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Hello my faithful blog readers! I have been absent for far too long, as I've heard from many of you. I would like to point out that Sarah has been asking me to do a blog post for the better part of a month and I am finally doing it. I've been trying to figure out why I haven't been able to make myself write a post and my best guess (self Psycho-analysis) is that I've processed so much over the past year that a defense mechanism of emotional isolation reared its head and made me hold my feelings closer than usual. This is just a rough guess though...maybe I was just lazy. But whatever the reason, here I am to wow you with my awesome Englishing skills.

One other thing: I don't remember what was included in past posts, what needs updating, what you do and don't know so I'll just dump without reading back through old posts and hope it all makes sense. Deal?

First off, Brinley had a happy birthday on April 23rd! Yes, our little girl is a 1 year old! Praise and thanks to our heavenly Father for getting Brinley through a whole year; it was not a sure thing near the beginning as we all know. We had an awesome time celebrating her birthday with about 120 of you at our church on May 2nd! Thank you so much to everyone that was able to come and for the incredible generosity in the gifts. I'm happy to report that we have plenty for the planned swingset and I will be ordering it within the next couple days. Then it will be manual labor time getting the yard ready for construction. Should be fun! I know many of you were busy and couldn't make it to the party and we certainly missed you. We love you too of course!

Now, the big picture at a family level. We're doing pretty great considering what we've been through over the past year. God has certainly brought us a long way in some key areas. For me, one of those is how I handle stress. I am finally learning how to follow what seemed a pretty tall order before Brinley came along:

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

-Philippians 4:6-7

Most of us will probably agree it is not an easy thing to give up being anxious about stuff. Stuff is hard. Stuff is really hard at times. What we have seen as a family is this: God. Can. Handle. It. If you're going through something tough right now, take this to heart. God doesn't sit around wracking his brain to think of some solution to your problem. He doesn't forget you. You didn't slip through the cracks. It may sound trite but He has a plan for you. Read through Romans 8 sometime; great stuff in there. He has a plan for Brinley and so far it's been awesome. We've gotten to know some awesome people who we may never have met otherwise; we've been blessed by people we've known all our lives, by some we barely know, even some we've never met but who heard about Brinley and just wanted to help out however they could.

Speaking of Brinley, she's doing great! 

• She is getting stronger and stronger and slowly but surely approaching the crawling stage! 
• She now has 2 teeth partially in after a good couple months of teething discomfort. 
• She is still off her vent completely and it's hard to even envision a reason why she would ever be back on it. 
• We brought her to an ophthalmologist and he thinks the nystagmus will always be there to some extent so pray for him to be wrong and that it will indeed go away 100%. He also gave us a prescription to get Brin glasses which we will be doing soon. She has decent mid-range vision but wasn't really tracking things across the room so hopefully they will help her out somewhat. Don't worry, I'll post a picture of her in the glasses when we get them. 
• We are in the planning stages of moving Brin to a blended food diet to support and replace her current formula diet.
• She loves splashing in the kiddie pool.

It's getting late and I could probably just keep going but I hope to do more of these soon so it is not so long between posts. I may do a video post for my next one, guest-starring the whole family if they'll cooperate. It will be a busy but enjoyable summer. My little brother is getting married in a couple months! Woot woot! Also, 2 of my cousins and 1 of Sarah's. So a wedding a month for May-August. Sarah's cousin is getting married in Colorado and I am planning on sending her out there. She deserves a few days away relaxing and spending time with family so I'll probably need some volunteers to help me not go bat-crazy having 4 nutty little girls to watch alone.

I saw Avengers 2 and really enjoyed it. I tried to watch the 3rd Hobbit movie and it's like force-feeding myself a vegetable I loath. Sorry Peter Jackson. I guess you tried. The only way you could get back in my good graces would be to go back and film scenes adding Tom Bombadil into Lord of the Rings.

I'm starting to get a little random so farewell until next time and thanks for reading!