Arama turns 12

 On the 12th of Jan,  Arama turned 12, yes my baby is now at that lovely age!  ARGHH!  He ordered a Minecraft cake which I was silly enough to agree to.  I hate working with fondant and so below was my attempt,  but from now on I will stick with my good old cake transfers as they are heaps less work and time to prepare.  This is what the offical Minecraft cake looks like,  I think the design is pretty boring to tell you the truth but anyway there you go!!!

Here are some of his friends below who came to his party (minus his fav cousins Tristan and Dahlin this year as they were still away).

They all went over to Mum (and Dads - I will always still say Mum and Dads),  for party food and a swim.  Prior to that they went to Timezone for a birthday party gaming hour.

In the pool having lots of fun,  and lots of noise too!  LOL




After their swim,  they went back to our home for a Minecraft gaming afternoon.  Oh my goodness they are all such addicts but hey it was his birthday and so what the heck.  My home was taken over that afternoon by zoned out boys.  Fun Fun Fun.  Happy Birthday my special little 12 year old,  you are so special to me and always will be.  You have taught me so much over the years and I know you will continue to do so as the days go by.  I love you so so dearly,  you are one special special spirit!

ARAMA RECEIVES THE PRIESTHOOD

Then the next day on the 13th of Jan  Arama received the Priesthood at church.

For those of you who are not of our faith, The priesthood is the power of God, which is given to man to act in His name. It is given to every worthy young man when they turn 12 to bless the lives of others.  It is here on the earth today. The blessings of the priesthood are available to everyone.  Please follow the link below to find out more.  This is a video of The Prophet of our church Thomas S Monson talking about the sacredness of the Priesthood.

Priesthood Power

Arama's  Dad gave him the Priesthood and Some of his special Uncles and cousins joined Keith in giving him this blessing.  It was a lovely simple blessing that he was really touched by.  His eyes were filled with tears as they all said Amen at the end of his blessing.  I love how Arama is always so receptive to spiritual things and how his heart is so so tender.  I know this will bless you Arama as you use your Priesthood power to serve and bless other people.  This photo below is of those who joined in his blessing.

So From left to right those who helped to bless him were: Uncle Aaron Hall (Keith's Bro), Kalem Hall, (Keiths Nephew),  Aki Hettig, Keith's Nephew who is Elletta's son (Keith's sister), Arama, Keith and Niwa in the middle, The bald man behind Niwa's head is Alan Nonoa a good friend,  Next to Niwa is Uncle John Hettig (Keith's sister Elletta's husband), Uncle Donovan Bickford (very close friend), Derek Walters inbetween John and Donovan,  a very close friend also.  Terry Keith's bro arrived late which was a shame as we really wanted him to be there but never mind  Kalem his son was there.  I don't know the name of bald headed man at the back left.  He was a friend of Johns who came with him.  But anyway he managed to get into this photo also.  LOL.

Right at the edge of the photo to the right you can see one of Aaron's twins,  Niwas favourite cousins.   Aki had just got off his mission from Tonga, thus the Tongan costume worn by him and his dad John.  That night we attended a little meeting to hear of Aki's mission experiences in Tonga,  WOW how amazing they were!  What an amazing church we are a part of.  Our young people have such special experiences on their missions,  I went to Sydney on my mission about 17 years ago but I will always always treasure the sacred experiences I had helping people in and out of the church. I also loved coming  to know my god and sharing that knowledge with others!  I would say that serving a mission was  one of the hardest but happiest times of my life!  I hope and pray that Arama will be blessed one day to have such an experience!  I am converted to the fact that it will stand you strong in the Faith for the rest of your life.  How blessed I feel to have had this opportunity.

Below are a few added to the pic, Myself,  Nanny Hall,  Aunty Leonie, in the orange dress to the left, (Aaron's wife) and Aunty Elletta by Nanny Hall (Keiths Sister).

After this we headed home to our house for Brownie and icecream, Sausages and bread and left over birthday treats!   This was all spontaneous! Oh how I love spontaneous events,  (it was like the loaves and the fishes we seemed to fix up enough food to cater for everyone in no time at all)!