Christina Swan

"If you love something, set it free. If it comes back to you, it's yours forever. If it doesn't, it never was yours to begin with."

Well, that is the story about the house. I loved it. And then I gave it all up. Now let's see if it comes back to me somehow. Anyway, I didn't find anyone to rent it with, and it's too big to live in alone - like being a flea in a cathedral... Even though the house was economical, it wasn't economical, if you know what I mean. At home I get free accommodation and food, the use of a washing machine and car, and there is always apple juice in the fridge. In other words, my bread and water and soup diet can be postponed for a little longer. And money saved is money earned, and money earned can be put towards a car or something similar :-)

But what do you do when things don't work and go as you hoped/thought? I have given the house key back. And Ed didn't get any job in Stavanger. God is quite an interesting fellah. But still, He ultimately has the last word ;) and the act of planning is sinking in currency in my life...

Christina

Wow. The summer holidays have officially ended in this north country, and I've started my job. So far, it's going great. I have my own office with my own computer and a great handful of staff working with me (or being in some way associated with the church work). My "inauguration" was meeting 4 youths in the home of the other youth leader (we are two youth leaders who work together - my "partner" is Olav Mo, famous violinist - apparently - and in his thirties with a wife, house and children). We had home-made pizza together and discussed the coming up youth group sessions... wow. Getting paid for eating pizza and talking to Very Friendly youths (who surprised me by their wit and friendliness - if I could hand pick friends I would have picked them!) is not bad.

In other words, I have so far come to the conclusion that I love my job. I've been typing some lists into the computer, and this coming week the work starts for real. Confirmation meetings, youth group, going around to local schools to advertise the church youth work, etc.

To top it all off; today, on my fourth day of work, I was offered a house - the vicar's house!!! Normally the vicar and his family rent this house, but the vicar just moved because he wanted to buy his own house, and no one else in Tananger church seems to want this house. The vicar took me to see it, and it is Amazing. It's a 6 bedroom house with a huge kitchen and a huge lounge, with a huge garden with red and black currant trees, rhubarb, plumbs, etc etc etc. In a great, quiet neighbourhood. And the best thing of all - it's available for a Very low price!! The vicar said I could get the house on the day if I wanted it, and he entrusted me the key to the mansion :-)... the rent is 4000 kroner (around £350 per month) (plus electricity) which is extremely reasonable considering that one bedroom flats cost that, and that a house this size and standard would be rented out for at least 10 000 kroner...!

Considering that I am about to be married, this house "offer" comes as the answer to the prayer I never even prayed. But I can't rent it alone (I could, theoretically, but I'd be too lonely and the house is too big to be just one person there!)... sigh... and Ed does not have a job in Stavanger yet... so now let's see if our God can do it even better and exceed Himself once again! Hee hee!

Christina

Sleeping is incredibly boring. I have no desire to close my eyes and drift off into dreamland right now, although it's past midnight. But circumstances force me to: my friends went home early from Gyrd's so they could sleep, I was given a lift home (so that the sleep "needy" could get rid of me?), and of the 10 people currently living in this house, 9 are sleeping. That leaves me... full of energy, wide awake, restless.... somehow the ants in my pants increase as soon as I lie down on my bed.

The annoying thing about going to bed is that it's so incredibly predictable. You lie down, keep your night side table light on so you can read, but after having read about a page in your book your eyelashes refuse to co-operate. You turn off the light, if you manage that, and the next thing you know is someone outside the door of your room shouting something about breakfast. If the breakfast makers went on strike, what would happen? Would breakfast still be the number one point on the agenda, or could you sleep until dinner?

Isn't sleep so incredibly much more lovely in the mornings, when someone is shouting "breakfast" and all you want to do is sleep? But when you have no choice, like in the night-time, sleep becomes incredibly dull. My rebellious spirit is not satisfied with enforced sleep, nor with dull after-midnight hours.

I join the force of those politicians advocating energy saving measures. Why waste energy in an 8 hour memory block out? Annoyingly, the answer comes in the form of the fact that even if I tried, I wouldn't manage to keep my eyes open for more than 24+++++ hours.... Sigh. Off to sleep again then, I suppose.

Christina