It's been said that money is the root of all evil. In public education, it is often believed that money is the root of all failure. Many teachers, consciously or not, point to low socio-economic status as one factor in low student achievement. Administrators cite a lack of state funding as the reason they cannot provide services that will improve performance, and parents and community members often believe the state pours more than enough money into public education causing a lack of focus by increasing programs and overpaying teachers, which (I'm sure) could be blamed for low student achievement.

Opinions aside, school finance is a topic that many in our profession do not understand - either by choice or by circumstance. Teachers are not financial gurus - if we were, we'd be accountants or stock brokers. For the most part, we do well keeping our own checkbooks balanced and making provisions for retirement. We don't spend a lot of time researching tax structures, budgets and funding formulas. So it's no wonder many of us do not realize what is involved in school finance. We are usually content to let the "experts" handle that as we go about our daily lives doing what we're experts at - teaching.

Last night, I attended the Southeast Region MSTA School Finance & Salary Workshop. Each year, we bring in MSTA salary consultants who complete "workups" based on school districts' budgets. They take information from the current and preceding five years, plug it into a proprietary computer program, and print out sixteen tables that provide a glimpse at each district's financial condition, including estimates for the next year. This information provides local salary committees a starting point for negotiating salary increases.

The best place to start in understanding school finance is with the philosophy behind the funding formula. Prior to this school year, districts were funded based on a tax-driven formula. The calculations for funding were based on the district's tax levy, and any amount above the minimum $2.75 per $100 assessed valuation was beneficial for districts in that they received more local monies and more state monies. While the old formula was in place, our district passed a levy increase (the first increase in years) to $3.20. It was a huge victory for our school, but one that was very short-lived.

The new operating levy was in effect for the 2003-04 school year, providing a half-million new dollars for the district. This was around the time that then-Governor Holden withheld funding from school districts and the funding debate had almost reached a boiling point in the state Capitol. The next two school years would see a lawsuit that forced the legislature to address the issue, ultimately resulting in a new, student-needs-driven formula.

The 2006-07 school year was the first in the seven-year phase-in period. This year, we received 85% of our funding from the 05-06 formula and 15% from the SB287 formula. By the year 2012-2013 (ironically, the year after 100% of the students must score in the top two levels on the MAP,) we will be receiving 100% of our funding from the new formula. The phase-in period was set to allow for an increase in school funding without any statewide tax increases.

The basic elements of the new formula include

• Weighted ADA (average daily attendance),
• State Adequacy Target ($6,117 per student),
• Dollar Value Modifier (presumed to adjust for cost of living),
• and Local Effort (the amount of money the district collects from local taxes).

The basic formula is (WADA) X (SAT) X (DVM) - (LE) = State Funding. The philosophy behind the formula is admirable, and the effort put forth by the legislature and the Governor to pass a new funding formula to address the needs of students and districts is commendable. Unfortunately, certain provisions in the formula still contribute to inequity among districts and put more of a burden on some districts than exists for others.

For our district, the Dollar Value Modifier is the most detrimental aspect of the new formula. In our consultation last night, we were assured that the position that our superintendent has taken is correct, and that our DVM value is hurting our school. This index, presumably a way to adjust revenue for districts based on their costs to operate in their geographic location, was part of a compromise between rural and suburban legislators that had to be settled before the funding bill would pass. The philosophy behind the DVM was that a suburban district would have higher costs (construction, utilities, salaries, etc.) than a rural district. The compromise was to tie a factor, ranging from 1.000 to 1.104, to the new funding. While a district with a 1.000 DVM would receive $6117 per student, a district with a 1.104 DVM would receive $6753 per student. In our district, this would be a difference of $1,204,965.60.

When the DVM chart was first published, superintendents like ours started looking at neighboring counties and seeing that districts not far from them were given DVMs that were much different than their own. The distance of a few miles could mean the difference of up to 1% of the total budget, and that didn't sit well many administrators. At first, I dismissed this notion as unwarranted jealousy. Over the past couple of years and after last night's meeting, I am more convinced now than ever that something must be done to ensure equity among economically similar districts. In a future post, I will address the issue of Dollar Value Modifier and what can be done to fix the disparities. For now, I want to shift gears and talk about the real reason for the workshop - salary analysis.

In the six years that I have worked in this district, we have increased salaries twice. Besides normal steps on the schedule for experience and education, our teachers have not received adequate raises. While surrounding districts have topped the $30,000 mark for starting salaries, we are still stuck at $25,500. There is no financial appeal for a new teacher to take a job in our district, and if they do settle for one, the salary schedule does not entice them to stay. For the past few years, we have lost first- and second-year teachers to neighboring districts because they were offered a more attractive salary schedule.

I have prepared a chart that shows MSTA salary statistics for eleven districts in our area. Most of these are in the MAAA Conference. Of the eleven, we rank tenth in overall salary analysis. This chart is not something for our community to be proud of. The administration and school board realize this and would do anything they could to improve. With the current funding situation, their hands are tied at the moment.

Based on MSTA data collected from our budget and analyzed yesterday afternoon, the total net monies available for total teacher fund budget change for 2007-08 will be $309,006. Considerations must be made for the .5% increase in retirement for all employees, after which only a portion of the remaining increase could be used for salary increases. At this time, the analysis shows that our district should once again refrain from increasing salaries - a move that will leave us even further behind others in our area.

It is time for our teachers, administrators and patrons to take action - to lobby for a revision of the Dollar Value Modifier and seek out alternative ways to increase the teacher fund to be able to afford increased salaries. We have a long way to go to just catch up - and our race will only get longer with every year that passes. Until we are able to find an effective way to increase teacher salaries in our district, the officers of CARE are afraid that we will continue to lose quality teachers to neighboring districts.

Based on the financial analysis, I plan to put forth a challenge to the executive committee and members of CARE to work with the administration and board to take an active role in fighting for our fair share. In this ballgame, the ball is in our court. We've been holding it for far too long, and time is almost over. We must act quickly, and we must act decisively. We can't wait for the legislators to make the call - we've gotta run the play.

I've resisted the whole Google craze as long as I could. I was never a fan of simple, especially when it came to computers. The more complicated, the better. A search engine with a white screen and a box just didn't do anything for me - I wanted more . . . more colors, more functions. But over the past few months, I've noticed that I need simple in my life. In fact, there are probably a few areas where I could stand to simplify to better manage my time and increase my productivity. It would also rid my life of some clutter - both mental and physical.

I found myself using Google's Blogger and exploring some of the simple yet neat features that it offers. I've also discovered Google Toolbar isn't annoying, but actually very helpful. I can login on my computer at school (or any other one that has the toolbar), and my bookmarks that I use at home will show up on the toolbar. Google Reader is a great (simple) way to keep up with all the blogs that I read. When I use Google Toolbar to access my Google Reader page (one-click access), I can immediately see all new items from any blog. I can also share items on my own blog with just one click. A box on the right side of my blog allows my readers to read items from other blogs that I've found interesting.

One of the first items that I shared using Google Reader was my friend Michael's complaint about the horrible service he had received from the satellite Internet provider and its subcontractors. The satellite Internet is something that we dealt with at church for over five years, and it's one of the things that I definitely DON'T miss about being on staff. Being a couple hundred feet from the DSL line, we were never able to talk SBC into installing service, and for some reason, cable was never an option. We were stuck with satellite - like it or not (we always chose the not). To follow up on Michael's "good example of BAD customer service," I'll provide my own such story from this past weekend.

Our Academic Team is approaching the end of a very interesting season. This past Friday, we made up the meet that was postponed due to the snow storm that provided for a very unique Capitol Day experience. With no other available dates in February, the other coach and I settled on a Friday afternoon. The meet was horrible - we lost by fifteen points (our worst defeat yet) to bring our record to 3-4. Leaving the school, I allowed the team to vote on where we would eat - between White Castle, Arby's, Burger King and Taco Bell. They chose Taco Bell.

There was a Taco Bell in the town where we were, and there was one in a town we were driving through. I told the bus driver we would just eat in the town where we were so we wouldn't have to get off the highway . . . and I said that it would be cleaner, anyway. Around 5:15, we piled off the bus and headed into the restaurant. It was the worst mistake I've made in a long time, and one that I'll regret for a long time to come.

I should have realized, when we walked into the restaurant, that seeing six people with individual orders waiting on their food was not a good sign. Furthermore, after watching the employees preparing the food, I should have drawn a conclusion that their speed was anything but adequate to keep up with the light volume of the restaurant, and so we should turn around and walk out. Unfortunately, by the time I realized that, five of my students had placed their orders and we were past the point of no return.

Our first order was placed at 5:22. We had sixteen people in our group, with eleven orders between them. The last order (mine) was placed at 5:36. Should it take fourteen minutes to take eleven orders? I would definitely think not. But I'm easy to get along with, and I try to be patient, so I didn't get upset. I started getting upset, however, when I realized that none of the people who were waiting on their food when we walked in had been served in the time that it took us to place our orders.

As I stood in the restaurant waiting for my food, I started taking mental notes about everything going on around me (well, more behind the counter than around me). On the bus ride home that night, I jotted down a few of the things that stood out:

1. At one point, the lady taking orders had been sweeping. When customers entered the restaurant, she put the broom between her legs as she took their orders.
2. An empty hamburger container (like the ones at Wal-Mart) was sitting at the end of the assembly line. It had raw hamburger dripping from its edges onto the counter where they were preparing the food.
3. One man assembling food was doing so without gloves on his hands.
4. Another man who had been assembling food was carrying around brochures without taking off his gloves.
5. My assistant and some of the students watched one man who was preparing food as he dropped the guacomole squirt bottle. It landed with the point hitting the ground; he picked it up, put it on the counter, and continued using it without cleaning it off.
6. Everyone was moving slowly, including the managers. And yet, they had the hardest time keeping the food picked up off the assembly line, and they still couldn't find time to completely wrap the food before putting it into the bags.
7. My order number was 127. After I had waited about thirty minutes for my order, another man who had been waiting a much shorter amount of time said that he was tired of waiting, and so he politely asked one of the employees if they could fix his order out of turn. She gladly took his receipt and another lady's receipt and fixed theirs before the rest of my group's and five other people who had been waiting longer than they had.

Forty-five minutes after I placed my order, my number was called. My six crunchy tacos were finally ready! When we walked out of the restaurant around 6:30, they were serving number 133 and were taking orders above 150. My final complaint about the service of the restaurant is that they took people's orders and their money, knowing full well that it was taking close to an hour to prepare the food, and yet they would not warn the customers. Unsuspecting customers who thought they were making a quick fast food stop were waiting longer for their food at Taco Bell than I waited on Saturday for my jumbo shrimp platter at Landry's; longer than it took to wait for a table then order, eat, and pay for yesterday's lunch, including the unlimited salad, at the Pasta House.

Most restaurants are busy on Friday evenings, especially between five and seven. And most restaurants take some time to fill orders for large groups. However, this restaurant wasn't keeping up with the flow before we ever arrived, and our group wasn't really that large. This season, we have eaten at Subway and McDonald's and never had to wait more than fifteen minutes for everyone's order to be taken AND filled. My wife takes a group of fifty students and parents to Jefferson City each year in May. We stop at McDonald's on the way back, and they are able to serve us in under twenty minutes. There is no excuse for a restaurant to not be able to serve eleven orders in a timely manner. Needless to say, we will not be returning to that establishment any time soon.

Last weekend was the official start of the 2007 NASCAR season, with the Daytona 500. Since Dale's accident in 2001, I hadn't had a favorite driver. I would watch as often as I could, but I never seemed to get involved as much as I'd like. This year, I decided to try a little harder to watch more races and stay informed about the season. I started with the Budweiser Shootout on the tenth, and that night I chose a new drive to follow: David Gilliland.

His first time at Daytona, the Yates Team driver finished second to Tony Stewart. He said, "I've always dreamed about racing here at Daytona and to be able to come and do it -- my first race ever and bring home a second-place finish -- is a dream come true." A new addition to the NASCAR lineup, David Gilliand has potential and determination, and I think that's part of the reason I've chosen him as my replacement for Dale. Not only did he have a great finish at the Shootout, he went on to land the pole position in qualifying for the 500 - next to his teammate, Ricky Rudd. His performance on the big night was anything but beginner's luck.

Starting first in any race is definitely not a guarantee that you will win . . . or even be in the top ten. That's just a fact of life. So going into the race, I didn't think that he was most people's pick to win. I wasn't expecting him to drop from first to last with a bump on pit-road. But in NASCAR, circumstances can change quickly (ask Mark Martin, who thought sure he had won the race on a caution flag, only to find out that they waited to throw it until the two lead cars were past the finish line). As I saw his standing move from 1 to 42 on Lap 83, I almost gave up hope of my driver even landing in the top half. Almost.

Down a lap in Lap 132, he finally got his break in Lap 154 to catch back up to the back end when the caution flag flew. That's all he needed to start his comeback. He quickly went from 35 to 25, and the number kept getting smaller. I told my wife that he would end up winning the race. She said he'd be lucky to end up in the top ten. As the race continued, I watched his place climb, little by little, until he had reached 12th by Lap 190. With ten laps to go, the #38 M&M car pushed into 12th place, and four laps later, he was number 4. The night was getting exciting.

Then a major wreck pulled the red flag, and all cars came to a dead stop. The tension was building. Staring at all those cars, just sitting on the track, I could tell that something big was going to happen. Not an ideal way to end a race, the drivers were looking at a green-white-checkered finish, meaning they would go one lap on green, one on white (signaling the last lap) and then the checkered flag would fly.

Fourth place . . . almost a top-five finish for the comeback kid of the night. From first to last, and back to fourth - it almost seemed to good to be true. As they ran the last laps, I held out hope that he could get low enough to round the lead cars and go on to victory, but in the last few seconds of the race, things started to fall apart. Out of nowhere came Kevin Harvick. Gilliland tried to go up, but he started losing spots and cars started crashing all around him. One even ended up sliding across the finish line on its top. When the smoke cleared, the debris landed, and all of the out-of-control cars came to a stop, the final stats had David Gilliland in eighth place.

First to last to fourth to eighth - that's the story of the M&M car. Impossible situations, and improbable odds were no match for David Gilliland. He fought with everything he had, and he never accepted defeat. All the way to the end, his performance promised a fantastic finish. The wreck in the last seconds claimed his top-five finish, but it definitely didn't touch his determination. "...so stuff happens. It's Daytona and a green-white-checkered finish."

I'm convinced that we haven't seen anything yet from the #38 Ford Fusion, and I'll keep my eyes on those red, yellow, blue and green M&Ms.

Have you ever looked in the mirror and wondered, "Who am I, and how did I get here?" Those are questions we usually don't ask, unless we have amnesia or have taken too much Darvocet. But from time to time, I think we should all stop and ask ourselves the most fundamental questions about our existence.

This week, I've been contemplating those questions as I stand back and look at my life experiences over the past few months. With everything that I have been through and am going through, I just have to ask, "Who am I that I should be living this life? How did I get where I am today?"

I grew up the son of a carpenter and stay-at-home mom. During my late-elementary years, my mom went to college to become a teacher. My childhood wasn't glamorous; we never had the nicest clothes, shoes, or cars. But we had each other, and we knew right from wrong. Dad, Mom, son, daughter, dog, cat . . . in our area, we were the average family.

A graduate of a very small high school in Southeast Missouri, second in my class of seventeen, I grew up a big fish in a small pond. Sure, I was the overachiever involved in all the clubs, band, and any out-of-school opportunity that came up (not sports), but compared with those from larger schools, I was just the average high-schooler. I spent a semester in South Carolina chasing a dream of becoming a pilot, changing my mind shortly after entering college. When I decided to become a teacher, I moved back to Missouri to attend community college then a Baptist college in St. Louis. There's nothing special about my education - for the most part, it's the average story.

Fresh out of college, I landed the first job I interviewed for, bought a house and a car, and started my life. A few years later, I met a beautiful, wonderful girl and married her a year and a half later. Sound familiar? The average story of entering adulthood.

When I stop and think about my average life, certain parts stick out as being anything but average:

• For eight years, I continuously amazed myself with my graphic and media abilities in my position at church.
• I'm the president of the Southeast Region MSTA - a region that encompasses over 70 school districts and represents most of the teachers in those schools.
• I have the most beautiful, well behaved, precious daughter in the world.
• I'm on the Board of Directors of the 40,000 member MSTA, helping to shape the direction and lead the operation of the Association.
• I led our local teachers association through constitutional changes that reshaped the organization and changed its name.
• I recently finished second of thirty-eight applicants for an assistant principalship in a mid-sized high school.
• I stood in front of 1,000 teachers to run as a write-in candidate for MSTA Vice President, and lost by less than 10% of the vote.

When I think about those above-average highlights, I have to wonder, "Who am I?" I'm not a public speaker. When I even think about addressing a group of people, I begin to panic. My heart starts racing and my hands sweat. I'm not a great dad - the first time we took our daughter on a picnic, I forgot to buckle her in the car seat. Sometimes I forget to shake her bottle to mix the powdered formula with the water. I'm not a leader. Given an entire school year, I can't even make a yearbook deadline. Who am I?

In those times that I wonder "who am I," I remember that nothing I have ever accomplished, and nothing I will ever accomplish, is because of who I am. It's all because of who God is. I love the words of the Casting Crowns song, "Not because of who I am, but because of what you've done. Not because of what I've done, but because of who you are." I really am a "flower quickly fading, here today and gone tomorrow, a wave tossed in the ocean, (and) a vapor in the wind." But God is none of those. He has always been there, and he will always be there. He's the beginning and the end.

I'm twenty-eight years old. While I like to think that I have many years ahead of me(hopefully over fifty), I know that my life on earth will not last forever. No one is promised another day of life. I must choose to live each day based on who God is, not on what I can do; on what He has done in me, not on who I am. That's the only way that I can accomplish my life mission - to use my gifts and abilities to make the greatest impact on Missouri public education while providing the best possible life experience for my family.

I've always had a desire to plan my own funeral. Control freak that I am, I just can't stand to think that someone else might pick out sad, slow songs that I've never liked or miss the opportunity to share God's love and purpose by preaching a feel-good message or, worse, one that has nothing to do with life and death. One of the songs that I would like used in my funeral is "How Great is Our God," with the chorus of "How Great Thou Art" at the end. It's a version that we've used at church before - one of the best pictures of the greatness of God, with words that focus on His amazing splendor and majesty:

The splendor of the King, clothed in majesty
Let all the earth rejoice, all the earth rejoice
He wraps himself in light, and darkness tries to hide
And trembles at his voice, and trembles at his voice

How great is our God, sing with me
How great is our God, and all will see
How great, how great is our God

Age to age he stands, and time is in His Hands
Beginning and the End, Beginning and the End
The Godhead, Three in one, Father, Spirit, Son
The Lion and the Lamb, the Lion and the Lamb

Name above all names, worthy of our praise
My heart will sing, how great is our God
Name above all names, worthy of our praise
My heart will sing, how great is our God

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, how great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

Who am I? I belong to God, and I am only who I am because of Him. The lyrics of that song remind me that I can be and do anything, only because of His greatness. Who are you? We all have limited life experiences that sometimes seem to be sub-par for the accomplishments in our lives. Everyone has that mirror moment when we feel inadequate to face the challenges of life. We wonder how we made it this far, and we are amazed at the paths our lives have taken. How did you get where you are? What have you done to deserve the life that you have? What qualifications do you possess that make you the person you are? Where did they come from? Think about it for a moment. And don't forget to give credit to the One who deserves it!

My wife and I have known each other for four Valentine's Days, and so far, we had not spent the evening together. Until this year.

When we looked at the calendar last month and realized that I would have class on February 14, my wife was not exactly thrilled. She reminded me that the first year we were together, I had gone to a wedding; the second year, I was in Jefferson City while she had her wisdom teeth removed; and last year, I had an Academic Team meet at North County and was late getting home. She just wanted one Valentine's Day that I could devote to her.

A couple of weeks ago, Dr. Kiehne offered an assignment in lieu of class on Valentine's Day. I was very thankful for the offer, and surveyed the rest of the class to see if they were also interested. They all accepted, and we got the night off. As part of the agreement, Dr. Kiehne also told me that I would have to bring proof of what I did for my wife (a receipt from a restaurant or pictures of dinner), so in the spirit of overdoing things, I will also write a summary of the day.

It started with a phone call at 9:30 Tuesday night. I was almost asleep, and definitely not expecting the day off, but on the other end of the phone, my snow tree caller told me that we'd have one more day to enjoy. That was just what I needed to prepare a memorable evening. As I snuggled back into bed, I started scheming about the next day.

I've said before that Jessica traded vehicles and is now driving my van. Even though she wasn't taking Ella with her, she was going to take it anyway so she wouldn't have to stop for gas in the Equinox. I heard an awful sound of squealing tires and a revving engine, and I looked out to see her backing off the carport, but the back tires weren't spinning. I opened the window to yell at her, and she said that the brakes were frozen from driving through the babysitter's creek. Afraid she was going to damage my van, I told her to stop trying to free the brakes and just take the Equinox. That's when her bad day started.

Later in the morning, I sat down to check our bank balance and realized that we were $124 overdrawn. I keep a constant eye on our finances, and I know where every dollar goes. There was no way we could be overdrawn! As I checked the details, I noticed that on Sunday, Jessica had used our debit card, thinking she was using the credit card (which is the same color) to pay for my new suit and shoes at Value City. That charge had caused the next four to overdraw, resulting in $80 worth of service charges. So I emailed her to let her know what she had done. And her day got worse.

As mad as I was, I didn't want my wife to have an awful Valentine's Day, so I went to work trying to make things better. I emailed the bank and got the $80 refunded, moved some payments around and lowered the van payment for this month, and brought our balance back into the black. Then I looked up the recipe for Pasta House salad (Jessica's favorite) and started the laundry.

Laundry is one of those monsters that we still haven't conquered. It's an ongoing, vicious pile that seems to always grow, no matter how many loads we wash. My first goal for the day was to fold all of the clean clothes, sort the dirty ones, and get a system started to tackle the entire pile by 4:00. Goal two was to clean the rest of the house as I was doing the laundry. And I was going to achieve these goals while watching Ella.

I do have to say that Ella was the perfect baby yesterday. She watched Dora, played in her bouncy seat, and napped without fussing at all. There is no way I would have been able to get everything done had she been worse.

By noon, I was on my way to accomplishing goal one, and my first load of dirty dishes was in the dishwasher. Ella started her nap around 12:30, and by 1:30, I was ready to go to Wal-Mart. Inconvenient timing, but necessary. So I woke her up and strapped her in, hoping she would sleep on the way there. I knew that nothing I was doing would matter if she didn't get her nap in and messed up the evening.

At Wal-Mart, Ella was wide awake, laughing, looking, and trying to talk to anyone (or thing) that would listen. And since I was in a hurry, I had to see people I hadn't talked to in a while and high school students who wanted to see my baby . . . so my half-hour trip turned into a full hour trip. I even realized that I didn't have my list of ingredients for the salad, and Ella couldn't remember what they were, so I had to buy them from memory. And I got everything right - 100%! We bought roses and cards (it was easier when I only had to pick out one, but now I had to get a wife card and a daughter card and a mommy card . . . ), and I even let Ella pick out her present. (She got a puppy dog with a picture frame.)

We got home at 2:30 and it was crunch time. I threw Ella back in bed, started setting the table, and realized that I hadn't set out our wedding cake top. Since we couldn't drag it to Gatlinburg for our honeymoon, we had decided we'd eat it for Valentine's Day. I knew it was frozen and would need time to thaw, but I wasn't sure if a few hours would be enough. I got it out, anyway, and arranged the cake topper and flowers to resemble what it looked like on our wedding day.

I started the chicken and potatoes dish that I fixed on our first date, and because I've learned that chicken and potatoes is not a mean in itself, I started fixing the salad . . . three loads of laundry to go, and the house almost finished. It wasn't all going to get done, but at least it would look like I tried!

When Jessica walked in, I had the table set, the salad tossed, and the chicken cooking. I just had to slice the potatoes and add the salad dressing. In the meantime, I told her she could give Ella a bath and spend some time with her. She fed her and got her ready for bed, and then they both opened their cards.

After Ella was in bed, it was time to serve up the food. We enjoyed a special candlelight dinner (I didn't know that we had to turn off the lights - I thought we could just light the candles and leave the light on so we could see our food), and then we watched our favorite together movie, Love Actually. We have our own favorite movies, but this is one that we share - it's the first one we watched together in the theater.

Shortly after 9:00, we cut into the cake and found that it was almost completely thawed. I was disappointed to find out that it was white, and she was excited that it wasn't chocolate. We shared the first piece, covered the rest, and went to bed.

What a day . . . .

Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow will slow our state's government . . . or keep MSTA from lobbying for public education!

The morning of February 13, I awoke to find a half-inch of ice and six or seven inches of snow covering my car. I had seen the weather reports, and I knew what to expect, but I had ignored all the warnings and traveled to Jefferson City the night before. Faced with the choice to skip the Capitol visit or dig out of the snow, I decided to brave the elements and go for it.

With no ice scraper and no gloves, I found myself shoveling snow off my windshield with an MSTA calendar (you know, the ones that say, "compliments of the Southeast Region"). Fortunately, the car warmed up fast enough that the ice began to melt and I could just wipe it off.

As I drove around the hotel to find the entrance to Bingham's so I could take advantage of the complimentary breakfast, I slid a few times and almost didn't make it up the hill. But with some patience and steady maneuvering, I managed to slide into an area that I could use as a make-shift parking space and trudge my way into the restaurant.

Because street crews hadn't had time to clear any side roads, and with cars piling up all around the area, a Jefferson City policeman suggested that I not use the access road in front of the hotel to get to the highway, but instead take the road behind the hotel to Southwest and then to Missouri Blvd. He probably saved me a huge repair bill, because I really don't think I could have made it up either hill going the other way.

As I walked through the Truman building and up the hill toward the Capitol, I was impressed with the efficiency of our state's government workers and the city's public servants. They were doing a great job clearing walks, taking safety precautions, and going on with their daily routines. In the Capitol, besides the decreased number of visitors, it was again business as usual.

I hate the word "props" . . . I guess because I try to avoid popular buzzwords . . . but I've got to give props to the Cape CTA representatives. This group of five dedicated teachers (including one first-year teacher and an assistant principal) also braved the elements to participate. All other groups (the smart ones) stayed home.

After our meeting with Mike Wood, Director of Governmental Relations, we were on our way to visit with legislators. I tagged along with the Cape group to visit Scott Lipke and try to see Jason Crowell, who was out for most of the day. After that, the Cape group decided to head for home, and Sheryl and I headed toward Rod Jetton's office to meet up with Renee to go to the top of the Capitol.

If you've never been to the top of the Missouri Capitol, you're missing an awesome experience. Seeing the structure and realizing what it must have taken to build such a magnificent building in the early 1900s is quite the experience. Walking around the whispering gallery and climbing the spiral staircase to the top of the dome provide indescribable views. Even after making the climb ten or more times, I was still excited to go once more - this time to experience it with snow.

We met Audie for lunch at Madison's . . . and had quite a few laughs. It seemed like there were mirrors all over the place :-).

The drive home was less than enjoyable, and I was never so glad to walk in, take off my coat, and change into comfortable clothes. Now I understand why they always say, "if you don't have to go anywhere, stay home," and next time, I just might head their advice. But I know that God doesn't waste an experience, and this one was definitely one that He had in store for us.

When we have snow days and get to stay in our warm, safe houses, there are plenty of people out there taking risks to get to work and keep our government running. From the Jefferson City policeman who wouldn't need to be directing traffic if I would just listen and not go anywhere . . . to the MODOT workers plowing the roads . . . to the legislators and their staff who were there for the 10:00 bell, they're dedicated to keeping Missouri moving. And the MSTA staff and volunteer leaders who brave the elements for a Capitol visit in the middle of a blizzard are devoted to seeing our legislative priorities accomplished, come rain, sleet, or snow.

My wife and I are from families of teachers. Her mom and sister are teachers; my mom is a former teacher; I have two aunts who are teachers. Family conversation usually revolves around education, unless of course I throw in a political jab or two to stir things up.

On most Sundays, my family gets together at the nursing home where my grandpa is. We sit around and share life together - talking about what we've done, where we've been, and the like. This time of year, the topic of snow pervades the conversation, and the three teachers in the room - my aunt, my wife and I - endure the ribbing of the rest of the crowd because they don't get snow days, or they don't get Christmas vacations.

We've all heard the arguments about teachers having an easy job - summers off, working 8 to 3, snow days . . . and the topic usually comes up because someone thinks we're overpaid. I've passed this notion off for a few years, and I'll continue to ignore it as I fight for increased teacher salaries - especially considering our district ranks 331st of the 524 in the state. Unfortunately, there are people out there who are fighting against us, as demonstrated in a recent opinion article in the Wall Street Journal:

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110009612

In the article, Jay P. Greene and Marcus A. Winters state that the average public school teachers make $34.06 an hour. They compare this "statistic" to other occupations by saying that teachers make "36% more than the hourly wage of the average white-collar worker and 11% more than the average professional specialty or technical worker." The footnote to the article states that "Mr. Greene holds the endowed chair of education reform at the University of Arkansas and is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, where Mr. Winters is a senior research associate."

My contract says I will work 185 days. I am required to be at school from 7:45 AM until 3:15 PM. I have been teaching 6 years and have 15 hours of graduate credit. This year, if I work only the hours I am required, I will make $21.08 an hour - far less than the $47.28 that Greene and Winters site as the average pay in Detroit, the $45.79 in New York, or the $44.03 in Los Angeles. Of course, rural Missouri has a much lower cost of living, and incomes of most people around here don't compare with incomes of people from those areas.

I have plenty of problems with this "report," as I'm sure any public school teacher would. Of the eleven reader responses posted on the website, only two even remotely hint at supporting the opinion that teachers are overpaid:

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/responses.html?article_id=110009612

I think Michael McKain, from Seaford, Delaware, summed it up best in his response: "While I think this piece makes valid points regarding the fact that new reforms are needed beyond "throwing money at the problem," the fact remains that many do not go into teaching, particularly in needed areas such as science and math where America lags behind, because more money can be made in other sectors. This is a problem that needs to be remedied; articles such as this are counterproductive to that end."

Nothing gets my blood boiling more than reading someone's opinion slandering my profession and life mission. My question is . . . if teachers are so well paid, why aren't more of those white-collar workers and specialty or trade workers not taking advantage of some of these new alternative certification tricks and becoming teachers? If the job is so easy, and the pay so wonderful, why is there still a shortage of teachers - especially in the areas where those allegedly lower-paid workers currently are?

For Christmas this year, my wife and I decided to pick out our own gifts. She created an online shopping cart from JCPenney, and I spent hours researching the difference between XM and Sirius satellite radios. A few days before Christmas, I logged in and ordered her clothes, and she set up an account with Sirius and ordered my radio. Ok, I ordered the radio, too, but it sounds better to say that she did it.

I was excited to get over 100 channels of CD-quality music and talk, available at my fingertips anywhere in the country. I was so eager to listen that I installed the receiver in my van on Christmas Eve night so we could listen to it on the way to Annapolis the next morning. I was really starting to like my gift . . . until my wife announced that, effective January 2, she would be driving my van to school, and I would have to drive the Equinox. So, you guessed it, she got her Christmas gift . . . and mine!

When we take any trips together, we always take the van. That's where the car seat base is, and one of the reasons for buying it was to reduce the number of miles we were putting on the Equinox. So usually at least once a week, I get to drive the van! Of course, since she listens to the radio at least two hours a day, my wife has some channels already picked out, and she usually takes control. For the past couple of weeks, we've listened to Blue Collar Comedy and Laugh Break - alternating as the mood strikes. Sometimes, Blue Collar Comedy has some vulgar language or crude humor, so we switch to Laugh Break, which bills itself as family friendly and, so far, hasn't had anything offensive.

This weekend, it seemed like Kathleen Madigan was on Laugh Break quite a bit. I don't know much about her, but most of her material was funny. She said it seems like Republicans don't have as much of a problem getting bills passed as Democrats. Of course, we know that, at the time, it was because we had the majority in both houses. But Kathleen pointed out another reason that the Republicans had such a high success rate with some of their initiatives: they know how to name them.

One of the most widely known pieces of legislation that has resulted from the current administration and the Republican-controlled congress is the Patriot Act. Kathleen pointed out that no one in their right mind would vote against a piece of legislation called the "Patriot Act." If they did, they'd be viewed as unpatriotic. When it comes to education legislation, the Republicans again had the right idea in choosing a name. Instead of calling the bill "The Education Bill of Blah Blah Blah," they put a twist on it and called it "No Child Left Behind." Again . . . who's going to vote for leaving children behind??? More appropriate titles would include "The Federal Intervention in Education Act," "The Threaten School Districts with Takeover Act," or "The No Teacher Left in the Classroom Act." Then again, who would vote for those bills - even if their titles do accurately reflect the intent of the legislation?

Then we have our Missouri legislators (and even the Governor.) Last year, Governor Blunt had his "65 Percent Solution," which anyone could see was not a solution, no matter how it was spun. The pro-voucher chair of the House Education Committee has sponsored legislation to set up a scholarship fund for school choice that would give tax credits to contributors and drain up to $40 million from the state's general revenue. Over the past few years, she's tried titles such as "The Angel Scholarship" and "The Betty Thompson Scholarship," but apparently she made a call to D.C. this year to get some advice on naming - because she's now calling it "The Milton Friedman 'Put Parents in Charge' Education Program." How can you justify voting against putting parents in charge of their children's education? No one votes for "The Use Public Money to Fund Private Institutions Bill," but when you mask the truth with a lie about putting parents in control of their children's education, then it takes on a whole new meaning.

No matter what it's called, a piece of legislation is only as good as the bill itself. A tuition tax credit bill will always undermine the local public school district and divert public money to private schools - no matter what the bill is called. As we round the first turn in the 2007 legislative season, we must be vigilant of attempts to pass a wolf off for a sheep, whether it's done internally by hiding bad policy inside a good piece of legislation, or externally by putting an appealing name on the outside of a rotten bill.

This is my first post from my almost-finished home office! Yep, I'm almost finished with the addition that I started back in early July. It's been an ongoing project - and for those of you who've been reading my blog for a while, you may remember an update back in September when I ran into some problems wiring the ceiling fans. Well, the last large part of the project that I had tackled was painting. I had almost finished it in September . . . September 15 to be exact. In fact, I took a personal day on that Friday to stay home and finish the painting and paint the rest of the house. Then Ella came the next day, and since then, home improvement has been at the bottom of my to-do list.

I've taken a few small steps in the past four months (and I mean SMALL steps). I hung a door and finished painting some of the corners and cutting in around the ceiling. Then came the snow. After I complained all winter about not having any snow days (although we have had a couple of ice days), I was more than thrilled to wake up sometime early Thursday morning to see white ground . . . for the first time in a while. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough to get two days off, and I decided to use those two days to get ready for the carpet.

I now have all the doors hung and most of them painted. I put together my desk and chairs (which had been delivered on September 15, and were sitting in the middle of my office since then, collecting junk), and I even hung some pictures. Today, I built a cabinet-type thing around the electrical panel so it's still accessible but doesn't stand out like a sore thumb. Now that it's coming together, I'm getting really excited about having somewhere to work besides the couch or rocking chair.

The next step (after finishing the paint on the spare bedroom doors) is carpet, and then baseboards and window trim. Then there's a little paint touch-up left to do, and it's all finished!!! So, my summer project has turned into a seven-month ordeal, but that's ok - it's about to be finished!

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.