life without redhot :(

Hi all.

I'm writing from the overwhelming heat of Buffalo, New York - I know, it's hard to believe, but life is tough here without AC.

I've kept busy working at a joint elementary-middle charter school in the city. The area is pretty rough and the students are all fairly disadvantaged, but the school is makes a huge difference in the community, and it's amazing to watch it happen. The teachers have the students reading way above their grade level and passing exams in eighth grade that my high school doesn't give until tenth grade. So far, I've been doing a lot of administrative work - setting up their summer school (which about 60% of the school attends voluntarily), coordinating field trips, arranging class lists, et cetera - but hopefully I'll be able to get into the classroom when summer school starts.

In other news - last week we got a call from an adoption agency in Russia saying that we have finally been approved to adopt a little boy. I'm not sure how I feel about the adoption - it's something my mom has been working on for years, but I never actually thought it would happen. Now that it is, I am adjusting to the fact that I'm going to have a new brother. Anyway, I am going to make the trip to Russia with my mom at the end of July to pick up Kyrill (sp?), who is seven years old and knows no English. So that's exciting, but we'll have our hands full.

Otherwise, I am making plans for a trip to my cottage in Michigan, where I'll get to see lots of cousins, aunts, and uncles. Maybe I'll head up to NYC again sometime to say hi to all the city kids - I saw David, Dee Dee, and Keiji on my last trip up (er... down? east?) and I would love to see more of my Redhotties! Though if you want to bop down to Hamburg, NY, anyone is welcome :)

Hope this finds you well,
xo - Brady