Generation to Generation

I grew up without grandparents. Of course, I had grandparents, but they lived on another continent and I met 3 of them only a couple times as a young child. I never even met my maternal grandfather. It wasn’t until I became a grandparent myself that I could understand the excitement and energy that we once again saw at West and Northeast when we had Grandparents/ Special Friends Day this week. Our students love their Opa and Oma, Pappa and Nana, Gran and Gramps or whatever else they call them. They were eager to see them and share their school story with them.

Grandparents had to do school work too!

We, as a school were also eager to see them, because they are a PART of our school story. Some of the grandparents that visited were among the first students to ever attend Edmonton Christian Schools way back in the late 1940s or the early 1950s. Some have served as board members. Some have been staff in our schools. Yet others, were seeing our schools for the first time, as grandparents of one of our new students. Some of the grandparents that visited were themselves immigrants or even refugees from another part of God’s world. Some grandparents could only be present through the notes or emails which they sent to be delivered to their grandkids. And of course, some special friends were able to stand in for grandparents who could not be there.

Whether from far or from near, grandparents help our students to know that they belong and that they are loved. In grandparents, students experience being part of a bigger story. Grandparents, and those special friends that step in for them, are witnesses to the story of God’s love from generation to generation. And when you think about it, that’s our story as well at Edmonton Christian Schools–God’s love from generation to generation. What a blessing!

A snuggle with a grandparent is always good!