On August 10th, I received a heartbreaking email from All God's Children stating that due to their new "strategy and vision" - they would no longer be supporting Potter's Village Orphanage in Ghana. Ultimately meaning, we would no longer be able to support Beauty.
In far too many words and in sugar coated, political, corporate, jargon BULLSHIT, they stated that because Ghana no longer allowed international adoptions (which FYI is their main source of income), they would no longer be supporting orphanages in Ghana.
My heart is heavy for Matt and myself - but MORE SO, my heart breaks for not only Beauty - but all the other children in Ghana who will no longer be receiving financial support.
We started sponsoring Beauty smack dab in the middle of our infertility nightmare. Her story and sweet little smile immediately grabbed our attention. We were in love.
She was our light in the darkness, and she brightened our days in a time where we were receiving such devastating news::: living in our own personal hell called "INFERTILITY"
Whenever I received an update on her, my entire day was made. Her smile captivated me.
She had one pair of shoes, maybe two outfits. She never knew her parents and lived in an third-world-country orphanage since the day she was born.
And yet, her smile.
It was almost as if I knew her. She looked so happy, so full of life. She was a little naughty, at times - but she absolutely loved nursery rhymes, dogs, and wanted to be a doctor when she grew up.
I could stare at her picture all day and I'd smile ear-to-ear. While all the rest of our chaotic life was going on: credit cards, student loans, work stress, never attending church enough, and ultimately, completely failing at training our pups - I still knew we were doing SOMETHING RIGHT in this world.
She was our proof.
While she was never truly our child, I feel that the "Board of Directors" from All God's Children
took her from me.
They stole our happiness and our reason. I signed up to sponsor her in hopes that we could watch her grow and excel over several years to come. Now, all I have are fears and doubts.
How is she doing? Is she hungry? Scared? Alone? Safe? Does she still have a roof over her head? Is she healthy? Is she getting medical care?
Is she still learning about God? Does she have a relationship with him? Is she praying?
Is she still going to school? Is she still learning how to read and write?
Does she still have her bright, little smile?
Does she know all of her funding was taken from her?
The dreadful and deplorable truth is that: I will never know.
For that, I refuse to forgive All God's Children.
Can you believe that at the bottom of their email they asked me to just switch kids and "sponsor one from Haiti"? I find it utterly revolting.
Fast forward.....
Please, please, please pray for Beauty and her friends at Potter's Village Orphanage.
Her picture still sits on display in our home, and while we know there are millions of other orphans who need our help, we just need time to heal.
I imagine we will eventually sponsor another child, but one thing for sure:
it will not be through All God's Children.
All of our love to little Miss Beauty Adu
"I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you."
If you would have asked me ten years ago where my dream home would be, I would have answered: "a high rise in downtown Chicago". While living there, I LOVED the city. The tall buildings, millions of people, the subway, taxis, etc.
But OMG, you guys! I have never been more happy to be in our small, five thousand population, cornfield town.
Don't get me wrong, New York was beautiful. We stayed in Manhattan for 6 days/5 nights and saw almost everything we wanted to see (with the exception of the Yankee stadium and the mafia guy's dog rescue. Click here to see the video and read about it. And the only reason we didn't go see them was because they were in the Bronx and Brooklyn, and we were far too lazy to leave Manhattan).
The ironic thing is that when we booked this vacation (18 months ago), it was my secret hope that it would be our "Babymoon" - We were smack dab in the middle of fertility treatments/adoption - and I figured New York would be the most perfect way to celebrate becoming parents.
But then life happened. A surprise happened! Our boys. And we became parents to two little rambunctious puppies before the trip even began.
Oh my gosh, we missed the boys and kitties so much. We felt like we had just gotten home from Gulf Shores (which we actually did) and we were leaving them again. This time - my mom stayed with the furkids for three days and Sharon took over on Monday. To our surprise, they did quite well with both Grandmas. Apparently they behave completely different when we're not around - mostly because they know they cant get away with naughty behavior around Sharon and my mom.
That's not to say that they were perfect. While we were away, Pappy and Wally ripped the curtain rod off in our dining room, and chewed their chest harnesses to pieces. Such is life.
We were SO excited to see New York. Prior to leaving, I googled vegetarian/vegan restaurants and found out that there were 238 to choose from! #heaven
The weather channel said it was supposed to rain every single day, and we were delighted to not have a single drop of rain the entire trip. The weather was gorgeous. A little hot - but still much better than walking in rain.
Once we landed in New York and on our cab drive to the hotel, I had the epiphany that New York is really just like Chicago. The city looked like Chicago. Smelled like Chicago. And had I not known any better, I would have thought we were in Chicago.
Once we arrived at our hotel, we realized how amazing of a spot our hotel was in. They call it the "golden triangle" - Right near the Plaza and Ritz Carlton, a block south of central park, in Midtown, and in between 5th Ave and Broadway. Seriously, it was the perfect location.
Matt enjoyed seeing the super expensive cars: Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Bentleys, Rolls Royces, and Maseratis; and I loved looking at all the stores on 5th Ave: Oscar de la Renta, Dolce and Gabanna, Dior, and a million other high end brands that I know nothing about. #ishopatTargetyall
Upon checking in, the front desk clerk let me know that they would need to charge $500 on my debit card in case of "incidentals" - Are you freaking kidding me??? I thought. We negotiated it down to $200 and luckily, it was refunded after we checked out. Whew...
Our hotel was breathtaking. We had a living room, king size bed/room, and a spa like bathroom. The TUB. OMG!!! THE TUB. By FAR, the best thing about the trip and what I will miss most.
Sight-seeing consisted of pretty much walking to the spot, taking a picture, looking at each other, and saying, "Welp. We saw it." then checking it off the list.
We saw:
Times Square
Rockefeller Center
The Empire State Building
One World Trade Center
Wall Street
The New York Stock Exchange
Chinatown
Ground Zero
9/11 Memorial
The charging bull
Central Park
The NY city courthouse
The Brooklyn Bridge
Carnegie hall
Grand Central station
Aladdin on Broadway
The Statue of Liberty
Ellis Island
Upper East side
We made sure to eat New York style pizza (TWO TIMES) and dessert at Serendipity (for $38). The vegan/vegetarian restaurants were AMAZEBALLS. Bareburger and Soomsoom Vegetarian Bar were our favorites. At Aladdin on Broadway, we paid $23 for two small cokes and a small bag of M&Ms. OMFG!
We successfully took all forms of transportation: walking, cab, bus, and subway. We walked the most because we were extremely close to mostly everything - and I seriously think we LOST weight while on vacation from all the walking we did. I wish I had a fitbit, so I could know how much we truly walked.
Bonus: New York is much more easier to navigate than Chicago. In the three years I lived in downtown Chicago, I could not find my way from the John Hancock to the Willis Tower - but within one day of being in NYC, I immediately knew my way around (thanks to most of the streets being numbers). At one point, we were stopped and asked for directions - I totally had the city walk down. AKA walking fast, not moving for anyone, not looking at anyone, and not carrying a map. I thank my Chicago years for that.
There were some things I forgot about being in big cities, though. OMG. It smelled SO SO SO BAD. Sirens and horns everywhere. Traffic jams. There was even an AIRPLANE traffic jam at the airport. The litter. And you bet your ass I said something when I saw these three stupid girls throw their plastic wrappers on the ground in Central Park (they picked it up after I called them on it). Needing a special code to use bathrooms at restaurants so homeless people couldn't come in and use them (which I think is super asshole-ish, BTW).
There were SO many people (shocker, right?) Seriously! You could look in any direction, in any area - and see hundreds of people. We were always pushing our way through to get somewhere. And feeling like we had to take a dip in sanitizer after walking around the city. (Ask Matt about the guy who refused to cover his mouth while coughing on our bus ride. I thought he was going to KILL him).
I missed the brights stars and sounds of crickets. Ah, small town Wisconsin.
But there were good things I forgot about, too. Like getting serenaded in the subway. Doormen in fedoras - and the fun activity of people watching. OMG. The people watching. Very entertaining to say the least. BTW, when did short shorts come into fashion? Like SUPER SHORT shorts?? AKA butt cheeks clearly hanging out? SO MANY girls had shorts like this! IT WAS THE NORM! WTF!
Oh! And there were high school girls with some young guys at the Great Lawn in Central Park with only BRAS (NOT swimsuits) and SHORT shorts on. Matt and I quickly changed the name from "Great Lawn" to "Great Sluts" ......SERIOUSLY! How old are they? 14??
Eye roll.
The subway was a little tricky. Not only were there colors, but also numbers and letters. Thankfully, we did quite well and by the end of the trip, we were seasoned professionals.
I made it a personal goal to find Olivia Benson from Law and Order SVU while in NY. I failed. But dammit - I tried! Poor Matt had to follow me all over NYC - finding the police headquarters, the courthouse, fake crime scenes, etc. After much googling on my part, I learned that Olivia's precinct is FAKE! You guys! The 16th precinct does not exist!! I was so heartbroken, but after witnessing a fictional crime scene in Central Park - I quickly moved on.
We saw SO MANY dogs. And it made us so very happy. But also, it made us miss our boys back home. We ALSO saw so many hookers. LOTS of them. And I was even able to snap a picture one night. I know, I'm ridiculous.
The Empire state building was awesome. The only problem was that I have a drastic fear of heights - and when standing on the observation deck, my hands got super shaky, clammy, and my entire body trembled. Yikes!
The One World Trade center was much easier for me. We were indoors - with windows to view out - and I wasn't AS much of a nervous wreck - other than freaking out when I found out the building could/would sway 12 inches back and forth from wind. AH! The elevator took 45 seconds to get from the ground floor to the 102th. Holy shit - it was fast.
The 9/11 Memorial was the most tragic thing I've ever witnessed. Throughout the museum, we saw the videos of the terrorists walking through security: getting patted down, and their luggage checked. We heard voicemails from husbands and wives on the airplanes - telling their spouses that the airplane had been hijacked and giving them their final I love yous. We saw pictures of people jumping out of the building. We saw pieces of the airplane found in the remains. We heard survivors' stories. We saw the "survivor stairs" which was the last set of stairs people ran down before making it outside. It was just heartbreaking.
At Ground Zero, it was so hard seeing the thousands of names of lives lost. And it was shocking to realize how close the two buildings were to each other. Looking up at the new One World Trade Center and imagining a building THAT tall crumbling to the ground really put it into perspective. I don't think we understood how AWFUL it truly was until we walked through the museum and read/heard the stories.
Aladdin on Broadway was AMAZING. We both went into it skeptical - thinking that it couldn't possibly be as good as Wicked - and to our surprise, it was just as fantastic. The Genie, Iago, and Jafar were BY FAR the best. SO hilarious and extremely entertaining. AND Princess Jasmine is from Elgin, IL. Boom! I want to see Lion King next - and YAY!!! They will be in Chicago from November-January.
The Statue of Liberty was good. Just as we expected. And the boat ride over was nice and relaxing. The security guard told me I had to take out my nose ring when going through security - and I completely fell for it and panicked. After staring at me with a straight face for a good 30 seconds, he laughed and told me he was kidding. THEN a guy made fun of me for eating Poptarts! Seriously. Poptarts are the best.
I made Matt walk all of Central Park with me. I wanted to see so many attractions. After looking at the map and from going back and forth - I literally (not figuratively) think we walked at least ten miles that day. Matt was such a peach.
I was determined to find the waterfall at the Ravine in Central Park - and after three hours, we finally did. IT SUCKED. And it smelled awful.
We treated ourselves to dessert at Serendipity afterwards - and our waiter called us "scandalous" for eating ice cream for dinner. That is now my new favorite word.
I really, really wanted to see Madison Square Garden ---- until I found out it was actually a circular arena and NOT a garden. Errm.
Overall, I really liked the Big Apple. Although, I wouldn't go back for five nights. Definitely a weekend. And ABSOLUTELY during the Christmas season - so I can see the Macy's Day Parade and big Christmas tree.
I left NYC thinking I liked it more than Chicago - but when I really stop to think about it, I realize we were in the most affluent part of NYC and I lived in the south side of Chicago. I think my opinion might be a little skewed... Matt and I decided to book a STAYcation at The Drake in downtown Chicago to do all the tourist things. Because believe it or not, in all the years I lived in Chicago - I've never been in the John Hancock, Willis Tower, OR at the art museum. Stay tuned for that trip.
As Fennel luck would have it, my super nice camera AND my selfie stick stopped working on vacation - so you'll have to forgive me with the shitty selfies and iPhone pics.
The cherry on top? Our car didn't start when we got home. We had to call Emergency Roadside Service for a jump, and replace our battery the next morning.
Even at that, we had a FABULOUS time. But - MY GOD - we are happy to be home! Plus, Chicago deep dish pizzas are WAY better.
Reunited and it feels so good.
Enjoy the eleventy billion pics that are probably out of order:
our view from the hotel
Trump Tower
Public Library
Radio City Music Hall
Rockefeller
The Empire State Building
Where the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles live. ;)
One World Trade Center
Ground Zero
"We were running down the stairs to live, and they were running up the stairs to die."
The New York Stock Exchange
The New York City Courthouse - that is shown on SO MANY episodes of Law and Order.
