A story for the young McGoram Whanau

Once upon a time in the beautiful land of Aotearoa, in a town called Ellerslie, lived Thomas & Flora McGoram who had so many children, but they didn’t live in shoe.

The 1st child was John, who studied his Bible and grew up to be a Missionary and travelled to distant lands.

The 2nd child was Dorothy, who grew up to make talking books for blind people and drove around Auckland on her scooter.

The 3rd child was Robin, who grew up to play Rugby League for Ellerslie Eagles and was a king at working out crosswords.

The 4th child was Jim, who made the best trolleys in Ellerslie and grew up to make his own beer and wine.

The 5th child was Selma Janet, who loved reading, writing stories and history; and grew up to be a Tusitala (storyteller) and lived at Dee Why Beach in Australia.

The 6th child was Margaret (Mags), who grew up to be the best Mother and the best darts player in Tauranga.

The 7th child was Michael (Mackel), who grew up to drive a big blue fork hoist and had a Mohawk haircut like a Native American Indian.

The 8th child was Rosemary, (Rose) who had lots of black curly hair, could play the piano SO well and grew up to be a Fortune-Teller.

The 9th child was Ian, who was Rosemary’s, little brother and was loved by all of us and grew up to have the best smile and singing voice of all.

The 10th child was always a baby, who lived with Thomas and Flora and all the children, until some good lady and man chose the child as their very own special baby.

Flora used to tell the children they were "very special because we had two Mothers and three Fathers."

When asked "what do you mean?", the response would be, "you have Mummy (Flora) and Daddy (Thomas), your 'real' Mother and Father and your Father in Heaven." 

What a lovely way to explain why we were not living with our birth parents, it made me feel so good.  Thanks Mum.

The McGoram family is very special as Thomas and Flora were unable to have children so; these lucky children were chosen to be their very own.  Thomas and Flora were wonderful people with lots of love for all the different children.

John, Dorothy, Robin, Jim, Janet, and Mags are Pakehas.

Mackel is part Maori, Pakeha and Indian.

Rosemary and Ian are Nuie Islanders.

This story is dedicated to my Mum and Dad, Flora and Tom, with much love.