Recently, my eldest daughter Hannah asked me what my favorite thing was that God has made.  I thought about it for a moment, thinking of mountains, golden sunsets, a starry night sky…  But my final answer was more sentimental.

My family, I answered.

My life has changed drastically from what it was 20 years ago.  Of course, anyone could probably say that, since 20 years is a long time.  True, I was just a kid 20 years ago, but it doesn’t make me any less thankful for the things I have today.  Sitting alone in my room, I would often dream of having a big, happy family.  Despite my teenage angst and depression and doubt it would ever truly happen (as I was one of those girls who never had a boyfriend in school – odd, I know because I’m such a looker *lol*), here I am two decades later with a loving husband, five beautiful children, a large house, two cars that are paid for, and my health, even though I still have to check my blood sugars.

The other day, I thought to myself – when the heck did I grow up?!  I’m an adult – when did that happen?  Even though I’m in my mid-thirties, I often still feel like a kid.  DH and I just celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary.  Seems like just yesterday we got married!  Time flies, I suppose.

But yes, my family is my favorite thing God has made.  He’s given me everything I asked Him for as a little girl – a man who adores me, many children to fill my heart, my dream of being a published author, my own house and cars, not to mention many material things that make life easier (or more fun!).

I don’t view God as some Cosmic Santa Claus, but He’s never ceased taking care of me or my family.

Psalm 127:3

Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward.

So yes, more than sunsets, more than rainbows, more than mountains, clouds, or the smell of fresh coffee (lol), my favorite thing God has made is my family. 

~~Becka

As you may or may not know, the familia and I went to go see my favorite Christian singer last night, Chris Tomlin.  (No, we didn’t take the baby, we got a sitter, but we did take the other four children.)

I bought the tickets the moment I got the pre-sale email back in December, so we were able to get really good seats.  In fact, they were better than I thought they’d be.  We were in the sixth row back, however technically, we were in the second row, because the first four rows were folding chairs (they created more seating next to the stage .

The concert was held at Rolling Hills Community Church in Tualatin, OR.  It’s a pretty big church.  If the Christian singers don’t go to the Rose Garden Arena, they pretty much go to Rolling Hills around here.

Israel Houghton and New Breed opened for Chris.  You might think, que?  Who’s that?  But Israel has written lots of songs we all sing in church every week – Here I Am to Worship, Lord You are Good, Friend of God…  He was really good, sang some songs off his new album which is released on March 24th.

After a brief intermission, Chris Tomlin took the stage and I was able to snap a few pics from my iPhone.  Of course, my iPhone doesn’t take the best pics in the world, but take my word for it – that’s Chris up there.  LOL  Here’s a pic I took of one of the giant monitor screens.  It’s sad that I was just a few rows away but the best pics of him were from the monitor.    If you’re a Chris Tomlin afficionado, you should be able to tell by the lyrics what song we were singing.

Here’s a pic of him on stage:

He was singing his big hit How Great is Our God here, same song as the other pic, but he went to the piano and sang it for us in Spanish and Russian while giving us stories about how the different countries worshipped.  In Brazil, they were dancing in the aisles a la The Blues Brothers.  LOL  In Russia, they were pretty stoic.    It was a funny story.  Guess you had to be there.

I was so jealous of the guy two rows in front of us, because he was able to get a full body shot of Chris.    I was tempted to hand him my phone.  LOL  Take pictures for me!  Hahah

This is the best I could get – but at least you can tell how close we were in this one.

Chris sang most of his songs from his new album, Hello Love, but he did a few favorites.  Everyone wanted him to sing Indescribable, and I think he was planning on doing that one for the encore.  BUT, he didn’t do an encore.  **sniffle**

I know, people.  I KNOW.  No encore?  That’s like…  not leaving a tip for your server.  The crowd was into it.  The crowd wanted it.  Chris left stage and the lights stayed dim for about a minute before the house lights came on.  You could hear the crowd give a collective, “Oh!” in a bummer way.  It was weird.  DH noticed it was straight-up 10pm when they turned the lights on.  They’d made mention of Day Light Savings and how a lot of the people in the audience had to go to church the next morning, so maybe that had something to do with not having the concert continue.  Or maybe they were just tired.

But that was very disappointing. 

I’ve only been to one other concert where they didn’t do an encore, and that was Blink 182, and that was only because they gave a temper tantrum because the crowd wasn’t singing their songs.  LOL  They left the stage with some profanities.  Great way to lose some fans, there.  While Chris didn’t leave the stage cursing the crowd, it still stung a bit.

WE ALL WANTED TO HEAR INDESCRIBABLE!!!  Darn it, Chris, if I ever meet you, I’m gonna hug you – then smack you.  LOL

The kids had a great time, however, even though they got a bit bored towards the end.  They couldn’t see over the crowd well, so they were stuck watching the monitors.  I had a great time as well and I think I made eye contact!  Woohoo!  Heheh

Anyhow, just wanted to share my experiences.  If you go to Chris Tomlin on this tour, be sure to shout out not to jip you on the encore. 

~~Becka

DH and I just recently got portraits taken of us and our family.  After skimming the other pictures of me on his Flickr account, I’ve finally realized how much weight I’ve lost, not only on the scale, but visually as well.  Sure, you see the numbers and get excited, but actually seeing the results is the payoff for me.  I seriously need to get back into my exercise routine.  I’m terrified of ever getting that heavy again!

Here are before and after pics so you can see what I’m talking about:

This is me and my daughter Simone summer of 2007 when we went on a hike around Lost Lake near the foot of Mt. Hood:

Becka with Simone at Heaviest Weight

This is me after losing almost 70 pounds, taken on February 28th, 2009:

Becka & Jim after weight loss

You get the added bonus of seeing my handsome hubby!    I’m hoping to have more pictures this year that will make the above portrait seem fat as well.    If I can lose another 65-70 pounds this year, I’ll almost be to my goal weight!  Exciting!  Half-way there.  Woohoo!

~~Becka