Dear Everyone,

 This is a note to apologize profusely for having invited you all to subscribe to my site for the 2 years I'm in Peace Corps Togo, and then subsequently letting it lapse after only a few months.  It is also to explain myself and to invite you once again to give it another try.  It is all up to date now, and looks great!  You won't have missed out on a thing.    

 After a couple of frustrating incidents where my postings didn't save, and being at a loss as to why, and not having the time or patience to figure it out on these slow connections, I gave up on them.  There were too many fields to go thru just to post my message and then only to have it disappear.  Instead, I started sending them by one click of a button via email to a small list of friends and family.  There were two reasons that this took a huge load off my shoulders, besides being much, much, quicker.  One, it gave me instant gratification knowing people would get the messages instantly and could also respond directly.  Second, most of the people on the recipient list I knew would forward them on to our mutual friends and family members not on the list; and I hoped my aunt or sister would be able to post the messages on the site for those not somehow connected to someone on the list.  I kept the recipient list relatively small because I've been told that too many names in the field can make these servers freak out sometimes, and given how insane it can be to send an email at all, I didn't want to risk the frustration.

 Alas, this was not an ideal solution, because messages haven't been posted in awhile, and not everyone I know knows everyone else, and I fear I've lost some people along the way -- who thought either the site was defunct, or that I had ceased to write, or both. 

 So, this is an entreaty to give the new and improved site another chance!  My dear cousin Brian has taken it upon himself to take over managing the site, and has made some changes and already posted just about every message I've ever sent.  (I recently realized that I have to edit at least one of them to make it Peace Corps passable before it goes on the web).  There's also a handy navigation bar that lets you click instantly on whichever posting you want to, and they're all in chronological order.  There's some good stuff in there, if you've missed out on any of the crazy stories (as well as perspectives of life in a developing country) over the past 4 or 5 months.  He even added links such as Where in the world is Laura? and other information about where I am.  And it's so user-friendly, even I had no problems navigating it.  Check it out!  (Still just www.llrishel.com, nothing new and improved on that, sorry.) 

 I hope this message finds everyone well and happy and living it up!  I'd love to hear from you, either via the website or via email: llrishel@yahoo.com.

 Love, Laura Lou"