Here is my president's report for November. It was written for certain people, but it also applies to many other people that I am blessed to call friends.

At the end of the Christmas classic "It's a Wonderful Life," George Bailey opens the book that his guardian angel has left for him to read the inscription, "No man is a failure who has friends."

The past few months have been very interesting for MSTA and for our region. Since we met last, we had a very successful Open Hearing and Assembly of Delegates, where issues that are near to the heart of our region's educators were brought up for discussion. Election night came and went, and with it, 90% of MSTA's endorsed candidates won. This year's Convention marked a milestone that few associations ever achieve, and we celebrated it in style. We also adopted revised Articles of Incorporation and By-laws that will allow us to operate in the 21st century as the professional organization and business that we have become. We have plenty to celebrate!

We're just getting started. Following Convention, the board met for five hours to discuss the future of our Association. The future has never been brighter for MSTA. We are poised to take on Jefferson City this year and come out with victories like we haven't seen in some time. We have passionate leaders who will lead the charge, and we have many more passionate members who will be right behind them.

With all the excitement from November, there was also some disappointment. On election night, half of the candidates lost. Some of them lost by a large margin; others by just a vote or two. I was also disappointed by the outcome of an election when I lost the write-in campaign for MSTA Vice President. I understood the disappointment felt by so many political candidates just a week earlier. But I was also encouraged by the support that I received from so many members from across the state and from our region.

The quote from "It's a Wonderful Life" helped me remember that success and failure aren't determined by how much you accomplish or at what level you lead. If you look around at the people you call friends and consider why they call you their friend, it's easy to remember the successes you've had in life. As I think about the friendships I have with fellow leaders throughout the state, I realize the impact of my involvement up to this point. And as I think about those of you that I am blessed to call my Southeast Region friends, I can't help but think I'm the most successful person in the world. You are the greatest friends anyone could ask for, and I appreciate your support and service to the children of Southeast Missouri.

Individually, people make mistakes. Collectively, they make even bigger mistakes. No one's perfect. This form of government that we call democracy protects the rights of the minority, and it gives privileges to the majority. Sometimes the minority is wrong. Sometimes the majority is wrong.

Since I converted to a Republican in October 1996 (wow - ten years ago) I have never heard the Republican party referred to as the minority. We were the party in control back when I still believed my dad and grandpa when they said Bill Clinton walked on water. We had control of Congress for twelve years. Half of that time, we had control of Congress AND the White House. A lot has happened in those years.

Tuesday night, I watched helplessly as the majority became the minority - as we lost races all across the country to give up control of the House. I awoke in the middle of the night to find out that we even lost our own Senate seat to the other party. And then I finally realized yesterday that we had lost control of the Senate, too. It's just been a week of loss!

But no matter how horrible we feel about what happened this week, or how much we think life as we know it is about to end, we have to remember that it's not as bad as it seems. God didn't wake up in the middle of the night on Tuesday to realize that Claire McCaskill won, or that the cloning amendment passed. He wasn't surprised by that. He knew it was going to happen long before Claire was talked into running, or Michael J. Fox sat in front of that camera. He's in control. He knows what's going on.

Neil Cavuto had an interesting take on the whole ordeal. It seems like the media just added to the despair that I was feeling and the depression that many Republicans were sinking into as headlines and bright-colored graphics announced to the world that the Democrats ruled. Headlines don't last. Heroes are mortal. Life really is, as Neil described it, "a series of snapshots." It changes all the time. They won this time, but we'll have our chance again.

"Don't Know What You've Got Until it's Gone"
by Neil Cavuto

"Good headlines. Enjoy 'em while you got 'em. Because unfortunately they do not last.

Just ask Donald Rumsfeld. There was a time he was a media rock star. His press conferences were legendary. His reputation even more so. That was when the Iraq war was going well. Then it wasn't. Then he wasn't. Then he resigned. Happens all the time.

Two years ago Republicans were feeling pretty cocky, a president re-elected, a House and Senate secure. They got arrogant. Then, they got walloped.

Just like Democrats got arrogant in 1974, when they rode an anti-Republican Watergate-dominated mid-term election wave that two years later produced a Democratic president... Only to lose it all in 1980 to something called a Reagan revolution.

Twenty years later Republicans were feeling pretty cocky, convinced that their takeover of the House had all but madeBill Clinton a one-termer. It hadn't.

I guess nothing shocking or profound here, save this:

Take life as a series of snapshots. A flash in time. That changes...all the time. In the moment, at the moment, we in the media record them as great seismic events. Until they're not. And the only debate is who's the greater fool...the folks who thought the good headlines would last forever...or the folks who wrote 'em?"

Politics aren't eternal. Relationships are - relationships with God and with others. Make the most of both.

Most expectant parents have nine months to choose a name. We had eight. But we had agreed on four names before we were even engaged, so that made the whole process much smoother. Of course, since that was two years ago, her feelings about some of the names has changed. So I don't really know if we will stick with our original agreement or compromise. Either way, we are trying to make our children's names very meaningful.

We decided to name our first daughter Ella Rose. As soon as we tell most people, they say, "that's pretty. It sounds like a family name." To which we reply, "it is!" You see, my wife and I have two wonderful grandmothers. We have very special memories of these two women who helped to shape our lives. My grandmother who passed away in July was Fern Castella. My wife's grandmother is Rosanna (with no middle name). To honor both grandmothers, we took Ella from Castella and Rose from Rosanna.

Ella has a cousin named Julianna Rose, who was born on September 15, 2003. Ella was born on September 16, 2006. We didn't know she would be born so closely to Julianna's birthday when we chose to use the same middle name, but that is something else that adds some meaning to her name.

Other names that we still have are

• Joseph William Marc (my name, my dad's name, and my father-in-law's name),
• Jace Henry (we just like Jace - and my grandpa had an uncle Jake, and Henry is my grandpa's middle name and his dad's first name), and
• Allison Lynn (my great grandma was Alice, and my wife's middle name in Lynn).

Now if we can just have two boys and another girl, we’ll be set!

The names that we give children are special to us. We call them by their names; they answer us; when they’re babies, we sit and rock them and repeat their names over and over and over and over. One day, they may be famous. Their names may be on billboards or in newspapers. They may be in books or important documents filed in government offices. They may be on TV or radio or known across the globe. Or they may only be known to a few local people and nothing more.

I have two goals for my children’s names:

1. That when someone else hears my son or daughter’s name, the only thought is about what a difference he or she has made, and
2. That one day, when time is over here on earth, they’ll all be written in the only book that matters for eternity – the Book of Life.

Nothing else matters. You see, when we get to heaven and get our time to speak to God, He’s not going to be the wicked judge that people imagine. He’s not going to point out all of our faults and tell us how we don’t deserve to be there. He’s not going to point to all the good things we did and tell us how much we deserve to be there. The only thing God is going to say related to why you should be in heaven will be “what did you do with My Son?” and “what did you do with what you were given?”

My goals for my children’s names will give them the answers for those two questions. To the question “what did you do with My Son?” I want my children to be able to answer, “I accepted Him and served Him with my life.” And to the question “what did you do with what you were given?” I want them to be able to answer, “I used it all to make a difference in the lives of others.”

Are you playing the name game? Am I playing the name game? Are we chasing fame for fame’s sake? Are we striving to achieve power and prestige just to be able to impress people or have a lot of money? Or are we striving to make the name of God known? Are we striving to make a difference in the world?

I think so many times we get the whole idea of names wrong. We think our names should be known on earth, and God’s name should be known in heaven. But that’s backward. God’s name should be known all over the earth, and your name should be known in heaven.

Two things – Honor God. Love People.