The Clan of Mahlou: Where in the World Is Elizabeth?

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Where in the World Is Elizabeth?

I just thought of an interesting little competition. While I am gone tripping, please leave a comment, guessing where you think I am and why. And since I will not have access to the Internet, no one will see anyone's answers until I return so there will be no influence one upon another!

I will send a surprise gift to everyone who guesses correctly.

This will be fun, no?

3 comments:

AmritaOctober 6, 2010 at 8:17 PM
God go with you on your travels.

I am guessing Middle East.
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Stella JonesOctober 8, 2010 at 12:12 AM
I'm going to guess you have gone to the Middle East? I can't be more specific. It's just a feeling I have.
Wishes for safe travel go with you from
Star
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Elizabeth MahlouOctober 10, 2010 at 11:21 PM
Amrita and Star, how close you came! I spent two days in Dubai, UAE, because my luggage got lost. Once it arrived, however, I traveled on to my final destination: Afghanistan. Thanks for your good wishes for my safe travels. Thank God, they WERE safe.
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Most Recent Updates

Daily updates on family members who are "in the family news" are available on the Twitterlets.

Nathaniel and Nikolina have moved into a more normal set of life activities, now possible with the stabilization of Nikolina's health. Some of her routine care has been transferred from Stanford University Hospital to local doctors. This makes life easier for everyone. With her gross motor development delayed because of disabilities and surgery, Nikolina has been progressing in fine motor development faster than typically expected and is now beginning to draw and to type. Of course, Nathaniel is a great help to her in this respect.

Updated pictures of Nathaniel and Nikolina are added periodically at the end of the post about them.

Here is a picture of Nikolina that Shane took at a local restaurant. That smile on her face never goes away; I think she knows how lucky she is to be alive -- and to be intellectually normal and performing at age level is absolutely remarkable. (She still is missing some body parts, but she has never needed a feeding tube or any other kind of support since being released from the hospital.)

Pictures from our house blessing have now been added. Click here to see them: house blessing.

A Guide to the Clan

Using Elizabeth (me) as the center (only because I am the one doing the blogging), here is how the clan is related:

Wife/Mother: Elizabeth
Husband/Father: Donnie

Birth children, in birth order:
Lizzie
Noelle
Shane
Doah

Here are the three children who came to live with us, in order of when they arrived:
Blaine (from the barrio of Salts)
Shura (from Siberia)
Ksenya (from Moscow)

There were also others who lived with us for a year or more:
Vanessa and her three children (abandoned mother)
Rollie (my brother)
Victoria (my sister)
George (a colleague of Donnie's who could not find a place to rent because he was black living in a principally white location)

And then there is my Maine farm family:
mother: Ma
father: Dad (deceased 36 years)
Children (oldest to youngest):
Elizabeth (me)
Katrina
Danielle
Willie
Rollie
Keith
Sharon
Victoria

And, of course, our cats:
Murjan
Intrepid
Simone

With time, I will add to the content. In the meanwhile, see the alphabetical listing under "family members" below to find out about those for whom I have posts.

My Other Blogs

100th Lamb. This is my main blog, the one I keep most updated. I link from there to here when I want to use one or another of my writings there.

Mahlou Musings.
This site contains excerpts from my various publications.

Modern Mysticism. This blog discusses the mystical in our pragmatic, practical, realistic, and rational 21st century world and is to those who spend some or much of their time in an irrational/mystical relationship with God. If such things do not strain your credulity, you are welcome to follow the blog and participate in it.

The Burning House

"The Burning House"
by William Smith
copyright 2009

I dreamed a dream of a burning house
With brothers and sisters and a cold bitter spouse.
The halls were all crooked, the doors were ajar.
I heard all their cries from the road in my car.

I put on the brakes and came to a stop
While an old jackrabbit went hippity hop.
I looked back again, and the house was ablaze.
The people inside just looked in a daze.

The curtains were tattered, the roof was not straight.
The hinges were knocked off the broken front gate.
The paint was all weathered, and the shutters hung loose.
A shadow on the barn door looked like a noose.

A kid outside shouted, "There's a fire there, you see".
But Mama kept screaming, "Come back here to me".
"No, I cannot, ‘cause your house is on fire".
But nobody listened as the flames grew still higher.

Once in a while a child would run out,
But Mama and Papa would just scream and shout.
The kid in the yard would utter a scream
As a child ran back in as if in a dream.

Soon the house burned right to the ground.
The kid in the yard made not a sound.
I opened the door, and she sat on the seat.
She didn't look back because of the heat.

I stepped on the gas, and we sped away.
I opened my mouth, but what can you say?
"They had to go back," was her soft reply.
All of them chose their way to die.

I turned on the light; she was just seventeen.
She was the prettiest girl I'd ever seen.
I'll never forget the night I stopped there,
‘Cause I married that girl with the long, flowing hair.

The Clan of Mahlou

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Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Where in the World Is Elizabeth?

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