Thursday November 1st, New Childhood Illness Discovered: Bieber Fever

So my ears are bleeding as I write. Ashley, Madison, Lindsey, and I just got back from a Justin Bieber concert. When we went to the Grizzlies meeting, I was trying to explain the “crush” (as my friends call it) that I have on Tim Tebow. To describe the phenomenon, I said that Tebow is to me as Bieber is to Lindsey. Someone in the audience decided to send four tickets to us for the concert here in Memphis (to Bieber, not Tebow unfortunately – but if anyone knows of a Tebow concert anywhere nearby, please let me know). We don’t know who sent the tickets, but we are very grateful. During this whole process, if anyone has been neglected it has been the girls. It’s hard to keep all of the balls in the air and the girls are always the easiest to let slip. So it was nice to do something special with them.

Back to my ears bleeding. I was one of the handful of people with Y chromosomes anywhere in the Fedex Forum. And if you’ve never heard 15,000 girls screaming simultaneously, it is unimaginable. It is eardrum piercing. The only other thing I know to compare it to is Charlotte Motor Speedway at a Nascar race. And when I said girls, I used that term very loosely. The girls ranged in ages from probably 6 to… much older, surprisingly older! I wasn’t necessarily impressed with Bieber, but the guy has an entire basketball arena full of girls screaming at the top of their lungs for him. So he’s doing something right I guess! He is, however, no Bono! The concert was a blast for all of us. I loved getting to spend time with the girls with them being the center of attention for a little while.

Another exciting thing happened today. St. Jude updated their website and it has “Shorty the Dinosaur” all over it! That is Ingram’s self-prescribed nickname he gave himself after we shaved his head the first time. He is on the main webpage, the Thanks and Giving page, and there is a little “Meet Ingram” page. He is also on St. Jude’s Facebook page. I’m obviously biased, but I think he looks pretty cool! We are definitely excited whenever we see his picture anywhere. It’s nice to think that his little smile is playing some small role in helping the battle against childhood cancer. Another one of the profiles they put on their Thanks and Giving page is that of Bailey (she is the first girl with a scarf on her head). She is one of Ingram’s friends up there and is best friends with our friend Mae.  There is a stark contrast between the innocence and beauty each of these kids have, and the dreadful battles going on inside their bodies.  I guess that's the way God sees us.  Inside, we are a mess; but, he doesn't see that.  He sees us dressed in His Son's purity.  He sees us as innocent and pure, the same things we see when we see Bailey, Mae, Ingram, and all of the other little kids up there.