Newsboys!

I remember singing "I'm Not Ashamed" in front of girls camp when I was a teen counselor back on Chicago Central District. Much to our parents' dismay, my brother and I enjoyed all of the loud bass and drums and cranked it up as loud as we could. My, how times do change when you get "old" and are the parent!

While I have been to a couple of Newsboys concerts in the past, I was quite excited to be able to attend one this past Friday. I heard about their tour, Bring One Win One, about a month or so ago on the radio. The fact that this was a FREE concert ($10 suggested donation per person) had me very excited and right away, I knew I wanted to take Isabelle. Well, on Thursday, my mom and I decided to take the afternoon off (after taking the morning off to go to the salon) and took Isabelle shopping. Family Life Radio happened to be on site in Lansing at the Christian book store and we stopped in to register to win a four pack of front row tickets and backstage passes to meet the band. Well, Isabelle spun the prize wheel for me and I scored a beautiful aqua FLR hoodie. I however, did not win the tickets. But, I was let in on a little secret... the next morning, they would be in Saginaw from 6-10AM and if you brought some canned goods, you could secure 2 floor seats. They had been announcing on the radio that once the tickets ran out, you would be out of luck as they were first come, first served basis. They would try to keep track and announce when all tickets were gone so you weren't standing there or driving in and then find out the tickets were gone. I know how many disappointments Isabelle faces that are beyond our control and she was sooo excited to go that I decided I would get up early and drive over to get the tickets.

Unbelievably, I was like a kid at Christmas and barely slept past 3:30 AM, finally got up around 5:40 and was out the door by 6:20AM. From here, Saginaw is an hour drive. I did manage to get 2 floor seats so I knew Isabelle and I would be guaranteed seats. Daddy would have LOVED to come with us, but with as late as he is from work, he couldn't make it, so it became a special mommy/daughter time. I didn't know they were giving away another 4 pack of front row seats and backstage passes, and went ahead and registered again. I have never won anything on the radio, drawings, or anything else and did not expect this to be any different. Things went downhill from here.

Shawn called me around 9AM to say that Isabelle was sick and I needed to drive down to pick her up so he could continue on to work. Her school is nearly an hour south of where we live, so I left immediately. I was thinking that I had gotten up so early and gone through all that trouble, only to have a sick little girl that couldn't go to the concert. Even though I was thinking at that point that we wouldn't be able to make it, I kept the radio on and had all of my family listening just in case I did win. They would be announcing the winner by 10 AM. At 9:53, I had picked up Isabelle and we were listening as they drew............... MELISSA GRAHAM, from St. Louis! I glanced back at Isabelle and screamed, "THAT'S US!!! WE WON!!!!!" Isabelle was excited and I nearly drove off the road!! I just couldn't stop thinking all day that I had actually won something and was going to be sitting right up front!

My parents ended up coming with Isabelle and I and we all took our ear plugs (shhh, don't tell the Newsboys) and Isabelle absolutely loved it. I bought her a shirt to have signed by the Newsboys since we would get to meet them afterwards (did you know they now charge $25 for those things??) It was such an amazing concert and this group is really doing so much to make a positive difference in our world. If you are interested in supporting their cause Global Tribe, or want to read that Michael Tait will now be the lead singer, please visit the Newsboys site.

I know Isabelle will remember this concert for many years to come and I am so very glad that I sacrificed a little sleep and my ear drums to make it happen for her. After all, what are parents for?