diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 74ab5ca54..2863a33a6 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2012-01-12 18:18-EST Gregory John Casamento <greg.casamento@gmail.com>
+
+	* Source/NSXMLElement.m
+	* Source/NSXMLNode.m: Add code to automatically instantiate 
+	the node to fill in the _private pointer if it is not present.
+
 2012-01-12 12:05-EST Gregory John Casamento <greg.casamento@gmail.com>
 
 	* Source/NSXMLElement.m: Changes to make NSXMLElement use
diff --git a/Source/NSXMLElement.m b/Source/NSXMLElement.m
index 07d991303..aeeea2f97 100644
--- a/Source/NSXMLElement.m
+++ b/Source/NSXMLElement.m
@@ -229,6 +229,7 @@ GS_PRIVATE_INTERNAL(NSXMLElement)
 - (void) insertChild: (NSXMLNode*)child atIndex: (NSUInteger)index
 {
   NSXMLNodeKind	kind;
+  xmlNodePtr node = (xmlNodePtr)(internal->node);
 
   NSAssert(nil != child, NSInvalidArgumentException);
   NSAssert(index <= internal->childCount, NSInvalidArgumentException);
@@ -323,42 +324,6 @@ GS_PRIVATE_INTERNAL(NSXMLElement)
   [self notImplemented: _cmd];
 }
 
-- (NSString *) XMLStringWithOptions: (NSUInteger)options
-{
-  NSMutableString *result = [NSMutableString string];
-  NSEnumerator *en = nil;
-  id object = nil;
-
-  // XML Element open tag...
-  [result appendString: [NSString stringWithFormat: @"<%@",[self name]]];
-
-  // get the attributes...
-  en = [[self attributes] objectEnumerator];
-  while ((object = [en nextObject]) != nil)
-    {
-      [result appendString: @" "];
-      [result appendString: [object XMLStringWithOptions: options]];
-    }
-  // close the brackets...
-  [result appendString: @">"];
-
-  [result appendString: [self stringValue]]; // need to escape entities...
-
-  // Iterate over the children...
-  en = [[self children] objectEnumerator];
-  while ((object = [en nextObject]) != nil)
-    {
-      [result appendString: @" "];
-      [result appendString: [object XMLStringWithOptions: options]];
-    }
-  
-  // Close the entire tag...
-  [result appendString: [NSString stringWithFormat: @"</%@>",[self name]]];
-
-  // return 
-  return result;
-}
-
 - (id) copyWithZone: (NSZone *)zone
 {
   NSXMLElement	*c = (NSXMLElement*)[super copyWithZone: zone];
diff --git a/Source/NSXMLNode.m b/Source/NSXMLNode.m
index 300d30494..c5698927c 100644
--- a/Source/NSXMLNode.m
+++ b/Source/NSXMLNode.m
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ GS_PRIVATE_INTERNAL(NSXMLNode)
 @interface NSXMLNode (Private)
 - (void *) _node;
 - (void) _setNode: (void *)_anode;
++ (id) _newFromNode: (xmlNodePtr)node;
 @end
 
 @implementation NSXMLNode (Private)
@@ -46,6 +47,34 @@ GS_PRIVATE_INTERNAL(NSXMLNode)
   ((xmlNodePtr)_anode)->_private = self;
   internal->node = _anode;
 }
+
++ (id) _newFromNode: (xmlNodePtr)node
+{
+  xmlElementType type = node->type;
+  NSXMLNode *result = (id)node->_private;
+  xmlChar *name = NULL;
+  // NSXMLNodeKind kind = 0;
+
+  if(result == NULL)
+    {
+      switch(type)
+	{
+	case(XML_ELEMENT_NODE):
+	  name = (xmlChar *)node->name;
+	  result = [[self alloc] initWithKind: NSXMLElementKind];
+	  break;
+	case(XML_ATTRIBUTE_NODE):
+	  name = (xmlChar *)node->name;
+	  result = [[self alloc] initWithKind: NSXMLAttributeKind];
+	  [result setStringValue: StringFromXMLStringPtr(node->content)];
+	  break;
+	default:
+	  break;
+	}
+    }
+
+  return result;
+}
 @end
 
 @implementation NSXMLNode
@@ -60,8 +89,8 @@ GS_PRIVATE_INTERNAL(NSXMLNode)
   [n setStringValue: stringValue];
   [n setName: name];
   node = xmlNewProp(NULL,
-		    (xmlChar *)[name UTF8String],
-		    (xmlChar *)[stringValue UTF8String]);
+		    XMLSTRING(name),
+		    XMLSTRING(stringValue));
   [n _setNode: node];
   
   return n;
@@ -219,17 +248,45 @@ GS_PRIVATE_INTERNAL(NSXMLNode)
 
 - (NSXMLNode*) childAtIndex: (NSUInteger)index
 {
-  return [internal->children objectAtIndex: index];
+  NSUInteger count = 0;
+  xmlNodePtr children = NULL;
+  xmlNodePtr node = (xmlNodePtr)(internal->node);
+
+  for (children = node->children; children && count != index; children = children->next)
+    {
+      count++;
+    }
+
+  return (NSXMLNode *)[NSXMLNode _newFromNode: children];
 }
 
 - (NSUInteger) childCount
 {
-  return internal->childCount;
+  NSUInteger childCount = 0;
+  xmlNodePtr children = NULL;
+  xmlNodePtr node = (xmlNodePtr)(internal->node);
+
+  for (children = node->children; children; children = children->next)
+    {
+      childCount++;
+    }
+
+  return childCount;
 }
 
 - (NSArray*) children
 {
-  return internal->children;
+  NSMutableArray *childrenArray = [NSMutableArray array];
+  xmlNodePtr children = NULL;
+  xmlNodePtr node = (xmlNodePtr)(internal->node);
+
+  for (children = node->children; children; children = children->next)
+    {
+      NSXMLNode *n = [NSXMLNode _newFromNode: children];
+      [childrenArray addObject: n];
+    }
+
+  return childrenArray;
 }
 
 - (id) copyWithZone: (NSZone*)zone