I love doughnuts. And pizza. I dream of pizza. I also love French fries, all-dressed Ruffles chips, marshmallows in hot chocolate, creamy Havarti cheese, garlic shrimp, and chocolate chunk fudge cake with hot caramel topping. Mmm… caramel.
People have told me that these are forbidden foods.
One time on a trip to Montréal, the Hubby and I stood in line for 15 minutes waiting to order fries at a local chip shop. I got bored and left to get a closer look at a dancing street performer. The Hubby met me a few minutes later without fries in hand. Imagining he forgot his wallet, I asked what happened:
“They wouldn’t sell them to me.”
Seething. Islamophobia? “What.do.you.mean. they wouldn’t sell them to you?”
“She said they weren’t halal.”
Incredulous, “And..? So? I want my fries! What exactly wasn’t halal about them? Lard in the crispy coating? They deep-fry meat with the potatoes? Each French fry is injected with beef flavouring?”
“She didn’t say”
[insert halal expletive]
The server was a fellow Muslim who was looking out for our well being. Seeing the goatee-bearded Hubby and me in hijab, she made a value judgment and decided to save us from possible sin. Afterward, when I had calmed down and bought an ice cream instead, I recognized that her intentions were good. And we did appreciate her honesty. Normally we ask certain establishments if their food is halal, or permissible, and go by their word.
When I converted, I thought living a halal food lifestyle was going to be easy. I was a vegetarian, and the main Islamic dietary laws revolve around meat and meat processing. So I didn’t think that following this Qur’anic injunction was going to be an issue for me. No pork, no road kill, no blood, land animals have to be processed according to Islamic specifications, and no food blessed by any other than God’s name.
No problem – pass me a carrot.
But I got worried when I started receiving mass emails extolling the dangers of unlawful or questionable food. There’s rennet in cheese and yogurt – and you never know if it’s from a pig belly or a cow. There’s gelatin in marshmallows. Beef flavouring in fries. Microscopic levels of pig fat in food additives. Alcohol in doughnut glaze. Bacon flavour in all-dressed chips. Pepsi is pure evil in a can.
For many people, keeping halal includes looking out for non-halal animal products or alcohol used in yogurt, cheese, candies, baked goods, fast food and soups, to name a few. Some even prefer to ask for a separate grill when ordering a veggie burger, as to not contaminate their patty with any previously grilled non-halal beef burger. Some absolutely refuse to use any product – from toothpaste to shoes – that may have come in contact with non-halal products at any stage of production. Some don’t worry about it at all, or just say bismillah (a common Arabic blessing meaning in God’s name) before eating anything – halal or not.
When it came to certain foods, I decided to follow a Qur’anic injunction implying: keep halal, but if you can’t because it’s not available, then it’s okay (2:173). So if vegetable-enzyme based yogurt wasn’t available, a little rennet was going to be okay. Later, I learned from a scholar that alcohol based flavouring, like vanilla essence, was also okay as long as you couldn’t get drunk by indulging in that substance. How much red wine vinegar would you have to drink in order to get drunk? How many slices of vanilla cake? Cognac chocolates? Well, that’s a different story
At the time, I was living in a small Muslim community, where commercially available halal meat was unheard of. Most people simply opted for a flexible veggi lifestyle – only eating halal meat when it was available. Families would pool their resources together and send volunteers to Toronto to pick up a month’s worth of meat.
It was a luxury. Going to Toronto or Montreal for a halal burger was a big deal. A halal shawarma shop opening in smaller Muslim populations like Regina, Saskatchewan was a really big deal. People would swap stories of their favourite halal restaurants from “back home” – drooling over halal Popeye’s, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Subway and MacDonald’s. These days many North American cities can boast the same list of halal outlets, including HERO Burger and Boston Pizza.
By the time I got married, I was no longer vegetarian (for reasons unrelated to either marriage or religion). Suddenly, I had to bone up on halal meat.
The specification for slaughtering meat is known as zabihah – and requires the animal to be killed and blessed by a Muslim, drained of all blood, and more specifically, for the entire process to be halal, the animal:
- should be raised in healthy and free conditions
- be led away so that other animals do not witness it’s death
- not see the knife being sharpened
- be gently laid down, facing Mecca and given water to drink
- and the slaughter should happen quickly, without any excessive terror, pain or suffering.
And these are just a few of the requirements intended to make the raising and slaughtering of animals as humane as possible.
Further dietary restrictions include not eating animals that have been beaten or otherwise savaged to death, carnivorous animals, and birds of prey. Everything from the sea is permissible without special processing. And the meat blessed and slaughtered by Jews and Christians is also fine to eat.
My family is privileged in the sense that not only can we afford to buy meat, but we can do so from a trusted and local seller. Fahim, an in-town butcher, purchases his animals from a free-range, local, organic, Mennonite farm. He then slaughters the animals according to Islamic requirements, and processes and sells the meat from his shop – offering everything from ground beef to halal German salami cured by the Mennonites.
When eating out, we’re more flexible — eating local when we can, opting for vegetarian, fish dishes or kosher food, and not necessarily worrying too much about cross-contamination with non-halal food when we can’t see what’s on the grill. Just say bismillah and off we go.
When I can’t make it out to his shop, I’ll go to one of the many other local Muslim butchers – though, I don’t really know where they get their meat from. Is it direct from a free-range, Ontario farm and processed under Canadian/Islamic standards, or is it certified by a Chicago-based Islamic Council with questionable standards? Shipped frozen from DC? Brazil?
Then, there are the very, very rare times where convenience will lead me to buy directly from a big-name grocery store who stocks halal chicken products from a large Canadian chicken processor. While I know their birds have been blessed and killed by a Muslim, I really have no idea how or in what conditions the chickens were raised, and what they experienced before being processed at an abattoir. I much prefer going to Fahim, who has a staff of five and provides free farm tours.
The booming, multi-billion dollar, global zabiha meat industry is massive. But I wonder if it’s halal.
When it comes to mass-production, Malaysia has one of the strictest standards of the industry – outlining detailed requirements for plant-based animal feed, no genetic modification (can we assume no hormones as well?), and strict meat handling for workers and equipment. Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan also use Malaysia’s standards in their halal certification process (source). Australia, who exports halal meat and live animals to over 40 countries globally, has government standards that balance both Islamic and Australian legal requirements. Almost every country involved with providing halal meat has Islamic Halal Authorities and watchdogs, making sure that everything is processed properly. Online, I see a lot of talk about healthy, plant-based feed, cross-contamination standards, and requirements to abide by the laws of non-Muslim countries – but not a lot on the method of raising or even slaughtering based on the full list of Islamic requirements.
I’m trying not to be too cynical, but somehow I don’t imagine that the MacDonald’s supplier to the Middle East purchases their beef from free-range, organic farms, and gently processes each cow in an idyllic, mid-western field. Though, if you’ve heard otherwise, please let me know.
The Qur’an and prophetic traditions teach that humans are stewards of the earth and that we must be kind toward the animals and plants under our care. Muslim and non-Muslim activists alike argue that many large corporations miss this important point. We are supposed to sustain ourselves and care for the earth — not over consume and waste. Part of this duty is to protect animals, especially in situations where we’ve been given a divine commandment in regards to their treatment.
Slaughtering animals humanely becomes even more important when tied to a religious event. At the end of the Hajj, or yearly pilgrimage to Mecca, people the world-over celebrate and commemorate the Biblical and Qur’anic story in which Abraham slaughters an animal instead of his son. Slaughtering an animal at the end of Hajj and distributing the meat to the poor is a religious requirement for millions of people. Farms and abattoirs have to process hundreds of thousands of animals in just 3 days — at times under horrific conditions, and with animal abuses that are definitely not in accordance to Islamic standards.
I think there’s a difference between intentional animal cruelty and cruelty based on a lack of education or misunderstanding. The finer Islamic legal details are sometimes lost in the mantra “no pork, no alcohol, killed by a Muslim.” Situations where untrained people go to local farms to slaughter their own animal have the potential to cause as much harm as situations where animals are processed en mass on a factory floor — both in the name of zabiha.
Perhaps I can make an issue out of this because I am privileged to afford and live in an area that offers me halal meat according to the strictest Islamic model. But we can all make choices when keeping halal. Fulfilling this requirement is not supposed to be a burden on people or on animals. And if you’re going to stress over French fries, cheese and soda, shouldn’t you also be concerned with where your meat comes from?
The halal model may not be feasible or realistic to feed the millions demanding zabiha meat. Nor can it match the demands of companies who have made the effort of supplying specialty foods and fast food globally to Muslims in a niche market. But this isn’t necessarily because the halal model is archaic or rigid — it’s in place to ensure a level of compassion toward animals. The relationship between humans and animals is supposed to be sacred. What makes the halal model not feasible is the fact that we’ve bought into and support a halal meat industry based on mass production and consumption. Instead of demanding local and sustainable programs.
Cross-posted at Womanist Musings
Image Credit: Leeno on Flikr
Halal Pig originally available from: Hijabman
March 31, 2011 at 1:16 am
When I was in KL, I picked up a ton of treats from Marks & Spencers for hubby. One was a pack of jelly pigs that said ‘non halal’ on the front which I kind of thought was cute at the time thinking that the fact that the jellies were pigs was a problem. But last night I got hungry and was about to eat them when I turned the package over to check out the calories and noticed that it had pork gelatin. As a veggie I was thrilled that it was so explicit, and I wish more countries had such strict and explicit in every single country.
I like what you say about how animals are raised and slaughtered should be taken into consideration. It’s annoying how people get so hung up on the tiny details of what contains what without thinking about the deeper implications of what we put into our bodies. Alcohol can be unhealthy, but so can antibiotics injected into meat. Consuming certain foods might be immoral or unethical, but how that animal was raised also needs to be taken into consideration.
March 31, 2011 at 1:37 pm
Oh jelly piggies! Have you heard of halal pork?
I think there’s a lot of wisdom in thinking that our bodies are affected by our environment. We’re told to limit our tuna consumption due to mercury levels — because by the time the fish gets to us, the minute concentrations it’s ingested through the food chain can make it potentially toxic (at least, it has higher levels of mercury). So of course the same idea can be applied to animals injected with antibiotics and hormones, and we’re the ones at the top of the food chain.
I wonder too, about the possible trauma that animals experience throughout their entire lives — and how it could also affect us by eating an animal that has lived in terror.
April 1, 2011 at 12:36 pm
In an era when there’s halal interest (in guise of so-called Islamic Finance) I am not surprised there is halal pork!
March 31, 2011 at 3:01 am
Fantastic FANTASTIC post! I have to go to sleep so I’ll comment further tomorrow. Thanks for writing about this subject! Xoxo salams!!
March 31, 2011 at 8:10 am
Asalaamu alaikum
Ah yes Blossom Pure. He told me he could ship meat all the way to me (3 hours south of you guys). But although I want to with all my heart as a mother of 10 living on just my husband’s income I can’t afford it. I first became aware of the problems of the way animals are raised after I got back from Malaysia in 2000. I was thinking I would just switch to organic but when I saw the price I nearly died! How are people supposed to afford this? I was thinking I should have stayed in my husband’s country. I never had to worry about the meat and it was affordable.
March 31, 2011 at 1:41 pm
Apparently Green Zabiha ships throughout the entire US!
I found a few articles talking about free range farms in Malaysia — but that apparently the weather is too cold to raise certain chickens, and they rely on imports(??).
Depending on where you live, keeping halal CAN be expensive. It’s no wonder I see so many people buying cheaper cold cuts. You do what you have to do, and make small changes whenever and however you can.
April 1, 2011 at 9:53 am
Weather too cold in Malaysia? Are you kidding me? Its always hot there! Coldest weather is during the rainy season…around 20 degrees celcius.
I can afford halal/zabihah meat just can’t afford organic halal meat.
April 1, 2011 at 4:07 pm
Well, that’s what I thought! But apparently some people belive that cornish hens need specific climates.
March 31, 2011 at 9:36 am
Nice post mashallah. And another thing to remind me of how good things are “back home” in Canada
Halal slaughtering is against the law in Germany, so that which we receive (mostly in Turkish markets) is either done “privately” or imported from some other country. And I strongly doubt these animals have been raised well (all the “halal” chicken tastes like cardboard). I dream of a halal steak, or a meat counter with a variety of cuts ! And yet, as soon as I peek into the “Muslim Aid” magazines I feel ashamed as I read about families who only eat meat once a year, and that being donated at Eid alAdha. May Allah make it easy for all of us to find enough good food inshallah!
March 31, 2011 at 1:45 pm
Amin! Nice dua’a!
It’s so funny… I always have to “check” myself whenever a new halal place opens, and do my research before eating there. Ruth Chris’ Steakhouse across the street from me just started offering halal steaks (you have to order a few days before) — but where the meat is from?? Who knows.
And you’re absolutely right. While I’m bouncing from one halal place to the next, there are so many people in the world who just cannot afford it. It’s a sad reflection of the entire system.
March 31, 2011 at 9:54 am
You couldn’t have said it better! I think that way but my actions are always not that way. Usually I just eat wherever maybe because I’m a student and food is food.
March 31, 2011 at 10:50 am
Amazing post! A breath of fresh air.
I wanted to comment on the stewardship model that you refer to in your post. The model can make humans view themselves as superior to God’s other creations insofar as it assumes that God has subjected the earth to us. In reality though, nature and other creations are not our subjects and instead came to earth prior to us coming…so they are truly independent of us. We are the ones dependent on them…the stewardship model can be abused when we assume that we are masters…instead of remembering that the power structures amongst God’s creations exist only so because that is what has been willed by Allah, not because of any right or privilege that we possess by being humans.
March 31, 2011 at 1:59 pm
I never thought of it that way. That’s actually quite brilliant. Thank you!
March 31, 2011 at 11:00 am
Excellent Post about this subject. I think the halal concept is a nod toward organic farming, which I wish more people would take note of, instead of focusing on the label itself, and not seeing the bigger picture.
March 31, 2011 at 11:46 am
“They wouldn’t sell them to me.”
“What.do.you.mean. they wouldn’t sell them to you?”
“She said they weren’t halal.”
I believe she was wrong to not allow them to be purchased. A simple, “Just so you know, they’re not halal. Do you still want them?” should have been enough. She was infringing on your rights with her values by not giving you the choice. I just got done writing about this concept.
Also, I agree with almostclever. Halal awesomely leans toward organic, and without the stuffy privileged judgment that people bring in, because if you don’t have the means to acquire halal food or if halal food isn’t available to you you are allowed alternatives.
March 31, 2011 at 2:00 pm
…if you don’t have the means to acquire halal food or if halal food isn’t available to you you are allowed alternatives.
Absolutely.
March 31, 2011 at 4:58 pm
http://www.polyfacefarms.com/
This farmer in Virginia, US believes in stewardship. He also wont ship his product because he farms for his community. Wouldn’t it be awesome to have farmers like that all over? I am glad that you have a butcher you trust, but I would love to see more people like your butcher and the above farmer in more communities.
Do they have CSAs in your area?
(Community Sponsored agriculture http://www.localharvest.org/csa/)
Some of them provide meat, and except for the “killed by a Muslim” they do meet all the other requirements –so volunteering or even working at a farm like that would help both the farmer (now he can sell Halal meat) and the Muslim community (they have local, organic and properly raised halal meat).
I think we need to bring back the community farm to be able to provide healthful, affordable food to all.
–Andy, a California mom and new reader to the blog
April 1, 2011 at 11:47 am
Welcome Andy! Please, send some sun my way.
Thanks for letting me know about CSAs. And yes, we do have have a bunch in Ontario. I’m going to have to check out the one in Toronto — it’s also nice to get fresh, organic produce as well (that’s not marked up in price at the supermarket).
April 1, 2011 at 10:38 am
It is insanity looking at the reality of the modern way of farming. Pigs are now mostly cloned, and are monstrous looking. They live in indoor pens with metal grating underneath them, have their babies on this metal grating, and never step foot outside. In fact, when the farmer is moving them from pen to pen their muscles can cramp and they have spasms because they are not used to walking. If anyone asks why the Quran forbids pig, I think this is an excellent example to give. Muslim or not, after watching the documentary about this issue, I don’t think I could touch pork if I wanted to.
So many pesticides are used nowadays that we are effectively losing all of our top soil due to essentially poisoning the ground. Hence, the honeybees are dying, and our food sources are becoming more and more manufactured, instead of natural and from the earth. Meat and produce alike, everything is becoming so alien. I implore anyone reading this to find some videos about modern farming vs organic. It really puts into perspective this whole issue of halal.
As you said though, WoodTurtle, people are not seeing the bigger meaning behind halal, and even halal manufacturers are going by the way of “modern” techniques.
April 1, 2011 at 11:55 am
Last summer I took Eryn to a couple of animal farms/petting zoos — and it was SO NICE seeing the pigs, ducks, and cows just hanging out, living nice, full piggy and duckie lives.
I didn’t make a big deal out of it in the post, but people should really see ABC’s 7.30 report based on the footage that an Australisn animal right’s group took in Kuwait and Egypt. It’s simply horrible to see people mistreating animals…and during ‘Eid no less.
And of course, films like Food Inc.
April 1, 2011 at 12:40 pm
Personally I just avoid pork, and eat at halal establishments. When I eat at places that don’t offer halal meat, I stick to veg / fish food, and I don’t care about grills or oils or whatever, but to each his own. I know some people who are really anal about this and will hardly eat anywhere, but if it keeps them happy who knows.
One thing though, is halal really tied to good living conditions of animals? I mean as Muslims we ARE supposed to treat our animals in a humane manner, but just because a cow hasn’t been treated well or a chicken isn’t free range, doesn’t mean it’s not halal according to dietary laws. Halal is a set of very mechanical physical requirements, while what is desired is something more. Otherwise for many poor Muslims halal would be something impossible and Allah said Islam has not come to make our lives harder (Surah Taha).
April 1, 2011 at 4:20 pm
Well, from what I’ve been reading, yes — to make it halal the animal has to be raised with kindness and health.
The first step of zabiha according to the sharia’ is to ensure the health of the animal. If it is sick, mentally disturbed, or otherwise compromised, you can’t use it. You then have to go to the trouble of leading it away, calming it, and giving it water.
What’s the point of doing any of that if the animal’s legs are already broken under the weight of it’s hormone and steroid-infused body — it’s eyes are crusted over with infection — it’s blood is weakened with antibiotics — and it is mentally unstable due to a life of terror living in a metal cage?
Sorry to be graphic…
The only reason free-range is expensive is because the industry makes it so. So, alhamdulillah, as Nahida said, we’re allowed alternatives.
April 1, 2011 at 12:41 pm
Oh, one more comment (sorry for spamming!). What do you think of going to a Jewish or Christian friend’s house and they serve you meat that you know is probably store bought non-zabiha, but it’s food of the Christian and Jews! I mean, didn’t the Prophet visit a Jewish lady’s house for a dinner invitation with his friends?
What did previous Muslims do on visiting Rome or some other Christian lands? Did they eat fish only? Or veg? Or slaughter a cow?
April 1, 2011 at 4:31 pm
Oh you spammer you
I think there’s a distinction made between Jewish/Christian blessed food and secular produced food. So anyone, of any religion, buys secular meat from Schneider’s. Just because a Christian serves it to you, doesn’t make it halal.
Which is interesting, because I know a lot of sheikhs argue that because “The West” is predominantly Christian, all the meat is halal. But there’s no Lord’s Prayer going on at Oscar Meyer. (well… maybe in some States? Who knows?)
We can probably assume that the meals given to the Prophet by his Jewish friends were prepared according to Kashrut laws. And that 100% of the meat industry in the 7th Century did not rely on large Agriprocessors.
Of course… that’s also making the assumption that EVERYONE in the 7thC was religious. And they probably weren’t. Just like today
So, I don’t know. As you say, to each his own.
April 1, 2011 at 4:59 pm
Hmmm.. I’m the spammer now. I’m not 100% happy with my last comment. It’s Friday. It’s been a long week. I have to think about this more.
So, we’re going on holiday soon insha’Allah. I just realized that most of the food Eryn eats won’t be available. She hates fish and eggs and I won’t be able to make her favorite schnitzel. So what do we do? Let her eat bread and pasta for a week. If she stops eating, you’re darn right she’ll be getting non-halal meat.
April 1, 2011 at 4:26 pm
Salaam — I was wondering, was your butcher open to you asking where he got his meat from, or does he advertise it as such? Thanks.
April 5, 2011 at 12:03 pm
Wasalaams Farah! He absolutely advertises it as organic and free-range, and offers organic grains, vegetables and other products as well. I link to his website in the article.
When I first learned of Blossom Pure, we went down to his shop and had a nice long chat to find out exactly how things work. He’s extremely transparent and personable — and makes an effort to remember his customers.
April 4, 2011 at 7:42 pm
I too have given up pork. Not for religious reasons but I just feel as though it’s not healthy. We have an organic butcher shop down the street and the meat is all free range and the difference in taste is remarkable. My husband and I try to keep to the 100 Mile concept and find that we are healthier and enjoying food more than buying at the grocery store. I have purchased Halal meat on occasion and now that I know the kill process is so gentle I’ll consider it more in the future when I can’t get to my organic butcher. One question?A couple of friends ofmine say that Halal meat tastes bitter to them. I have never found this and believe this may stem form their prejudices (conscious or un), I think their minds want it to taste different?? Thoughts anyone?
April 5, 2011 at 12:06 am
I’ve been struggling with the issue of Halal vs humane/organic/pastured/sustainable a lot since I started keeping halal. All of the sources I have found for local meat that pass my standards are certainly not halal. The major animal welfare certifications that I trust cant accommodate halal and kosher slaughter because the animals aren’t stunned prior to slaughter. And if most modern slaughter experts believe stunning to be an essential part of humane slaughter, and the point of halal processing is to be kind to animals, why shouldn’t halal standards evolve to include stunning?
*Sigh* what’s an ethically minded, cash-strapped and confused new muslimah to do?
And all the yummy things alcohol is in! Who knew?! WHY THE TIRAMISU, WHY?!
April 7, 2011 at 2:42 am
Hi, on the question of things like tiramisu, then it is worth googling “non alcoholic “, because lots of recovering alcoholics also try to avoid even trace alcohol and there are good recipes out there.
June 10, 2011 at 12:18 am
[...] Do you ever wonder if what you’re eating is really halal? Hundreds of parents in Toronto, Ottawa and surrounding suburbs, were shocked to discover that the [...]
August 22, 2011 at 3:03 pm
I find this post particularly interesting because my family bought an abattoir Oct. 2008.
* be led away so that other animals do not witness it’s death
* not see the knife being sharpened
* be gently laid down, facing Mecca and given water to drink
* and the slaughter should happen quickly, without any excessive terror, pain or suffering.
We get our animals from the Ontario Sheep Market and other auctions.
The animals are in a line up in a pen – so they don’t “witness” the deaths but they’re near by.
The knives are sharpened in a different area – but probably just because its not located on the kill floor.
- and I have no idea about the facing Mecca.
But the zabiha part happens relatively quickly and the halal method is already as such that the consciousness of the animal (if small) is gone. Very difficult for cows/veals however.
- Its a small business that operates in Ontario – but I have to say that it was only once we got into the Business that all the drama began to unfold.
I mean we’re Muslims – but under no condition are we going to “fake” Halal. But following all of the above is incredibly difficult – so we do the best we can and Allah knows that our intentions are pure.
Imagine our surprise when the HMA (Halal Monitoring Authority) representative refused to be there on a kill day unless he was paid full for half a day of slaughtering. And even though he hadn’t witnesses most of them – he came and stamped on the HMA stamp on all the carcasses.
Imagine our surprise that their seal is given even those businesses who certainly do not provide Halal meat. So suddenly – HMA -for my family wasn’t credible.
Now i have to say we’re lucky – because we can get meat that we know is Halal – authentically! But business is REALLY hard – and I can only imagine larger companies and the demands that they need to meat – a lot of things are definitely questionable. Whats WORSE – is that our Muslim Shop Owners – don’t always care if it IS halal. Some refuse to pay up – or pay the price insisting it should be cheaper and if we must absolutely refuse – they opt to buy from potentially non-halal companies and sell it as Halal!
I’m not judging – all I’m saying is that people need to run their businesses and when you’re a huge company it seems like a lot of people compromise a part of their faith in order to make profit. Something I pray inshallah will never Happen to my family (if Inshallah we have to opportunity to expand to a Federal Level).
Thats all for now.
August 22, 2011 at 3:05 pm
i forgot to subscribe >_>
August 23, 2011 at 8:11 pm
That’s incredibly scary. I’m not surprised there’s corruption and laziness right at the certification level. Thank you so much for sharing your personal experience on this.
I’m sure the halal business is incredibly difficult for the small business owner — and especially because our entire meat system isn’t set up to support animal rights.
Insha’Allah the good that you and your family are doing will benefit others! And any successes your business have would be amazing!
August 23, 2011 at 9:31 pm
Thank you for the well wishes =)