pagination and xml

[I am Abby]

I found a script that looks fairly easy to implement...I just have two problems with it.

<?php
$xml = simplexml_load_file('yourxml.xml');

$limit = 5;
$page = $_GET['page'];

foreach ( $xml->item as $item ) {
  if ( empty($page) ) {
    if ( $item->attributes()->page > 0 && $item->attributes()->page <= $page+$limit )
      echo $item->attributes()->title,'<br/>';
    } else {
    if ( $item->attributes()->page > ($page-1)*$limit && $item->attributes()->page <= (($page-1)*$limit)+$limit )    
      echo $item->attributes()->title,'<br/>';
  }
}
?>

the xml that goes with it is

<root>
<item page="1" title="title 1" />
</root>

My first problem is that my xml does not have a page# or ID (but I can add that)

<sayings>
  <message>
    <id></id> //can add this
    <vdate></vdate>
    <msgpost></msgpost>
  </message>
</sayings>

my big problem is that the pagination script does a foreach loop going from 1 to the end, while my script posts the data from last to first. How can I put them together?

$i = count($xml->messages)-1;
for($x=$i;$x>=0;$x--)
{	//reformat date
  $string = $xml->messages[$x]->vdate;
  $stringArray = explode("/", $string);
  $mydate = mktime(0,0,0,$stringArray[0],$stringArray[1],$stringArray[2]); 
  $converteddate = date("F j, Y", $mydate);
 	
  //write to page
  echo
    $converteddate.'<br /><p>'
    .$xml->messages[$x]->msgpost.'<hr></p>';
}
?>

Thanks

[I am Abby]

I'm getting closer...
What I have gives me the 5 most recent posts.

//read from bev.xml
$file = 'xml/bev.xml';
$xml = simplexml_load_file($file);

$limit = 5;
$page = $_GET['page'];
$c = 1;

$i = count($xml->messages)-1;
for($x=$i;$x>=0;$x--)
if (empty($page) ) 
{
  if ($c > 0 && $c <= $limit)
  {	
     //write to page
    echo
      $xml->messages[$x]->$vdate.'<br /><p>'
      .$xml->messages[$x]->msgpost.'<hr></p>';
      $c++;
  }
}

I now need to know how to create the next page.

Am I even going in the right direction?