The voting has ended on the Adventures of Elijah contest and the winner is MoPix aka The Lint Knitter - let me know where to send it and I’ll get your prize out. Thank you so much to everyone who entered and of course everyone who voted. So much fun!

Here is her fantastically cute winning adventure in full.

Meet Elijah J. Phant. His family calls him Eli for short.

Eli was the oldest of the Phant Family. His mother, Ella Phant, was a good mom and he loved her a lot.

Jamie Phant was his little brother who always followed Eli around.

Eli loved his family very much but always knew he was a little different from the rest.

For one, Eli didn’t like eating the plain old peanuts like the other elephants.

Instead, he loved creamy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Mmmmm…good.

Unlike this mother and brother, Eli was not gray but a pale shade of green.

He also liked wearing his purple hand knit scarf while his brother and mother wore nothing at all.

One day Eli decided that because he was so different he could not possibly be a member of the Phant Family.

Eli decided that because he was so different he must be from another country!!

So Eli found the legendary world map. This map showed all the places that he might be from.

He did not realize that the world was so big but he was determined to find this true home.

His first thought was Africa.

Of course!!! He must be a lion taming elephant from the jungles of Africa!

Yes!! That was it!

So he set out to find himself a lion.

Unfortunately, the family cat was the only thing he could find.

But Eli could not do it.

The problem was that he really liked cats and didn’t want to harm them.

He also realized that he would not be able to wear his beloved purple hand knit scarf in the jungles of Africa.

So Eli went back to the legendary world map and found a new possible home.

Thailand!!

He always heard about the royal treatment that elephants received in Thailand.

“I must be an elephant king!”

But the royal robes were far too heavy for Eli to see out of.

And the royal robes were far too long and big for such a small elephant.

Finally Eli thought, “Maybe I am from America”

Yes, yes, I must be an American Circus Elephant!

He knew this must be the answer because he loved to perform in front of an audience.

So he began to perform the circus tricks that every circus elephant knew how to do.

He found Jamie’s red ball and began balancing himself on his head.

“Piece of cake”, Eli said.

But when he tried to keep his balance while standing on the ball

It quickly became apparent that maybe he was not cut out for Barnum and Baileys traveling elephant troupe afterall.

OUCH!!

Sad and discouraged, Eli climbed on his mother’s big pillow and cried for hours.

When Eli’s mother found him crying she picked him up and gave him a big hug.

She asked him what he was crying about and Eli told her the whole story of his world wide adventures

She dried his tears and gave him a big kiss on the trunk.

“Oh Eli honey, you will not find yourself by running away and pretending to be someone you are not. Instead you have to grow up and create the elephant you want to be”, Eli’s mother said.

“And I may not be able to tell you where you come from, but I can tell you where you are now.

You are in a place where people love you, and love you for WHO you are.”

~The End