My Wife, the Mom Boss

God blessed me with a fantastic mother. She was a stay-at-home mom until my siblings and I were well into school. I benefited from her nurturing care and good example as a child and still experience it as a grown man. I definitely could write about my own mother, but the boss mom I want to spotlight is my wife.

We married in the winter of 1994. In 1997, she earned her music teaching degree and plunged headlong into the field of public education. In her first couple of years of teaching, we suffered two miscarriages. Both losses devastated us. But then, we had our first child in the Summer of 2002. Since then, we have added 5 more to our brood. So yes, we're the family that looks like a clown act when disembarking from our Suburban.

After teaching for four years, and while pregnant with our firstborn, my wife chose to become a stay-at-home mom. In 2004, our second arrived, followed by our 3rd in 2006. During these early years of diaper changes and late night feedings, my wife chose to home school our kids. Some questioned the decision, but my wife resolved to personally educate our children. She worked and continues to work tirelessly to insure our children are well versed in English, Math, History, and Science. Our eldest graduates this month with a 4.0. Of course there are those that question whether or not he has received a well rounded education. We respond, "He also has 24 college credit hours under his belt." My wife has graduated one of our kids with five more to go. And since she is now considered a veteran home school mom, other mothers contact her regularly to pick her brain about teaching techniques and preferred curriculums.

My wife wore an unexpected hat between 2011 and 2013. Doctors found a cancerous lump, in my firstborn's chest, pressing up against his heart. Thus began a two-year cancer journey. At the time, we had four children aged 8, 6, 4, and 2. My wife exhibited grace and faith as we traveled down an unknown path together. She learned to give our cancer patient daily shots. She stood by and watched as doctors administered lumbar punctures. During his frequent hospital admissions, she stayed at his bedside while I clumsily managed to hold down the family fort. It took very little time for me to learn how challenging it was for her to be a stay-at-home, caring for the kids day in and day out. At the mid-point of our son's treatment, we suffered another devastating miscarriage, adding heartache to an incredibly difficult period in our family's life. But, by the grace of God we persevered.

Finally, we reached the end of the two years and my son's health got the all clear, plus, on the day he swallowed his final chemo pill, we added another bundle of joy to our lives. Number five arrived to celebrate her oldest siblings victory over cancer.

Since then, we've added one more, making 6. Yes, my wife continues to home school, but life continues to throw occasional curve balls. Within recent weeks, one of the kids has developed some type of food allergy. We believe the culprits to be gluten, dairy, grains, and msg...basically, anything canned, processed, or that can be bought at a restaurant. Our food budget has tripled, and Boss Mom's working like a short order cook to keep our army fed. She's spending countless hours finding suitable recipes and tracking down items like Kasava Flour to protect my little one's gut. So, while she's stirring and blending and mixing, she's also instructing the kids in multiplication and in the life habits of dolphins.

Oh, and did I forget to mention she rises 2-3 days a week and teaches English to children in China on Zebra English? She loves this teaching platform and she's able to help our family out financially as well. I know most days she's totally exhausted, but she manages to be the glue that holds our family together.

My Boss Mom isn't My Boss Mom, but she models this characteristic daily to my children. I only hope that as they age, a true sense of gratitude will develop for all that their awesome Mom is able to do. How much is a stay-at-home mom worth? Six figures, according to a survey. Salary.com determined in 2019 using its Salary Wizard that the median annual salary of a mother is $178,201.

But to our family, she's priceless.