Get out and vote on May 4th in the School Board election. Even if you don't have children, the success of our schools will impact the success of our city.

This election you're voting for school board representatives of your district. See the map at the bottom of this site to figure out your district:



A Buffalo News Article gives a short summary of all the candidates in the different districts:



At the bottom of an Artvoice article on illegal campaign practices is a list of all the candidates by district.



Buffalo Rising has been covering the north district candidates which covers a lot of North Buffalo and a lot of the Elmwood Village area.





The above article links to each of the candidates websites.

Some information from the Candidates night on Tuesday:



Happy Reading!

Seven and a half years ago, on a sunny August day, I cautiously met some guy from an online site on Temple's campus to grab a bite to eat.

Six years ago came a proposal on a beach in New Jersey while watching the sunrise.

Five years ago we said "I do" and made promises for forever followed by a fabulous and fun party.

Several adventures later, I wouldn't have done it any differently.

Happy Anniversary, Drew!

Highlights include:

Foster daughter at the zoo constantly asking where the animals were but never looking when we pointed them out.

Foster daughter always having to go poop when out in public and sharing that fact with a large audience of people.

Foster son puking on the steak dinner my father made after my father spent all night talking about how good the steaks were going to be and how expensive they were.

Foster son on the ride home pulling out his little friend and playing with it. I tried to explain that it was for private and not public, but I was laughing too hard and tears were rolling down my face. The husband had to turn around and handle that one.

Foster daughter kept calling the hand dryers in the bathroom hair dryers and kept asking to go outside "bear tracks" instead of bare foot.

Foster son sweetly pushing his sister on the swing. Then trying to push me. But miscalculated his distance from me and ended up being pushed over by me on my way back. He's a tough kid and he got off the ground with a smile. He definitely saw the humor.

when you have foster children. It's all the normal "everything changes" of having children. New people enter your life, new schedules to rotate around, and new rules to follow. But it's a little bit more with foster care.

The new people aren't just school teachers and day care workers. There are the foster children's social workers (so far the number of social workers is at 4 and counting) who in some respects have greater say over the children's lives than we do. And the family members who are all watching us parent a child that biologically speaking is "theirs" and not "ours". All the while we're trying to be charitable with our time; hospitable with our home; and stay on the same page as a good team player.

The new schedule isn't just school and day care, it's regularly scheduled family visitations. So far enjoyable, because it's the only small break we have from the children since we don't have approved babysitters yet.

And it's submitting not to just the usual rules and societal norms of rearing one's children, but also it's submitting to the regulations of the county who ultimately is the temporary guardian of the children.

No complaints here. I'm just musing over the differences between caring for your own children and caring for foster children. If we ever have our own children, I think it will seem so different and less restricting! How will I raise my own children without 4 social workers and permission from the county to take them on vacation (Janelle says in good humor)?