As most of you know, we stepped away from tea party activities in late March of this year, not because we no longer believed in tea party principles - they are needed now more than ever - but because we needed the time to spend with our family. Our youngest son will be graduating from high school and heading to college this fall. Life is often about responsibilities and priorities, and we do the best we can to know ours.

We encourage others to continue the tea party grassroots message. We know that tea parties have found it tough sledding on their own and they have often chosen to align themselves with large state-wide or national organizations to buttress their resources and help guide their message. We caution against too much reliance on such organizations, many of whom seem very GOP-centric to us. It seems to us that it would be better to keep your organization non-partisan, small, underfunded and passionate than to give up control and direction to folks who do not necessarily share the same agenda as your local community. Just our two cents.

God bless Texas and the United States of America!