Greetings and hello to all,

apparently some people are starting to question whether i am still alive or not since there hasn't been a blog update for nearly 3 weeks!!! Well i come bearing good news - YES I AM STILL ALIVE!!!!!! :)

Sorry but the last two-three weeks just seem to have gone by in such a flash and i just haven't been very organised at gettting this blog update - whoops!

So i apoligse to one and all for not filling you in with the goss - there will be a good update later because a few things have certainly happened since my last update. If you are not patient enough to wait and read then contact mum, dad, Ash or a couple of other peps and they will fill you in!!!

Hope all is well wherever you all are (M and W - i hope everyone is safe and well in Uganda!!! I love you both lots and hope that God is using you and your talents in the most amazing ways)

Miss everyone lots and lots but according to the countdown thingy on my wall in my room, its only 9 days till im home in the mighty HB again!

Love and Blessings to all from a sunny and warm spring day in Wellington!

Finger Painting and Hand prints are fun :)

This blog was orignally written sometime last year when I was nannying - just been going through my blogs and finally publishing some of those random drafts that I started many months ago.....

Today i was back with my second family again - it has only been a week since i have seen those three particular children but it is amazing how much i had missed them in one week.

Sophie (10 -nearly 11 month old) is feeling much better thank goodness and also Elise (2 year old) didnt have the measles - yay for that! Yet another "thanks God" moment there because of the measles outbreak going around NZ at the mo.

So today being back with the children was great even though the first part of the morning was windy and raining so we were stuck inside. With Cooper off at school now, it gives me more time to spend with Sophie and Elise so when Sophie went off for her morning sleep, it was Kathryn and Elise time!

Because i had not been able to do what i had planned for Friday (because of not working), it was time to act like a little child (which is not really much out of the ordinary), get out the paints, paint brushes, sponges, paper and have a blast.

IT WAS AMAZING FUN AND ALL HAD A FANTASTIC DAY! It is so interesting to see what you can learn from children through a fun activity such as finger painting :)

Don't be afraid to be the child you once were - be the child within you and never underestimate that child's abilities!

Pics of Mt Kau Kau

Saturday stroll in Khandallah turned Mountainous

Once upon a typical Saturday afternoon in Khandallah, Kathryn decided to go for a walk. Well it wasnt really a typical Saturday afternoon as normally i would probably have been out of the house early in the morning and not be back till late at night but since the budget is fairly tight at the moment (silly studylink), it was a quiet day at home in Khandallah.

Anyway, back

to the story.........................

So Kathryn decided to go for a walk - well yes! I knew a few places in Khandallah but wanted to go somewhere nice and quite but beautiful at the same time (if possible) and just be able to relax and read my bible.

For those of you that don't know, Khandallah is very hilly and there are quite a few steep roads scattered over the place (well more like every where you look!!!!).

I knew that Mt Kau Kau existed but i had no idea where to go to climb/walk up this mountain. I would have loved to have gone up but seriously had no full intention of doing so. I just walked and walked for nearly 20ish mins, taking turns in the road here and there and avoiding the streets that were practically vertical (im sure you can all picture me walking up those roads :D ). I then turned into Simla Cres and much to my amazement saw a sign which said something about Johnsonville Park and Khandallah Park. I then took a closer look at this sign and saw that there was a walk right up to the top of Mt Kau Kau! WOW, total "Thanks God" moment just then.

I started walking the track and although my legs were aching after only a short while, i kept going and within about 20-30mins, i had realised i had found my new favourite place in Khandallah - i was soooooooooooooooooo happy!!!!

The view was AMAZING and the best part was that it was a fantastic SUNNY DAY IN WELLINGTON! And i (Kathryn Allison Stewart), had just climbed/walked up a mountain!!!!!!!!

Two and a half hours after starting, i was nearly back home (legs feeling like jelly) but proud as heck of myself! The one thing that i had not thought about when trecking Mt Kau Kau, was that at the end of this incredible journey, i would then have to walk up hills and steep streets to get back home (Khandallah home of course) and my gosh what a challenge that was....

Got home, had a shower and felt so great (not so great that i could do all again right then though). It had been a great afternoon walk, i found my new favourite place in Khandallah, i pushed myself beyond my limits, i got my bible study done and i enjoyed being up a mountain!

Something must have been working over the last few weeks coz then at church on Sunday night, one of the girls in my life group (bible study group), said to me that it looked like i had lost weight - yay! Maybe if she had seen a couple of my pics of the day before then she would have had second thoughts but still i was stoaked!

I guess being on the internship over the summer and walking Cooks Cove, did teach me something afterall! Ohh and Cruz and Hayden - i didnt have fish and chips straight after this walk either :)

week 6 and 7

Heck, time just seems to be flying by in wellington! its good but not so good at the same time - im getting used to life in Wellington now (and yes that does include the weather - no further comment to be made!) and it everything just seems to be moving at a pace that i cant seem to keep up with.

I need to try and keep my blog up to date more often as i am starting to lose track of what weeks are what - that probably sounds quite bad actually but i guess my excuse is that i work with children... haha

The rest of week 5 was great - i loved how i was able to have the monday off work and then i had a short week! It seemed to make life so much easier (maybe because i was relaxed) and i could actually get a couple of good sleeps (night time sleeps i mean).

With my second family that i work for - The Davis-Wren's (Sam and Scott are the parents), i am now starting to get a whole lot more responsibility and taking over a lot more tasks which is good. The upside to this is that i am feeling more like i can achieve things and know how their household works where as the downside is that i cant spend as much time as i would like to with the children although they do still seem to love me so i guess i cant complain.

I cant remember what i had written in my last blog but there have been a couple of birthdays between the two families in the last few weeks. Cooper (Sam and Scott's son) is now five and is attending Khandallah Primary School which he seems to enjoy. I have been able to go and pick him up from school a couple of times now so im really liking that.

Also, Oliver (youngest in Clare and Brian's family) has just turned one and had such a fantastic birthday although he had a slight cold and flu but all seems to be well now.

Classes are going well (each and every tuesday) although most of my breaks are spent trying to sort things out with the bank or studylink but like people keep saying to me - GOOD THINGS TAKE TIME.

In class the last couple of weeks we have been learning about:
child play (ie collage, painting, water activities etc),
communication with children,
nutrition,
Attachment Behaviour (very very interesting - seriously)
Child Health ( talking about "The Immunisation Schedule", Emergency Services, all the factors that can affect the health of a child health - physical, mental, soical, economic)

Tomorrow should be good as we are all spending a couple of hours at an EC (Early Childhood) Centre (all over Wellington, Paraparaumu, Kapati) to explore and gain even more experience and insight into the EC Curriculum. Then we are back into town to the Abel Smith Street campus to then talk further Childs Play (with Paulene - one of our tutors) and then even more Communication with Children with Robynn (another of our tutors).

I have a whole heap more info to share and pics to post but will put them onto another blog entry!

for now "Thats all folks"

God Bless,

Kathryn

God is AMAZING!

Also, another thing that i forgot to say in one of my previous blogs (or maybe i did mention it - I'm not sure) but ARISE CONFERENCE was AMAZING!!!

The speakers were fantastic and the whole weekend (even though i only went on Fri/Sat night) was just super dooper powerful and really open up eyes and hearts.

One of the things that excited me the most about the conference was seeing 1,800 + people being under one roof and being able to worship Christ, pray together and give praise! On the Friday night i ended up being seated up in the balcony and just being able to see almost every single hand, reaching out to Jesus and seeking him - wanting more of him was just totally WOW... pretty much undescrible.

Conference really helped a lot of people to be able to see God more clearly, or see his vision for people and their lives. It was amazing how many people were healed and how many things were overcome. It was a shame that i wasnt able to be there on the 16th to be present at the "Return and Give Glory" service but im sure that that was just as powerful!

Conference offically ended on Sat night but then had church on Sunday morning and Sunday night also. Sunday morning service was great and the message really hit me hard, for a while i have been living i guess what you would call a "semi christian" life and not quite doing things as much as i should. After hearing Glen Berteau (i think i spelt his name right), speak that morning there was an Alter Call and i ended up making a re-commitment to the G-Man which was totally unexpected but great.

Sunday night, there was another Alter Call (which wasnt exactly an Alter Call coz people stayed in their seats but ohh well) and there was a whole lot of prayer for financial healing, healing, jobs and something else. I was prayed upon for financial healing and then the next day on msn, i was talking to mum back home and she said that a cheque had arrived for me in the mail from IRD for $300 +!!!! I was totally stoaked :)

So now life is slightly easier with a few more $$$$$$ in the bank account and things seem to be going well - really well infact! Yay for life

GOD IS GREAT PEOPLE!

GIVE HIM THE GLORY :)

God Bless,

xox

Week 4/5

Week four seemed to go ohh so fast, this was probably because of the fact that i was looking forward to heading home on the Friday afternoon.

Week was great - Cooper (oldest child in the 2nd family) turned 5! and had his first day at school yesterday (monday) but was very sad when he found out that i wasnt able to be at his birthday party coz i was heading home for the weekend!

I had long days with Clare's family this week and they were slightly different as Brian (father) was home sick all week and Clare worked slightly different hours. So when i was supposedly meant to have sole charge of the chns, it pretty much went to custard and everything that i did on Wednesday with the children, i got a "I want mummy to do it" or "I want daddy" or just screaming in my face! Also, this week oliver (almost 1 yr old) did not want to sleep much with his morning/afternoon naps so by the time it came around to four pm and i was bathing Josh and Hannah - Oliver was screaming and crying and ohh boy... it was not pleasent at all! The life of nannying i guess :)

Thursday was much better - i think because Hannah and i were able to leave the house and go down the road to the park and spend some time there. Also Thursdays are busy but then i get a bit of down time in the afternoon while Oliver is sleeping (IF HE SLEEPS) and Hannah is at Kindy and Josh at swimming lessons!

Had the day off work on Friday but went down to "Tumbling Tots" which is like gym for todlers and helped out Sam (mother of 2nd family) with Elise and Sophie since i was free. What a great time that was but very hard trying to teach Elise how to climb up and down a ladder safely... this is still a work in progress and i have certainly learnt that children have a mind of their own. Ohh mother, how i feel for you after all of these years....

Friday after tumbling tots, it was back home (home as in Khandallah) and then pack my stuff, wash sheets, hang out washing and then pretty much time to head off to the bus stop in town and catch the bus home (home as in Hawkes Bay!!!!!)

Had a great weekend up in the bay and loved just hanging out with the fam (when i had a chance to). Went and saw FAME put on by HBHS/HGHS and it was fantastic. I always love going and seeing the last night of productions/musicals - they i think are the best.

Sunday i caught up with people at "The Station Community Church" which was fantastic and i realised how much some of the little ones have grown up in four weeks - its really scary but great. Also on Sunday i celebrated mum's birthday with her (which was actually monday) and that way i could be a part of it. Sunday afternoon i caught the bus back to welly and got in around 7pm ish. Little did i realise that i had managed to arrive at the train station at a busy time when there were a whole lot Phoenix fans and the train station was chaos! I walked out of the train station and also realised that i was certainly back in Wellington - the weather was HORRIBLE - even by wellington standards!

Monday i had another day off work and managed to catch up on an assignment or two and also just spent the day exploring wellington and porirua - whoop whoop! Catching up with friends whom i havnt seen in a while was great and i got to feel like a little kid again (instead of being an adult looking after little kids)!

Well now its tuesday morning and i have to head off and catch my bus into town for course now but i hope this keeps you all going long enough until i post my next blog (which hopefully wont be too far away)

Week 3 - draft done in week three (published in week 5)

(just so you have an indication of how slack i am - this was drafted two weeks ago and i still havnt managed to publish it... whoops!)

Hey all,

well i thought that since i had a bit of free time for a change i had better type a bit on here to keep you all up to date with life in Welly!

All is going..... well its okay - put it that way! The last week has been very hectict but i am glad to say that having to families to work for and learn from is fantastic because if i feel like i need to "escape" one family, then i just wait till another day and then i can trade families for the day.

Yesterday i worked with my 2nd family - the Daivs-Wren's i think it is. It was a hard day because all three children (remembering that they are all under 5) were home sick for the day and so notToday (Tuesday) was our third class day and what a day it was. We (the students/nannies in training) knew that the course would be very intense becuase there is so much to learn in 6ish months but today we ended up getting 4 ASSESSMENTS/ASSIGNMENTS to take home. Thank goodness that one or two of them arent due for a couple of weeks but still it is a lot of work to do when we only have 6 hours at the college a week (2 hours for each class) and need to take in a whole heap of info. As my host fam said, at least it should keep me out of trouble for the next couple of weeks.

Photos and update since i have been so slack!

Well here is an update for you all since i have been so slack at this over the last week or so!

All is going well so far. The children in the family that i am living with are all under 5 - 3 kids under 5, boy have i got my work cut out for me (supposedly). Their names are Josh 4yr old (5 on Christmas Day!!!), Hannah 3yr old (turned 3 in April) and then Oliver who is 11 and a bit months (turns 1 on Aug 23rd!). So i guess you could say it is a pretty busy household at times but so far i am surviving! I thought that i would add some photos on here since some people are asking about them so yea....

The first photos are of the first family that i work with (who also happen to be the fam that i am living with). Hannah also does not like having her hair tied up so its a miricle to have a photo with her hair actually tied up. There is certainly a performance or two when we even suggest tying it up.

The next lot are of the 2nd fam that i work with. The children in that family are very similar ages to the first fam and there are two girls and one boy instead of the other way around. I have only managed to get a couple of pics from the 2nd fam so far but will hopefulyl be able to get some more this week. Also will try and get some of Nannies College and some of the other students :)

Anyway, dinner time here now so i must go but i promise that i shall update my blog with some news and pics in the next couple of days - or at least by next weekend :)

Take care and God Bless,

Love Kathryn xox

Week One, Part 2 - Orientation Day

Part 2 of Week One begins here!

Its now Friday afternoon so as i am typing this, i will probably switch between both past and present tense quite i bit - it seems awful considering my mother is very specific about our use of English but i am sure you will all survive!

Monday morning rise and shine was about 6:30 am i think which is something that i am starting to get used to again! I haven't been awake that early in a long time (as im sure mum, dad and Ash can comment on) so the body had a bit of a shock the first couple of days!

I left "home" around 7:50ish and was really panicking as i had to catch the bus into Wellington City itself as we had Orientation Day at Wellington Nannies College starting at 9ish! All i knew about the bus service at this stage was that i would have to catch either the No. 43 or 44, the bus stop was at the end of the street and that there were $5 all day passes available. Little did i realise that the $5 all day passes only applied after 9am (grrrr) so i had to get a normal ticket - $4 EACH WAY! OUCHY OUCHY!

I managed to get off at the right stop on the bus and make my way from Courtenay Place to Wellington Nannies College down Abel Smith Street. Yay for my navigational skills. I thought that i would be really early but there were already a few peps there when i got to the college around 8:50ish and boy, talk about awkwardness and silence! There was an activity we were meant to do but didn't do that until one of the tutors actually came in and realised how quiet it was. Im sure you can imagine a room full of 20-30ish girls, none of us knowing each other and not knowing what to say to each other, being put into a classroom and supposedly getting to know each other - yea, it totally didn't happen but eventually the silence was broken. After the silence had been broken, i found out that i wasn't the only one from HB area - me from Hastings, Leah from Napier and Chrissy from Wairoa.

Orientation day was quite busy and included a city tour, a whole lot of general business/house keeping things about the course which took about two hours, getting to know each other, pizza lunch and a walk or two up and down Cuba Street. We also got given our Communication Booklets and our Weekly Meeting Booklets - with nice pink and green covers.

By the end of Monday afternoon, there was certainly no silence in the classroom and we were all having a ball - the only problem was we were so exhausted, it wasn't funny at all! Course finished about 4:30ish and then i had to find my way back with Leah to Khandallah! It turns out, she is only living about 5-10 mins away from me so we were both greatful to find someone close by!

Week One, Part 1 from Khandallah, Wellington!

Hi there everyone,

how is life going for you all (i was going to say back home in Hawkes Bay) but there are probably others reading this too so instead "How is life going for you all, wherever you may be?"

Life down here (or up here in some cases) in Welly is going great but heck it has indeed been a busy and overwhelming week!

I just realised i have now been down here a week (a week without mum and dad - wow!) and i am pretty much used to the weather already! Although in saying that, yesterday was terrible (winds of up to 14o kph) and there was rain and hail as well - that'scrazy... EVEN FOR WELLINGTON! Its times like that yesterday when i realise how much i miss the famous Hawkes Bay weather (not HB itself, but the weather) but as the saying goes - "When in Rome..."

So as for Welly itself, things are going great. I stayed last weekend with Bridget (a friend from HB) and her flatmates in their flat at Central House - which is located on top of a parking building in Boulcott Street! Yes you did read that correctely - ON TOP of a PARKING BUILDING! And can i just say that Flat 5 at Central House, is totally the best! Anyway, that weekend, went and did a bit of shopping, took a bus out to Kilbernie ( i think) and went and did some groceries at Pak N Save out there - so much cheaper than New World in Town :) Then went to Arise Church (located at the Michael Fowler Centre) on Sunday morning - that was great - its a bit like "The Station Community Church" but maybe 10 times bigger - a mini Parachute Mainstage i guess! I met some really neat people and then a group of us (about 6 girls) went out for lunch! There were three people with my name in that group - one Cat, one Kate and Moi! The weather was so lovely on Sunday we ended up taking a picnic to The Wharf and sat there in the sun for an hour or so!

Sunday afternoon/evening, i got picked up from Central House by Clare Letting (the mother of the family im living with) and her three children! I also within half an hour, had experience my first trip to the supermarket as a nanny - ohh boy! Talk about jumping in (or in this case diving in the deep end!) But actually it was really great and i was suprised how well the children behaved!

Sunday night, i settled in and unpacked all my stuff! Its great having a nice big bedroom with a double/queen bed and a bathroom attached to the bedroom! Its perfect on Wednesday/Thursday mornings when i walk to the bathroom half asleep at 6:30 and prepare myself for a 7am start :) And yes mum and dad, i have managed to keep my room tidy (no clothes on the floor YET)! The first night trying to sleep wasnt very successful but that has started to get better as time goes by!

This blog entry is getting very long so i am going to cut it short and start another post for the begining of my course!

Take care and ta ta for now!
Love Kathryn xx

MOVING DAY!

Today (or yesterday considering i am writting this on Saturday), was MOVING DAY! A nice early start in the morning and final packing was how the day began. Then packing the car and leaving home by about 7:30am and on our way to Wellington!

The trip down wasnt too bad and i did manage to get a nana nap or two throughout the trip. Im glad that mum and dad were driving but dont know how they managed to stay awake - maybe it was just the fact that "I don't do mornings" and they seem to.

Finally got to Wellington around 12ish and then had to negate our way into town - Dad was driving at this time and lets just say that he is not a person in favour of Wellington Traffic. Went to drop my gear off at Central House before heading up to the Nannies College, to get directions to get to my interview with my possible host family at 2. They lived in Seatoun and considering we were not from this city and had no idea where we would be going, the college were kind enough to give us directions out there. Thank goodness for that.

The interview at Seatoun was great and went well according to both myself and the mother of the family that i was meeting. i thought that went quite well and the mother said that she thought it went quite well... the only thing was that before interviewing me, they had been exploring other options. After the interview, i rang the Nannies College to let them know how it went. Later i got a call back from them saying that the Seatoun Family had decided to go with another option (although it was nothing against me) but this was easier for them as they were able to then have someone right through till the end of the summer holidays. This was at like 4:30pm and i was kinda guttered about not having a family. The person i was talking to from Nannies College then said to me that she had another family in mind and would i be able to meet them at 5pm? At this point i was so exhausted (after being awake since like 6am-ish) but said so anyway as i didnt want to be panicing over the weekend and not exactly knowing what i was doing on Monday.

Long story short - 2nd family was great and i got on really well with them. The mother is a little scary when you first meet her but its still good. I am moving in with that family 2mrw afternoon/evening. They are living over in Khandallah so in less than a week i have gone from Johnsonville to Seatoun and then to Khandallah.

For those that are wanting to send a letter or a care package or anything - my address in Khandallah will be:

2 Te Kainga Way,
Khandallah,
Wellington, NZ

The family i am going to be living with seem really great - there are 3 chns in the family (all of which are currently UNDER 5!!!) so that will be a task in itself! The mother is a nurse and works some night shifts so i will have sole charge of the chns on Wednesday and Thursday and will be working 11-12 hours on those days... YIKES! Not sure about the rest of the week at this stage but will sort that out later.

The rest of Friday night was great and i just have to say that i totally love being at Central House and Flat 5 is the bestest ever! Thanks so much for the awesomeness and the amazing hospitality guys (and girls)! We watched a movie and Alex (one of the guys in the flat) and I attempted to make apple crumble (without a recipe) and it was interesting to say the least. It tasted not too bad but we have now all called it "Apple Porridge" - i shall let you all draw your own conclusions for that one!

Went for a walk downtown with Caleb (another guy flatmate) and Bridget (the one i am supposedly stayin with) at like 10:30pm or something like that and then came back to Central House and headed off to bed. Didnt get to sleep till nearly midnight but thats okay.

Its now dinner time on Saturday and i need to head off and get some food - will write more in the blog later now that have updated everyone!

Take care and stay safe!

Until later - God Bless,

xx

Wellington Here I Come

Ok, so these blogs are being written as i am lying on a bed at Central House in welly because i have been so slack at updating my blog.

The week after the holiday programme seemed to go so fast and included shopping, getting paper work filled out for Nannies College, catching up with and saying Goodbye to a whole lot of people and much more.

One of the hardest things during the past week for me would have been the fact that i had to say Au Revoir (at least for now) to the people at "The Station Community Church" and also at "St Peters Riverslea". Man, i thought that would be easy but nope - tears were present on both occasions that Sunday.

Monday morning, i realised that i might indeed need a hair cut before i headed off to the big smoke, so i rang my hairdressers to see if they had an appointment avaiable at all during the week. Turned out they had one on Tuesday and i was so stoaked.

Tuesday, i got a haircut and did a bit more shopping for clothes for the next 6 months.

Wednesday i realised that i had better start packing and so i made a list and started to sort through things. Also, it was time to say goodbye to some more people -something i was once again not looking forward to. It was also one of these two days (Tuesday and Wednesday) when i recieved yet another call from Wellington Nannies College. The person who was meant to be organising a family for me, was off sick (silly Swine Flu) and so were her family, and the college realised that nothing had been done about where i would live in Welly. Long story short, i was meant to be staying in Jville (Johnsonville) but the family there no longer required a nanny. :'(

Thursday just seemed to fly by and before i knew it, it was Thursday night and the packing was pretty much done (apart from a few things to be added on Friday morning). I then headed off to Bay Cities to drop off my band uniform and i thought that i had better pay my subs before i left. Of course John Snowling and some of the band knew that i was going, but when John Snowling is concerned, no-one leaves without being made a big deal of. Later, i sent a couple of emails off to people and then headed to bed, my last sleep in my own bed (in Hawkes Bay) for a while!

Friday was the next day and Wellington was calling my name - i was ready physically for the big step in my life but as for emotionally, im not too sure i was ready for that.

Finally i had been given answers

Wow, what to say? Well the last few months have been pretty tough - living at home, jobless (apart from the odd casual work), stuck in Hawkes Bay and not knowing what to do with my life. I have been often wondering over the last few months, why things werent going according to my plan and why whenever i thought something major was going to happen in my life, it didnt end up happening. Why was i being put through this time of testing and requiring patience? Clearly im not the most patient person in the world and so maybe that was what was needed.

After doing a talk at youth group about all of this, i then headed down to welly for a week and realised that God had been on my side the whole time - all i had to do was acknowledge it and realise that he had a greater plan for my life than i did.

While heading down to Welly on the monday morning, i got a phone call from Wellington Nannies College saying that they had recieved my application a little while ago and it turns out that someone had pulled out of the course, the friday before and they now had a place for me in the course. Well, it was then that i knew Gods plan was being revealed to me. I had my interview at the college on Wednesday 1st July (the day before my 19th bday) and i got accepted! I was totally nervous about the interview but it was one of the easiest i have ever done. YAY - FINALLY I WAS GETTING THE ANSWERS TO ALL MY QUESTIONS!

Had a great bday on the Thursday (thanks to certain people who shall remain nameless) and then headed home on the Friday. What a great week it had turned out to be.

The next week was full of 30ish children each day and working out at St Lukes Church in Havelock North - doing a holiday programme. What a week that was, a time where more patience was required for sure and a few other talents and skills.

After the holiday programme ended on the Friday, i realised that i had one week to go until i moved to Welly! I still knew nothing of what would be happening in welly eg. where i would be living, who i would be living with, what church i would go to etc ... all i knew (and kept gettin told) was that God would supply the answers!