Dads Appreciate Mom, too!

Special days are set aside to honor a variety of worthy tasks, but how about a special evening to praise dedicated home schooling moms?

HSLDA received a letter from Jerry Thorpe—a Home School Legal Defense Association member and father of four from Rochester, NY—describing how he was inspired to organize just such an event. Last December, while Jerry’s wife, Regina, was away on a 10-day trip to China to help with an adoption, he had the privilege of learning firsthand the value of her sacrificial service.

“I had to be mother, teacher, and housekeeper, do the washing, teaching, cooking, changing and anything else that needed to be done,” said Jerry. “My wife is an extremely organized person—she left me a folder for each day, telling me what we needed to do, where we needed to go. And she left us well prepared—she had stocked up on food and other things we needed.”

“Just being in her shoes for those 10 days gave me a greater appreciation for what she does day in and day out, running the household.”

At their next home school support group meeting, Jerry Thorpe publicly expressed his appreciation for his wife. Fellow home school dad Brian Reilly privately suggested to Jerry that the men do something special for their wives. These two men and the other “home school principals” in the group got together and decided that a night honoring their dedicated wives would be a night well spent.

So they got busy, secretly planning the evening, complete with flowers, linens, fine china, crystal, specialty teas and coffees, and fancy desserts like chocolate cheesecake, truffles, and cannoli. After dessert, one by one, the dads offered a wonderful variety of testimonies, from poetry to a lifetime achievement award.

Making sure a single home schooling mom in their group was not overlooked, Jerry asked the woman’s older children to each write a few sentences which he read aloud that night.

Both husbands and wives shed more than a few tears throughout the evening. Relationships were strengthened as the wives were publicly praised for all they do behind the scenes.

To dads thinking about doing something like this for their wives, Jerry said, “How can you hesitate? Walk a week in their shoes! We know what our wives do, but until we actually do what they do, we just can’t appreciate it.”

I am truly blessed beyond my imagination to have a wife as wonderful as Regina. My children are truly blessed to have her as mother and teacher. And when all is said and done, I know that generations to come will live under the blessing that this godly woman has brought forth through her never ending pursuit of excellence in her God-ordained position.
	Jerry Thorpe presented his wife Regina with this personal lifetime achievement award at the moms’ night. (See excerpt at left.)

“Mothers really need to be acknowledged,” he added. “We have all of these ‘Hallmark card’ days, and all these roles are important. But we need not just to recognize motherhood, but also the wife and teacher of our children—their spiritual leadership. Who is more deserving of that recognition than our wives—those who are in the battle day in and day out?

“Although I often tell other people what a wonderful, beautiful wife God has given me, it means a lot more when she actually hears me say it publicly.

“I just want to encourage other fathers to stop and recognize the gift in their midst.”