The kids had a government class in Austin on Friday with a group called TeenPACT. It is a political action group for youth that teaches about government from a Christian perspective. The kids did not like the idea of going and doing schoolwork while we sere supposed to be "on a break" but once they got started they had fun. The whole family was able to go since Jeremy had off for Good Friday and we were even able to spend some time with some of our dearest friends since they came in from Louisiana to join us. It was a real neat experience and the entire thing was lead by high school homeschooled students. The poise and confidence these kids had was amazing! I would have never known they were in high school how professional they were. The boys had LOTS of homework for the class before we even went. We had to find out who our Congressmen and Senators were and write them a letter of encouragement and pray for them, by name, daily for two weeks. They also had to read a book and do the assignments at the end of the chapters. Some of the assignments were lengthy and I couldn't believe they had assigned them for 8-12 year olds. One of the chapters required Codey to take a spiritual gifts test, which took us about 2 1/2 hours. On that same day Joshua had to read 36 chapters from the Bible about Esther, Joseph and Daniel. It was a lot but the boys really learned a lot about themselves and how our beliefs tie into our government involvment through the process. After reading the book and doing those assignements each of the boys had to write a bill that they thought they could get passed. It was really neat to see what they came up with, especially at their ages. Joshua wanted to put a youth recreation centers in each city. They would be free of charge and promote physical activity and community service. Codey wanted to provide free swimming lessons free of charge for youth ages 6-12 years old three months out of the year to prevent drownings. They had to know why they wanted to do it, who it was for, how it would be paid for and who would pay for it, when it would operate and how, and write it just as a bill that goes through Congress would be written. It was really neat to see the, work through the process and to see what the other kids came up with. They did a great job!
Walking up to the state capitol.
During the morning class Jeremy stayed with Joshua, Codey and Brogan while I walked around whith Christian and Rylen. Christian loved being outside and looking at all of the statues! Mainly it was because there were a lot of cowboys and horses, but I still got to read him the plaques and explain why the statues were there. The amazing thing to me was that he wanted me to read them to him and know what they said. We walked all the way around the capitol twice looking at the statues and reading the plaques. It was a beautiful day to do it! We also toured the inside of the building. Mainly Christian just wanted to see the "cowboys police officers" and their hats but I got to see some neat stuff that I hadn't seen in a long time. Rylen was just amazed at everything (for a little while anyway!).
A view from inside. Looking up! Did you know that our state capitol is the tallest in the nation? It is 14 feet taller than our nations capitol in Washington D.C. Everything really is bigger in Texas!
The star on top of the ceiling is 8 feet from point to point!
Looking down!
Senate Chambers...where voting takes place.
Praying for our state, Senators, Congressmen, and government in general inside Senate Chambers. They split the students and parents up in groups and walked the capitol building praying inside of the rooms and in front of offices of our elected officials. They had 10 students pray at each stop!
A picnic on the capitol lawn for lunch. 
We took this picture of Joshua while he was waiting for lunch. Think he is contemplating his next bill to get passed or his next vote?
Future Senator?
Learning how the process of getting a bill heard works and then getting passed. They were in the actual room that our Congressmen, Senators and Governor work in for the same process. They thought it was really cool that the Governor probably sat in one of the chairs that was on the same stage they were presenting on.
Waiting to present their bills.
Presenting their bills so they can get assigned to a committee.
It was a long day but we sure had fun and learned a lot!
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