The Atonement

I am so blessed to be in Primary with such a wonderful teacher/1st councillor/bestest friend/my nightshift entertainer Ange. I am what you would call a little slow when it comes to understanding the gospel. I try really hard to work it out for myself but alas I always seem to fail. On Sunday Ange was teaching the children all about the atonement and it was like the penny dropped for me. Oh my gosh I was always thinking well yep there's that word atonement and that it was a special gift given to us from Jesus Christ and generally I would be happy with that explanation, but like other things in the gospel I really wanted to know so what does that really mean? Why is that word so important? How does it link to repentance? How did it come about etc? Feeling stupid does prevent me from asking the questions because I think other would think well she is stupid. Fortunately for me Ange's interpretation was brilliant. She started with two pictures one of the Saviour praying in Gesemane and the other of a little girl they were side by side (close together). Then Ange chose children to dig deep into her bag to pull out a sin and with each sin we were ask how big we thought the sin was how far would the gap be between the little girl and the Saviour. With each sin the gap was wider and even deeper like a pit. It was amazing to see the children interprete how big the gap was for each sin. David ( a valiant boy), had his arms wide apart (i.e real bad sin) for not wanting/whinging about FHE. Nicholas thought the gap was very wide for every sin, from lying to poking your brother/sister. Once the gap was made Ange asked the children how could we get back to being close to our Saviour and our Heavenly Father. To be honest I just thought you repent and Bob's your uncle. Oh how wrong was I and then that word Atonement came into the light Ange had made these awesome pavement blocks out of paper with a letter on each block that spelt the word ATONEMENT and it was put on the board between the little girl and the Saviour it was a bridge that allowed us to get close to our Saviour again. Moreso Ange took it a step further by asking the children how can we cross over that bridge to feel close to our Saviour and we went through each sin and made suggestion how we could right that wrong. We had such a joyful time playing hot n cold game to find the pavers (I think I was doing most of the yelling). I liked Ange's lesson so much that I gave it for FHE mostly to help reinforce what I had learn't and to see how much Nicholas remembered. Well because Ange is a brilliant teacher Nicholas remember most of it as he reminded me at the end.... "that's the lesson Sister Cook did on Sunday in Primary". So thank you Ange I look forward to many more lesson's from you!!!! (Actually you should teach all the time) I know I'm greedy. How big is that gap in the sin rating??? Love ya

Is Kate a boy or a girl????

I maybe biasis but I do believe that my Kate is a cute beautiful girl. I mean she has all the girl bits n pieces. Then why is it that other people don't see her as a girl. Here are some examples:

At Dave's Motatapu run I dressed Kate in blue pants with pink flowers and a white frilly neck skivvy and we were sitting in the sun while Dave recouperated. Kate walks over to a complete stranger pointing at him. I went over to pick her up and I said "come on Kate"to my surprise the man said "he's a jolly looking chap" he's not shy"in which I replied she's a girl her name is Kate. Did he not hear me when I picked her up calling her Kate???

Dave's graduation I dressed Kate in pink pants with spot and a pink sweat shirt. One of Dave work mates was also graduating too. I had Kate in the pushchair and I said hello to Paddy to which he said "he's a happy chappy" In horror again I replied "SHE"S a girl KATE is her name"Oh my gosh she was wearing pink. He apologies and said I should have known I have 4 girls myself.

Then yesterday I went out for lunch with Stacey at a cafe. I dressed Kate in blue denim pants with pink flowers on the bottom a pink skivvy and a blue denim jacket with heaps of PINK flowers. When I walked into the cafe there was a lady I knew who I hadn't seen for quite sometime. She then asked me what's your little boy name ARHHHHHH but still polite I said once again "she's a girl her name is KATE"

Those are but a few occasion but there has been more Kate even wore a pretty little dress and some random wally thought she was a boy come on!!!!!

Is my child destine to be lable a boy oh my gosh if a dress isn't convincing enough what is???

She wore this outfit to the aftermath at Dave's graduation after changing her from pink pants etc

The Bike

When Nicholas was 3yrs I bought him a bike from good ole trade me for a bargin price. At the start he was very keen and rode the bike but as he got older he lost interest to the point he was not confident to ride.

Nicholas's school had an annual triathalon coming up so we went out on Saturday to get him a new bike. When we walked into the shop Nicholas's eyes were big and excited. The lady pulled a bike out of the display window and asked Nicholas if he wanted to have a ride. I was a little nervous and told her he's not that confident on a bike, just as I said that Nicholas was on the bike riding around the shop I was amazed and I could see that Nicholas was very proud of himself. Although the bike had trainers he was so confident he manged to manoeuvre himself around the bikes and other customers.

Dave walked into the shop and Nicholas was yelling watch me dad watch me. That sold it for Dave and thus Nicholas's new bike was purchased. He rode the bike back to the car through the mall into the elevator.

When we got home I said to Nicholas now you'll be able to do the triathalon at your school. He replied "No I can't the triathalon is on a Sunday and we go to church silly mum" Why don't I read notices properly?????

Dave Graduates

On Friday 20/3/09 Dave graduated with a diploma in Construction Quantity Survey. Its been a long time coming and well deserved. Nicholas, Kate and I went to the town hall to watch Dave graduate. I was well prepared with food, drinks, and quiet entertainment for the kids as graduation does tend to go on for quiet sometime. Still spent most of the time out in the foyer pushing Kate around in the pram popping my head in the door to see if Dave was next.

The ceremony started and as the graduates marched into the hall there was lots of clapping and cheering from me and then I was totally blown away when the carpentry students as they walked/stumbled in. What a bunch of scruffy hobo's they stunk of alcohol and acted like stupid adolescents. These blokes were graduating with other people who had done there masters and post grad dipolmas etc. To top it off when they walked across the stage some were just idiots. What a kick in the guts to those students who had worked hard to have these boys make the graduation a joke. I mean these carpentry students were getting a certificate for passing a pre-trade entry certificate most of them probably don't have an apprenticeship yet. As for the bloke who won the Naylor Love Scholarship (he would have known he was the successful recepient) he couldn't even make the effort to look a little descent. I don't know maybe I'm a snob but I think graduation is a special moment and thus looking respectable is part of it don't you think????