Well, I told my parents last night I was applying at Starbucks at the Florida Mall. They say the mall is too far away, but I really don't care. I wanna work at the mall, and actually have a life! And somebody told me that Starbuck's usually pays pretty well for entry-level positions. I doubt that Starbucks is the only good-pay place at the Florida Mall, so anywhere inside there is probably a good bet. And it's someplace that I actually want to work--not just convenient because it's a mile or two from home. I'm sick of having to find someplace closer to my house; I'm either not happy at those places, or not making enough money. I'm still going to apply at the mall, I don't care if the rest of my family thinks it's too far. Lynx exists for a reason, you know? I looked online this morning and it appears that taking the 26 from my house to Osceola Square Mall, and then transferring to the number 4 bus will get me up to the Florida Mall, which is my destination. Still going to take a day to figure out the length of time it'll actually take to get there. Also, I'm going to look into getting a bus pass when I get a job up there.

7 days left until my 20th birthday!! Yay! My parents asked what I wanted and where I wanted to go next week, but I haven't decided. I know I want the two seasons of Friends that I'm missing (Seasons 7 and 8.), along with Beverly Mitchell's new CD, Beverley Mitchell. Other than that, I'm really game for whatever. A laptop would be cool!! I also asked for a webcam, since Ed asks about every other week if I've gotten one yet. As for where to go, I have no idea. My usual favorite is Fazoli's, but it's so inexpensive and my birthday is the one day I can say whatever restaurant, and regardless of the expense, we go there. I was thinking Olive Garden, but I like Macaroni Grill too. I just don't want anybody singing to me, and I'm pretty sure they do that at both of those places. (MG for sure; heard them singing to someone else just last week! OG seems like a place that would do the same..) I wanna go somewhere different though, someplace new, and I have no idea. I'll probably think more about it this afternoon during my walk.

Yeah. I'm going to start walking, and eating a little healthier from now on. I haven't had soda in a couple days! Also bought Shape magazine at Walden's while we were out last night for Joe's birthday; it's probably my favorite of the health/fitness magazines because it's got the health/fitness articles, but it's also got a little bit of the fashion side as well.

I think that's all I've got to say for now, so I'll end with that. Pray that I get a job at the Florida Mall, that Ed is kept safe from harm and does well on his next PT test, and that I get accepted in to Trinity College for the fall! (Somebody remind me on Sunday to turn in my Pastoral/Spiritual Reference form to Pastor Karl or his wife, please!)

Love, Laura

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Well, Ed says to stop worrying about the money for the DTS, but I can't, no matter how hard I try. And as I printed out the application I realized I misled myself. When I was looking up the cost and dates of Lausanne, Switzerland's DTS on the website, they list 3690 CHF as the cost. But that's only for the lecture phase-NOT the outreach phase. The outreach phase (as indicated on the application form) is another 3500-5500 CHF making the total cost about as much as New Zealand. (The total would now be closer to 5000/6000 USD.)

I have a ton of questions I want to email and ask them about though. First of all, I'd need to let them know I'll be needing a Visa if I go. (They actually request you inform them of need for a Visa before completing the application.) My other questions are listed below. (Some of the answers I can kind of guess at the appropriate answer, but it never hurts to ask and always better to know for certain than to assume!)

The website donations page mentions donating toward a scholarship fund. I'd like to know how one demonstrates need for financial aid and/or how to apply for this scholarship? I may be able to raise enough money for the lecture or outreach phase, but I don't know about raising enough money for both phases of the DTS.

I'd also love to do a little exploring while I'm in Switzerland. Is there going to be any free time on the weekends to visit tourist sites such as Jet d'eau? If there is not, and I wanted to come or stay a week or so before and after the DTS begin and end dates, would I need a host family to stay with during those times?

As for the outreach locations, I've noticed a few bases state that the students are allowed to choose and outreach site. I was wondering if YWAM Lausanne allows students to pick their preferred outreach location or if it is assigned come time for the outreach portion of the DTS?

All of these sorts of things are what I'm going to be worried about until I'm actually over there, or when the DTS begins without me. I'm not so much worried about the application itself though, nor about getting references. (Well, other than the teacher/employer reference, but I got other more important things to worry about.) I think I'm going to try and call Esther tomorrow and tell her to call me if I can't reach her. I've got some questions for her as well.

If it comes down to me having to raise a few thousand dollars, I really don't know how I'll do it. Esther tells me that I'm a creative person and will probably be able to make some things to sell, but I dunno about a couple thousand dollars worth. Jewelry making, Website making, and babysitting aren't real big moneymakers. Not unless one manages to sell A TON of the product. Or gets A LOT of babysitting gigs.

Ugh. This is so frustrating. Lord, HELP ME! I know it will all be worth in the end, whether God wants me to be there now or later. I think it'd be kind of cool if Ed and I could do it as a couple, but I don't think that's possible for another couple of years, granted we have the money for it and he's wanting to go and do something like this together. I dunno, maybe it'd just be easier to buy a laptop (since I didn't get it for Christmas as previously expected..) and start saving for another couple of years or something?? I don't know. I'm just so confused, I really don't know even know what I want anymore other than Switzerland is beautiful and I would love to go to YWAM Lausanne someday. Hopefully someday soon, like April!

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Be it extremely emotional, controversial, messed up, or whatever, this entry has been password protected.

If you know it, enter it; or, ask me for it.

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Ever heard of YWAM? (Stands for Youth With A Mission.) Esther is down in Argentina working in their base they have down there. Well, through our many emails, she has been telling me I should do something similar. And I'm not really against the idea. I've been kinda interested since she first told me she was doing it back in March. This past week I finally took a peek at the YWAM site, http://www.ywam.org, and found one that I would really love to participate in. The dates are perfect, I'd be home when Ed is, but I'd also have something to do for the 5 months in between seeing him. It's also in New Zealand...that's not really a huge problem, I've got a passport (I think...it may not be active anymore.), but it does bring up some interesting questions about the situation I'm in right now. (Ok, so situation isn't the best terminology for it, but I can't think of what else to call it..it'd be a 'situation' once I got to NZ though.)

Anyways, as I was surfing the NZ base site, http://www.ywam-oakridge.org.nz, I've been trying to find out about the financial-portion of the program, like how much it costs and I've been unsuccessful in finding it. Is there anyone who could help me find that out? I'd ask Esther, but she's a little unavailable right at the moment, and I want to find out everything I can about this as soon as I can. (Like in the next few days!)

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So..my dearest fiance has woken me up the past two mornings by calling me at 5 AM. Considering he's in Iraq, and I can't always be with him yet, I think it's the perfect way to wake up in the morning. I uploaded new pictures to MySpace for him to view, hopefully he's had time to do so. He also got Yahoo IM, finally! Pray that he can get on tomorrow so we can chat. Can you save the conversations on there? I know you can on MSN/Hotmail, and I would LOVE to save the convos we have over the next few months. Also, he may be coming home for leave earlier than planned. Not sure how early, but he's still going to try and make it as close to our anticipated leave time as he can. (We planned on him being home for my birthday, he may be coming home a week or two before instead. He's also been offered the option of coming home for Christmas instead of waiting 'til the New Year.) I'm hoping it works out the way we want it to, 6 months in Iraq-15 Day leave-6 months in Iraq-HOME. That's why we picked the leave when we did. But you know, it's the military. They don't really get to pick and choose everything all the time.
Heather's coming home this week! Yay! We're going to have to go to lunch or a movie or something while she's here. I haven't seen her since August; we've gotta catch up. Esther also coming home next month, in December. Esther is my best friend in the whole world, and I can't wait for her to return! I haven't seen her since June! We gotta catch up on what she's been doing in Argentina, and what I've been doing while she was there. (We email constantly, but it's not the same.) Plus, she has to keep me busy so I don't worry too much about Edward. The Youth Christmas party is in two weeks, too. I don't know what I'm going to bring, but apparently we're supposed to bring something. Could be a good excuse to have some baked ziti...(my favorite meal).

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Ed's home for vacation this week!! Yay!! I've been hanging out with him all week, so that is my reason for not blogging these past couple of days. I'll write more about what we've been doing after he goes back to Iraq. Also, Esther came home from college this weekend so I hung out with her today. That was lots of fun. Write more later, Laura.

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