This is me and Melissa..before Nickapalooza kicked off!
Her story, like mine, has been one with lots of tears. Several years ago, Melissa lost her mom to cancer. This loss was made even more intense because just a week before her mom lost the earthly battle and went Home, Melissa’s younger brother and only sibling died unexpectedly of a heart attack while in his early 20s leaving a wife and young son.
Melissa, though brokenhearted, has pressed on in her faith and chosen the road of laughter over the road of bitterness.
Melissa’s sons Michael and Evan were friends of Nick., and she serves on the board of Nick’s foundation. One day in January, she called me and said, “I have an idea. Let’s do an all-day Christian music festival in Carter County for the foundation!” Nick LOVED Christian music, so it seemed like a perfect idea!
We decided this was something that would take a lot of planning, so we planned to kick-off our first Nickapalooza in the summer of 2010.
Somehow, though, in the months that followed, our conversations kept going back to Nickapalooza. We thought, “We’ll just do a little one-band kick-off this summer to get it going.” But before we knew it, we had 12 bands, a perfect date that the fairgrounds were available (7-11), and friends who were willing to help out!
I have to be honest. There have been moments along the way that have been overwhelming. The past two weeks have been very hard emotionally for both Melissa and me. The devil just couldn’t stand the idea of an entire day bringing glory to the God of our Universe and the God of our city (by the way, thank you to Britt’s band, for singing this song on Saturday!).
I have so much to tell you about Nickapalooza!
I am thankful to tell you that because of the efforts of many, many wonderful people, the day went off with very few hitches!
Well, other than a few torrential downpours late in the afternoon!
The picture below is my foot and Melissa’s foot at about 1 a.m. as we waited for Live Fish to load up their sound equipment at the end of the day!! (Melissa’s foot is the beautiful one with red polish on her toes..mine is the one that looks like it could be Fred Flintstone’s!)
But I’m happy to tell you that we both survived and made it to church this morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’ll share lots more about Nickpalooza tomorrow, but I wanted to give you a little background first!!!
If you want to order a Nickapalooza t-shirt, just email me at tammynischan@yahoo.com and give me your mailing address and your size!!, (They’re white like the one Olivia is wearing below- the grey section sparkles!) Thank you Dave Bennett and Chris Huddle for your hard work at designing and creating these t-shirts! They were a huge hit!!…T-shirts are $10 and all profits go to Nick’s foundation!
I’ll be drawing for a winner of a free t-shirt this Friday at noon! Post a comment here to enter the drawing!! Thanks for praying for our day!! I have lots of other friends to introduce you to in the days to come!!
Oh, I had to let you know that Marble is much happier since Olivia got home from church camp!!! They napped together this afternoon! Notice Olivia’s gloves! She is allergic to cats, so she thinks this will help her sneezing!
Tammy,
I am so glad Nickapalooza was a huge hit. It looked like so much fun and I’m so sorry we missed it. We do want t-shirts, though. Ty would be distraught if he thought there was a cool t-shirt and he didn’t have it.
Much love,
Kim
God is good all the time. So glad that the event was a success. No experience is wasted, even the bad ones, when we give it to the Lord. But you know that already. don’t you. Looking forward to hearing all about the Nickapalooza and sharing with our ladies at church. I told them about the pennies in the UK this past week. They all remember praying for your family and Nick
Tammy,
Looks like you had tons of fun! I bet you were exausted! Isn’t it amazing how our God can still give us joy after such a tragedy! He is amazing!
Much love,
natalie
Looks like you had tons of fun!
Iam so glad Nickapalooza was a huge hit.I was going to come but i have a bad bad tooth ach If you have one next year i be there
Congratulations! You made it. I am looking forward to the pictures.
So glad that the day was such a hit! I’m sure the blessings from the day will continue to come forth even in the days ahead!
You and Melissa look too cute as you got the day started….great smiles!
Can’t wait to hear even more!!
Oh how exciting Tammy!
Can’t wait to hear ALL about it♥
Haha. I can’t help but be excited to see pictures of mine and Kathryn’s creations that was so inconveniently painted on to my body haha. =P
Love,
Haley =]
Sounds like it was a great day! Loved the pictures here and on Facebook. Wish we could’ve been there. Is this going to be an annual event?
Love ya,
Julia
so glad that it went well. love you all, lara
Tammy, I knew everything would be great for Nickapalooza, God is with you. Can’t wait to see all the pictures. God Bless you, Lexie
Tammy, Hey this is Frank’s mom Debbie. We had a really great time at Nickapalooza. Yea we may have got a little wet, but oh well it’s just rain. I hope it was all you expected and more. You all are such wonderful people. I’m proud to know you and your exceptional family. I enjoyed the pictures on here. Keep them coming. Love,The Shavers family.
Hello from Columbus
I have heard alot of great things about your day….I’m so glad it went well……
Donna
Hi Tammy!
Brad and I think of you often and keep you in our prayers. We heard the day was great–we were so sorry we couldn’t be there. Hopefully we will make it next year! God bless you.
Chris Wallace