Irony

It is ironic that our blog is titled "Good Words from the Goodwins". Right now we are both sorta feeling crummy. However, God's word is good, and it is holding us together. We read this the other night out of 1 Corinthians 15: 19: "If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men." This reiterates what we mentioned in our last post. How selfish we are to have wanted Betsy to stay here! I know God understands our grief, but we are hopeful that he will continue to remind us in the coming days of how this life is but a fraction of what he has in store for us.

Our friends Jen and Justin will be arriving back from Cancun in a few minutes. Marc contacted their parents when news came of what happened, and everyone decided it was best to wait to tell them. We are aching for them because we cannot imagine the pain they'll endure...late at night, returning from their honeymoon, and finding one of their best friends was killed. We have prayed for them, and that is all we can do, but we so wish we could be at home. It's hard to be here in Louisville when things like this happen.

We found out more about the wreck. They are saying that the guy fell asleep at the wheel. He had been on his last hour of the max he could drive. The trucker behind him tried to yell into the radio....we will be praying for him. He is trying to say something messed up with the wheel, probably out of fear. But witnesses say he was drifting and didn't break. We saw pictures today of the accident and were horrified. We know Satan is going to try to keep the horrific details of what it must of been like on our mind, but we're not going to let him! We are thankful that two people got released from the hospital! We are awaiting news of the funeral.

On top of all this...Steph had a real hard day at work Friday. That morning we had just found out that Bets was one of the passengers ejected, so naturally she had a sick feeling for most of the morning. The kids were great on Thursday. Steph allowed herself to grieve in front of the kids because she knew they cared, and they did. Overall she has a great class, but select students are really wearing on her. Two in particular have anger management issues, one to the point of needed evaluation. On Friday the one student who has severe issues came in the class first thing and just ran around the room running into people and then attempted to throw a chair. He's had a hard time on the bus lately (basically he fights everyone), and his mom has hung up on the principal several times. Stephanie has had positive experiences with mom, so she called her immediately and left her a message about the situation...the student usually responds positively to that action. Well mom called a few minutes later and demanded she talk to her son and started going off on Steph with the kids around able to hear. Later in the day the mom came to school and they had to call security. Luckily they had Steph hide in the lounge and she just took her son home.

We won't get into the other situation with the other student...basically teaching can be a thankless job. Most days, I (Steph) can handle it. I know with more experience I will take things less personally. For that I am thankful! But on a day where you have other things on your mind, it is hard to swallow. When you bust your tail day in and day out, and parents just spit in your face, it breaks your spirit. My how I am thankful that I am working for the Lord and not for men! I cling to that truth. I can't quit. God has orchestrated me getting this job...that is a story I will tell the rest of my life! I can't just quit when it gets hard.

We are hopeful of what God will teach us in the coming days through this tragedy and other difficult situations in our lives. He works all things together for good for those who love Him!