Introduction to my book...

My life began in a small village located in the central part of the Philippines. In my family, the day a child was able to reach the top of the stove was when they were ready to work on the farm. So I was soon working all day planting rice in the muddy fields with the hot sun bearing down on me—not to mention all of the pesky leeches that were eager to grab on to me and suck my blood! During the lunch breaks my brother and I talked about what we wanted in life. We wondered what our future would hold.

He said to me, “Ate, for sure I will not be a farmer working in the sun all day! How about you, Ate? What do you want in life?”

“I want to obtain a degree—and someday find a loving husband on the other side of the world. I believe that there must be a partner for me, somewhere, but not here.”

“Ah, Ate, you are a dreamer,” he said.
“It doesn’t hurt to dream,” I said.
I was able to go to college by working in the school. I worked in the
cafeteria and cleaned the school campus, including the bathrooms. One day, during break time, while working in the cafeteria, I was reading some magazines. One of the magazines, called Asian Presentations, in particular caught my attention. It said that you can put your own photo and profile in the magazine for other people to see. So, along with a few of my friends in college, I had my photo put in the magazine. I didn’t really think much of it. Little did I know, on the other side of the world, a man named Patrick was looking through this magazine.