By Chelsea McDougall

Rochelle Wallace feels like she won the lottery. Although there was no monetary gain in the Wallace household, but she is the recipient of a of pair tickets to see President-Elect Barack Obabma's inauguration on the front lawn of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Jan. 20.

"It's like hitting the lottery and I wouldn't trade it for the world," Wallace said.

She received tickets to the swearing-in in a lottery and will watch Obama become the 44th president with her oldest granddaughter Amya Wallace.

To acquire the hard-to-come-by tickets, Rochelle and sister Pam Mitchell, East Moline, called an 800 number set up by Rep. Phil Hare whose employees took both Mitchell's and Wallace's names and addresses and promised to let them know if they were awarded tickets.

"They called me (to say I got the tickets) and I thought they were joking," Rochelle said, laughing. "I started screaming and hollering."

Rochelle couldn't get the four tickets she requested, but was given two.

"They said, 'we can't give you the four tickets you asked for but we can give you two tickets, do you still want them?' I said, 'yes I want them,'" she said excitedly.

Although she didn't get tickets to the inauguration address, Mitchell and 11-year-old son LaMont are still going to be part of the action. Mitchell and LaMont will be on The National Mall, about one-half mile from the Capitol where Obama will be sworn in.

The four-some will also attend the inaugural parade and Amya and LaMont will attend the Youth Ball.

It may be her first time in the nation’s capital, but it’s not her first time Amya, has seen Obama in person. She met him during a senatorial campaign swing through Monmouth College in July 2004 when her grandparents, Jeff and Terri Rankin, took her to see the future president.

"I thought it was pretty cool but at first I really didn't know who he was because there was a whole bunch of people there," Amya, a fourth grader at Peoria's Hines Primary School said. "Then my grandmother took me on the stage to take a picture."

Amya hopes to get Obama to sign the picture and will be keeping a journal during the trip.

"She can tell her kids that we were part of history," Rochelle said.

This historic campaign season kept Rochelle glued to the television for months.

"Every time he would speak, his speeches and everything just got me," she said. "I loved the way he spoke. He really got me."

Rochelle and Pam decided the moment Obama won the presidency, they were going to the inauguration.

"It's history and we're all excited," Rochelle said. "Once he won it was like, we want to go. We never dreamed in a million years that we were going to get tickets. We didn't even care if we got tickets. ...  Whether we got tickets or not, we were planning to go, just to be part of history."

Rochelle supported Obama through most of the long campaign season and admits, she was a Hilary Clinton supporter too.

Rochelle was working at the Western Illinois University Union in Macomb on election night.

"I was downstairs in the basement and I heard this loud thunder and I heard, 'Obama! Obama!' and there it was," she said. "There was a lot of crying."

Amya watched the coverage from home.

"I was watching the TV at home with my mom," she said. "I was pretty excited because the day before we voted at school and he also won at my school."

The fourth grader doesn't want to miss a moment so she can tell her friends and classmates about the experience.

"(My friends are) pretty happy for me because I get to go," Amya said.

"I want this to be something that she'll always remember. It's a historical moment and we're right there at that time when he' s giving his speech, we're there and that's history being made," Rochelle said.

Amya also has high hopes for a bright future.

"Her dad keeps saying she's going to be our future president, and there is hope," Rochelle said.

When asked if she wants to be president someday, a shy smile grew across Amya's face as she nodded.

"After all these years when we never thought it was possible and there he is now, he's there it is possible," Rochelle said. "Anything is possible if you reach for it."