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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So this weekend started out great. Esther came home and we got to hang out on Saturday. We also discussed some of our plans for the next few months-none of them are one hundred percent yet. She gave the idea of me staying with her in the dorms and going to classes with her at Trinity College for a week or two in April. That would be fun-I'd get to see what it's like to be away at college before I'm actually away at college come August/September. She might stay here in St. Cloud over the summer and intern at Cornerstone which would definitely give us a lot of hang out time together-I hope she does that. Her original plan was to spend the summer in California with her grandma and her cousin, but it doesn't really look like that's going to work out. She's still trying to make up her mind though. There's so many things she wants to do. I'm definitely still trying to go to Ecuador; I've got a meeting tonight with the missions group. Yeah, I finally found who I needed to find for that, yay!! Hopefully that works out so I can have something confirmed for the summer.

Sunday was okay-that's when I found who I needed to find, and I got the house to myself that afternoon which was way cool. I love having the house to myself. I did miss bible study though; my parents actually wanted it to be family movie night, but I wasn't interested in any movies that are out right now. Next weekend, I want to see..um, something that I can't remember the title of right now..

Anyways, just when we reached the halfway mark in our first deployment-there's bad news. Ed starts hearing that they may have to stay overseas another 4 or 5 months beyond their originally anticipated return date. . I immediately see the downside to this, but Ed, optimist he is, sees the good to an extended tour in Iraq. He'll have less time left in the Army when he does return, and less chance of redeployment. I'll also get to stay at school with Esther for a couple more months. I still don't want his tour extended though--I miss him so much; I want him home NOW.

Oh, and to top off this weekend, my cat has gone missing. We're not sure if she's run away or she's just hiding, but someone left the backdoor open long enough for either cat to escape. We got Scrappy back indoors, but Addie is still missing.

[Thanx for the prayers ikamashokie, hikarixgaki, and Nuttz.]
{Edit: We found Addie; she was hiding.}

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So I found out at church last night that Sydney is going to be having two surgerys, one this month and another next month. I HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE when people I know and love are in hospitals..mostly because I can't stand hospitals. I guess that fear comes from the fact that the first person I ever visited in the hospital, my grandma, passed away that same night. Okay, well now I'm scared..and her first surgery isn't until Apr 17th. But that's not really that far from now.. I won't say what the surgeries are because I don't really know, just that it's something to do with her heart like missing a valve or something, and her ribcage needing to be pushed down or whatever. You add that on top of my other worries, the ones about whether or not Ed will have to stay an extra four to five months in Iraq, and I'm bound to be hysterical. I had to leave and go to the restroom after everybody prayed for Sydney just so I could be alone and cry. I was already on the verge of tears before I found out about the surgeries 'cause I keep thinking about something that Ed said while he was here on R&R. Something he considered doing but didn't..I won't expand on that, but I can't stop wondering how different everything would've been had he done it. God, I don't know. I need someone to talk to right now; I want to talk to Ed, I hope he gets online tonight so I can talk to him. I miss him so much right now. Pray for them, okay? And that I'll get some sort of peace in the very near future and learn how to deal with all of it.

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A few nights ago, my mom asked when I start school at Trinity..Orientation is August 18-21, so I'm guessing around the 22nd or so. And the residence hall opens on the 18th. That is just a little less than a month away-I'm excited, but I'm also scared. In a good way, though. It's like when you're first getting behind the wheel of car or something. I don't all of my anxiety I'm feeling has to do with college being a few weeks away though-I'm starting to anticipate Ed's homecoming even though it isn't for another couple of months.

I'm really stressing about school at the moment though. I have bills that haven't been paid, and they were due yesterday. My dad did attempt to pay them yesterday since we've the money and everything; he couldn't get through so he's going to call first thing Monday morning, but I won't have a guaranteed spot in one of the dorms. You have no idea how much the idea of not getting a dorm room freaks me out. Pray for that, please!! I've also got to go and get my transcripts from Valencia transferred, which I thought had been taken care of months ago, so I'm going to do that on Monday as well. (And hopefully stop by the post office to mail Ed's latest package which is filled with a ton of stuff!)

Anyways, today I'm going to try and not think about all of that since there isn't much I can do until Monday. I'm going to sleepover at the Schroeder's with Esther after we make some spaghetti ( ) at her house for her family and some people they have staying with them..I think I'll be making a sandwich or something. Yeah, I don't like spaghetti..and yes, I know that's weird. Especially when I love all kinds of Italian foods, lol.

I've also got some items put aside for the garage sale we're trying to have before school starts; I may leave a box or two at her house for that. Hopefully we'll be able to pull off this garage sale that we've been planning to have for awhile now-and that it will go off successfully. My hair is also starting to bug me, I think it's about time for a trim. TRIM. I am not cutting it all off or anything cause I love having long hair, but I don't want to look like...a monkey. . Inside joke, nobody but my bear is going to understand that..lol. It could be worse, there are uglier animals.

Wow. I'm going to stop here, cause this post is getting kind of long. I'll try and write more on Monday or Tuesday, since I'll be busy the next couple of days and probably won't have time to do so.

*Prayer Requests*
-Garage sale Esther and I are trying to have before the start of school on the 22nd.

-Unpaid bills and dorm room/roommate (since Esther and I have decided not to room together for the sake of our friendship.)

-Transcripts

-Esther and I are also going to need some form of transportation to hopefully drive back home some weekends, and to our jobs over there (although, I think she's working on campus..I won't be.) I'm also going to need a job as soon as I get out there, so pray for that as well.

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