Soldiers aren't the only ones who fight!

When Cain met me, I told him just that - soldiers aren't the only ones who fight! I assured him that some of the fights I've seen in politics are much dirtier than some he's seen ... though in VERY different ways!

So this week I got to show him  just what I was talking about as he came with us to the 2010 Republican Party of Texas State Convention. A while back, Kassie expressed interest in the convention, too, and I was only too happy to jump on that opportunity and beg that she come along! :) Grandmama and Grandaddy also attended again this year. We had quite the little team!

 Cain didn't get to come over until Friday afternoon, but Kassie and I arrived on Thursday night and went to the Eagle Forum Banquet where Dad spoke.

Governor Perry also showed up for a few minutes. 

And ... there was a lady who (apparently???) couldn't see very well, so she came up to the front, pulled out the piano bench, moved it to the side of the piano, and enjoyed the rest of the speeches from there ... :) Have I mentioned that I love convention??? :)

The only things we had "planned" to do for convention were to attend the SD (Senate District) Caucuses and then pass out a piece Dad wrote on Saturday morning.

But I gave fair warning to Kassie that it could change at ANY time. That "any" time came around 1p on Friday when it was decided that another piece needed to be put out in the SDs for the meeting early on Saturday morning. So while I helped compose the piece, Kassie worked her Kinkos magic (trust me, it's nothing short of that!!!) and not only found one in the vicinity, but got us a discount and got them to print 13,000 pieces in a short few hours! Impressive!!! :)

Oh yeah, and we took a break from working on the piece for a quick second to get a picture with the Gov. :) We're pretty big fans. ;)

Cain arrived at the Convention just before we went to our first SD meetings at 4p.

We were there for about an hour, then we went to the RPT Banquet. Unfortunately Cain, Kassie and I didn't get to stay at the dinner for long because we had to go pick up the "last minute" piece being done at Kinkos, but we did get to meet the keynote speaker, Michele Bachmann, and get a picture with her. Definitely a modern-day hero ... and she's just a good ol' down-to-earth lady to boot!

We actually got to retire at a somewhat decent hour that evening (after venturing out to Kinkos and going to get coffee/Diet Dr. Pepper afterwards :) ). But that's only because we were getting up before sunrise to take 18 boxes of literature over to the convention center and then put it out on 8,000-10,000 chairs in a few short hours! BUT ... we did it! Between the three of us, several of our good friends from the Aledo area (Misty, Chris and Cody ROCK!) and some volunteers Joel had, we rocked it out and finished in just under 2 hours (in addition to passing out a few other pieces of literature ... so we were really flying!)! It was really nice to sit down for a bit after that!! :)

That morning we had elections for Chairman/Vice-Chairman ... enter fight scene. :) So it might have been lacking guns and flying fists, but it had everything else! It was hard-ball, back-room-dealing, questionable-tactics politics at its "best" (maybe worst :) ). Fortunately/unfortunately we were on the side not participating in that ... and we didn't have the outcome we desired. But I'm proud of the level of integrity that our candidates showed and know that this didn't take God by surprised and am interested to see the ultimate results from this outcome!

Regardless, I had an amazing time of learning and growing with an amazing hubby, great family, fantastic friend, and wonderful group of workers/friends/volunteers! Kassie and I commemorated the occasion with:

a foot picture (because we can!) 

and a reminder of what year it is! :)

Cain got into the spirit and joined Dad in wearing patriotic Texan shirts. And he looked sharp doing it! :)

I keep thinking of Proverbs 22:1 - "A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches." In the end, I believe that our candidate(s) did choose a good name and didn't sacrifice their principles,values, standards or ethics for a victory. Did we want to win? Absolutely! Do I think that God is taking the outcome to do something greater - in each of us and in the Party? Yes. Because, again, this didn't take Him by surprise and regardless of our thoughts or responses, "Our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases" (Psalm 115:3). And at the end of the day, that's all that matters! He's in heaven, He does whatever He wants, and it's just our responsibility to do what it is that He asks of us - regardless of the outcome! So welcome to the world of politics! :)