Do Not Forsake Your Mother's Teaching

Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. They are a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck. — Proverbs 1:8-9

We pray that our daughter will listen to her father's instruction.

After all, He is a disciple of Jesus and he has years of wisdom.

And I was careful to listen to my mother's teaching.

I loved late-night discussions with her.

She also had the mind of Jesus and years of wisdom. 

I still miss her, even though it's been over 20 years since she died.

God gives us a wonderfu promise when we listen to our parents. 

Their teaching will be a garland to grace our heads.

And a necklace to adorn our necks.

We will live in beuaty and grace.

Today I made scones to celebrate my coworkers' two-year anniversary.

The catch was that they had to be gluten free, dairy free, and sugar free.

So they aren't as good as the cream scones - I made some of those too!

But they'll do in a pinch.

Bring Them Up in the Instruction of the Lord

Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. — Ephesians 6:4 

Today we headed down to the water to celebrate Father's Day.

What a gorgeous day we had on the water.

Celebrating our favorite dad and husband.

Completely giving of himself for others.

He is thoughtful and loving.

A true father of the Lord.

Growing closer to Jesus each day.

Do Not Forsake Your Mother's Teaching

Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. They are a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck. — Proverbs 1:8-9 

My mom was a strong mentor to me.

She would stay up late when I was in high school so I could ask her all kinds of life questions.

And as I grew older, she would give me sage advice on everything from starting a retirement account when I got my first job, to choosing our first home, to raising our daughter.

She was not overbearing or opinionated, but she let me know her views on politics - don't vote for anything that will raise our taxes - to faith, to relationships.

Her teaching was a garland to grace my head and a chain to adorn my neck.

I miss her wisdom and her delicious cooking.

But at the same time,  I'm grateful that she was such a large part of my life and that of my family.

Listen to Words of Knowledge

Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge. — Proverbs 23:12 

God gives us His words in the Bible.

Our guide for life's journey.

Our travel guide through life.

He calls us to apply our hearts to instruction.

To dive into His wisdom.

And to dedicate our ears to words of knowledge.

Here's Kirk on his high school football team.

For Our Instruction

For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. — Romans 15:4

All things written in God's Word are for our edification.

They are written for our instruction.

God's Word is living and active.

Each time I read it He has something new to show me.

At the moment I'm reading the wisdom of Proverbs. 

Through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures, we have hope.

Today we discovered that Kirk's classmate and former neighbor Scott died in March.

He named one of his sons Kirk, after his good friend, my husband.

Scott served as a Master Sergeant in the Air Force, and lived in Jacksonville, Arkansas.

He was a firefighter and taught fire science.

We saw him at his 40th high school reunion a few years ago and had a chance to reconnect.

They will hold a memorial service for him at Fort Rosecrans sometime in the future.

We hope to be able to attend.  

Our hears go out to Scott's family in their loss.