Intro

We named our blog “Raising Mustard Seeds” after the famous parable in Matthew’s Gospel. We had some mustard seeds of our own laying dormant in our hearts, and finally, the year before our marriage, we began to let those seeds grow. Our journey with Christ hasn’t always been easy, but it has bore more fruit than we could possibly imagine. And through the mustard seeds He planted in our hearts, He opened them to receive little mustard seeds of our own…

While Jesus in this parable is talking about how faith and our relationship with God should grow from something very small to something mighty and powerful, it’s applicable to our children as well. It is our hope that through prayer and proper parenting, our children will grow from small and helpless (tiny mustard seeds) to being mighty in Christ, so that they will be shining lights in the world and people will come to “dwell in the branches” of their faith.

So, this is our little space in the big internet where we will share our most likely crazy experiences as we start our family and we hope those who are close to us will enjoy laughing at us and with us, and maybe even learn something new :)

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

...and baby makes 4

Wow y'all. Has it really been over 5 months since I blogged? I guess it does feel like it's been a long time. Life got busy. I'll try to sum it up quickly.

1. Gianna is now 18 months old. She is the most fun. Except when she throws a tantrum and throws herself on the floor and goes "boneless" (a la Trixie in Knufflebunny). Not so much then. Particularly when it's on the floor of church in line for the Eucharist.
2. Chris and I turned 27 in March.
3. We went on vacation to Arizona (and Chris took a course with THE Cody Lundin) and Las Vegas.



4. Chris has a semi-successful summer garden...things grew, but not a whole lot of produce. 3 butternut squash, a cantaloupe, a few jalapenos, a good number of tomatoes, so far. He's very faithful and learning a lot.
heirloom tomato...sorry for the blurry pic. 


5. We bought a chicken coop off craigslist! Next step: build fence so our garden doesn't get attached. Last step: chickens!


6. And, duh, I'm sure you figured out by the title, Rendall Baby #2 in currently baking! We're so excited. My "due date" is March 9th....Chris's birthday. Who knows what will happen though; Gianna was a week early. Hopefully this time Chris doesn't have the flu.
 It's like looking at me from the nose down as a toddler, and Chris from the nose up. 


 I know. I know. She's a heart killer. Just soooooooooak it all in. 
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I'm planning to do another post on this pregnancy (kind of cool story, y'all), kind of like I did with Gianna (see: How Baby Rendall Came to Be), but it will be SO. Much. Shorter. I promise.
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Before I let this post get insanely long to make up for lost time, here are some of my current favorite things about Gianna, plus random pictures and videos:

1. She loves to say ALL THE WORDS. Not really "all" but she tries to say so many things I love it. She's REALLY into this box set of Baby Einstein books that Chris's mom bought for G in Las Vegas. We can't go anywhere without one of them. My favorite is the animal sounds book. Her rooster is the best. thing. ever. Kitty cat is second best because it has a matching face. 


2. Gianna loves to dance. We found a new great pandora station with a combo of folksy music and folk renditions of classical pieces I think it's called J.S.Bach The Brandenburg Concertos and we jam every day. Obviously...this is NOT folk music jamming in the below video... 



3. Anytime someone says "I" or "eyes" Gianna bats her eyes. Love it. 

4.  Gianna is in love with her ducky. He goes everywhere with us. She feeds him, rocks him, and puts him to sleepy. It's the sweetest thing ever. She gets embarrassed when I say ducky wants milk (to nurse) and it cracks me up. 

 She also loves this Stevia extract bottle....no clue y'all...she's never ever tasted stevia...
 



5. Just. This.