Final Post

I know it has been months since you have had an official update on our adoption, so here goes. Our final decision was to close out the adoption all together. I sent the final bit of paperwork to our caseworker at Gladney to give them permission to pull our files. We feel that we could not handle a third child financially....and to tell the truth I think the weight has been lifted from both of our shoulders. I'm not sure why God lead us in this direction....was He testing our obedience? That is the only answer I can come up with....it is a question I will be sure to ask Him.

So now we are closing this chapter of our lives and starting a whole new one with the child that God has/will bless us with.

Thanks for following,
Misty

P.S. Feel free to follow my present blog..... http://texasgirlwifemother.blogspot.com/

A little twist to the adventure

First of all I want to update you on the hurricane situation. Austin got nothing from it...no rain or even winds. It is a blessing that we were spared but we could have used the rain. Some of our schools are still housing some evacuees but for the most part most have left Austin. We had a total of 6000-7000 evacuees. Our thoughts and prayers to those families whose lives were so greatly impacted by that massive hurricane.

Now on to the twist of our adoption adventure. We have still yet to hear from our case worker from Gladney. Well it is only Tuesday so hopefully we will hear from them by the end of the week because our plans have changed for the time being.

Sunday night we discovered that we are expecting!!! We are estimating to be 4 weeks along. My first doctor appointment is October 10th and we get to do a sonogram. There are no words to describe how we are truly feeling right now...our feet have not touched the ground since we found out. We have been trying for 4 years and had given up and I think our family had given up as well. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. We are praying that this little one makes it though these beginning stages of life.

My plan is to put this blog on hold for the time being but I will update my personal blog that I have started. The link to it is on the right hand side of the page and is listed with all the other blogs we are following. God is great! Good things really do come to those who wait.

Blessings,
Shane and Misty

Hurricane Ike...and other stuff

As you may have heard the Texas Gulf coast is hunkering down for the arrival of hurricane Ike, which should make landfall sometime tonight. Austin is preparing for the arrival of thousands of evacuees (I heard close to 30,000 but I could be wrong). Austin isn't exactly out of the woods for some damaging winds...we are expecting 40-60 mph winds depending on which side of the city you are on. We live in the western part of the city and are expecting winds up to 40 mph. Other Texas towns/cities are expecting 74+ mph winds which is considered a category 1 hurricane. Those areas include Houston, Bryan, and all the way up to just south of Corsicana. Please pray for safe travel for those evacuating and also for the brave ones (brave??...questionable) riding out the storm.

Unfortunately we have no adoption news. We are hoping to hear from our case worker next week.

Last night we attended a Scout meet at Jeff's school. We all love the outdoors and thought this would be the thing to get him involved in. At first he didn't really care to join until he heard about the camping trips....and shooting a BB gun. Boys and guns....I think it's in their blood. We learned (or at least I did) that the Scouts are not a bashful organization when it comes to morals, God, physical fitness, parent involvement...you know, all the values that America used to have...ha ha. Our first meeting is this Monday. We are all looking forward to getting started; especially Jeff. He can't wait to get his uniform!

Thanks for reading!

Shane and Misty

Confirmation from Gladney

We received an email from Gladney confirming that they have received our file from Commonwealth! We are looking forward to hearing from our new case worker.
Stay tuned!

Shane and Misty

Thankful

We received confirmation from Gladney that the visit to Taiwan was a success! They visited with all 3 orphanages and each is willing to do business with them. Praise God!
All families that have submitted information release forms to Commonwealth will have their files transferred to Gladney. Gladney is going to look through all the documents in every file (95 of them to be exact) and verify where everyone is in the process. Our social worker from Gladney should contact us in a few weeks.

What all this means for us is that we will pick up right where we left off with Commonwealth. We have not lost any time or money in this agency transition. What started out as a disaster has turned into a blessing. I don't think it could've happened at a better time for us. Our paperwork has already been sent to Cathwel (the orphanage we are adopting from in Taiwan) and we are just waiting for a referral. Many families have paperwork scattered everywhere and uncertain of who has what and what they need to do in order to move forward. Please pray for them!

Blessings,

Shane and Misty

Next conference call

Well I guess we will find out how the trip to Taiwan went...the conference call is tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes!

Misty

Waiting...

...and waiting....and waiting. You think we would get used to this waiting thing. :)

Waiting for the results from the trip to Taiwan....waiting for a referral....waiting for our file to be transferred from Commonwealth to Gladney....waiting for a loan confirmation to allow me to register for school...

On a side note, Jeffrey's first day of school was yesterday; 2nd grade! Our baby is no longer a baby! He has been talking a lot about his new brother/sister during the past few days. He has been excited about the adoption since we first started talking about it almost 2 years ago. Has it been that long already??

Hopefully we will have an actual update soon!

Shane and Misty

Mailed release forms

Surprisingly we received the information release forms from Commonwealth after the conference call with Gladney. We mailed those this morning. Now we just wait for Gladney's return from Taiwan. They should be back by August 31st and after that we will find out more.

Shane and Misty

Looks promising

The conference call with Gladney was an overdue dose of assurance for us. The upper level group from Gladney is leaving for their trip to Taiwan tomorrow to visit with the orphanages and to work out the details of their nearly developed Taiwan program. Gladney's initial plan was to make the trip to Taiwan first and then have the conference call with us but had a change of heart and decided to communicate with us their plans and to fill us in on the transition details. They did not want us to worry another day about what is happening with our adoption...which we are very appreciative of.

The Senior VP of Gladney himself announced that we will not have to pay another dime to continue our adoption through them! Nada! Not through email...not through a letter....we actually heard it from his mouth. Which is way more than I can say about Commonwealth. We were lucky to get an email from them. It will cost Gladney an estimated $100,000 to cover the expenses that Commonwealth was supposed to pay to the orphanages. Gladney sees this as an investment opportunity and with their track record I'm sure it will pay off. And another bonus is that they have been in business for 120 years, starting with domestic adoptions only for the first 100 years and have since added international programs. We are so relieved to receive this news.

Their trip to Taiwan is to work out the operational details with them and to close the deal on their adoption partnership with the orphanages. While they are in Taiwan we (the clients) have to fill out an information release form for Commonwealth in order for Commonwealth to release our files to Gladney. Gladney is not allowed to contact us until they have our files in their hand. Until then it is our responsibility to contact Gladney if we have any questions or concerns. They are expected to return from Taiwan on August 31st and will have a follow up conference call to answer the operational questions. Hopefully they will have our file by then. If they do we will then be assigned a case worker. Oh and another thing we learned about Commonwealth today. Their case workers were contract workers...Gladney's are actual employees of Gladney. That would explain why we had 3 different case workers within a 1 1/2 year time frame.

We are very thankful of the outcome so far. This has been a huge learning experience for us... we have learned so much about how the international adoption process works as well as trusting God when the road to get where we need to be is not what we envisioned. Thank you so much for your thoughts, prayers and support. More to come!

God bless,
Shane and Misty

P.S. I have added the link to Gladney in the Personal Link section if you want to check out their website.

Conference Call with Gladney

We got an email today from Commonwealth stating that we are having the conference call this Thursday, August 21st at 4:00 pm with Gladney. This is our opportunity to ask any questions we have about the transition to Gladney. We were instructed to email the topics we would like to discuss. Of course I'm sure the #1 topic regards the money aspect of it...additional fees, whether they will cover the foreign fee we have already paid, etc. I assume the Taiwan program is a go. I guess we will find out on Thursday. I'll let you know how it goes!

Misty

Still waiting

Sorry we don't have anything new to report. We have decided to see what options Gladney gives us and go from there. We're just praying they will be able to cover the foreign fees that we have already paid; although, I am expecting them to charge us agency/processing fees which could end up to be a few thousand dollars.

Please keep us in your prayers!

Shane and Misty

Something else to focus on...

I think I posted a few months ago about going back to school. I took a class at a local community college during the summer to get into the medical field. At the time I was debating between Medical Coding or Medical Transcription and signed up for the medical terminology class which is needed for both programs. BTW - I made a B in the class! I am thrilled none the less because it was a tough course. Anyway, I have chosen Medical Transcription.
"Assistance with job placement is included. In fact, you receive 1 full year of follow-up and assistance with resumes, job leads, etc."
Not a bad deal if you ask me. I will also get to work from home and the pay is not bad.
We'll see....I'll give updates when I sign up for the program. This will keep me busy for a year. :)

Misty

Trying to find good in bad news

Although this has been a horrific experience with Commonwealth I will again reiterate that I have met some awesome people while traveling along this winding road. God is great! :)

With that being said I found out through a yahoo group that Cathwel (the orphanage we are working with in Taiwan) requires a $10,000 fee to be paid to them when a referral is accepted. *For those of you who don't know (or forgot) what a referral is, it is basically when the birth mother chooses your family as the adoptive parents of her child. You have a choice on whether or not to accept that referral.*
Well, we paid 1/2 of that fee ($5000) to Commonwealth and assumed that the fee was being paid to Cathwel. Surprise! Apparently it wasn't. I guess Commonwealth was 'holding' the money for us. Oh yes, and now the money is gone and they are unable to refund it. BUT on the bright side of the situation, Gladney is supposedly going to cover that fee for us. We're praying they will!
So now we wait (some more) for Gladney to make the trip to Taiwan. What's another 3 or 4 weeks compared to 7 months, right? :)

To be continued!

Blessings,
Shane and Misty

Thanks everyone

We just want to take time to show appreciation for every one's support and encouragement during this rough spot in the adoption.
I have kept myself busy with researching domestic adoptions and fostering...and I have also met some really awesome people who have inspired me to keep fighting for what I believe God wants us to do. Some of them have been down this road before and have offered great advice. I admire their courage and faithfulness.
Of course we have not made a final decision as to what we will do. I guess it all depends on the director of Gladney and their trip to Taiwan. It is all in God's hands...

Blessings,
Shane and Misty

Gladney Center of Tx

We finally heard from Commonwealth...through email of course....still no phone call. Here is the email:

"We thank you for being patient in receiving further information. We are working out a “provisional” arrangement with another agency, The Gladney Center in Texas, to take over our Taiwan program. It is our hope that Gladney would assume the responsibility for completing the adoptions of our families in every phase of their Taiwan adoption process. If we successfully transfer this program, we do not anticipate that you would pay additional fees beyond what your contract fees are with Commonwealth. You would pay your remaining contract fees (if there are any) to the new agency when the arrangement is finalized. You may have some home study fees, training or other updating expenses which may be necessary to comply with the new COA/DOS regulations and Hague requirements. Gladney will also be required to assess each case to assure the file is fully compliant with their licensing, accrediting and policy standards."

"This arrangement is contingent upon the three entities in Taiwan (Cathwel, TWCA and Chung Yi Social Welfare Foundation) *we are working with Cathwel* agreeing to continue the relationships we had with them with the new agency. Gladney’s Vice President of International Adoption, along with our Program Director, Ray Mak, will be traveling to Taiwan to meet with all three orphanages’ directors to discuss this transition. That trip is scheduled for the week of August 20th, 2008 (firm dates have not been set but that is the target week). The trip will likely last 7-10 days. If successful, then you will have a seamless transition to the new agency and your process will continue forward. The arrangement, however, cannot be finalized until after the trip to Taiwan."

"We have no reason to believe the orphanages/agencies in Taiwan will not be willing to work with the new agency. There have already been preliminary discussions to this end, and initial responses are positive. Gladney is very reputable and has been in the process of adoptions for over 100 years. They are solid, have great integrity and are a highly ethical and philanthropic organization."



"This is the absolute best situation you could be in, and we are very grateful that this agency has agreed to help – the only downside is having to wait until the end of the month for the arrangement to be solidified. Switching to another agency other than this one is not really an option for Taiwan program families, as Commonwealth no longer has the financial resources to refund the fees that you paid."



"Once the final arrangements are in place, we will notify you and swiftly transfer your file after you sign a consent to transfer. You will be introduced to your new case manager at that time as well. We plan to have a conference call with all our Taiwan families the first week of September in order to fully inform you of the plan and the general status of the adoptions from Taiwan. Please do not attempt to contact Gladney for additional information, as their staff will not have the information you may want. We understand the worry and concern you are feeling, and we are committed to assuring that your adoptions are not delayed. We are also committed to full and complete information-sharing and to being totally transparent. Therefore, we will not participate in sharing rumors or speculation. We will only share information we have confirmed, and we will keep you fully informed. As of this moment, Gladney is committed to helping us help our families, to the success of Taiwanese adoption, and to helping the many children currently in care in Taiwan."

"We ask you to be patient for the next 3 to 4 weeks until these meetings transpire and then we will update you immediately when things are confirmed. In the meantime, please continue to work on your dossier if your case is in that stage. If your dossiers are with the Courts in Taiwan, the court process is continuing without any disruption."

"Finally, let me just say that we are utterly committed to ensuring your adoption is not disrupted and is completed. That has been and remains to be the UTMOST priority for us at Commonwealth".....BLAH, BLAH, BLAH. (Had to add that...it's been very frustrating)

So now our options are:
1. Wait to see how the trip to Taiwan goes and participate in the conference call
2. Participate in the class action lawsuit (hopefully one is still in the works)
3. Cut our losses and go with domestic adoption (privately or with the State)

Advice anyone?

Other Commonweatlh families and their struggles...

http://www.adoptionagencyratings.com/

This started out as an agency rating website but has recently turned to support group/rally.
Click on Commonwealth Adoptions International Inc.

New information

Okay, it seems that Commonwealth was denied for the US Hague accreditation and that Taiwan is a NON-Hague country.
http://adoption.about.com/od/international/f/whathague.htm

So Taiwan had nothing to do with Commonwealth closing their doors. If we choose to stick with international adoption the key is to make sure the agency has been approved for the US Hague accreditation...just to be safe. Apparently this law came into effect April, 2008.

Where do we go from here?

I am speechless right now so I am going to copy the email we received from Commonwealth:

"With a deep sadness and concern, we are writing to tell you that Commonwealth Adoptions International Inc. has made a very difficult decision to cease providing adoption services. The Board of Directors met Thursday, July 31st to review the status of the company and all options. The Board concluded that it was necessary to seize operation and begin to transition families to other adoption providers. That said, please know that we will do everything possible to transition your adoption into another adoption agency. We have informed our licensing authorities and believe that we will have guidance, support and cooperation from them. We are still a licensed agency, have not closed our doors and will do our very best to assist all families in their process to the best of our ability."

"In order to insure uninterrupted adoptions we are talking with several other tax-exempt adoption agencies so they may take over certain programs and see these adoptions to completions. We will communicate with each family individually regarding your specific adoption, including the agency we are recommending to work with."

"Difficult economic times and the failure of obtaining Hague certification (which we very strongly believe was unjustified) was devastating to CAII and its programs. This denial immediately affected almost one third of our families and several programs. Established programs have longer waiting times from matching to placement or travel, which is prohibitive to most adoptive parents and costly. Other programs have simply closed down. A few promising new programs are small and cannot yet reliably serve the number of families willing to risk starting over again, as our contract spelled out, we have no control over the foreign agencies and how they handle their adoption programs. International adoptions in general have recently been subject to dramatic changes."

"Our situation is not unique. In the past few months we became aware of other agencies that had closed their doors and there are many, if not all, experiencing difficulties to some degree where they have to lay off staff and generally downsize their operations. Please know that we will do all we can to stand by you and work with you so not to disrupt your adoption process or at least minimize the disruption."

"This is very disappointing to us since we felt that we successfully addressed the economic situation. However, the denial of Hague certification a month ago and failure for us to complete an affiliation with another tax-exempt organizations that we have been in discussion with for some time brought us to a place where we have to begin to transition families to other agencies."

"Please be gentle with us. Know that we will do whatever we can to make this process as painless as possible for you. There is going to be a subsequent letter sent to you regarding your specific program arrangement."

At this point we don't see any reason to continue with an international adoption. We are so confused right now. We were also informed: "With the arrangement we are working out you will not be losing any of your monies - you will pick up where you left off with us. Please be patient - we will be sending information out to you about this in the next few days." I don't know...right now our thoughts are that if Commonwealth is not able to come through for us on an international adoption, what makes us think another agency can?

Right now we are waiting to see what our options are...we'll keep you posted.

Acceptance

Ok...it's been a few days since receiving the bad news about the extended wait time and I think we are okay. From day 1 we've been told by our agency that there will be fluctuations and to always be ready for change. Guess we just weren't ready to hear that.
I did a little research on foster parenting through the State of Tx...thought maybe we could do that during our wait time. No, not what we are supposed to do...didn't get that tugging at my heart from the Holy Spirit that we need to go in that direction. Domestic? Nope, still nothing. 'Be patient' is all I am hearing right now. It is very hard to do...and some of my family does not understand why we are staying with Taiwan...'there are children here in the US that need homes'. Although that is very true it is not what is planned for our life. How do you get other people to understand that?...
Thanks everyone for all your thoughts and prayers...it's a long road ahead of us and hopefully it won't get any longer than what it is now.

Shane and Misty

Discouraged

We got an update from our adoption case worker today about the wait time for a referral. It seems the wait time has been extended from 24 months to 30 months. At this point, with the new time frame, we still have 2 more years to wait for a referral. That's not including the few months we will wait after that for the court proceedings to take place before we travel. I can't tell you how discouraged I am right now and my first reaction is to switch over to domestic. At this rate Jeffrey will be almost 9 years older than his brother or sister...and I'm sure not getting any younger either. :)

Of course the only thing to turn to now is prayer...God's plan. Although he has revealed to me in the past that we are on the right track it feels that we are running as fast as we can, although in the right direction....on a treadmill.

Please pray for our patience and renewed reassurance.

God Bless,
Misty and Shane

I-171H form

We received the I-171H form from USCIS and are 'able to furnish proper care to an orphan'. Yay!

No news to report. We have done all we can do...it is all up to God at this point. He will give us our child when the time is right.

As I was looking through our paperwork this morning it occured to me that we have accomplished so much up to this point in our journey. It all seems so surreal and at times I get glimpses of a child hidden behind all the paperwork we are caught up in. God is certainly making us work for this angel we are about to receive....as well as our first one for those who know all the complications we had while trying to conceive Jeffrey.

Thanks for reading and God bless!

Shane and Misty

P.S. Just felt like posting a pic of Jeffrey and myself. :)

Waiting....and waiting

5 months and counting on the waiting list. Still nothing new to report. We are also waiting for the I-171H form from USCIS.

On the plus side I have found something to keep myself occupied during this long waiting period. I enrolled at one of our local community colleges for classes for a medical coding certificate. It is designed to be a 1 year certificate but at the rate I'm going it may take 1 1/2 years. The class I'm taking is medical terminology and the studying has consumed a lot of my free time during the week. It's amazing how God's plan is always perfect. :) You don't know how many times I have thought about switching to domestic adoption to be able to get a baby sooner (I'm not getting any younger you know!) but God always gives me that reassurance that our baby is in Taiwan and that we are doing the right thing. Besides, our wait time is about the same time it will take to get the medical coding certificate and possibly for me to get started working in the medical field. I know we are doing the right thing. : )

Thanks for reading and I'll let you know of any more updates.

Misty

A big thanks!

We just want to thank all who have made purchases through our online mall. Every little bit helps! Thank you!!!

Shane and Misty

Nothing more to do but wait

Our fingerprint appointment went well. Now the information will be sent to the Taiwan embassy and we will receive the I-171H form...soon hopefully. Now we are just waiting for the phone call telling us that we have been chosen by a birth family. I'll let you know if there are any new developments.

Thanks for following our journey!

Misty & Shane

Fingerprint Date

Well, we finally got our fingerprint appointment with US CIS to obtain the I-171H form. It is next Thursday, April 24th in San Antonio. In case you have forgotten what it's for, I copied the information from a previous blog:

1. After you submit your I-600A and fee they will wait for your home study and then send your fingerprint appointment. Get your fingerprints taken as directed in the US CIS letter. The fingerprint results will automatically go to US CIS.

2. US CIS will mail to you pre-approval to adopt an orphan from overseas. It’s called an I-171H and is a one page white letter. Your I-171H from US CIS is very important. We will send it to the country from which you are adopting along with your Home Study as part of your Dossier.

One step closer to our baby!!

Court Process after we receive our referral

3 months and counting since we've been on the waiting list. It's actually gone by fairly fast so far. Just hope it continues to do so.

After we get a referral (get picked to be the adoptive parents by the birth parents) we then have to go through a lengthy court process in Taiwan. Here is a breakdown of it (thanks again Michelle!)

District Court Process-

a. The family court office reviews the case/petition and a Judge is assigned to the case.

b. Judge reviews and considers the case and schedules a "hearing". Hearings are handled differently depending on the birth family's situation, the judge's schedule, persons representing the birth family and those representing the adoptive family. The time involved in getting a hearing scheduled depends on the judge's calendar/schedule and that of everyone else required to attend.

What happens during the hearing?
Most often, the hearing just provides a judge with more information about the case and allows him/her to rule on the adoption with confidence. The responsibility of the District Court is to make sure that every issue related to the best interest of the child has been considered. Though lengthy &frustrating at times, the District Court process protects the child,the birth parent, the organization caring for the child, AND in the end protects us as adoptive parents. When the District Court decisions have been made, adoptive families can be confident that the process was handled with consideration and in the best interest of the child.

Next comes the FIRST RULING (Part 1 of first decree)
Once the District Court hearing has been completed and the judge has had time to make a decision to finalize the adoption, he/she issues the first part of the Final Decree. This is a short statement signed by the judge that is forwarded to the parties involved (social services organization on behalf of the adoptive family and the birth family) notifying everyone of his/her decision to finalize the adoption. This first part of the Final Decree must go to each party and there is a waiting period of 10 days before any more can happen to ensure everyone has been notified of the judge's decision. The First Ruling generally comes about a month after the Hearing.

The Second and Final Ruling (Part II of Final Decree)
Once the 10 day waiting period is up (and the court staff finds time!), the second part of the Final Decree is forwarded to all parties. When the second part of the decree is received by your child's social service organization, the court process is DONE! The final ruling generally comes about one month after the First Ruling.

After the Final Ruling all of the steps below need to be taken care of. We will be told when the Final Ruling takes place and then it is about 3 weeks or so before we are given our travel dates.
Before adoptive family travels, a lot must be accomplished by the child's social service organization.

All court documents and background info on the child must be officially translated to English and submitted with certain paperwork to AIT (American Institute in Taiwan).
Also, the child must have his/her Visa medical exam which is forwarded directly (unopened) to AIT's immigrant visa office. At some point the child's guardian must file for a household registration change. The household registration is a file located at local government offices in Taiwan that contains certificates and information about each person in Taiwan. Your child's household registration is attached to his/her guardian's file until the adoption has been finalized by the Taiwan courts. Once the child has been legally adopted in Taiwan, the guardian files with the government office to remove the file from theirs and create a new file showing that the adoptive parent(s) are the new legal guardians. The household registration change takes a day or two or a week depending on the placing organization and the local government office.

Last and final step:
New family receives a travel date. Each organization in Taiwan is different in when and how they schedule a travel date. Some wait until all of the above paperwork is filed and then give the family notice to travel quickly. Some schedule the travel in advance, while they work at preparing the above documents, giving a couple of weeks notice before travel.


I am looking forward to getting to this point! Thanks for reading!!

Shane and Misty

Nothing new to report

Unfortunately we don't have anything new to report right now. We have been on the waiting list for over 2 months now...only 22 more to go (at most)! : )

Our spring break was great! We bought a tent and went camping with some friends from church at a State Park. We had a blast! We are going to do some more camping at the end of March at another State Park. Our son has never been camping before and it was quite an experience for him. Luckily he enjoyed it...Shane and I love to spend time outdoors so this is something that we all enjoy and can do as a family.

Thanks for reading! I will try to update you all more often...

Misty and Shane

Way to help...

Hello everyone! Still no news to report as of yet...still waiting. Please keep us in your prayers, though!

We have created an Online Mall as a fund raiser to help pay for some of the adoption expenses. Any purchases that you make through this online mall will help us raise money. It is very important that you make the purchases THROUGH THIS WEBSITE. There are hundreds of vendors to choose from including Wal-mart, Gap, and Target just to name a few. We will receive a commission (1%-20%) from your purchases. We would greatly appreciate any help!! Thanks in advance! :)

Here is the link. You can also click on the link at the top of the page.

http://visitourmall.com/MistyandShaneAdoption

Update long overdue...

Sorry I have not updated our blog in a while. The holidays have kept us extremely busy. It seems that everyone in our family is moving at the time and we have been helping them out.

Well, we are officially on the waiting list. Now we just wait to hear from Cathwel in Taiwan to let us know when we have a referral. I did attempt to send in the paperwork to USCIS and apparently I misread what the fee will cost and sent them too much money. Instead of contacting us or sending us a refund of the amount we over paid they decided to send the whole packet back to us and to not start processing it. No big deal. I am just thankful we are over the first small hill.

I hope that every one's year is off to a great start!