27 year old encouragement

Today was a rough school day. Nothing major, just one of those days. One disgruntled child, one slow poke, three loud ones, and one tired mama is not a recipe for a happy day!

During grammar today our son L was looking up a word in the dictionary and I was helping him (note to self: so happy that Fix-It makes looking up one word a part of our daily routine! wonderful, wonderful, wonderful practice for this particular child!). Out of the dictionary fell a card that I keep in the back flap, from the people who gave me the dictionary 30 years ago: my grandparents Victor and Esther. They gave it to me for my high school graduation, but I also keep inside the dictionary the card they gave me when I turned 21. Here is what I read, in my grandma's beautiful flowing cursive before she lost her eyesight:

"Dear Pam ~ Now you are 21! Congratulations! You have given us 21 years of joy as grandparents. Now you are no longer that "little" granddaughter, but a young woman of whom we are very proud. Pam, I'll always cherish the memories I have of your first 21 years, but I'm also looking forward to the adventures with God you will have in the years to come. May this year be especially wonderful for you. God bless you! I love you, Grandma."

And in my grandpa's somewhat cramped style:

"Dear Pam ~ This is a "once in a lifetime" experience for you, for which we are very proud. May the next 21 years be even better, and then the next 21 even better yet. May the Lord direct your every footstep and keep you always as sweet as you are now. Love, Grandpa."

I sat there with tears in my eyes, took a deep breath and thought "I can do this". We finished looking up the word, and continued with our day, me feeling fresh encouragement and renewal for the tasks at hand. Homeschooling is certainly an incredible adventure with God! I wonder what my grandma would think if she could see me now. Our daughter is the only one of our children that my grandma got to meet before she died, and she was just a baby. My grandpa passed away before any of the children were born. How I miss them both! I'm so grateful they took the time to write their thoughts on paper and share them with me. I actually have several cards and letters from them, and I cherish each one.

Thank you, Lord, for godly grandparents who invested in me through years of prayer and intentional showing of love. Thank you for their encouragement today, across the years. Help me to live the dailyness of my days in a way that would make them proud, but that most of all honors YOU.

And I'm really glad my grandpa mentioned that third set of 21 years, since those are the years I'm in now! :-)