Our first Capitol Day

February 9, 2010 was OK Homeschool Capitol Day. This is something I contemplated doing last year, but didn't. This year, however, we jumped in and had a blast!

To me, the process seemed a little overwhelming. Thankfully, my dear (and experienced) friend, Michelle, allowed us to tag along to see how it all works. We had the most pleasant of days and met many wonderful people. It was a day to remember and we look forward to next year's Capitol Day.

Track I is for adults only so we preregistered online with OCHEC for Track II. Registration at the Capitol began as early as 9:30 a.m. We arrived around 10:30, parking to the East of the building and using the underground walkway to stay out of the COLD weather!



Here are our wonderful kids! We dressed in "church clothes" for this event. Business attire at the Capitol seemed to be suit & tie.


I can't believe I've lived in Oklahoma for 17 years and I've never visited the Capitol. It is a beautiful building!








At the first floor, there were tables set up all around. Since we had preregistered online, registration really meant picking up your name tags. Once that was done, we went to the information table. At the information table there were several handouts and you could look up the office room numbers of legislators you would like to visit.






There was a "cookie drop" at 10, which we missed. So, after running into many friends from our homeschool group, we headed up to visit Senator Steve Russell. Senator Russell welcomed us into his office, shaking all of our hands. (There were 5 families from our homeschool group represented - 16 of us including our children!) Senator Russell talked with us about some legislation that was proposed. We learned he is a homeschooling parent, a Christian and a retired Army Lt. Colonel. He posed with our children for pictures and told us to let him know if there's anything he can do for us.

After our visit, we went to the first floor to have lunch. Tables were set up for the homeschoolers but they were all taken. So our group sat on the floor at the end of hall that wasn't too busy. We all packed lunches and enjoyed a time of fellowship.

It was about 1 p.m. and so we went to the "cookie drop" table also on the first floor. They had cookies boxed up and a list of who to deliver them to. We were at the tail end of getting cookies, so we were given 3 boxes of cookies to deliver to the Press Room. (Others delivered them to legislators and other Capitol staff members.)






At 1:15, our group went to the Senate galleries (5th floor). Around 2 the Senators went into session and recognized the PACKED galleries of homeschool families. It was really amazing! I wanted to stay and hear the session but I wasn't feeling well (too much sugar for lunch AND a hot, stuffed, standing-room-only room). So the we headed out. I think we will go back sometime to just for the purpose of hearing a session.






We dropped our cookies off and headed to Representative Key's office. He was in a meeting but the secretary told us to have a seat. After a couple minutes, Key came out and visited with us. He is also a homeschool parent and very kind. We visited a few minutes and then started to leave. Key's secretary invited Brendan to call her in the fall and see about being a Page for Key. That was very exciting, and Brendan is interested!!! She visited with us a bit, told Brendan she liked his hair and offered us cookies.

We met back up with Michelle and her kids and tried to meet several other legislators that were on a committee for a proposed house bill that would affect homeschoolers. Most were in meetings but we had a wonderfully pleasant meeting with Ann Coody. She invited us to sit down in her office and visited with us. She also had a professional photographer come up and take a picture of us with her. She said she would send us a copy.

It was about 3 at this point. We were all pretty tired. They asked us to use the stairs instead of the elevator for the day. Since this is a working day for these folks, they didn't want us tying up the elevators all day. There were 5 floors in the building and we went up and down the stairs many times. This pregnant woman got her exercise!!!



All around, on each floor, there was beautiful art work. Brendan took many of these pictures.







Before leaving for the day, we stopped into the museum on the first floor.



It was small but there were many great pieces of art. It was a nice way to end our day.



It was truly a great day! The key legislation that we were lobbying against is not supposed to be heard due directly to the multitude of homeschooling families contacting their legislators. The theme of the day was to establish a personal relationship with our own representatives on many issues, not just homeschooling.

OCHEC

has announced that over 1500 homeschoolers attended the Capitol Day this year!!! I hope next year it will be even more. Oklahoma is one of the most homeschool-friendly states in our country. Let's keep it that way!

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone - for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quite lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good and pleases God our Savior...

~1 Timothy 2:1-3a