Sgt. Renay Groves gave the thick book three kisses, then wiped tears from her eyes as it was wheeled away from her and into the Canadian War Museum’s permanent collection Wednesday in Ottawa.

Groves began the book, Notes from Home¸ four years ago. Since then it’s been signed by some 80,000 Canadians who have traced their hands, posted photos of loved ones, or written notes wishing luck to soldiers serving in Afghanistan.

It has even been to the war zone.

“This book means more than life itself over there,” said Groves, who has done one tour of duty in Afghanistan and is scheduled to go back in 2011.

“The support that I know that we have because of that project is absolutely 100 per cent.”

At a final signing Tuesday night at the Barrhaven, Ont., legion hall, Groves said she knew giving up the book would be hard. “But I’m giving it to our troops so they can look through it forever, whenever they need to.”

The following slideshow captures some of the entries in Notes from Home and is narrated with an edited version of Groves’s conversation with CBC Radio’s Alan Neal.