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Happy Birthday Victor



It's kind of difficult celebrating the birthdays of my brothers, sisters, and parents when I live so far away from them.  For this reason, I have to resort to sending birthday letters and/or presents.  My little brother's birthday is coming up on Saturday, March 23rd.  He is turning 16!  How did this happen?!  I guess he isn't really my little brother anymore. 

December 2006. Cute picture!


I had been thinking for some time about what to get him, and my husband and I came up with the idea to get some dog tags with some messages engraved into the metal. 

On the first one we wrote a simple note expressing our love to our brother:
Victor Joseph Whipple 
You're far but close to our hearts
J & M Adams 
The second dog tag said:
"In Memory of God, Religion, Freedom, Peace, and Family"
Alma 46:12
This passage was paraphrased from the story of the Title of Liberty in the Book of Mormon.  In this story, there was a lot of wickedness among the people and the leader of the righteous, Captain Moroni, desired to keep his people strong and obedient towards God. To remind them about who they were and what they stood for, he made a banner out of his coat and held it up as a reminder to all who saw it. 
 "And it came to pass that he rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it—In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children—and he fastened it upon the end of a pole."
Turning 16 is a big deal it is an age where you have to choose what kind of person you are going to be.  My brother is not a child any more.  He is growing up.  Although this isn't the typical present you would get a 16 year old teenager, I hope he still likes it.  We hope these dog tags will be reminder to him of who he is, and what he stands for.  Victor is an amazing guy who has so many talents.  I hope he knows how much we love him.   



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