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Fellow blogger and dear friend, Bethany Kerr, put up this post on her blog and graciously gave me permission to repost it here.  Many of you remember Bethany.  She’s an accomplished artist, mother of 3, soon to be 4, homeschooler and awfully pretty to boot.  I first met her while moderating at Jill Staneks website.  She sent Jill photographs of the Blessing, the child she miscarried.  That seems so long ago.  Now she is expecting her fourth.

She went to a Sarah Palin book signing and…well, I’ll let her tell the story.

I Met Mike Huckabee today!

Today could not have turned out better than it did.   It was just so exciting!
James was gone today (had to work unfortunately), so I had asked my parents if they would take me to the Birmingham Books a Million (in a mall), so that I could stand in line for a wristband to get a chance to meet Sarah Palin!    I needed someone else to come so that I could get more than 1 wristband (you can only get one per person, and James was going to be coming with me to see Sarah Palin the next day).      I knew it would probably be a long wait, as there were 1500 people who were waiting in line at Michigan…and some of those camped out in the cold overnight so that they would be there early enough to get a chance!
They told me that they would take me, and my parents in law agreed to watch the kids too.  
That afternoon, my parents called to inform me that Mike Huckabee was also going to be in the mall the day we would be there getting wristbands- they already happened to be in Birmingham, so they stopped by and got me a ticket so that I could see him too!   How exciting!
As soon as I realized he was going to be there the next day,  I wanted to draw a picture of him to give him as a gift.   I wasn’t sure if I could make one by the next day, but I focused and was able to complete this drawing of him in 3 hours! 

So this morning my parents and I arrived at the mall parking area a little after 8:00 AM, where hundreds of people were already in line!   We had some chairs and made ourselves comfortable, until 11:00 when the line finally started moving. 

I was wearing my Sarah Palin t-shirt, and was amazed at how many people came up to me remarking about it, and the Huckabee portrait!   The ENTIRE time I was there, people kept commenting about the shirt, and asking how they could get one of the shirts for themselves.  I gave out about a hundred business cards, and about 40 people gave me their numbers so that I could let them buy a shirt from me!   Wow.    Even when I was in the line for the restroom, and when I was in the line for Huckabee’s book signing, people just kept approaching me and asking about my drawings….then we would talk and discuss other things!  It seems that these drawings are a GREAT conversation starter.  I enjoyed getting to know many, many very nice people today!  
When a Fox 6 News camera man started walking around the parking area, several of the people surrounding me shouted to him to get a video of me and my shirt!   They kept pointing at me and saying, "Get her shirt, get her shirt!"!     Who would have thought?
See the lady on the left, holding the microphone? It was her idea! (She was so nice!!)

At first, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do this, but there he came walking towards me and said, "Well, now you know I have to do an interview!"  
He pointed his camera at me- I was amazed at how bright the light was!  Everyone was looking at me, and  I could barely hear anything he said at first, because there were so many people talking, but I somehow managed to answer all of his questions! 
He asked me why I was there, what I liked about Palin, and whether I would vote for Palin as president in 2012 if she were to run.  I’m sure you can predict my answers!

Somehow I managed to answer his questions without totally going blank!    I was so enthusiastic and happy about being there….   It was surreal and such a cool experience! 

We finally got our wristbands…numbers 393, and 394.  I was so happy that we made it in time…we should be able to get in to see Palin.  Unfortunately we can’t get photos of her but it will be just wonderful getting to see her!
At about 3:00, people started lining up to see Huckabee.   It had been pretty cold outside, but it was stifling hot inside Books a Million with hundreds of people packed inside like sardines!   We lined up according to our numbers…I had number 139.   My parents got a really good spot up close to stand and take pictures….  It seemed like the line took forever, but finally it was my turn to get my books signed by Huckabee.

After he signed my books and we shook hands, I gave him my portrait.  He said, "Did you draw this for me? Thank you so much!"    (I had been so afraid I wouldn’t be able to give it to him -because of the strict rules- but he accepted it so graciously!)  

Then I asked him if he wouldn’t mind smiling for my parents…. he turned around, and gave them a big smile with the portrait.   It really was so kind of him to do that!  

Good Work Bethany!

If any of you would like to know more about the “T-Shirts” you can go here.

You can also see more of Bethany’s artwork, here.