Suitor and Father Moment

8 October 2023, Recreating moments

25 years ago, while Anatolin was visiting me at home at the age of 15, my father asked to go out with him to buy "ulam" (viand or dish). While walking, it was in this same spot at Callejon St., our old home in Bauang, La Union where my father advised him to go on a mission first. He then served in the Philippines Cagayan De Oro Mission at 19 for 2 years. In October 2003, one month after his mission, we got engaged and eventually married in the Manila Philippines Temple in 2005. Fast forward 2023, our children love listening to that moment of their dad with their grandfather and revisiting this memorable spot. 

Talking about the story, our 17-year old daughter Cerah, then asked her dad, "What would you do if someone visits me at home?" It was a long conversation but on the qualities Anatolin is looking for in our daughters’ suitors or boyfriends, he said the top on the list is being Christlike.

Our children often express their desire to also marry their first and last love, so we counsel them to date only when they are already contemplating on getting married and choose a companion of our own faith, who can always honor and respect them and who can give their entire heart, entire love, entire allegiance and entire loyalty.   

“Marriage is perhaps the most vital of all the decisions and has the most far-reaching effects, for it has to do not only with immediate happiness, but also with eternal joys. It affects not only the two people involved, but also their families and particularly their children and their children’s children down through the many generations” -Spencer W. Kimball 

Guided by prayer, inspiration, family and church leaders, choosing Anatolin to be my companion through thick and thin throughout all eternity is the most important decision I have ever made. I am grateful for his desire to have a family crowned with beautiful children and a commitment to teach them the principles of truth in the home. Now, our children is the source of our greatest pride and happiness. 

Excerpt from my journal, 8 October 2023