Our Favorite Survivor!!!

Back in my days at Bryant Jr. High and Bryant High School, one of my very good friends was Alison Powell. We played basketball together, lived in the same neighborhood, and hung out with many of the same friends. She had a little sister, Natalie, who was very sweet and really did not get on our nerves too much, but she was still a little sister! And all of the sudden, none of us are that "little" anymore, and I get a text message from Alison a few months ago telling me "my little sister has made the cast for Survivor, so you MUST watch this season"!!



Here is the logo used for Survivor Samoa, season 19 and year 10 on the airwaves of CBS!!






Here are pictures of Natalie playing the game. She was definitely one of the under-dogs being the smallest female and not spending a lot of time outdoors prior to coming to the island. She played a very quiet game, and in her own words was not a "camera hog." In fact, there were several episodes that you really did not even see her face!! She only won one reward challenge and she bought a "PB and J" sandwich for some $200, and other than that she ate sparsely from what the island had to offer. While there, she lost about 30 pounds which she did not have to lose from the beginning, and came home weight a whooping 85 pounds. She kept true to who she was, and she was vocal about her faith in Christ, even leading her team in prayer which was aired on national television. We were so proud of her for even making the cast, and being brave enough to give up so much at home to follow this dream. But the story does not end there....




On Sunday, December 20, 2009 here is Natalie WINNING the title of Sole Survivor and $1 million!!! She had a controversial win because she did play such a quiet game, and many Russell fans were just down right mad at his loss. Over the last month, she has presented herself as humble, kind, gentle, and a gracious winner.

Here is Natalie on the "red carpet" following the Finale show.

Tonight, her parents and some very good friends to their family hosted a party at our old church in honor of her win and success. They decorated the fellowship hall, and it was just beautiful. It was so great to see so many old friends, and it was so great to see Natalie. She is such a beautiful girl in so many ways, and it was so fun to hear her stories from behind the scenes of Survivor.


Here was one of the tables set up with journals for everyone to sign and write a personal message to Natalie.

This was a stage area they had set up for Natalie to sit down and do a question and answer session. Everything was decorated so nice, and you could tell that a lot of time and planning went into making this special evening for everyone!

This is Natalie with her Mom, Diane, as Diane read a poem that she had written for Natalie making reference to many of the events of the season. She titled the poem "Ratalie" in honor of the rat that Natalie killed and ate while on the island.

These are pictures of Natalie speaking to the group and taking questions. Because there was no media, she was able to freely answer questions, and some of the answers were quite surprising!!

Alison, Natalie, and me posing for a picture, and I'm sure I have one similar to this of these 3 girls about 15 years ago!! Fun times with old friends, and I'm so proud to have been able to be a part of this experience. Congratulations Natalie, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for you!!

And one last picture of the evening....the girls had their first real baby-sitter tonight. Our family members have always watched the girls for us, but we decided that it was time to get us a baby-sitter for those times when someone is not available or when we want to do something together without the girls. Well, Jamie is from our church and she agreed to take on these girls for a few hours tonight. Everyone survived, and even still had smiles on their faces at the end of the night!! Thanks Jamie, and we'll be calling you again....I just hope you'll come back!!