Hello, world!

Hello, blog world...yes, I am alive and well here in Malawi. It has been a crazy busy couple of weeks for us. We moved last week from our temporary house to our permanent (if one year is considered permanent). It was WAY MORE stressful than we thought it was going to be. Basically we have learned that nothing is simple and easy when it comes to logistics or plans here in Malawi. Anyway, we are so thankful for this new place, the road it is on, the small little village/town it is near. One of the things that is a challenge living where we are is not having internet and feeling connected to what is going on in the world and at home with our family and friends. So we have just been able to take our computers when we have a little time and either walk up to our friends house (1/2 mile walk) and check email or take our computers into the office to check. So hopefully we will be able to get internet at our house soon but we are unsure when that will happen.

I just returned from 2 days out in the village with our "Orphan Care Program". I will be helping with the Orphan Care Program which is under the "Hope for AIDS" project that SIM has going on here in Malawi. I am so excited to be helping in this area as it is just fits my passions and fulfills my heart perfectly. I went out to a village called "Pingo" which is about 2 hours outside of Blantyre (the city where we live). Just imagine what you would think a village would look like in Africa and that is exactly where we were. It was awesome!! I was with another American from our SIM team (Sarah) and our "Orphan Care Coordinator", Gerald. Sarah and I stayed in a small, decent (aka no bugs) motel room in another little town on the main road. (pictures to come to our website soon). The best part of it all was the children! I will just need to write another post detailing my thoughts and feelings on the whole experience...so more to come on Pingo later! Just know that we are doing great here and are totally in love with the Malawian people...they are just so amazing!
Here I am pumping the water at the well in Pingo!

PS: Here is a picture of the latest addition to our family. His name is Blantyre (named after the city where we live) but we call him "Ty" for short. Most of you know that I love dogs from a distance, but I do LOVE Ty up close...he is so sweet!