to them. their newbies - i mean, we HAD to prank them, right?

so Phil and Will always love to take their mics off the stand all dramatically. so what did we do? we taped them to the stand. so in the middle of the song, they are trying to grab their mic off the stand and it won’t budge. pretty funny.  funnier, however, is what we did to Jimmy Needham.  I met with the announcer of the concert and told him to prep the audience. then we distracted Jimmy while he did so. we asked the announcer to tell the crowd not to clap at the end of Jimmy’s first song. not a clap, not a whistle, not a peep. so Jimmy takes the stage, playing and singing his heart out, trying to get the crowd all revved up. he finished his song and nobody made a sound! Jimmy looked like a deer in the headlights and whispered in to his mic, “that was it. that was the end of my song.” still nothing. he looked like he was going to throw up. them myself and my band popped out from back stage and started cheering like crazy for him and then the audience went nuts for him. it was HILARIOUS. heartless, maybe, but too funny. he knew we were going to do something, but he never expected that. it was awesome.

But then my band pulled one off on me. one my song, “what are you waiting for”, i turned to look at my guitar player, only it wasn’t my guitar player. it was my bass player. and my guitar player was on bass. and my drummer was on keys. and yep, you guessed it, my keys player was on drums. it totally threw me and i started cracking up. i could barely sing the song. scarier, though, is that they actually made it through the song on different instruments. those boys are talented. but i pray i never see matt on the drums again. (sorry, matt!) i love the people i travel with. they make life on the road very fun.

we then had a video shoot on monday night. it is for “I will not be moved”. i think it will be my coolest video yet. we shot it at the old state prison in Nashville, at night nonetheless - freaky! it is where they filmed alot of “the green mile”. that was cool. can’t wait for you to see it. the pic above is of me and the band at the shoot. sorry you’re not in the pic, tiff! where were you?!!! yes, tiffany, my incredible BGV is in the video, and she looked awesome.

now i am frantically doing laundry and packing for my trip to England. we leave tomorrow and it is going to be an awesome trip. but pray for the flight if you think about it. we are taking the twins. 2 babies on a 10 hour flight to England? help me, Jesus!

much love,
natalie

so, I watched American Idol last night. I have a love/hate relationship with this show. I love the fact that it gives a voice and a chance to some really talented people who may have never had a shot without it. It gives a platform to some great voices that many times would have been considered “not-marketable” or
whatever. So I think that’s great.

I also love “Idol Gives Back” and the fact that they are using that platform and the millions watching to help people in need. awesome.

But then there’s the hate part of the equation. Excuse me while I step on to my soap box. I think it instills a fascination with “being a star” into youngins’ everywhere. That’s what they see. All you have to do is get in to the top 10 and you’ll have your picture in People Magazine, you’ll go on a tour and be a rockstar for a moment. I think it does the same thing for some of the contestants. Say they’re “#6″ and they become a household name, get picked up in limos, walk the red carpet a few times, and then the shows over, the tours over, they had a record deal for a second, and then the next season starts and they’re forgotten about. I think it’s unfair to some of them because it sets them up for unmet expectations and dissapointment. Just listen to a few of the past “cast-off’s” and it’s weird because their whole lives seem to revolve around their moment on American Idol. I don’t know, it just seems unhealthy to me. And then there’s the times on the show when they perform all together. It’s really bad broadway. And why do they have barry manilow nights? it makes me break out in hives. Did i really just spew all this in my blog? Sorry.

As you can see, it’s been building up for quite awhile. I’ve stepped off my soap box now! One great thing is that the show has given us some incredible people to listen to and look up to.
So now let me be a hypocrite for a while. There’s all these reasons that I hate this show but you can be guaranteed that I would never miss the finale. or the auditions. and a few shows in between. And so I’m back to last night.

Jason Castro - why did you forget the lyrics? You are so pretty and I want to love you, but this late in the competition you got to bring your best game.

Syesha - this girl has an awesome voice and she is GORGEOUS. and when she cried last night, i cried. Wait a second, I hate this show, remember????? And then there’s

David Cook. Is he getting a little arrogant? He seems to be. But he is my
favorite. I hope he wins because his voice has some grit.

Okay - and then there is the Archuletta kid. His voice really is amazing. So pure and beautiful. Can
he even drive yet? Exactly. And there is something troubling about him to me. i don’t know. Is he too perfect to anyone else? Hmmmm, the show sucks you in, doesn’t it. Okay, I love this show. No, I hate this show…no, I love it….no, I hate it….no, I love it.

Love it or hate it, it’s like a car crash….you just can’t look away.

xo,
nat

I just played at the Toad Suck Daze festival in Conway, Arkansas. Yes, you read that correctly: Toad Suck Daze. Don’t ask me what it means, I have no clue. But I said “suck” from stage many times and that made me giggle, as that’s not a word I often use during my concerts! Anyway, the weather was great, there were funnel cakes and we had a good time.

But, the day turned in to a real downer for one reason only: the “stuck on a truck at toad suck” contest. it’s this crazy contest where people have to keep atleast one hand on a new ford truck and whoever stays on the longest, wins the truck. we checked out the competition when there were 6 people left and they had been stuck on the truck for 72 hours at this point. they get a 5 minute break every hour, but still - 72 hours? they hadn’t slept in 3 days. so here’s the kicker. one of the girls in the contest is a fan of mine. she had said that she was bummed she missed my concert because she was stuck on the truck. her friend came and got me to sign 2 cd’s for her and I agreed to deliver them to her personally and cheer her on. right before we got there, i turned to her friend and said,

“now she’s not going to get excited and take her hands off the truck, is she?”

they assured me no. at this point, the contestants have been stuck on the truck for 77 1/2 hours. they were completely delirious. just as i arrive, some guy gets on the microphone and announces that i’m there, making a much bigger deal of it than was needed and the girl, completely delirious turns to see me and takes her hands OFF THE TRUCK!

No, no, no!!!! it was so awful. i thought people were going to start throwing stuff at me. i was just trying to be nice and do what i was asked to do, but now it looked like it was all my fault. i wanted to crawl under a rock. i was mortified. needless to say, i won’t be heading back to toad suck daze anytime soon!

have you ever had an embarrassing moment? tell me about it and maybe it’ll make me feel better!

feeling like a toad at toad suck daze,

natalie

Maybe you have seen this already, but it may be one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen. This little girl is singing, I mean “SANG-ing” the Lord’s Prayer. Too precious. I love her pronunciation. I don’t think I’ve ever heard it better.

What a night we had last night.

Very surreal, honestly. I got to perform with Wynona which was a life highlight for me. she is so talented and even more gracious. My band rocked, the singers were insanely awesome, and if I do say so myself, my shoes were “hot”! of all the Dove Awards I have attended, this was by far the best show. Great staging, production and diverse talent.

I am definitely not too cool to admit that I am a fan of christian music - always have been. it is an honor to be a part of the community of Christian artists. the pre-show included a performance by Phil Wickham. WOW.  If you don’t know his music, check it out. It was one of my favorite performances of the night.  What a shame that it wasn’t televised.

I was so proud of my sweet Bernie. He conducted the strings on the Casting Crowns performance of “East to West”.  He then went on to win song of the year for that same song, as he wrote it with Mark Hall.  Winning female artist of the year was special for me but I also felt several others in the category deserved it.  

The awards are sweet and I love that we take time to honor one another, but they do not define us. And in the end, they don’t matter. whatever “enlarged territory” they may bring me, I pray my art, and more importantly, my life, will represent the Christ i claim to serve.

Right after the show we went back to work. my bus rolled at midnight and carried us to Pennsylvania. Now we’re on to Ohio. I will post some pics when i get home.  I forgot my photo card reader, so i can’t get the photos off my camera. I am, after all, technically challenged.
Nothing but love for all of you.

xo,
natalie