TUESDAY, MAR. 10 (400 hrs to go!!)

Hey, y'all.
I just ate the best dinner ever! It was Seniors duty night, so we got a little more time to eat. I had hamburger steak and rice, mixed vegetables (corn, green beans, carrots and Brussels sprouts) rye bread and butter, salad (with cherry tomatoes, cottage cheese and french dressing) a banana, chocolate pudding, and, of course, power-ade!

We got our dress blues tailored today and I'm going to wear mine to church when I get back :). We also got a running suit that's REALLY nice, (waterproof silky pants and jacket) They're both olive green, the pants have "USMC" down the leg in gold and burgundy, and the jacket has "MARINES" the back in the same colors above a reflector strip. On the same subject, are there any races going on while I'm at home? I want to run with dad and Winston and finally PLACE.

Hey, you know what? I just realized that I'll be home for Easter! Yay! Tell the Easter bunny that I'll be expecting Goobers, Reesies Cups, and Jelly Beans. (I've been craving all three!) I lost 3 more pounds, but I've been able to stay at around 126.

Y'know those new girls I told you we got? Well I've befriended one of them. Her name is M. and she's from NEW JERSEY. (surprise!) Full fledged Yankee with an ultra strong "nwarthen" accent, but we get along great! We've got COMPLETELY opposite backgrounds but sometimes it works that way.

You'd be surprised how many girls were homeless before they came here. I've heard many stories from both her and Big L. about what their lives were like and you wouldn't be able to tell it by looking at the smart, collected, "almost" Marines they are now. The guide told me how she used to live under a bridge in Tampa, and spent just a little over $10 a month for food. The clothes she wore were the ones given to her at places she worked and she spent everything she earned just to go to school. She earned a 3.7 average and received a degree in sociology. Her dream is to be a chef, and travel the world, so she signed up, and is going to go to Japan and use her tuition assistance money to go to culinary arts school. Amazing, huh?

It's like they wasted so much time and got desperate, perhaps that they would be stuck like that forever. M told me how she lived in her old car, and drank hard liquor till she almost blacked out, then she'd take drugs to sober herself up, then when she got high, she'd start drinking again so she wouldn't be in either state for too long. When she enlisted, she sold what she had, and made up her mind to go and get a degree. She's going to get it too, as well as a good job in logistics. It's funny, but I find the ones who've learned "life's lessons" the bad way and who've screwed up the worst, are the very best recruits. They stick up for me too. In a kind of "mom" type way. I think they see themselves in me before they messed up and don't want me to lose what I've got. They make me so thankful that I never had to learn like that, and I'm even more determined never to "experiment" like they did, just to figure out what I want out of life and try to find that fulfillment.

The more I listen to their stories, the more SHEER RELIEF I experience to have Jesus, and to have had Him from the start. I wish I could somehow go back in time and share Him with them before they messed up. I get a sad ache in my heart when I think about all the regret that could've been by-passed. But hey, with Christ it's never too late, right? After all THEY'RE the ones He came here for, and I love them for it.

xoxoxo and C U soon,
Ruby