Circling the 100 Mark

There is something very American about "marking" the 100th of anything. For that reason, I decided to recognize the 100th follower of this blog, as well as the two who preceded and the two who came after. I think you will find each of them interesting in his/her own special way. And here they are:

100. Rosslyn Elliott
The 100th follower was Rosslyn Elliott. In 2006, Rosslyn finished her doctoral work in nineteenth-century American literature. Now, she writes inspirational historical novels. She is the proud mom of a first-grader and wife to a creative and talented salesman. Her fiction is represented by Rachelle Gardner of Wordserve Literary. Please visit her blog, Inkhorn Blue.

99. Leoneli, or Lolita de Jesus
The 99th follower asks us to call her Leoneli (Lolit) and gives us some information about herself on her blog. For example, she was born, baptized, and raised a Roman Catholic, then became a renewed Christian after her baptism in the Spirit. She started her first website in 1996 and started to blog in 2008 She has a couple blogs that you might like to visit: A Renewed Christian and Halo-Halo Spot.

98. Eva Cathrin from Norway
The 98th follower comes from the country of Norway. (There are several followers of Blest Atheist and Clan of Mahlou from Norway, and I enjoy reading the posts of their blog owners, too. Oddly, although I have friends from Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark, the only country of those I have actually visited is Finland, unless you count airport transits.) I invite readers to visit Eva Cathrin's blog, Hagemor, where I always go to find beautiful pictures from the North.

101. Anna MacDonald from Oregon
Anna MacDonald hails from the West coast, as do I. Annalogue is her blogsite, where she comments on a wide range of topics from kids to religion to politics.

102. Linda
Linda is a mystery to me. All I know is her name. I will gladly protect her anonymity, as I welcome her to Blest Atheist.

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The followers who contributed the most comments to this blog since it began in January are listed below in alphabetic order by first name (a habit developed under Arabic influence). I thank all of them for making this blog a more interesting place!

Andrea (or perhaps make that Sitka, her Malamute, who has his own site: All God's Creatures). Please go look at Sitka's picture, and also his sidekick, Nanuq. They are absolutely gorgeous therapy dogs, and Sitka always signs off with "woofs and wags."

Anne Bender (Imprisoned in My Bones -- Releasing My Inner Jeremiah) has been the most frequent contributor to this site. The mother of a priest-to-be (or perhaps more than one), she also wrote a guest post for me last month: Stand Back and Let God Work.

Ashley (If Necessary, Use Words), especially in the early months of this blog. A young woman with an unusually mature mindset, she also posted as a guest: There is Someone Watching Out for Me.

Gabriella (Gabriella's Blog). Gabriella is bilingual in English and Italian, and her blog alternates posts in these languages. I like both sets, but if you read only English (or only Italian), her blog is still worth following.

Sarah (Writing), who writes eloquently about overcoming the effects of child abuse and rape. She also wrote a guest post for me: Like a Dream. I should also mention that she has the cutest little dog, which you will see if you go to her blog.

Tracy (A Catholic Mom in Minnesota), particularly in more recent months. Visit her blog and give her some support and prayers, please. This is a difficult time for her.

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I might also mention that the very first person to follow this blog was bhojaman from Australia, whose blog, Meanderings, I follow, occasionally leaving a footprint there.

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And this week, a new country appeared on Blest Atheist: Brunei Darussalem (Brunei, Abode of Peace)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunei. The name was so appealing that I felt compelled to mention it. (I know the other 73 countries that have appeared on my counter and have visited a couple dozen of them, but this was a new one. I had to look it up, and I am glad that I did.)