a friend let me in on a secret and now i want to share it with you.

google images for “madrid new york” and see what the first one is.

it’s sick.

everyone said i was the perfect one. i guess perfect because i can admit that i’m learning one mistake at a time.

and i made a mistake. a big mistake.

so i’m in charge of our church bulletin. yeah, you know the rather unimportant piece of paper that no one really pays any attention to until the one sunday that there is a problem and suddenly everyone is reading it and pointing out the problem. the one thing that takes way too much time every week and every time i’m folding it i’m reminded of the good ‘ole days when my daddy used to call me into the conference room every sunday morning and ask me to fold the weeks bulletin. yeah, that one.

…i’m folding the bulletin again every week… i guess things really haven’t changed.

but i’m getting off track — which generally happens when i tell a story which then makes people tune me out which isn’t very good for the well-being of everyone involved in the situation so i’ll try to better this time.

so i made this weeks bulletin. and i thought i had it altogether. and then as i was folding it i happened to notice that there was something wrong with the very first page.

this sunday isn’t september 23, is it? yeah, i didn’t think so. great.

so there i sat with all these copies made and i refused to fix it and make all new copies since that would just be a waste of paper that kills trees and cost more money than you ever think it should — so someone suggested i take a black pen and try to fix the date. so i started to do that. about half-way through my pile i realized that now it didn’t look like any number. it was more of a black little smudge on the bottom and was calling attention to a mistake that if i had just left alone no one would have noticed in the first place. i mean, who actually looks at the date anyway?

now i’m stuck with seventy-eight bulletins with black scribbling on the bottom and seventy-eight with the wrong date. neither one is very professional. now that i’ve made this dreadful blunder, i’m bound to remember it from now on and it’s comforting to know that something else is bound to be looked over next time. but hey, we’ll always have the correct date on our bulletins!

and i really can’t believe how long a simple little story like this has turned out to be. bulletins can hardly be that interesting, right?

for those of you who did tune out because my stories are so long and i go into such a ridiculous amount of explaining, you can now un-tune out and proceed to the next section.

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every now and then i like to look through my old photos. i did that tonight and i found out the most bizarre thing ever. in my flickr, the second most popular picture is at 274 views. but this picture has received more hits than any other picture i’ve posted and it’s passed the 1,000 mark.

why that picture?

when i really think about seeing her little boy, i think about these three wonderful days a year ago. do you know how excited i am that she’s coming and bringing her baby?

and this picture continues to be one of my favorites. im not gonna lie — we be rockin’.

it’s taken a while for the things that i know in my head to work their way down to my heart. is it prideful to say that i think i’m starting to finally learn?

i wrote a friend tonight. i wrote:

It always amazes me to feel the peace that comes after you surrender things to the Lord. He honors that and He loves that. It’s an act of trust when we give Him the things dearest to us. Yeah, it’s good. It’s real good.

if only you could know. it is good. real good.

hi friend.

you’re like an old friend, aren’t you? i’m assuming if you’re here then you consider yourself my friend or even if you technically don’t know me all that well, after reading a few of my entries, you’re as good as a friend — you “hear” more from me here than most do face-to-face so consider yourself lucky we’re such good pals via the internet.

last night we took a walk. i like walks.

the evening was beautiful.

p.s. i just thought i’d let you know — in case you had started to think that i’m a super cool person — that right now, i’m sitting in the family room with laptop on lap next to another girl who also has a computer on her lap while a tv is on that neither one of us is watching. we are such cool social people.

it was a warm fall evening.  we wore dresses and heels (well, the girls did).  and walked around Old Montreal.  and ate dinner in an old building.  and laughed.  a lot.

it was a warm fall day.  we walked down the road.  and into a cornfield.  and took pictures.  and i loved being with them.

ah.  it’s good to be home.

they are in maine. so close yet so far away. i think i’ll be able to stand the few sleeps that must happen before they come here. he does look like the sweetest boy, doesn’t he? the good news is, this mature aunt of his finally found her credit card she received last year and will finally be able to activate it and finally order his birthday present she’s been looking at.

the other good news from the day is that i found a “Sinclair College” sweatshirt (i’m ignoring the fact that she thinks she knows who the rightful owner is) and who wouldn’t want an article of clothing that had such a sweet name on it? i look hot and cool in it.

we use such stupid words.

and other excitements from the world of louissa include the fact that her grammar has slowly worsened since her graduation from high school (maybe college isn’t such a bad thing after all) and that i got to take a break from staring at a computer screen all day to cover some tables with, well, table cloths.

man, i’m the worlds most exciting person.

you know those people who only do what they gotta do and then they split because they don’t care about the rest? yeah, i did that. i waited long enough until i had to get up and speak and then i left. yes, that’s me — loser louissa.

i stopped work half an hour early because i felt so horrible. i decided to use la-z-boy that still sits in the corner of my office (that chair is bad news for my office) and nap for half an hour. of course it was during that period of time that “the boss” (my dad) called and my co-worker really didn’t know what to say when her saying my name didn’t revive me from my slumber. she told me never to do that to her again. i thought it was rather funny.

the outside world smelled of laundry softener tonight. it’s a good smell but i was a tad bit sad since i had been wanting to enjoy that freshness you’re supposed to experience when surrounded by grass, trees, sky, and goodness.

a few days ago three aunts and another “aunt” piled into a minivan and went to see our little baby princess. in case you haven’t heard this enough, aubrey is beautiful.

i have a new favorite niece.  a new wonderful, beautiful, darling niece.

go here for pictures, details, and specific ways that you can pray for her.

tonight was a “i’m home” kind of night. the kind where i walked home from church, waved at little people and a daddy in the yard of a yellow house, came home and helped with cutting tomatoes and getting dinner started. the kind where everyone ended up sitting at the kitchen table and laughing louder then anyone should ever be allowed to laugh (welcome to the Sinclair house!). the kind where we all sit on a double bed, crowded around a small tv, and watch the Sinclair Family Concert that was put on a few weeks back. the kind where i can smell freshly cut grass, basil straight from mumsie’s garden, and the smell of siblings feet while we all sit so closely on the said bed.

it’s the kind that i love and one of the reasons i wanted to come home so badly.

most are in bed now. a guitar is playing. three boys are “studying” in the kitchen. a sister is working on sewing in her room. a mumsie is on the couch reading the girls history book. and a daddy just came home from a class at a local university.

ahh. all is right in the world.

i have a flexible nine-to-five job. i definitely have one piano student and a few more who are interested. there are projects around the house that need to be started, dance lessons that should be attended, and piano that must be picked up again. and there are the “extra” things — sunday evening college meeting, tuesday evening Bible study, and any extra church gathering. that’s without me actually doing anything at church besides my daily office duties.

and i thought life in the north country was slow, simple, and relaxed?

someone give me a shot of espresso and keep them coming. i may need it.

: )

my busy schedule ever since arriving home tuesday morning at 2:00 am has finally caught up to me. this morning i slept through my alarm (how like me) and was woken by a sister yelling up to my room letting me know that i had half an hour before church started. i promptly burst into tears that continued for the whole half hour of preparation because it was too much for this exhausted girl to handle. i walked into church, seeing many people for the first time since returning, with tears on my cheeks.

ah. i’m so pathetically funny. haven’t you missed me?