Friday, November 30, 2007

Get Well Soon

Life has been interesting around the Webb house for the last week. Stephen's been sick since last Thursday and I've learned a whole lot more about diabetes. If you have diabetes, then even if your blood sugar has been under the best control of your life, a few days of being sick can throw it all off.

I have learned that being sick with diabetes is completely different than just plain being sick because now you're having to keep your blood sugar in check while not being able to eat, throwing up, having no appetite, etc. Your blood sugar level depends a lot on what you eat (or don't eat) and so being sick can have a pretty big impact on you.

Stephen's blood sugar has been so good since we've been married that I'm used to him coming home raving about how good his blood sugar stayed. This week it's been lots of lows and pump alarms going off at all hours of the day and night.... Now don't worry, it's not as bad as it may sound - the pump alarm just warns him when his blood sugar is getting lower than we want - but it's been abnormal for us.

I must say that my amazing husband still maintains a sweet and pleasant attitude even when he's sick. He's been a trooper and doesn't complain at all when he's not feeling well...he's actually been apologizing for being in such a funk, but in all honesty, he's probably the most easy going sick person I know. Thankfully he's definitely on the mend and has been feeling much better. It's just been a different kind of week for us. Hope you guys are staying healthy as the weather gets cooler!

Sunday, November 25, 2007

A Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving! I know we did, and we've been enjoying the extra long weekend! I had forgotten how nice it is to have 3 days in a row of sleeping in and just relaxing. Vacations really are great! :-)

Stephen and I shared Thanksgiving day with two of the families in Jr High ministry, the Scott's and the Duncan's (our Jr High Pastor). It was a beautiful and yummy meal and some good fellowship. We have so much to be thankful to the Lord for right now; our first holiday as a married couple for one! Although we couldn't make it home to share Thanksgiving with our families, we're really excited about Christmas coming up in just a few short weeks. We'll be seeing family before we know it!

I really like this time of year! We put up a little tree with lights and ornaments on it (I'll take a pic soon and put it on here) and we also put up some Christmas lights outside on our patio. After a lot of hype about how much Stephen dislikes putting up Christmas lights, he was actually a really good sport about it and did a great job with them. Friday night we turned off all the lights but the Christmas tree and the lights outside (opened the sliding glass door's blinds so we could see them really well) and watched a movie together. It was a lot of fun and I honestly couldn't have been happier or more content cuddling up next to my wonderful husband.

Hope you enjoy this holiday season and don't forget to take care of your Christmas shopping sooner rather than later! :-)

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Wedding Pictures!


We finally have all our wedding pictures!!! There are way too many to put on here, but we'll post a few for you guys to enjoy!



We are so thankful for this wonderful day and all the people who joined us to celebrate our covenant of marriage!

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

When I Was Your Age...

Today I went to a private high school in L.A. and took orders for graduation caps and gowns. First, Cali schools have many things that are very different from anything I grew up knowing about school. I'm going to mention a few differences in a moment, but I must begin by noting that while we were there, some lunch carts rolled by our table on the way to being set up for lunch time. The carts were selling SUSHI. That's right. At this high school you can pick the soggy french fries, the mystery meat chicken strips, or SUSHI. School is definitely a little different out here.....

When I Was A Your Age....
  1. All the schools I went to were made up of one big building with classrooms in different hallways within the building. Out here all the schools have outdoor campuses and are made up of lots of little buildings where the classrooms face outside and you walk outside to get from one class to another.
    1. This completely changes my dislike of all Disney movies that take place in a high school because they are now realistic to me. I always thought sets of kids hanging outside in between classes was so unrealistic; my school was nothing like that....I just never knew how the Cali's did it.
    1. I totally saw a kid playing his guitar on a bench in between classes at one of the high schools. This further confirms my notion that the Disney movies actually had it right.
  2. BRUNCH - how did the Texas school system miss out on this?!? Every school out here has a break halfway through the morning for the kids to eat a snack. HELLO! How come I had to starve every day as I waited for my 12:30 lunch to come around after eating breakfast SIX HOURS earlier. This brunch idea is ingenious!!!
  3. Did I mention the sushi?
  4. Multicultural - I love the fact that there are so many races living in L.A. The high schools are so diverse! It is beautiful, and completely foreign to what I grew up knowing.
While I really like some of the aspects of school out here in L.A., I'm pretty sure we don't really want to raise children out here, so I guess they will miss out on all these cool things. That is, unless other schools start to pick up these things as well! But I'm not that far out of high school myself and I already feel like saying, "When I was a kid, things were different." I can only imagine what it will be like when our own (future) children are in school...

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Venice & Santa Monica

Yesterday Stephen and I went on a little excursion to Venice Beach and Santa Monica. To our surprise, these two places are only about 30 minutes from our front door! We had a blast walking around and seeing the sights.

We hit Venice first. We'd both heard that Venice is a pretty crazy place, and I'd say that is somewhat true. There's this great walkway along the beach where vendors set up booths of random stuff to buy and people put on various shows for you to watch. There's also a big recreation center right on the beach where you can play basketball, miniature tennis, workout at Muscle Beach (a weight room on the beach), and bike and rollerblade along the beach. It was pretty cool.

I actually got pulled in to be a part of one of the shows! This guy was crazy and after about 20 minutes of talking about how much pain he was about to be in, he finally walked barefoot on a big pile of broken bottles and glass.
He had me hold a bottle, a fake crawfish, and put on some "island wear"

Then there was this guy painted in all gold who looked like a statue until you stuck some cash into his box and he went crazy and did some dance moves and then went back to being a statue. We're pretty sure the dog in front of him was fake.

Stephen got stopped by a guy trying to sell CDs of his band and took a moment to give him his opinion of the music.
After walking along Venice Beach, we drove a couple miles north to Santa Monica. This place is awesome! It has a pier that has a carnival on it(!) AND a blocked off street called 3rd Street Promenade that is set up as an outdoor mall. GREAT L.A. SHOPPING (I'm definitely taking Sara here when she comes out!). Once it got dark, more people came out to put on shows like those at Venice Beach. We watched a group of guys break dancing and stopped to listen to an evangelist as he took on questions about Christianity. Great stuff.

Here's the Santa Monica Pier and Amusement Park:

After bringing to his attention ALL the yummy things to eat like cotton candy, pretzels, funnel cake, and popcorn, Stephen finally let me get some cotton candy.
We had a great day and finished it off with a movie in one of the 3 movie theaters on the Promenade, a stop at Starbucks for a warm drink, and listening to the evangelist for about 45 minutes. I have to say this was one of the best things we have done since we've been out here. Walking the 3rd St Promenade makes a great date night! Hooray for tons to do and see and it's all just 30 minutes away from us. Now we know somewhere to take guests when they come to visit!

Friday, November 9, 2007

Life Is Good

I was never nervous about the idea of getting married to Stephen. Everyone asks you that when you're engaged, and maybe some people do get nervous about the idea of spending the rest of their life with a specific person and what it will be like, but I never had that fear. I knew the kind of man I was marrying when I went into this. I knew his character, and I knew his dedication to the Lord and to me. He never made me question his intentions. I may not have known every little detail about him, like the fact that he has 200 pairs of white socks and doesn't like the idea of getting rid of any of them, but I've found so many more things about him that I love now that we're married. There is definitely give and take, and it's a process to learn to consider another person in all that you do, but the rewards are tenfold. I could not have asked for a more wonderful husband.

Just a few of the things I love about being married to Stephen Webb:
I laugh more now than I ever have. He always compliments my cooking, even when it's not that great. He stops to wake me up and give me a kiss every morning before he leaves for work. He smiles at me across the room when we're doing Jr High ministry. He holds my hand. He lets me climb into his lap when he's sitting in our recliner. I can't wait to see him at the end of each day. I fall asleep every night knowing I am loved and deeply loving the incredible man next to me.

I thank the Lord for the gift of my husband. It is truly the Lord who brought us together and keeps us through each day.

Monday, November 5, 2007

Food...

Stephen and I are sitting on the couch watching one of his favorite shows, "Mythbusters," and we just finished a first rate dinner of grilled cheese :-D I had a few random pictures of Stevenson Ranch (the area we live in) and thought I'd put them on here for you guys to see. The first is of a California classic, In N Out Burger. You can't come to Cali and not eat at In N Out...it's legendary. However, it's probably talked up a little more than it deserves. The food is good, but I wouldn't say it's amazing. We have one in walking distance from our apt. It was dark out when I took this pic, so it's only of the sign.


Next we have the grocery store that is basically at the entrance to our apt complex. I definitely love the convenience! I took a pic of it mostly because of the palm trees. My grocery store has PALM TREES at the front of it! Sometimes the reality that I'm really living in California amazes me.
That's pretty much all I've got for tonight. Nothing too exciting; just more glimpses of what life is like for us out here. Hope you're all doing great!!!

~Rachel & Stephen

Friday, November 2, 2007

Hooray for 2 Months!

Yesterday we celebrated our 2 month anniversary! Man, we've been married for forever... ;-) Stephen and I both worked all day and we've had a busy week, so a nice, relaxed evening at home was just right. Stephen loves a good steak, so I thought I'd surprise him with a yummy candlelight dinner.

Having never attempted to cook steak of any kind before, I was a little nervous (I stood in front of the meat section in the grocery store for about 10 min just trying to figure out what cut of meat I was supposed to buy). I settled on a filet mignon (only the best for my man!) and went home to look up how to cook it. Add on a few side items like sauteed mushrooms and onions, a little mashed potatoes, and we had a meal. Somehow the meal ended up really good!!! I love to cook, but it usually takes one time of figuring something out before I can really make it good. So by the grace of God, this meal was a first time success and we had a great evening together.

I'm so thankful for my husband and every day discover more wonderful qualities about him. The Lord has truly blessed me with a man more wonderful than I dared to hope for. Happy 2 months my love!