MAY DAY

I remember as a child looking at the calendar hanging on the wall in our kitchen and seeing May Day written under May 1.  I always laughed and thought it was funny that May 1st was called "May Day."  I didn't know why, and didn't really care why, I just thought it was amusing. 

Well, May 2013 was a month of "Mayday"s it seemed. 

Internationally, "Mayday" is known as a distress signal.  Yep, that was May 2013...distress.  My husband had left for an international trip.  He did not return until mid-May.  So, I was like a "single-mom" homeschooling three children.  I have always said that homeschooling as a single-mom would probably be one of the hardest things to do, and I can still say that today.  My husband doesn't play a huge role in our day-to-day schooling, but having him come home at the end of the day takes more of a load off of my shoulders than I realized. 

May 1st was the day that I was set to take over at Homeschool Toolbox as the content manager.  Was I looking forward to it?  YES!  However, it did give a lot to think about that I hadn't had to deal with before, so there was just extra "stuff" on my plate that hadn't been there before...

The same day...May 1st...my son woke up in the very early morning hours telling me that he was sick.  As I got up to give him some medicine, I started coughing and felt weak.  Oh no!  Not only was my son sick, but I was as well.  For the next 12 days, either one of my children or I was sick.  There were days that I did nothing except sit on the couch, sleep when I could, take medicine, and feed the children.  I rarely ate because I didn't want anything.  I became more and more weak, and finally started making myself eat SOMETHING at least a couple of times a day.  I lost 7 pounds during that time...which was a great loss, but NOT the way I wanted to get the extra pounds off!  Three kids and myself sick while my husband was far, far away was not working out well. 

FINALLY...the day comes when my husband comes home!  I hugged him as soon as I could, and when I did, I felt that he was hot.  He was sick!  He had a fever, sore throat, coughing...the whole nine yards.  So, for the next few days, I was trying to do everything that I could to get him back to health. 

The very next week, my parents from Tennessee come to visit to spend a week with us.  During that time, I am thinking that my children finally caught what my husband had.  Yep...three kids alternating days, sometimes two of them at the same time, with fevers and just all together feeling bad.  So, I have relatives visiting and sick children within the same week...

May was difficult to say the least.  I am so glad that June has come.  I feel like there is a clean slate.  Everyone in our home is finally well again.  My husband is home.  No plans for anyone to visit anytime soon.  So, hopefully, June will be a better month for me.  As I thought on all that happened during the month of May, and how most of it was considered "bad," I had to wonder, "Why did God allow all of this to happen within such a short period of time?"  I knew that a lesson was there to be learned.  I have figured out some of the lessons...things that I would never imagine would teach me a certain thing, but did.  It was a hard month, but you know what?  God is still God.  God is still there.  He allowed me to go through it, but you know what??  He allowed me to MAKE it through it.  He has used it to repair things that I didn't even know were broken.  He still loves me, He still comforts me, and He's still on the Throne. 

My "Mayday" distress call could not be answered by anyone except my Lord...and He answered it!  Maybe it wasn't in the in the way that I thought that He would, but He did it in the way that was best for me and best for my family...  Yes, it was a difficult month, but sometimes the biggest blessings follow the biggest trials.