I've dreamed of it for years, and now I have finally arrived. I'm a dot com!

After the recent email glitches at school, including our email scanner labeling blogspot.com as "spam," I bought joeclauser.com. I had a link to my blog as the signature on all my email messages, but since our email scanner thought it was spam, it wouldn't let messages back in. So if someone would respond to my message, their response would bounce back to them as undeliverable. Since having the address as my signature is my main source of "advertising," I decided that I needed another way to direct people to my blog and still be able to receive replies.

My new address, joeclauser.com, offers many possibilities for communication and navigation of my web presence. For now, I have my main page, as well as blog.joeclauser.com, pointed to my blog site. Soon, internship.joeclauser.com will be pointed to my internship portfolio. I can also create URLs such as work.joeclauser.com, church.joeclauser.com, or anything else imaginable, point those addresses to various websites, and be able to share my life with the world in a whole new way.

I'm excited about the possibilities that this new venture provides - all for only $8.50 a year - just 2 cents a day!

Procrastinator that I am, I usually find time to do things weeks, months, or even years after I should have actually done them. When I finally take the time to complete something, I realize that I shouldn't have put it off so long. It's usually not that I don't want to do it - it's just that other, more pressing things, seem to take precedence at the time.

Take, for instance, my Life Plan. This time last year, we were going through the series at church. We were challenged to write out the plan that we thought God had for our life and some goals that we would work toward accomplishing in the coming year. I never took the time to sit down and flesh the whole thing out - I put a lot of thought into it, and I had some idea of what it would look like, but I never had anything on paper that I could take out to and say, "this is my Life Plan." Until last night.

My wife decided that we should have a weekly family meeting - every Sunday night. Ok . . . good idea. But what would we talk about? I thought we needed some sort of plan for what we would discuss at the meeting. What a perfect time to sit down and write out our Life Plans together, then use them for the "agenda" at our family meetings!

After two hours of hashing over words and discovering the goals that we each have, we came up with individual Life Plans and a family Life Plan. The three plans contain a mission statement, core values, and goals. Our individual plans also include our spiritual gifts.

My core values are authenticity, character, creativity, devotion, excellence, teamwork, integrity, leadership, learning, loyalty, servant leadership, and family. My spiritual gifts include encouragement, wisdom, knowledge, service, leadership and administration.

I wrote three goals that I would like to accomplish this year. Some will be harder than others: have a consistent quiet time, lose 20 pounds before August, and find an administration position that will allow me to provide leadership for a school building.

Our mission statements are short descriptions of the purpose we believe God has for our lives. This is who we are, and why we exist.

My mission statement:
"To use my gifts and abilities to make the greatest possible impact on Missouri public education while providing the best possible life experience for my family."

Jessica's mission statement:
"To raise my children at home in order to instill morals and give them a stable and loving childhood."

Our family mission statement:
"To challenge each member of our family to be a moral, productive individual who commits to follow God and actively seek His will for his or her life."

Now that we have taken the time to flesh out the details of our Life Plans and commit to live them out, we can hold each other accountable for the progress. If you'd like more information about Life Plan, check out meadowheights.com and click on the GROW tab.

On occasion, teachers have those magic moments when the world seems to stop for a second and we realize that we are making a difference in the life of a student. Something happens that brings a tear to our eye or makes us sit a little taller and take pride in an experience that we've helped create that we know will change one child or a group of children forever. I had one of those moments this morning.

Every Friday, my English class reads the Scholastic Scope magazine. There is always a classroom play that we try to do first, and then we continue through the stories and activities in the rest of the magazine. This morning, we read the play "Freedom Writers," which is based on the 1999 novel and subsequent movie that I had never heard of. The movie stars Hilary Swank as teacher Erin Gruwell who shows students the power of their words and help them reject gang life. The teacher uses Homer's The Odyssey to introduce them to the concept of overcoming obstacles on the journey of life. She also uses The Diary of Anne Frank to illustrate how racial injustice and gang violence can hurt society. She then assigns the students a journaling assignment - for the rest of the year, they keep a journal that can be private or shown to Ms. Gruwell. She tells them she will look at everyone's journal to make sure they are doing the assignment, but she will only read them if they are left in a cabinet in the room. And so no one else will read them, the cabinet will be locked when she is not in the room.

After reading the play, we had about twenty minutes of class time left. I decided to have my students write a journal entry about an obstacle they had overcome. This could be something I would read or something they could take home and throw away. Either way, I would check to make sure they wrote something.

After fifteen minutes, I decided to kill the remaining five minutes of class by allowing the students to read their journal entries if they chose. Unlike other times that I have asked them to share orally, I told them I would not give bonus points - I was simply offering the opportunity and there was no bribery involved.

One student shared his story of getting his four-wheeler stuck in a muddy pond. It was a typical middle school boy story about making a foolish decision and somehow having fun almost tearing up a piece of equipment. And of course, the other boys thought that was cool. The other student to volunteer was a girl - not a popular girl, but one who is often rejected by her classmates. Not the brightest student in the class, but one who struggles to pull off a passing grade. Not a well spoken student with eloquent writing, but one whose speech is hard to understand. Even with those obstacles already against her, she had the nerve to volunteer to walk to the front of the room, stand in front of twenty-six of her peers, and pour her heart out in a way that most kids her age wouldn't dream.

She started by sharing that her mom gave her to her aunt and uncle when she was one, but later changed her mind and took her back so she could "get her check for cigarette money." Her real dad was never around, and although her mom was there, she was never available for her. "...all I felt like I was was just something to give her the name 'mom'." She never had nice clothes, she wore shirts that were too big for her and shoes that were too small. In first grade, she was taken away from her mom. There was a large fight and she recalls having to tell the police officer how her mom would see things "on the wall and everything else."

She remembers how two elementary teachers helped her through that time in her life, and how she never knew where she would be going each day after school. When she was asked to decide where she wanted to live, she chose her aunt and uncle, and after four years of legal battles, she was finally adopted. She closed by saying, "I am happy where I'm staying now with my aunt and uncle. They are my new mom and dad."

As she walked away from the podium to return to her seat, everyone clapped and no one spoke a word. She had cried through the whole story, and I have a feeling some of them had, too. I sat on the other side of the room, smiling on the outside and crying on the inside. I was so excited that she was sharing her most difficult struggle with the rest of the class, but I was hurting because I could not imagine the pain she had suffered throughout her childhood. I knew that sharing her story wasn't easy for her to do, but I could just imagine the freedom she was feeling by getting it off her mind and allowing her peers to share it with her.

After class, a few girls came up to her to give her a hug and say something to her. Some of them even walked with her through the hall as she went to her next class. I don't know that she had ever shared any of that with her classmates. Something we have to deal with in public schools is the vast spectrum of personal experience that students bring to the classroom. We work with kids from every walk of life.

In the play that we read in class, one student wrote in her journal, "I'm envious of kids with fathers. I hope they don't take for granted all the little things he does like say 'Good morning' or 'Goodnight.'" Or just asking what they did in school that day. That would be the perfect Cinderella story for me - no glass slippers, just a 'How was school today?'" I wonder what that girl in my class was thinking as those words were read. I wonder how many others feel the same way. And I wonder how many of them hear "How was school today?" and think that having that $100 pair of shoes or that new iPod is their Cinderella story.

Teachers have the best job in the world - we get to help mold lives forever. Whether it's those second grade teachers who helped a struggling girl cope with being taken from her family or the eighth grade teacher encouraging her to share her story with the class, we never know when we'll have that opportunity to make a difference. I'm glad I had that opportunity this morning - I'll never forget it.

Each Wednesday, Mark Toti interviews a Fredericktown School District employee about an education topic. This morning, I was in the hot seat to talk about the Middle School Academic Team. I was a little nervous because it was a live interview, so if I messed up, there was no way to go back and fix it before broadcast. But it was actually a lot better than I expected. Like most interviews, it turned into a very casual conversation and most of the thoughts flowed very well - until he asked me for a sample question, and I wasn't prepared. I recovered, but it was a little awkward not being prepared for that.

Here's a summary of what I shared with Mark about the team.

This is my fifth year coaching the team. Each year, I've been assisted by Jane Stephenson, and I don't know that I could have done it without her. I really appreciate her willingness to help out. Every year, we have a team that represents our school well. I have been very proud of all of them. Two years ago, we placed 3rd at the conference tournament.

This year, we have thirteen team members (grades 7 & 8) and two managers (sixth graders). We compete against other schools on Tuesdays and Thursdays in February.

Matches consist of four rounds lasting fifteen minutes or fifty questions. The questions are about topics such as math, science, literature, grammar, history, geography, and current events.

This year, we have three returning members; the other ten are new. Even with the lack of experience, I think this will be a great season for our team. We started practicing in November, and we'll have eighteen practices in before our first match. This team has worked very well together, and I think that they definitely know the meaning of teamwork.

I think the best thing that involvement with Academic Team can offer a Middle School student is a sense of belonging and community. They learn that each of them is just as important as the other. When one of them gets discouraged because he or she hasn't answered any questions, my assistant coach tells the story of cookie baking. When you make cookies, you only use a pinch of salt, but that little bit of salt is just as important as all the flour, sugar, eggs, and other ingredients that seem more important. When a match is close (and they are sometimes won or lost by one or two points), the contribution of the teammate who answered one question is just as important as the one who answered ten.

We start the season January 30 when we host Farmington at 4:00 in the Middle School cafeteria. Parents and other spectators are welcome!

When Fox announced a new show back in 2001, promising edge-of-your-seat thrills and surprises at every turn, with a countdown clock that followed a man through twenty-four hours, I wasn't very impressed. I didn't want to watch it, and for the first three or four episodes, I didn't. Until the night I watched the last half of an episode . . . and then I was hooked. I've been a 24 addict for five seasons, and this weekend I started the sixth season like most other Bauer devotees - in front of the TV through the intense four-hour season premiere. And like every season before, it's clear to see that the next five months will be VERY interesting.

After two years in a Chinese prison, Jack was brought back to die. But since the show revolves around him, he couldn't - and he escaped. Did anyone not see that coming? And that was just the first five minutes. It's amazing what Jack can do in a few minutes - even more so in an hour. In the past hour, I got dressed, fed Ella a bottle, drove to school, and checked my email. That's it - my hour is up. In an hour last night, Jack was asked by the President to lead the search to find a nuclear scientist, drove across town to Jillian's house, convinced Curtis to work with Assad, got a Presidential pardon for the terrorist, shot his friend, lost it, told Buchanan he quit, and watched a nuclear bomb explode. We both had 1 hour - 60 minutes - 360 seconds.

At the end of hour four, Jack was faced with one of the toughest decisions we've ever seen him make - let Curtis shoot Assad, or shoot Curtis. My heart stopped for a few seconds when Jack pulled the trigger and shot the man who had protected him and worked with him for years - possibly his best friend now that Tony is gone - and I could only imagine what he felt in that split second. Thinking that was the biggest shock of the night (and it was definitely big enough), I was almost numb as I watched the guy push the detonator on the nuclear bomb and the mushroom cloud rise above the city. Jack and his team weren't able to stop the terrorists this time, but as all 24 fans know, there must be a bigger plan. We got a glimpse of it in next week's previews, and it looks like we're in for an exciting season.

In 24, Jack Bauer has twenty-four hours to save the world. For the past five seasons, he hasn't let us down. He's faced with many difficult decisions, and most of them deal with national security. Each day, we all get twenty-four hours to use as we choose. We are faced with many decisions, and most of them do NOT deal with national security. Actually, many of the decisions we make on a daily basis are more important than that. Each day, we are given choices that affect eternal security - for ourselves, for those we love, and for those we've never met. How are you using the time that God has given you? If we could all sit down and watch twenty-four hours of your life tick by on a TV screen, it may not be as exciting as Jack's story, but would it be as powerful? Would we see you make good decisions, do the right thing, and protect the Word of God the way Jack protects the constitution? Jack works for the President of the United States, but we work for the King of the Universe. Live life like every second counts!

Ok, what's up with the weather? Everyone else in Missouri got ice and snow from the storm over the weekend, but it was warm enough here that we only got rain - and a lot of it. Then I wake up this morning and the temperature is twelve degrees, and there's a trace of snow blowing around. Where was the cold when we had the moisture - and now that we have the cold, where's the moisture? I've about had it! I want snow!

Nothing about politics gets under my skin more than for someone to say, "I vote based on the issues, not the party," but when they're asked about the stance of their candidate of choice, they don't seem to know the candidate's position on most issues. They don't read newspapers; they don't really watch the news; they simply listen to media hype and spin and vote based on what they take for granted is the person's platform, based on party affiliation. I've watched the vicious cycle in my own family for far too long.

A few years ago, I stumbled across a site that allows you to select responses to various positions on current issues. It then provides a list of the forerunners in the campaign, with a percentage match based on your choices. There are over 20,000 selectors for all kinds of topics, from religion to refreshments; from Harry Potter to hair styling products. While many of the decisions that the site can help with are menial and should require no thought at all, more important decisions, such as who to vote for, can be well worth the investment of time.

Check out the 2008 Presidential Selector today!

Here are my top five five:
(100%) 1: Rep. Duncan Hunter (R)
(87%) 2: Rep. Tom Tancredo (R)
(80%) 3: Sen. Sam Brownback (R)
(66%) 4: Sen. John McCain (R)
(66%) 5: Ex-Rep. Newt Gingrich (R)

And bottom five:
(27%) 19: Sen. Christopher Dodd (D)
(22%) 20: Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D)
(22%) 21: Ex-VP Al Gore (D)
(22%) 22: Sen. John Kerry (D)
(16%) 23: Sen. Barack Obama (D)

When I was on staff at church, our annual retreats often began with a time called "Celebrate and Evaluate." We would share three accomplishments in our particular area for the past year, and then three challenges or goals that we faced for the coming year. It was a time to celebrate what God had done in our ministries and be honest about where we needed to work to improve in the future.

I decided to take that concept and have a similar time of reflection for the Southeast Region MSTA Executive Committee at our January meeting last night. When I emailed the members of the committee to remind them of the meeting, I asked that they each begin thinking about something (personal or professional) that they could share during that time. Once I started concentrating on the agenda and trying to finish the meeting in a timely manner, I forgot all about the reflection time. At 7:30, I adjourned the meeting and thought the night was over. Then one of our field reps reminded me that I had overlooked part of my plan.

When I originally considered the share time, I almost backed out, thinking no one would want to participate. Why would they want me prying into their personal and professional lives? They are volunteers, serving on a committee, meeting every other month to make decisions concerning the regional organization. What business do I have asking them to reflect on 2006 and make plans for 2007? When the night was over, I understood that the entire exercise was not at all about me leading a time of reflection - it was about God showing up in a group of nine teachers and touching their lives.

As we went around the table, we shared personal burdens, health concerns, family issues, financial decisions and career challenges. We had plenty to be thankful for - don't get me wrong. We weren't having a pity party for ourselves. God provided in big ways in 2006 - from new babies to spiritual breakthroughs; support at work to reaffirmation in leadership. It is amazing to me, as I sit here thinking back over everything that was shared, how much God did through nine very ordinary individuals in just 365 days.

What I had intended to be a five-to-ten-minute time of sharing turned into forty-five minutes of building relationships. I'm quite sure that at no point in our lives will any of us look back on January 8, 2007, and say, "I wish we would have left forty-five minutes earlier," but from time to time we will all look back and say, "remember when we sat around that table and shared life together? Remember that struggle you were facing? How are you doing? Remember what I was concerned about last year? Look what God has done in my life since then."

How many times do we look at our professional lives as an obligation to get the work done, without any thought to the struggles and victories of the people we are working with? Sharing life together is as simple as asking a group of nine people to share one thing they're thankful for and one challenge they face. God may not bless all the time that you invest in turning a profit, making a name for yourself, or being the leader of the pack. But I know that He will bless every second that you spend investing in others.

Words are all around us. We see them, hear them, and speak them every day. Loving words and harsh words . . . words to encourage others and words to tear them down . . . memorable quotes and trite cliches . . . informative snipits and meaningless babble. Words are all around us.

From time to time, godly people speak words of truth into my life. Sometimes it's unwanted (but needed) advice; other times, it's something supportive. I've appreciated the wisdom of many people over the past few years on my journey into adulthood. Last year, one of those individuals shared an insight that stuck with me through 2006 and reminds me not to get discouraged when what seems like defeat comes my way.

Last fall, I applied for a job that I thought was made for me. On my list of dream jobs, this one was definitely at the top, and I just knew that God had provided the opportunity just for me. A lot of people were praying for me through the whole process, including the person who was retiring from the position. For months, I poured everything I could into getting the job.

I can still remember every detail of the day I was interviewed. I can visually walk through the entire day and relive almost everything that was said. At the end of the interview, one of the men interviewing said, "sometimes God says 'yes,' sometimes he says 'no,' and sometimes he says 'not yet.'" I didn't realize how important that sentence would be until I read the letter saying someone else had been chosen to fill the position.

Since that time, I've worked with the person who was chosen for the position, and I understand where I was not quite as qualified at the time. I'm aware of the areas where I need to improve to be a better candidate the next time, and I will continue working on those things. I still believe that the position is one that God is preparing me for in the future, but for now I will continue to seek His will for the steps between here and there and remember that His answer is not always either "yes" or "no." Sometimes, He's just saying "not yet."

I'm facinated with the proceedings of a state funeral - the pomp and grandeur surrounding the final farewell to a public servant who has devoted a lifetime to making a difference. Over the past few years, I have been glued to the television through three such funerals, including Governor Carnahan and Presidents Reagan and Ford.

I recorded Carnahan's funeral via a very fuzzy antenna connection and watched it on a 9-inch black and white TV. A few years later, I had Tivo for capturing all the sights and sounds of Reagan's funeral to watch and dump to VHS later. For Ford's funeral, I not only had the DVR going at home, but I was able to listen live on satellite radio as the motorcade moved from the National Cathedral to Andrews AFB.

The past week has been filled with bipartisan praise for the nation's 38th president, fostering a sense of political unity in Washington, D.C. that was again abandoned this morning as the power in both houses was shifted to a different party and talk of shutting one party out of legislative decision-making took the spotlight on Fox & Friends. What was it about Gerald Ford that made politicians from both sides get along? Was it just a dream that Jimmy Carter and Donald Rumsfeld both eulogized the same political leader? Was Gerald Ford really that great, or was it all just a show of respect?

I grew up in a family of Democrats. I've commented before that my dad and grandpa thought Bill Clinton walked on water, and if it were possible for him to be elected again, they would vote for him over any other person alive. Reagan and Bush were bad words in our house. Growing up, the only thing I ever heard my dad say about Ford was "he wasn't bad for someone that no one elected." That was better than anything I heard about other Republicans. Over the past few days, I've learned a lot about the man who occupied the White House for 895 days just a few years before I was born.

Shortly after 9-11, David Frum wrote a book about President Bush called The Right Man. It's an insider's view about how Bush handled the national crisis in a way that few others would, and how he was the right man for the job. The same title could be used for a biography of Gerald Ford. Given a failing economy, a presidential scandal and a war, few men would have had the ability and courage to lead the country the way President Ford did, especially with a nation that was so hurt by the previous administration. Then again, few men would have been the right man for the job.

Normally, pardoning a president with such a record as Richard Nixon's would be political suicide, and in 1974 it would make sense that many people would hold that against the newly installed leader. It stands to reason that those whose confidence in elected officials had been so deeply hurt by the Watergate scandal would be ready to burn Ford at the stake for allowing such actions to go unpunished. Anyone could clearly reason that it was a case of someone who had been hand-selected as Nixon's replacement repaying the deed to his friend by granting a presidential pardon. But Ford had something else in mind, and he disregarded what political pundits and the general public believed and chose, instead, to do what he felt was best for the country. In hindsight, we can see that his decision to forego allowing the nation's nightmare to continue with hearings and lawsuits to take down the entire leadership was the right choice. Unfortunately for Ford, it wasn't easy to see at the time, and it cost him the gratitude he deserved and instead bought the scorn of the country.

Being the only president to ever serve without being elected president or vice president, Ford didn't carry the baggage that burdens most politicians. He was thrust into the position in a matter of months and was given the chance to heal the nation in its greatest time of need. It must have been a humbling experience to stand in the Oval Office and realize that he did not belong there - that he was not the person chosen for the job - but that he was entrusted with the course of the country. We've been told that he was chosen because of his impecable character - something that Nixon lacked, but something he sought in a vice presidential appointment, knowing he would soon be leaving office. The humility with which Ford approached his new position must have been something rarely seen behind the president's desk. That humility and servantheartedness was made clear as he stood before the cameras and told the American people, "I am acutely aware that you have not elected me as your President by your ballots, and so I ask you to confirm me as your President with your prayers."

As a member of what has come to be known as "the Greatest Generation," Gerald Ford was a true patriot. As a World War II veteran, his national pride was the backbone of his presidency. He knew the sacrifices that had been made to create and protect the government that he was now charged with defending.

One more observation of Ford's character - as a former president, he did not openly criticize the actions of the sitting president. Although he disagreed, he kept remarks private, insisting that they not be released until that president's administration had ended. One of the most respectable virtues of a true American President is the ability to disagree with current policy and not be vocal about that disagreement. I believe Ford showed true respect for the office throughout his post-White House years.

He had the character to make the unpopular decisions, the humility to serve a country in need with no regard to his own ambitions, and the dedication of a true patriot. In the "hour of history that (troubled) our minds and (hurt) our hearts," Gerald Ford was the right man. My prayer is that when history writes its stories about my life, the same can be said of me.

Wow . . . the past two weeks have flown by. Today is the last day of Christmas vacation, and tomorrow it's back to the normal routine for a while. Most people have lots of plans for their vacation. This year, my family and I spent ours at home . . . sick.

The first night of vacation, Ella began running a fever. We kept an eye on it overnight and then called the nurse help line around 5 am when her temperature reached 102. The nurse suggested calling the pediatrician when the office opened, but she said not to get too concerned until it reached 105. After a checkup and a nose swab at the lab, we found out that she had Type A Flu (the popular version that was the illness of choice in Madison County all month). We were quarantined for Christmas vacation! We were able to go to our parents' houses on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

The next week provided even more time stuck at home! How exciting! We were able to get out on Wednesday when my mother-in-law stayed with Ella for a while. We used most of that time to catch up on sleep that we've lost over the past four months, so I'm not complaining about not being able to get out. It saves money and gives us an opportunity to rest that we would not otherwise have.

Yesterday, Jessica felt sick, and Ella started running a temperature again. Hopefully we're not headed into round two!

Rest is God's way of renewing our bodies, souls and minds. I usually don't take time to slow down and rest, and my wife often reminds me that it's not a sin. Even with all that I should have done this December and all that I just wanted to do, taking a break and just staying home was probably not that bad. Especially since it gave all three of us a chance to just spend lots of time together.