Nine Candles, Nine Lessons: What Zephrine Taught Me About Growth
So as June comes to a close, I wanted to close it the way growth has actually shown up for me — through my daughter. This July, Journyles turns its pages to Zephrine. Nine photos, one from every birthday since her first, each one teaching me something new about what it means to grow. Here they are, in order.
2017 — Age One: Trusting God
The first photo is from your very first birthday. That first year of a baby's life is nothing short of a miracle of adjustment — from the safety of the womb to the wide, unfamiliar world outside it. There were sicknesses. There were moments I wanted so badly to fast-forward time, just so you'd be okay again. There was so much learning — you learning your world, and me learning you.
That year taught me to stay calm in the middle of not knowing, and to trust God even when I couldn't trust the timeline. We celebrated your first birthday with our immediate families — the Person and Burgos families together — and it felt like a quiet triumph. Growth, that first year, was learning to trust.
Your second birthday, we had a family pictorial. Zephrine — "wind beneath my wings" is exactly what your name means, and that year, you lived up to it in ways you were far too young to understand.
2018 was the year I was building Qstrike Manufacturing. You were there for almost all of it — the office, the church meetings, the field work, the long hours. You witnessed every hardworking day beside me.
That year taught me I didn't have to lose myself to be your mother. I didn't have to choose between my dreams and motherhood — you were never the trade-off. You were the booster. Having you with me made me more confident, not less.
2019 — Age Three: Three Gifts, Three Lessons
For your third birthday, we celebrated in Bulacan. I gave you three gifts that year: a toy, for fun. Books, for learning. And time with our loved ones, for relationship. I didn't realize it then, but those three gifts were really the three ingredients of growth — we need to keep learning, we need rest and joy, and we need the right, healthy relationships around us. Three gifts, three truths, one memory I still carry.
2020 — Age Four: A Year of Faith
Your fourth birthday was your pandemic birthday — celebrated at home, but special for a reason far bigger than the world outside our door. Your birthday wish came true that year: a baby brother. We prayed for him. You prayed for him too.
2020 was a year of faith. We learned that when we want something, we have to wait — that growth is never an overnight event. It takes effort. It takes time. It takes a pure heart. And even in one of the hardest years in recent history, all of these blessings taught us to still see the beauty in life.
2021 — Age Five: Becoming Ate
By your fifth birthday, Zayn was finally here with us, and we went to Dinosaurs Island — our first trip together as a family of four. That year taught me that growth comes with responsibility: choosing to be accountable for someone else's life, for our own life, and for sharing the beauty we've built with others.
You became the best ate to your brother. I watched you go from being the only baby to being someone's big sister, and it was beautiful to witness. You were the one who stayed with me after I gave birth to Zayn — watching over him whenever I needed to cook or step away. God truly knows what we need, and you were the best companion I could have asked for that year. Growth is choosing to be responsible.
Your sixth birthday was the first one in our new house — Elsa and swimming were still everything to you that year, and it felt like another milestone for our growing family. That year taught me that growth is also about setting goals, and having the grit and passion to chase them. We love learning new skills. We love appreciating what we already have, while still reaching for our best potential.
2023 — Age Seven: Out of the Comfort Zone
Your seventh birthday was your debut — a mermaid theme, and the first time you had to stand at the center of a program in front of a crowd: dancing, singing, giving your message. You did it all, even though you're an introvert who has never liked the spotlight.
That year taught me that we don't grow by staying in the familiar. Growth asks us to step outside our comfort zone, again and again, and to keep going no matter what — with an open mind and an open heart.
2024 — Age Eight: Choosing Him
Your eighth birthday was your Blackpink era — the year you fell in love with dancing, and with school, so much that you started inspiring Zayn to study on his own too. But the most special part of 2024 was your baptism, in Oroquieta, alongside your best friend and cousin, Charlize.
That year reminded me that growth also comes through our spirituality — through following our Savior, Jesus Christ. You chose Him. And you've been happier ever since.
2025 — Age Nine: The Right People
For your ninth birthday, we celebrated at school — bento snacks for your classmates, toys for the boys, hygiene kits for the girls. It was a day full of gratitude for the friendships you've built.
That year taught me that growth in our relationships is just as critical to our happiness as growth in anything else. With the right people around us, growth is empowered. You are full of kindness, sweetness, and cuteness — a loving friend. Keep choosing the right friends, Zephrine. They will keep shaping who you become.
Nine photos. Nine years. Nine lessons I didn't fully understand until I sat down to write them.
As we conclude June, may we remember that growth is a choice — and it is everywhere around us, if we will only take the time to notice it, record it, and let it happen.
Welcome to July, Journyles. This month, it's all about you, Zephrine. 🤍
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