TODAY, March 23, 2018, Nicole Leah Garvida Ravanera turns 5 years old having been born 5 years ago in a maternity hospital in New York, USA, much to the delight of the very loving father, Elli Kim O. Ravanera and mother, Rachel Lea Garvida Ravanera, beautiful daughter of astonishing Pastor Noli Garvida and wife Tess.
That birthdate is so memorable to me as I was then visiting my son Kim and Rachel who have become US citizens having been working in New York for several years. I and my lovely wife Helen have only one son who had to follow his mother when Helen was working in New York then. Kim at a very young age has proven equal to the task as Chief Executive Officer of a clinic in New York and Rachel works as a nurse.
On that very day of her birth, all the nurses were so amazed with no less than the Chief Nurse telling me, “there are so many beautiful babies being born here every day but your new born granddaughter is not only beautiful but so wonderful.” When I asked why, she said, “her looks manifest high degree of spirituality, not prone to crying but manifesting actions that want to reach-out to communicate.” Well, I am not surprise. Nicole is lucky to have a grandfather in the mother side who is an amazing Pastor of the spiritually astonishing Christ, the Living Stone Fellowship whose homilies speak well of high spirituality. The grandfather in the father side is an environmental activist who believes that protecting God’s vanishing creation is the highest form of worship, always willing to give up his life for God’s creation.
But you have to meet the wonderful parents, Kim and Rachel, both are hardworking who have shown that Filipinos can do well in exemplifying qualities gaining so much appreciation in a highly competitive world. If given the chance, Filipinos can really excel in their chosen profession, be in the Philippines or anywhere else in a world that has become a global village.
As Rachel then could not yet take good care of Nicole, I had the opportunity of being her “yayo” during her first thirty days of life, waking-up three times every night just to prepare her milk or to change diapers. In expressing that she be attended to, Nicole never would cry. She would just make a sound like coughing and I knew then that I have to attend to her, otherwise, 15 minutes later, she would sound like crying.
Taking good care of a wonderful baby had made me sort of poetic. In fact, I had written some poems and quoting some prayer that as if it was Nicole who was praying, “Oh God my God, my beloved my heart’s desire! Protect illumine, the lamp of my heart and make me a brilliant star. Thou art the mighty and powerful.” Indeed, it was an APOstolic work to express love to your APO, no matter the lack of sleep and the Grandpa never got to be tired.
Nicole’s 5th birthday will be celebrated four times. In the afternoon of the 23rd, it will be in the International School with her wonderful classmates and amazing teachers. In the evening, the celebration will be in the VIP Hotel with all members of the clans in attendance, the Ravaneras, the Garvidas, the neighbors and friends. Another celebration will be a swimming party with friends and family at Avida Swimming Pool the following day and on Sunday, the birthday celebration will be in the Church where Pastor Noli leads.
Well, there is much reason to celebrate. Indeed, the time of the Homo Sapiens is over because Homo Sapiens as described by spiritual leaders is a failed specie. Only that Specie caused the deaths of its kind that would reach more than 100 million human beings in the past 100 years brought about by two world wars and the cleansing of Pol Pot and Hitler, not to mention the continuing war in Mindanao, the second longest war in the world.
That Specie, the most brutal of all, is now replaced by Homo Pacem (men and women for peace) or Spiritus Luminus (enlightened spirits). Yes, all the new born babies including Nicole belong to that new Specie. They are in fact streams of consciousness connected to that Ocean of Consciousness called Love, called God.
Yes, Nicole, as we have prayed together the words still reverberate: “Oh God, my God, protect illuminate, the lamp of my heart and make me a brilliant start. Thou art the mighty and powerful.” Pastor Noli on his part, prayed for Nichole a highly inspiring biblical lines from Jeremiah 29:11, “ For I know the plans I have concerning you, declares the Lord, plans for prosperity and not harm, to give you a future and a hope.” How amazing that prayer! Recently, Nicole has passed the New York Gifted and Talented Child Scholarship Exam that qualified her to be a scholar during her elementary years. Indeed, Nichole is a brilliant star to illuminate the darkness, a beacon of hope amidst despair – all for God’s greater Glory.
We love you our dearest NICOLE.
