Blest Atheist: Saturday Evening Post #3

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Saturday Evening Post #3

Elizabeth Esther runs a meme in which on the first Saturday of the month bloggers select their favorite post of the month and share it with other bloggers. The links are posted at Esther's site: here.

How does a VIP (Very Important Person) take a VOP (Vow of Poverty)? October's "favorite" post was easy to select. The one that received the most comments was VIP or VOP, or both? Apparently, I am not the only one to struggle with a Franciscan understanding of Christianity and the reality of living in a work world that expects something very different from us.

As I said earlier, Americans like to mark the 100th of anything, so here we go again. The next post (which will go up at 12:01 A.M. PST Sunday) will my 100th post, and to mark it, I plan another giveaway.

6 comments:

Amrita said...: Very interesting Elizabeth.

I want to be a winner, but I am confused with the time difference; November 7, 2009 4:27 AM
Elizabeth Mahlou said...: Amrita, I sent you a note, saying that if you tell me where you live, I will tell you the time difference. I will do the conversion for anyone who asks. I travel so frequently to faraway lands that time conversion is easy for me.; November 7, 2009 8:35 AM
Fr. Christian Mathis said...: loved it the first time....and the second as well.....hope you will stop by my blog tomorrow for something new I am trying out.; November 7, 2009 12:22 PM
Elizabeth Mahlou said...: Fr. Christian, I stop by your blog EVERY day! I find your posts very educative. I will watch for tomorrow's in anticipation!; November 7, 2009 12:26 PM
Robyn Campbell said...: Elizabeth, add me. I would love a copy of the Blest Atheist.

I have been reading about your granddaughter. I have added her to my prayer list. I will pray for her continued recovery. She is such a blessing. Praise God!; November 8, 2009 6:09 AM
Corrie Howe said...: Again, I find you to be very fascinating! I just happened to read about the update on your granddaughter and your cat. Yeah!!! God is Good.; November 8, 2009 5:59 PM

My Other Blogs

The Clan of Mahlou.
This blog provides background information about various members of the extended Mahlou family. It is very much a work still in progress.

H2 Helper
This blog is dedicated to promoting personalized help to the hungry and homeless.

Mahlou Musings.
This site contains excerpts from my various publications. The tiger is a representation of my spirit and my life.

Modern Mystics
This blog discusses the mystical in our pragmatic, practical, realistic, and rational 21st century world and is addressed 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.

Twitterlets

1. Update on Nikolina

(Granddaughter) Nikolina has already learned what it takes many adults years to learn: how to laugh at herself and enjoy life!
read about Nikolina

2. Update on Nathaniel

(Grandson) Nathaniel got a haircut! We have a competition going: does it make him look more like Bastion in the Neverending Story or a young Mr. Spock from Star Trek?
read about Nathaniel

3. Update on Shane

Shane got a conditional job offer yesterday from California Highway Patrol, where he worked earlier (for 12 years). He passed his security clearance, but he now must pass his medical. Once that is through, he will get a start date. The medical exam is tomorrow, so the start date might be as early as April 1. Yes!
read about Shane

4. Update on Doah

(Son) We drove to Santa Clara Saturday to take Doah to lunch. He needs time away from his group home occasionally since one of the bigger residents has just developed a brain tumor that makes him aggressive. While his behavior is held in check by the staff, Doah still feeds the need for a sanity escape.
read about Doah

5. Update on Noelle

(Daughter) No time frame yet for Noelle's bone surgery. She lives alone now since Ray died and has moments of very much missing him to the point of not wanting to interact with other people, including family. We are biding our time, waiting for her to indicate that the intense pain has ebbed before pressing her too hard for participation in family events.
read about Noelle

6. Where in the world is Elizabeth?

If I come to a location near you, we just might be able to meet! (Note: my dates are subject to change. Such is the nature of my work!)

March 2010:
15-17. Baltimore, Maryland
18-21. Los Angeles, California
29-31. Columbus, Ohio

April 2010:
1-3. Columbus, Ohio
4-6. Mililani Town, Oahu, Hawaii

June 2010:
4-7. Delaware, Ohio

July 2010:
Amman, Jordan

August 2010:
TBD. Lichtenfels & Garmisch, Germany
TBD. Austria

7. More about the Family

The Clan of Mahlou provides more extensive information and pictures.

The Forgiveness Project

I came across a marvelous blogsite/website today and want to share it with readers. It is called The Forgiveness Project. I believe it can offer healing to those who have suffered at the hands of strangers (or even friends). I suggest that you click on and read the personal stories related there. Perhaps it will bring peace to those who need it. I would also point out a lesson that God taught several years ago. Forgiveness is only the first step; the second and perhaps even more important one is to love the person who perpetrated the suffering. That is hard to do, but I believe that we are indeed called to do that.

Special People to Pray For

Please pray for the following individuals, as well as anyone else with the same disorders; it is time to find a cure for all these things.

Ashlyn

Ashlyn has two strikes against her: Down's Syndrome and cancer. Prayers needed on both fronts.

Ben

Ben is a child with cancer (neuroblastoma). He is now technically cancer-free but is still underdoing chemo therapy and needs prayers for its effectiveness.

Bennett

A 5-month-old infant with an extra chromosome, Bennett has undergone open heart surgery successfully, and most recently, survived swine flu.

Hope

Hope is a Down's Syndrome child who suffers from a heart defect that has been resistant to surgical repair.

Isaac

Premature Isaac has a very rare chromosal disorder that has required a trach, g-tube, and oxygen dependency.

Jaxson

Jaxson turned four recently! Check out the celebration at his website. He is a Down's Syndrome child with a tracheotomy.

Jonah

Jonah is an infant with junctional EB; he is making slow gains but experiencing many difficulties.

Kyleigh (and her mom, Amber)

A mother and daughter are both battling devastating results from birth defects. I will be posting on them later, with an explanation of ways of how to help them. Amber has recently been discovered to have Chiari I malformation, and Kyleigh is a miraculous toddler, not expected to live, given VACTERLS Association. Amber's website is here and Ky's story is here. They need your help and your prayers.

Lillian

Lillian, who was born with trisomy, was recently decanulated (tracheotomy removed) but in the last couple of days has developed a fever; bigger concerns are what to do about school -- divine guidance needed for that, too.

Philip

Philip, recently baptized, has no swallowing reflexes; he is on oxygen and a feeding tube.

Phoenix

Phoenix is a young boy with cystic fibrosis.

Sam

Sam is the 8-year-old big brother of two sisters; he has been diagnosed with osteosarcoma cancer.

Samantha

Samantha suffers from cystic fibrosis, which is uncurable. Please pray for her and for a cure for all children with cystic fibrosis.

You You

A little girl who recently had open heart surgery and is growing now still needs prayers for continued improvement.

And a host of little angels, some of whom have departed this earth, and their families. To meet them, click the button below.

Prayers Answered

Christmas Miracle

Jaden, a sweet 2-year-old with neuroblastoma (terminal cancer), has been on my prayer list, as well as many others, for months. Then, on December 23, his scan showed complete remission: no neuroblastoma cells anywhere!

From Prayer List to Miracle List

Stellan had a heart defect: Supraventricular Tacycardia (STV). He has needed surgeries, and much in his little life has been touch-and-go. Thousands of people have been praying for him, and now Stellan has been healed. He got his miracle. Click on the link to his name to read the family's overwhelmed and grateful reaction. Thanks to all readers of this blog who have been praying for this child of strangers. We are, after all, called to give kindness to strangers.

Leukemia Thwarted!

Dylan was born with leukemia. After six months in the hospital and on many prayer lists, Dylan is going home healthy. There are still babies with leukemia, however, who need your prayers!

Adoption Money Appeared

Success! Melanie Hollis of Franklin, Tennessee was trying to raise $20K by Thanksgiving in order to adopt a Down's Syndrome child from Eastern Europe that she feels God is calling her to do. The goal was reached! For more information, see Melanie's website: the 30-day journey for Hope. (Hope is her Down's child with a heart defect - see prayer requests above.)

A Bahraini friend's brother

I blogged about this one a couple of days ago. Nineteen young men held and beaten for 17 months were declared innocent and pardoned after an all-night prayer vigil.

Noelle and Ray

Noelle's brush with a bone infection that was going to require amputation has ended with a surprise: a new doctor who has a new technique. No amputation! Although Ray died in 2010, he has had his own miracle: in 2006 he was in a coma for 4 weeks from total renal failure and not expected to live, given no functioning kidneys, yet he continued in relatively good health until about a week before he died.

Visa Granted; Cure Possible

Katya (her real name is Tanya, but since I used a pseudonym in Blest Atheist, I will stay with it here) is a dying blind orphan in Russian whose only wish is to see her two brothers, adopted by an American family 12 years ago, before she dies -- but American doctors believe that they can treat her, that she does not need to die. On October 20, 2009 after literally years of trying for this, she got an American visa! Subhanallah! More prayers are needed now because she is too ill to travel. It does not seem possible that God would bring us this far and not all the way. Please keep Katya (Tanya) in your prayers.
read about Tanya

Hallelujah! Many thanks to all of you for your prayers for these people. Please see my prayer list above. There are many more folks who need God's mercy and intervention.

Ways to Help Others

Afghans for Afghans
A humanitarian and educational people-to-people project, this organization sends hand-knit and crocheted blankets and sweaters, vests, hats, mittens, and socks to the beleaguered people of Afghanistan. You can help by knitting and crocheting or by spreading the word.

Amazima Ministries
Amazing Ministries serves orphans in Uganda, East Africa, striving to keep the children in Uganda alive, give them life to the fullest, and educate the poorest of the poor intellectually and spiritually.

Animal Rescue Site
The Animal Rescue Site is having trouble getting enough people to click on it daily so they can meet their quota of getting free food donated every day to abused and neglected animals. It takes about 15 seconds to go to their site and click on the purple box 'fund food for animals for free'. This doesn't cost you a thing.

Casa do Zezinho (Little Joe's House)
Located in Death Triangle, the most dangerous part of Sao Paulo, Brazil, is an oasis for children, run by a lady named Dagmar, who once told me that she did not want to be called an angel because one had to die for that role. Nonetheless, she does an angel's work every day. (See post on Casa de Zezinho.)

Feel Good Yarn for Warming Families
Warming Families is a social network that knits warm clothing for the homeless. Through December 2009, Land's End will donate a skein of yard to Warming Families for each hat purchased.

For Your Tears
This is a blogsite providing emotional support (and a special handkerchief) for mothers who have lost a child. If you have lost one or know one who does, click over there.

Kids for a Better Future
In 2006, 9-year-old Akash Mehta recruited some of his young friends and founded an organization to improve life in Afghanistan: he has raised money to assist hospitals, schools, women, and, recently, Congolese child soldiers.

Habitat for Humanity
Habitat for Humanity seeks to eliminate poverty housing and homeless from the world and to make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action.

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
As its name suggests, this center provides a single national location for tracking children in trouble.

Orphan Cry
Orphan Cry (Liberia). Building on its success in Russia (see Ways to Help #2), Orphan Cry has opened Christ Our Hope Orphanage in Monrovia, Liberia, a country with 85% unemployment and an average life expectancy of 42.5 years. Clothing, books, and water are priorities for OC in Liberia.

Orphan Cry
Orphan Cry (Russia). The fall of communism has created a parallel phenomenon: the fall of the child. An American church group has spearheaded an attempt to help children throughout Russia. The group has helped many orphans by improving the living conditions in the orphanages of Russia and creating opportunities for a better life for children as they mature into adulthood and leave the orphanages.

Pet Finder
International rescue and adoption agency for pets. Adopt a pet, provide a foster home, help with rescue.

Por Amor a Los Ninos de Colombia (For Love of the Children of Colombia)
This is Father Julio's site for helping the impoverished children of rural Colombia. Lack of money and schooling impel the children to join guerrilla groups, commit petty crimes, or become addicted to drugs. The Por Amor foundation has set about to build a centrally located school (nearly done) and a self-sustaining farm for this at-risk population.

Priests in Crisis
This site presents situations in which priests need help of various sorts. Rather than try to explain all the differing circumstances, I encourage you to go to the site and see for yourself. Perhaps there is a way that you can help someone who gives much to our Catholic community.

Prison Ministry
Donate Catholic books to prison inmates. What a great use for a book we have finished reading!

Ronald McDonald House
The Ronald McDonald House is a home away from home for parents who need to move to a large city on a temporary basis while an ill child is receiving care from experts not available at home. Having a place to stay can be very reassuring, as well as making care financially feasible for parents coping with major medical issues.

St. Francis Retreat
For three years, the call has been: "Bring Back St. Francis." The main retreat house burned down in 2006. Now, SFR is just $320K from paying for a complete rebuilding. (Based on faith pledges, the building has been rebuilt and reopened in September 2009.) See the August 2009 post: The Journey Is More Important Than the Destination.

Starfish Foster Home (China)
Starfish Foster Home (SCS) to rescue Chinese orphans in need of medical care by working in collaboration with local orphanges. After nursing them back to health through solid nutrition and a loving environment, Starfish Children's Services organizes and pays for the children’s surgeries before providing post-operative care. After the surgeries, the goal shifts to getting these children in the adoption pipeline so that they can join a stable, loving family. To do this, they need help from people like you and me: money, medicine. Please contact them if you can help.

The Hunger Site
The Hunger Site provides a specific amount of food (varies by day depending upon the number of advertisers) to those who are hungry around the world as a result of visitation to the site. (You must click to enter your visit; there are items that can be purchased but no purchase is necessary -- just a click -- to donate food.) Linked sites where you can donate in the same way, just by visiting and clicking, include the Animal Rescue, Breast Cancer, Child Health, Literacy, and Rain Forest sites. It is worth the small investment of time to do this daily. (If you do purchase something, there is a greater amount of donations made.)

Transitions Global

Transitions Global empowers survivors of sex trafficking in Cambodia, Thailand, India and elsewhere with the opportunity to heal and recapture the most basic of human rights: freedom and hope. The various branches of this organization provide a safe environment where the girls can heal through intensive trauma therapy and life skills training, as well as learn job skills, enabling them to become healthy, independent adults. (The image comes from the movie, Trade, which chronicles a sex slave experience.)

Uganda Orphan Fund
This organization helps orphans with HIV through the sale of jewelry. (In 2007, the number of orphans in Uganda was estimated at 2 million, about half of whom suffer from AIDS/HIV.)

Village Earth
This consortium empowers communities to sustainably access and manage the resources needed to achieve their vision for the future by working directly with communities as allies, distributing appropriate technology information, as well as providing training, consultation and networking services to individuals, communities and organizations around the globe. Financial help is needed for projects in Cambodia, India, Guatemala, Peru, and South Dakota. Volunteers are also being sought.

World Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Nicknamed "the cat woman of Amman" due to the many feral cats I rescued while living there, I would remind readers not to forget our animal friends. The WSPCA does outstanding work. A little money goes a long way; so does volunteerism.

WWF International
Formerly called the World Wildlife Fund, today this organization is better known by its initials, especially because it has gone beyond just saving animals of this planet to saving the planet itself, looking at the environment which must be preserved if animals -- and people -- are to have a livable home.

Humanity for the Hungry: The Challenge

The "H2H Challenge" asks those who care to go beyond throwing money at the hungry and homeless and instead of giving a handout only, get to know them, give them dignity, and provide them with respect, to follow the example set by St. Francis in eating together with the outcasts of society (in his case, mostly lepers) and through getting to know them in this manner, treating them as the same children of God that we all are, no less worthy of love and kindness than ourselves. Specifically:

Invite someone who is homeless and hungry to dinner once a month. (More often, if you can afford it, is, of course, wonderfully fine!) Get to know that person one-on-one.

You can report on your experiences and read the experiences of others at my H2 Helper blog.

Award-Free Blog

Periodically, someone gives me a blog award, which I do sincerely appreciate. (Everyone loves encouragement, right?) I have, however, decided not to post them on this blog site although I am happy to express my appreciation on the blog award giver's site. The Blest Atheist and related blogs I created for glorifying God. (When I become a little braver, I will tell the story behind the blogs.) To accept awards would place me at the center of attention, where God belongs, not I. I hope readers/bloggers will understand.

Blest Atheist

sharing blessings, the miraculous, and God's love in everyday lives

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Saturday Evening Post #3

6 comments:

Post a Comment

Blest Guests' Posts' Index

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Welcome, visitors, from wherever you are!

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About Me

My Conversion Story

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The Forgiveness Project

Special People to Pray For

Prayers Answered

Blogs I Recommend

Blog Archive

Monday Morning Meditations

Ways to Help Others

Humanity for the Hungry: The Challenge

Around the Globe with Kids

My Short Stories, Essays, and Book Excerpts

Recommended Reading

Spiritual Books in Progress

Relax...

Award-Free Blog

Blest Atheist

sharing blessings, the miraculous, and God's love in everyday lives

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Saturday Evening Post #3

6 comments:

Post a Comment

Blest Guests' Posts' Index

My Other Blogs

Catholic Converts

Christian Bloggers

Catholic Mothers Online

Labels

Search This Blog

Welcome, visitors, from wherever you are!

Share

Subscribe To

Just for a Little Fun

Twitterlets

About Me

My Conversion Story

Blest Atheist, The Book

The Forgiveness Project

Special People to Pray For

Prayers Answered

Blogs I Recommend

Blog Archive

Monday Morning Meditations

Ways to Help Others

Humanity for the Hungry: The Challenge

Around the Globe with Kids

My Short Stories, Essays, and Book Excerpts

Recommended Reading

Spiritual Books in Progress

Relax...

Award-Free Blog