Quote

This quote from the song "flesh and bone" by Matt Maher has been running through my head since I heard it earlier today. I had a conversation with a co-worker yesterday. It came up that I am a "pastors wife". She asked me if I felt a lot of pressure to be "perfect". My answer was that I certainly feel like I'm held to a higher standard, and I'm conscious of that. But, shouldn't all Christians be? I also try very hard to simply be myself and let others know that God has to work on and in me as well. Matt seemed to sum it up pretty well.

"I'm dying to believe, I'm trying just to show, that we're less than perfect, more than flesh and bone."

new...

So, Aaron and I never watched American Idol for like the first four or five seasons. Then, one year I was home sick while they were doing all the auditions. To kill time, we watched all the auditions, then, well, we were hooked. The first season we really got into was the David's battle. Archie vs. Cook. This past year, we were really pulling for Kris Allen. I liked him from about halfway through the season. Every week his talent surprised me. Now, I'm not knocking Adam Lambert's talent in any way. The boy can sing. But, his style was very not me. Plus, Kris was something of an underdog. I always felt like he didn't get enough credit, so I was super glad when he won. Not to mention, I had a tiny crush on him. :) What can I say. I like the dark haired, guitar playing type. Especially this guy...

Anyway, the one thing I don't always like so much about idol is that you have to wait what seems like forever for the winners to release their albums. Today Kris's album was released! Yeah! New music to listen to while driving for the holidays! Pretty good. It even helped make cleaning the bathroom today a little less dismal.

Into the woods...

Okay, so I've been checking my "fall list" off one by one. This past weekend Aaron and I finally got to go camping. We went for the first time back in college with a great, albeit varied, group of friends.

Aaron has been back several times since then, but I haven't been able to. This weekend we braved the cold...and it was a COLD Friday night, for a beautiful saturday in the woods. We could not have asked for better weather on Saturday, and the break from the day to day grind and time away was something we both desperately needed. There is something about nature that just points my soul back to God and reminds me of everything truly worth something in life. Here are some pictures from our weekend...

As you can tell, there were some steep climbs. But the ending views were totally worth it.

It took yours truly a little while to warm up!

We went home happier, refreshed and ready to face the week!

Wonderful Weekend

It has been a wonderful weekend! We started off with a quiet Friday night, and the new Smallville episode was quite good. Saturday, we had friends over for Halloween. I don't know about you, but to me, Halloween is one of those holidays that is just no fun without kids. Our neighborhood is just what I always imagined trick-or-treating would be. Tons of kids, running house to house, people having parties, there was even a golf cart pulling a trailer full of hay bales with kids jumping on and off at different houses. So, using that as a lure, we invited our friends April and Doug and their kids and my our friends Michelle and Kenny. Michelle brought her daughter Julie along too. We had a great time carving pumpkins, trick-or-treating and generally hanging out. There were plans to roast marshmallows and make s'mores, but sadly the generally damp weather literally put a wet blanket on those plans!

Carving pumpkins.

Pumpkin carnage.

The finished products.

My little guy is on the left. Funny, I cleaned out three large pumpkins, but only ended up getting to carve one of the little guys. Oh well!

Aaron's masterpiece. He had to go show everyone up!

Julie and little Gabe.

Gabe keeping an eye on the grilling outside for us. Poor Doug grilled hamburgers and hot dogs in the drizzle while Aaron finished his masterpiece of a pumpkin. Thanks Doug!

My homemade pretzels. They are yummy! I just discovered this little goody a few weeks ago. For the recipe, go here.

We have here Annie, Woody (minus his hat) and Buzz from the lovely Toy Story. Preparing for the great trick-or-treating or as Grant (Buzz) thought, "going to get halloween".

To further emphasize my point that we get tons of trick-or-treaters, this is what we started with. I bought the big tootsie roll mix bag and the hershey's mix bag with reeses, kitkat, hershey bars and whoppers. I always buy candy I really like because in my experience, there is always a lot left...usually. Not here ladies and gents. We were out of this before 8:00pm. I went trick-or-treating with Doug, April and the kids. Aaron stayed home and passed out candy with Kenny and Michelle. There was apparently one little guy who did not have the appropriate trick-or-treating etiquette for Aaron. The kid banged and banged on the door, then didn't even say "trick-or-treat" or anything just stuck his bag up in the air. Then he saw a Reeses cup in the bowl and said "Oohh, Reeses! And went to grab it." Aaron pulled the bowl back and said, "Excuse me, but I give you the candy." To his credit he gave him two Reeses, but followed it up with "See, that's what happens when you ask." Life lessons from trick-or-treating at the Hill house. Just trying to make the world a better place folks...

April and me. Horrible picture of me.

Our crew at a house. We had to coach Grant on his trick-or-treating etiquette. At first he was banging on the door until it opened, and then he wanted to go in the house. After telling him to just knock once, wait for the door to open, and then say "trick-or-treat!" he did really good though.

Gabe wasn't too sure what it was all about. He knew one thing though, he wasn't going to let go of his bucket of candy!

Grant did really well, but got tired after a little while. April and I rotated between who would carry him for the last two blocks. He wanted his "cup". Poor worn out Buzz...

Me and my buddy Grant at the end of the night. I think I was more worn out than he was!

So, Halloween was a hit. Today was great as well. We got an "extra" hour of sleep, and I really enjoyed Sunday School and church this morning. I got a good nap this afternoon. The sun came out today and finally dried things off a bit, and with it getting dark earlier, Aaron and I decided to put the fire pit to good use. So, we ended the day roasting marshmallows, and talking over the fire outside. Here's hoping this is the start of an equally great week!

the cleaning sickness.

Ladies and gentlemen, there is something wrong with me. Seriously. I came home today after working and set to work on my usual weekly house cleaning routine. I picked up randomly strewn objects and put them away, and started dusting. After dusting in the dining room I happened to look out the door onto the screened in porch. I thought, man, I need to sweep and wipe the furniture down out there. So I open the door to go do those things, when I notice how nasty the door is. So, I clean all the panes of glass in the door and wipe down the outside. I'm so pleased with the results of that effort that I decide to clean all my windows. An hour later I'm on a ladder, precariously perched trying to get to the top of my bedroom window. I had to actually tell myself that clean window panes were not worth a visit to the ER, and that I needed to stop. Besides the fact that if something did happen, Aaron would probably report me missing before he looked on that side of the house for me. (It's all hidden in trees and shrubbery). So, I stopped. Well, I stopped cleaning the windows. I also cleaned the bathroom and dusted. Here's the crazy part. All of that gives me the most wonderful sense of satisfaction...that I may, MAY actually be able to report that perhaps I enjoyed this process?! What is wrong with me!

A Day in the Life...

Today was one of THOSE days. So, I thought I'd share. Maybe it'll make you feel better about YOUR day!

5:00am- yes, AM. Alarm goes off. I have the best intentions for getting up, exercising, doing bible study and prayer time with God. Unhurried, unrushed, and starting my day off calm and collected, ahead of things. Sadly, a warm, comfortable bed + flannel sheets+ good dreams+ a snoring husband= turning off the alarm and falling back asleep.

6:00am - into bathroom. check weather on iphone. decide what to wear. usual shower/dressing/getting ready routine ensues.

6:45am- out of bathroom, feed cats, do about 30 minutes of bible study.

7:15am- out the door to work.

7:25 am- arrive at work. check in, check mail box, boot up computer, look in purse to get cash to pay for breakfast in the school cafeteria. I'm super glad that the one day of the year when I had no groceries and decide to buy breakfast and lunch, they are serving sausage biscuits! Realize that my wallet is in fact, not in my purse. Also realize that I left it in my hospital work bag from Saturday. Realize I drove around all day sunday without my license. Brilliant. Thank God for the protection there.

7:35 am- swallow pride and go to cafeteria, get yummy sausage biscuit and ask the nice cafeteria lady if I can pay her tomorrow. Thankfully she understands. I go enjoy my biscuit.

7:45 am- the morning business starts. check work email, a few students filter in to tell me about their wounds from the weekend...bumped heads, bruises, etc. I send them on to class.

8:30 am- begin the lovely lice checks. I have 12 to do...over the course of the day I only get 8 done. I clear none of them. Grrrr.......

10:30am- worn out from lice checks...unable to force myself to call another student up for one. Decide to start calling all the absentee's. Have to send the document to the network printer 5 times before it acutally prints. Each time I have to walk back and forth between the lounge and my office.

11:20am- done calling absentee's. In between I've seen a few sick students. None so sick they needed to go home. Go to cafeteria to get a lunch...opt for the salad with sliced peaches instead of the pizza. Again, very grateful to the cafeteria lady for being understanding and taking a rain check for my meal! Eat lunch.

12:00pm- Pass out meds, give breathing treatment.

12:30pm- do one more lice check. Another student comes in just as I'm finishing up. While she rests in the clinic, a lady I spoke to over the course of my absentee list calls back to apologize for being "rude". She expresses concerns over the situation of the student I called about. End up having to have a meeting with principal and counselor over getting the social worker involved.

1:15pm- finally call the mom about the lice. She tells me basically that I don't know what I'm talking about, that her physicians office told her that the lice shampoos kill the nits. I tell her that I'm sorry, the physicians office is misinformed. She tells me to check online. I tell her I have, and that I'll send information home from a few websites I've been to.

1:25pm- Triumphantly print out information from the CDC website backing me up. Highlight key phrases for her. Take information to students classroom and put it in her notebook marked "from the nurse."

1:30pm- take care of several lost teeth, one who was pulled probably a little to soon in an effort to make sure it came out at school so she would get a tooth necklace. Count up numbers of visits for the day and the number of students out with flu, email to my supervisor, hand out a few afternoon meds, and shut down my computer in an effort to speed up my exit later.

2:40pm- have to go to a classroom where a student tripped, fell, hit her knee and now apparently "can't walk". Hmmm....knee is slightly red, she is currently sitting in the desk crying. Give her an ice pack, assure her she is not seriously injured and that her knee will be fine. Note home to her mom about what happened.

2:45- to van duty. The next thirty minutes ensue with lots of: "Can I use the restroom?" "Can I get some water?" "May I go to the library?" "What's wrong with the fish?" "Can I look at the fish?" "Can I borrow a pencil?" "Tell him to stop looking at me!" My responses included but are not limited to: "No, you may not." "Yes, you may." "Every day you ask me for a pencil. When are you going to remember that you need to bring one? No you may not borrow it." "No, you may not borrow it, stop asking me." "Sit down." "Talk softer." "If you don't want him to look at you why did you sit directly in front of him?" "The fish is dead. No, I don't know why." "No, you may not go to the library, stop asking me."

3:30pm- home to pick up wallet and head to wal -mart for groceries.

4:00pm- get to wal-mart. realize that I left my list sitting on my desk at work. Frantically try to make a list of what I remember was on the list. The fire pit I wanted, and they said was in stock, is not in stock. Lovely.

4:15pm- good friend calls, talk to her while I shop.

5:00pm- check out, head home. unload car. Aaron gets home, helps. Buy fire pit online, have to pay way too much to get it here by saturday.

5:30pm- start on dinner. chicken pot pie! All is going well until the crust. I used the flour for the double crust pie and the shortening for the single crust pie. Brilliant again Natalie. Make it work, (It was too late to add in the additional shortening). Pray for a decent crust. Clean up kitchen, sweep kitchen floor, pack lunch, clean up mail, sit down for a few minutes.

6:25pm- eat. Aaron leaves afterwards to head back up to the church to make phone calls.

7:00pm- start dishwasher. finish cleaning up kitchen.

7:15pm- hot bath, finish bible study from this morning I couldn't finish then. Amazingly enough it's on budgeting your time and making time to seek God in prayer. Make mental note to actually get up at 5:00 tomorrow. Pray. check email, read blogs. Blog myself.

8:30pm- call in to this "webinar" thing I signed up to do at work on healthier options for school fundraisers. (i.e. not cookies dough or chicken biscuit sales). Find out the call is not toll-free. Disconnect! Finish blog...turn out lights and go to bed early. Thank God for a productive, disaster free day. Pray for a better one tomorrow.

Good night!

Aaron and Natalie...

Okay, so I want to post, but don't have the energy or inspiration to post anything super deep at this point. My friend Renee recently did a "list" on her daughter Bailey that was super cute. Today my friend April did a list on her and her hubby that apparently she found on someone else's blog and is making it's way around the internet. While I always desire to be original and creative and new, this seemed fun. So, I'm jumping on the list wagon! I always enjoy reading these anyway. Hopefully you will too.

What are your middle names?

Aaron's is Matthew, mine is Bailey. I did not have a middle name growing up. Mom wanted to name me Natalie Edna, after her grandmother, but my dad vetoed that. After that I don't think they could decide, and mom didn't have a middle name until she got married, neither did her mom before her, so they just didn't give me one. Bailey is becoming a popular name though, so I guess it was a good last name to have become my middle name.

How long have you been together?

We dated three years and have been married five. Eight total. Man!

How long did you know each other before you started dating?

Almost a year. We had mutual friends, (I almost dated his roommate, he did date a girl who had become one of my best friends...still love her by the way...) then finally became friends, and then started dating. The story is kind of funny. Aaron wanted to ask me out in the fall of our freshman year, but he did it in a round about way to where I ended up saying that "I didn't feel like God wanted me to date anyone right now." Which was the truth! We got together when God was ready for us to.

Who asked who out?

Umm...he didn't really ask me out, he asked if he could kiss me. :)

Who made the first move?

It's kind of funny, again...you can totally tell we were 19. We were at a big concert in Atlanta called "music midtown." He kept me from being run over by a group of too hot mosh-pitters and then to stay together to weave through the crowd he held my hand. After there was no crowd he didn't let go of my hand...

How old are each of you?

27. I'll be 28 in December though and Aaron won't be until May.

Did you go to the same school?

We went to, and met, at the same college.

Are you from the same home town?

No. I'm from Warner Robins, Aaron's from Augusta.

Who is the smartest?

Definitely Aaron. He's probably the smartest person I know!

Who majored in what?

Aaron: Rhetoric in undergrad, Christian education in graduate school.

Me: Nursing.

Who is the most sensitive?

Me. I care a lot about what people think of me. My moods are easily swayed by the moods of others, and I tend to take on their concerns. It's not too hard to hurt my feelings. I'm not going to say Aaron could care less, because that's not true at all, he does care a lot about people. I think he's just more secure in who he is and things roll off of him easier. Over the course of our marriage he has taught me to be a little more thick-skinned (a necessary thing in ministry) and I have taught him to be a little more tactful. (Also a necessary thing in ministry!)

Where do you eat out most as a couple?

Chick-fil-A. We also order pizza in a lot.

Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?

Texas.

Who has the worst temper?

That would be me. Most people are surprised by this. When you really get to know me, I can get mad quickly, but if Aaron gets upset and raises his voice...you better check yourself!

How many children do you want?

I would like two. Aaron wants more like four or five. I figure we need to have one, and go from there....:) Either way, we both are looking forward to a family some day.

Who does the cooking?

Me! I enjoy cooking. Aaron is good at heating things up.

Who is more social?

I'm an introvert. Aaron is an extrovert. Therefore he is more social. However, again, over the course of our marriage he has become less social and I have become more so.

Who is the neat freak?

That would be me. Hands down! Clutter and disorganization stresses me out. While Aaron likes and appreciates cleanness, it isn't nearly as necessary for him as it is for me. (Sometimes I think he likes and appreciates it because I'm easier to live with when things are clean and in order.)

Who is the most stubborn?

We are both pretty stubborn but in different ways. Aaron will argue a point with you until he is blue in the face. I'm happy to agree to disagree. But, if it comes to doing something I'm going to fight to do it the way I want and make it work.

Who wakes up earlier?

Me. I rarely sleep past nine and start to turn into a pumpkin after midnight. Aaron could stay up until the wee hours of the morning and sleep until noon. Needless to say we hardly ever go to bed at the same time.

Where was your first date?

I guess our first official date was a picnic in Warner Robins.

Who has the bigger family?

We have the same size immediate family. Two parents and one sibling of the opposite sex who are each married and have two kids. Aaron has the larger extended family. His mom has four siblings each with multiple kids. My mom was an only child...both our dad's just had one brother. We are very blessed that both of our families are good, fun, loving people.

Do you get flowers often?

I buy them for myself pretty often, but Aaron hasn't bought me any since my first day of nursing five years ago. Probably partly because I buy them for myself. He does other sweet things for me though.

How do you spend the holidays?

We try to split them evenly between each of our families. We see each of them for part of each holiday and we are trying to alternate which family we actually spend Thanksgiving day and Christmas Day with each year.

Who is more jealous?

I think Aaron. He wants to protect me. I take it as a compliment when other women check him out! What can I say, I trust him.

How long did it take to get serious?

Since we were friends before we started dating there wasn't much "casual dating" because we already knew each other. We were exclusive the whole time we dated, but we didn't start talking about future plans until about nine months after we started dating.

Who eats more?

Aaron. He laughs at the portions I eat...

What do you do for a living?

I'm a school nurse. I also pick up shifts on an as needed basis in the ICU at the local hospital. I don't want to loose my clinical skills. Aaron is the "Pastor of Involvement" at a Baptist church. His job is help people get involved and connected into the church. He focuses a lot on small groups (sunday school, wednesday night discipleship classes) and ministry teams.

Who does the laundry?

I am the one who remembers it needs to be done every week, sorts it and washes it. Aaron is very good at helping me fold it and get it put away. Which is the worst part of the laundry if you ask me!

Who's better with the computer?

Aaron, hands down. I know how to do things on it, but Aaron knows how the programs actually work behind the scenes and how to trouble shoot. He's also a photo shop genius, is very creative with graphic design and he loves fonts. Yes fonts. We'll be out in public somewhere and he can tell you what font this certain sign is printed in.

Who drives when you are together?

Aaron most of the time. He's not one of those guys who always has to drive though. He likes for me to drive him sometimes.

What is "your song"?

"Drops of Jupiter" by Train, "I'll be" by Edwin McCain, "Smile" by Chris Rice and "Tell her this" by Del Amitri.

I'm so blessed that the "hottie" from my theatrical heritage class, first semester freshman year of college fell in love with me, and still loves me after five years of marriage. I love him more now that I did on our wedding day five years ago. We are opposites is just about every way possible, but God has used him in my life to help me become a better version of myself. You rock baby!