A week ago, we were privileged to participate in Home Educators’ Day at the Oklahoma State Capitol. A dedicated crowd of 2,600 homeschoolers showed up to be a presence to our legislators at the Capitol who had just began the first week of the legislative session.
Oklahoma is special. We are the only state who, ever since our Constitution was written over 100 years ago, has recognized that parents may teach their children at home by providing other means of education! There is a lot of freedom to home school in Oklahoma. That’s something we don’t take for granted and that we want to continue to uphold and fight for.
I LOVE our country. The incredibly rich history of our nation never ceases to amaze me. Even just a simple trip to the state capitol and taking time to think about how all “this” came to be fills my heart with awe! There is just nothing like it. The freedom I live in every single day is HUGE.
Finding a slot in the crowd to see was not easy with the floor and the two surrounding balconies filled. :) Governor Mary Fallin, who is very supportive of home schooling, gave a speech, as well as several other people, including…
…Meet Representative Josh Cockcroft! Josh is a home school graduate who we attended church with for many years. When he got elected at age 22 in 2010, he was the second youngest person to get elected in history of the House of Representatives (beat by another home school graduate who was elected the same year and is slightly younger than him).
Josh is a great example of the fruit of home schooling! It was thrilling to listen as he addressed everyone at the rally and so encouraging to see a young man willing to step out and do big, hard things for God in our country!
Meet TJ Schmidt, Oklahoma’s HSLDA’s attorney. HSLDA does an incredible job of helping protect our liberty to home school that is constantly being attacked and challenged.
After the inspiring rally, we met with our representative and senator – both of whom have eaten our homemade peach ice cream at the Stratford Peach Festival. :) Representative Hilliard and Senator Paddack are great at listening to constituents and representing us well.
And if that wasn’t politically inspiring enough for one week, we had the unexpected opportunity a few days later to attend a rally for presidential candidate Rick Santorum!!
John-Clay, Charity, Carinna, and I walked into the hotel room with seating for 600 that was basically full, except for some back row seats and reserved seating. We were just about to claim the back row, when a lady gave us a red streamer to go get seats in the reserved section…on the sixth row from the front!! We weren’t about to turn that offer down. (That’s the second time we’ve gotten a really nice deal when four of us kids were together…hmmmm. Kinda like this.)
J-C ran over to the front corner of the room to take a quick panoramic picture of the full crowd that was there, when suddenly everyone started clapping and cheering, and Rick Santorum entered the room from that corner and stepped right in front of John-Clay! All the photographers began snapping away with a very shocked J-C in the background. *chuckle*
With a very enthusiastic audience of about 1,000 supporters, Rick gave a bold, timely speech to the issues facing our nation.
He is definitely not afraid to say what he believes, especially when it comes to his faith in God.
“If there are no rights that government needs to respect, then what we see with ObamaCare is just the beginning of what government will do to you.”
“The Constitution is there to do one thing: protect God-given rights. That’s what makes America different than every other country in the world.”
-Rick Santorum
Several of us managed to squeeze to the front to get his signature and shake his hand. :) Santorum went on to a rally of 4,000 people in Tulsa – the biggest crowd his campaign had had so far.
This is not an endorsement for Rick Santorum, by the way. There are still lots of issues we are weighing between candidates, but Rick Santorum’s value for faith and family as the key to our nation’s strength is something that we greatly appreciate! And since our family will have a total of 7 voters by November, these important issues are a daily topic of discussion for us. :)
This election is crucial to the future of our nation and our families and the world. Research, study, pray! We have a responsibility to protect our God-given freedom for the next generation – don’t take it lightly.
“You will never know how much it cost our present generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it.”
–John Quincy Adams
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