a milestone

It is such a kind blessing of the Lord to have allowed my great grandma to live for 100 years.  Today is her birthday.

I hoped and prayed while in high school she might live long enough to see just one great great grandchild.  She now has 7.

I think this picture says it all. 

She does not know who we are, but we know who she is so that's all that really matters.  When the kids are around she always lights up and loves on them, even though she doesn't understand they belong to her.  And in so many ways... I'm amazed every time we take the kids to see her, how much they give to her and love her back.  Josiah has always been willing to give her a snuggle.   He's seems to have a special place in his heart for older people.

I have to smile when I see this picture partly because Grandma kept trying to escape.  She was ready for a nap after such a big afternoon.  And of course the rest of the smile comes because it is my family. :)

Family...that is Grandma's legacy to us, but not only family.  Her faith has lived on in each progressive generation, and that is her greatest gift to us.  It's not that she was a perfect woman.  She was faithful but tried through a difficult marriage for over 60 years, and one can find the evidence of sin and wrong choices in each generation of her offspring because that is the way of the human heart.  Yet I also see God's hand of grace, redeeming those who trust in Him.  In a time when families are disintegrating, I see each generation growing stronger and more faithful in the Lord as they have become students of His word, its application, and its proclamation.  I also see His sanctifying work as He perfects individuals in each generation, a work begun now that will see its completion in heaven (Phil 1:6).  What a Lord, who is faithful in the past, present, and will continue to be faithful in the future!  He is our legacy, and I'm so thankful He rescued my grandma with salvation so through a chain of events, people, and the godly influence of family only He could orchestrate, He could rescue each of us.

"We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done." Ps. 78:4

Happy birthday, Grandma.  We love you!