what is normal?

hey everyone! Here is a quick updat on life in Malawi….

Malawi has been rough so far..my standards of living have dropped dramatically and what i call "normal" is just not at all "normal anymore. 
Malawi is a beautiful place with beautiful people and i am so blessed to live amidst them for 3 and a half months. I am currently living  on top of a hill overlooking the Malawi lake..which is beyond beautiful! the sunrise over the lake is breathtaking every morning i wish you could enjoy it with me!  
A normal day consists of waking up extremley dirty in my sand filled tent at 5:30 for the first hour of my day i have to either take care of the goats…start the fire for breakfast…walk to the well a mile away and cary water or use a macheti and prune trees. alll before 7 in the morning! After breakfast at 7:30 we work in the fields doing farming or building projects until lunch at 1. after lucnch we eitherr go down and hang out with the women in the villages or go to a special needs orphanage! By this time in the day everyone is exausted and ready to take a nap or go swim and wash up in the lake! Every day is hot and jumping in the lake after a long day is the best feeling! After dinner at 7:30 everyone is exausted and goes to bed! 

normal is wearing the same cloths for 3 days
normal is going to bed with my legs black from dirt
normal is walking a mile to the bathroom
normal is carying water a mile up a hill just to have a drink or wash your hands
normal is going from hotel to hotel along the lake to see if they have a shower
normal is wearing floor length skirts 24 hours of the day
normal is no toilet paper..so thankful i have baby wipes left over from the philippines
normal is seeing spiders as big as my hand
normal is sleeping on the sandy ground because thats the only place to lay in the shade
normal is arguing over a scoop of peanut butter because that is the only good tasting thing around. 
normal is one shower a week
i think you get the point and i coud go on and on

This life style is not easy and is making me so thankful for everything i have at home. running water and a chair to sit in is almost a foreign concept to me. i am constantly reminded of how blessed i am to have everything i do in america and also have found it even hard to complain about my new lifestyle because of how beautiful Gods creation is around me. Malawi dosent have much but it is really the most beautiful place!

My  heart is still stuck with the children in the philipines and am still praying about how to get back there someday to start or help a ministry more long term! Thank you for all of your suport and prayers! it is really encouraging to me to hear from people back home as i am serving here in Malawi!