by: Norberto Betita
She’s a “Mormon”---born in the covenant. She was conceived
when her mother was between 40 and 41, an age when most women are no longer capable
of child bearing. She was given birth by cesarean section after her mother
suffered a stroke and survived two succeeding operations. In early childhood she climbed and surmounted
the mountain of impediments blocking her way to academic excellence. While her
contemporaries enjoyed the joys and thrills of youthful vigor, she rummaged
every opportunity for intellectual and spiritual growth simultaneously
graduating from a 4-year Seminary Program of the Church and earning a high
school diploma. Central to her childhood and youthful life was a solemn and
firm determination to excel and achieve. The highest honors available for every level from elementary to high school became her most humble achievements. The results of
her college admission test both from the department of education and private
educational measurement institutions were marked excellent. With very limited resources
available she qualified herself to study in a premiere university. Prior to
college graduation she was measured with an IQ competency of 155. She was found deserving of a university gold medal for graduating with honors, while at the
same time receiving a Diploma for a 4-year Institute of Religion Course of the
Church. While others proudly publish their academic achievements in large
tarpaulin exhibits, she hides from the accolade and recognition she deserves most
from teachers and friends.
Her life is reminiscent of the words of the Emperor of China
in the movie Mulan, “The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and
beautiful of all.” Inherent of her every humble desire in life is to be one
best wife and to perform the divine role of motherhood as admirably expressed
in her arts. All her four elder siblings are already married and sealed in the
temple, and she is learning from them. Her life is a mark of respect and honor
for the family. As parents we are so proud of her. She is an exemplar to her
nephews and nieces.
In this her 23rd birthday celebration we pay
tribute, by this post, of all she has done for us and so express our deepest
love and heartfelt appreciation with best wishes for added blessings.
November 23, 2013
Dear Soi,
Each year, month, and day seemed to be getting shorter, and
time appears to be flying faster than each tick of our old clock or even of a
most modern digital timepiece. Even the signs of the times are also hastening
and getting worse in the same vein that God’s work of salvation is hastening
on. Each time I sit in front of the computer and figure out what I would have
to write, I always find that the day is always in a hurry as to find the page
of the computer blank. But today, I am sure, I will be running faster than time
for I am filled with excitement that my beloved last born is now celebrating
her 23rd birthday, an age when we can start a countdown for a
possible sprout of a new branch of the family tree.
FROM THE DEEPEST CHAMBERS OF OUR HEARTS WE SEND OUR
GREETINGS FOR A JOYFUL AND CHEERFUL BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS DESPITE YOUR DISTANCE
FROM THE FAMILY WITH BEST WISHES FOR MORE DOORS OF OPPORTUNITIES AND GROWTH
AHEAD! ALONG WITH OUR SINCERE PRAYERS FOR YOU EMERGE THE REFLECTION OF OUR LAST
AND FINAL WISH TO WITNESS THE DAY WHEN YOU WILL ONE DAY STAND BETWEEN THE
MIRRORS OF ETERNITY.
You are now at an age when the thought of creating a family
of your own may start to be a part of your life’s plans. This will also be the
time when we as parents are of continued anxiety on how you might eventually
deal with our dreams for your eventual eternal marriage. Yet like what we say
to you as always, you have to follow your dreams and make good your daily
get-up-and-go mappings and preparations forward to your best potentials.
Many of our friends and even your classmates asked us if we
are amenable or do we ever have any objections for our children marrying at an
early age. And, most of them are really surprised to hear that for as long as
our children are of the right mind and age we give them the moral agency to
decide for themselves. We sure have our best wishes for them, but we do not
impose upon them our parental requirements. We give them the freedom to “choose
their love and love their choice.“
Actually there is no exact age when to settle in marriage.
Some writers say it would be best during mid 20’s. Others say it is best in the
later 20’s when one should have been able to finish college, find better jobs
and accumulate resources necessary for raising and rearing a family. However,
the way I look at it, as in my own experience those things are unessential in
starting a marriage. It is just like the story told by Elder Robert D. Hales of
a newlywed: “I remember a young
couple just out of college. One parent gave them a home; the other parent gave
them furnishings and a new car. They had everything in the world given to them.
Within three years they were divorced. They hadn’t worked and sacrificed. They
had leaned on each other and on their parents as a crutch, had crippled
themselves, and hadn’t grown. They hadn’t learned the hard part. They hadn’t
worried about making their marriage work.”(A Little Heaven on Earth, Liahona,
September 2011, p. 23).
Marrying in the 20’s had many advantages of course. A
Deseret news article reported “that women who were married in their 20’s are
more likely to call themselves “very happy” in marriage. Waiting brings risks,
including a smaller dating pool from which to select a partner. Besides that,
young adults who marry in their 20s are more likely to have children in
wedlock, which creates a more stable family footing. Couples are more likely to
keep ties to and share the same faith (we like this statement). And they are
more apt to avoid what the researchers call “relational cynicism.” Fertility
also peaks around age 28.”
And here’s one good thing we found from the same report. It
says, “If you’re in a good relationship AND your friends and family are
enthusiastic about the character of your beloved, it’s time to discern if
you’re called to marriage---even if you’re in your 20s.”
That is why I wanted to write your boyfriend about you so
that he will know (in as much as you would not like him to know) about your
personality and character which may be a deciding force for him, in the same
manner that you need to know more about himself and pass it on to us to add to
our excitement and enthusiasm about him. Of course we are not interested to know
about his resources and wealth that he might possess or lack. All we desire to know is about his personal
character and manners, and perhaps about his dreams, for these are fundamental
in building a family. 
Anyway, do not mistake that we are driving you fast the lane
to marital suicide. We are just telling you to make a three-year plan or it can
be a two-year graph of a marital map to be able to safely launch into the
blissful shore of family happiness. The
future is yours to make or mar. Early planning generates superior advantages.
Celebrating birthdays is not about counting the age; it is
more about counting your blessings. It is not about the many physical gifts
laid before the table of the birthday feast ; it is more about remembering the
many spiritual gifts which our Father in Heaven so bounteously bestowed. You
may not have a bounteous feast and we fear that we could not even have a modest
birthday meal in this your birthday, but we know that you are among those whom
God has given the gift of the “ten talents.”
We could not ask for more than to wish you the best of
health and continued wisdom to know the difference between right and wrong; to
be in harmony and at peace with all whom you might have the opportunity to
associate; to make better every opportunity for growth and progress; to give
your best efforts to contribute to the vision and mission of your company; and
most of all to find time to attend church and to help your boyfriend find the
path that leads to the Temple doors and with you together stand between the
mirrors of eternity someday (that’s if you have no other options. hehehe).
We want you to know that you are always remembered and
loved. May the best that God has stored and reserved for you be abundantly
poured out as the dews from Heaven in this your birthday and in the coming
days.
WE LOVE YOU VERY MUCH! HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
Ever so sincerely,
Papa, Mama and family
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