Homeless

Well, we did it. We finally left Wichita. It was hard. I mean, we've met some very dear friends during our time in Wichita. We sold our house, moved into the top floor of a day care, and really have been privileged to see this "IFMF" training program get up and running. We learned how to pull teeth, graft skin, manage trauma patients, and do spinal anesthesia, among other nifty new skills. The best part of all, I think, as I sit here late Christmas night is the tremendous fellowship and bonding I experienced just living and working with John and Logan (two of the other fellows) and their families. Rarely do we get a chance to live so deeply and get to know another person so intimately as during our time in Wichita in the old aparments above the daycare. It was close-quarters living- like being in college- just with a little more sense about us. Not much, just a little.

I am thankful for that. Now I sit in Kansas City, snowed in and ready for bed. Having put all of our stuff in storage, we're just spending our days hopping back and forth between April's parents and mine, towing our (now 20 month) toddler and our remaining possessions between the to loci. We're pretty well packed up and just biding our time until we leave for Zimbabwe. It really is great to see family, and bittersweet to watch the joy that our daughter brings to our families, knowing that we will take her away from them for a few months very soon. It hurts to know that our decision to go will cause those we love pain. It was a white Christmas today, as you can see in the pics. Zim will be a switch, for sure.

Thanks to everyone who is following our story and praying for us. We truly appreciate it. We'll keep you updated. Merry Christmas everybody!

wonderment

won⋅der⋅ment

  [wuhn-der-muhnt]

–noun

1.	wondering or wonder.

2.	a cause or occasion of wonder.

First, a bit about our family and then some more professional notes:

Remember Christmas when you were a year and half old? Neither do I. I can't help but smile, though, as I watch the Christmas season come to life in the eyes of our little girl. She's really a gem. Check out the photo of her first interaction with Santa Claus at the Christmas tree farm in Kansas City. She was terrified. She has however since that time been humoring us with her own shortened version of "Santa Clauz is coming to town." Which is pretty much those six words over and over and over. She becomes quite frightened if we continue onto the next verse about "he sees you when you're sleeping." She gets a nervous look on her face and repeatedly asks "Santa, night night?" "Abbi, night night?" in anxious tones. So, we leave that part out now.

Last week she hauled off and smacked April and immediately reprimanded herself "Don't Hit Mama." It was pretty funny. She also recently memorized her first bible verse. "The Lord is my shepherd." As the girls were reading through the same children's bible, Abbi suddenly looked at April and exclaimed "Jesus hit mama." Hmmmm - not sure where we went wrong in that story, but we'll keep trying. She's a talker. We get lots of "I love you" these days.
In other Abigail News, she has recently developed an addiction to chocolate milk. I gave it to her for a treat and she just hasn't been able to quit. We'll have to work on that.

As we wrap up our time in Wichita, we are continuously thankful for all the life experience we've had here and for all the wonderful relationships we've developed. Our apartment continues to look more like a living space and less like a home as all of our personal effects take up their new residence in our storage space for a while. The other International Fellows, some of our best friends, find themselves in the same situation - that of change. Change is in the air. It's uncomfortable and promises to leave us changed on the other side of this discomfort. Much like a child maturing, the growing pains ache, but in the end the child becomes the physical and (hopefully) spiritual adult that he was meant to be.

Our Christmas letter spoke a little bit of the above. I figure many of you who read this probably won't get a physical Christmas letter from us. Those of you who will (mom and dad) can just read it twice, or just gawk at the picture of Abbi that you'll get with it. reads like this:

December 2009

The relentless wind blows, as usual, against the building that the McQuillen family now calls home. I've often wondered why they don't call Wichita "the windy city." Change in our life this year seems to come like the wind, ever changing direction and propelled by an unseen force. We've called the hospital campus "home" this fall after our graduation from Family Medicine residency last June. We moved into our apartment, nestled in the top floor of the hospital day care building, after having spent the summer studying at West Virginia University. All this moving around is part of an extra year of medical training to learn how to function better in a mission hospital. If last year was a "year of firsts" for us, this year could easily be called "a year of change." The toddler-handprint art has come down from the walls of our home just as quickly as it went up several months ago. Most of our earthly possessions now rest in caddy wompus stacks in a small storage space. As I write, our suitcases lay open on the floor, ready to be strategically crammed with enough stuff to get us through the upcoming 5 months our family will be spending at Karanda mission hospital in Zimbabwe. Following our tenure in Zimbabwe, we will be moving to the great state of Iowa in order to join several dear friends. We look forward to our start date at Mercy Medical Center in New Hampton, Iowa on July 12, 2010.

Again, things have been pretty wild around here. Abigail, at 19 months of age, has developed an impressive vocabulary and manages to keep April and I busily entertained. Spending time with her brings us joy that is only rivaled by watching our parents with her and seeing the joy that she brings them. All curly hair and smiles, she is the cutest thing I've ever seen. She and April are my treasures.

Many people have funny reactions when I tell them about this year of international medicine training, about working in an unstable country, and about our goal of lifelong involvement in mission work. Indeed, we are very blessed to have many friends and family in our lives who care very much about us and our well being. We would like to wish every one of them a Merry Christmas in this letter. Yet, we know that even as you read this, you may wonder why we are choosing to go to Zimbabwe. The answer to this question fits in very well with the Spirit of Christmas! Indeed, the "Reason for the season" and the Reason for our trip is one and the same.

In the Bible, the book of Ecclesiastes follows Solomon's search for significance and meaning in his life. Solomon really lived it up. He was smarter, richer, better looking, and more powerful than any of us will ever be. He made Bill Gates look like a pauper and made Hugh Hefner look like a dweeb. The man had more than 1,000 women around the house. Despite all of his wealth, pleasure, and comfort he was never satisfied. I think at a deep level, we can all relate to this longing for significance, meaning, and security in our lives. If this wasn't the case, we (as a society) wouldn't be buying armloads of self help books with our maxed out credit cards. Though we try to fill our lives up with newer gadgets, more entertainment and louder distractions, the need in our hearts is never satisfied. This is clearly not a new problem for the human race. Solomon concludes that everything we try to fill this eternal need with is meaningless. In the end, He tells the reader (you and I) to "Remember your Creator" because He's going to judge us in the end.

This isn't just an idle threat, meant to inspire good behavior and social order. It's just the way it is. There is a God in heaven who made the entire world. We were made to "remember" Him, to truly know him, to have those seemingly unsatisfiable needs in our heart met by Him. We were meant to have peace with God. But this harmony escapes us. This is evident in our attempts to escape reality, in the secret shame that haunts us, and in the heavy burdens of guilt each of us carries. And in the end, our relationship with God is a broken one and we are guilty. We know this in our hearts. The Jews knew it. Check the history books. For thousands of years, Jews tried to follow the religious rigor of the day. Even a good shot at following God's law fell so short of perfection. Day after day, those who knew God's law absorbed themselves in sacrifice and ritual, never able to escape the heaviness of sin. They, like us, found themselves in need of a Savior.

Suddenly, in a remote corner of the world, a star shines brightly. Lowly farmhands are greeted by Angels announcing truly remarkable news. A baby is born in a stable in Bethlehem. He is the Messiah, the Son of God coming to fix our broken relationship with Him. Hope bursts onto the scene. The Bible tells us that this child, this Jesus, did not come to condemn the world but to save the world. At the end of his years on the this earth, this perfect Christ paid the price for my disobedience to God with his very life. The anger of God towards my sin was fully absorbed in his death. My sin was completely defeated when he rose up again from the grave! He took my shame. He took my guilt. He has filled our deepest needs and given us great purpose and meaning in our lives. The Bible says in Romans: "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." God looks at me, sees only Jesus, and He is pleased. I am humbled and amazed that this is true.

People all over the world are stuck, drowning in a sea of guilt and shame, trying desperately to satisfy a need that can never be fulfilled by anyone or anything apart from their Creator. So many years ago God provided a way, in that special little baby from Bethlehem, to be saved from the tyranny of sin. Jesus offers peace, hope, joy, and meaning for all who receive him by faith. He longs to fill people's deepest needs, but how can that happen if people do no not hear that terrific news? And how will people hear if no one goes to them? That is why we are joyful this Christmas. That is why we are going to Zimbabwe. Jesus.

You'll find enclosed a picture of our family. If you're inclined to do so, we ask for your prayers while we're overseas. While we celebrate the birth of Jesus, it is our hope that you will find your deepest needs met in Him this holiday season.

Wishing You and Your Family a Very Merry Christmas!

Love, Paul, April and Abigail McQuillen

paulandaprilmcquillen@gmail.com

Follow our story at: mcquilleninternational.blogspot.com

International Phone Number: (816) 368-1120

Our "prayer card" looks like this:

Sweet Moments

I mentioned in my last post that we got together last week for a Thanksgiving dinner. What I didn't mention was that our friend Julie brought some deserts that were tasty and, as you can see below, are fun to look at. We're working on the whole potty training thing these days, and Abbi will definitely hold you to the promise of treats in the event that she is successful in her potty training endeavors. So, when April offered her one of Julie's thanksgiving treats, Abbi just didn't know what to think. I mean, the thing was too pretty to be a treat. After a moment it dawned on her just what this was. As a huge grin broke out across her face she began to sway her hips and dance, singing her own truncated version of "Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you..." It was pretty funny.

She also has developed the habit of blessing herself (and others) after she sneezes. Mostly, she'll just exclaim "Bless You, Abbi." Today in the store, she said to a passerby, "Bless you, kid." Ah, sweet moments.

As Abbi grows, It seems ever increasingly important to parent intentionally. The world is so full of distraction and lies that poison the soul if not kept in check by Truth (or denied access into a person's world totally). During these formative years, it has become plain to me that good books serve a child (and parent) on a number of levels. On one level books teach important lessons about words, sounds, languages , and grammar. On a deeper level, books and the stories therein, teach object lessons in Truth, creativity, and a richer understanding of the world around us. I recently ran into a book called Honey for a Child's Heart. Aside from a discussion of the value of good books, there is a great list of suggested books for kids by age group. Most of the text, as well as those of many other books, can be found on Google Books. This book can be found at:

http://books.google.com/books?id=f9UbcKMkxfcC&lpg=PP1&dq=honey%20for%20a%20child's%20heart&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Mrs. Hunt's blog is available at: http://tumblon.com/honey

Just reading the first few paragraphs of the blog will give you a good preview of what the book is like.

Good Friends, Good Food.

As I plug along during this month of Trauma training, I pretty much have two days in the middle of the week off, having worked most of the weekend. It turns out that people hurt themselves a lot over the weekend, so it winds up being a good time to learn about Trauma. When I'm not hanging out with my girls, I try to sneak in some extracurricular procedural training. I can't really elaborate on that here, though.

Yesterday, April and I cooked our first turkey. We pretty much had no idea what we were doing. But, sticking with my theory that lots of butter (or cheese, but usually not together) makes anything better, I pulled up the skin of the turkey (blunt dissection for you medical types) and put a nice layer of butter between the skin and the meat. Add herbs, cook for a few hours, and presto- a tasty Thanksgiving bird. Living together, almost communally, is wonderful- especially at times like these. During our Thanksgiving meal last night we all packed into our friends' kitchen and ate a thanksgiving feast. The food was delicious, though it was the love between friends, the beauty of the children around us, and the goodness of our Saviour that made the time truly rich.

Most of us present for dinner had just come home from the Global Missions Health Conference. This year's conference was absolutely superb. We learned much and connected with many missionaries and missions organizations with which we needed contact. We came home changed people. I'm not exaggerating. As I mentioned in the last post, I had the chance to sit and listen to John Patrick, who has been very influential in the way I see the world and the problems we currently have in our churches and in society. A brilliant biochemist and pediatrician, he spent much of his career treating malnourished children in Jamaica and Africa. Dr. Patrick is fun to listen to and everything he has to say smacks of a salt and light in a way that is lacking in much of our culture, especially in academia. He has the ability to tear the liberal, post modern world view to shreds and does so with humor and candor. His lectures make you think and even make my head hurt a little. I think in that respect, the American church could stand to have a few headaches. He has a website of his own, which has some excellent MP3s and papers. it can be found at:

www.johnpatrick.ca

additionally, he has a college- which I would have liked to experience myself, had it existed before I entered University. Maybe I'll be able to check out one of his week long courses at some point. This is a little bit prettier of a website than the former website.

http://www.augustinecollege.org

In other news, Abigail is becoming quite the little lady. She's now getting into wearing dress up jewelry and putting on (make believe) make up, as you can see in the video

cool article

Here's a cool article about our Fellowship. I just stumbled upon it. It's an oldie but a goodie!

http://www.cg-ins.com/news/?p=985/

Momma Jo

Well, as usual, it's been awhile since the last post. Abbi, who has in recent months, always referred to herself as "Abbi" has taken to calling herself "Abbi Jo," which was the original idea. We don't really call her Abbi Jo too much, so she just kinda started saying "Abbi Jo, Abbi Jo" on her own last week. It was pretty cute. I guess, she thought the "Jo" part was a good idea, as she occasionally now refers to April as "Momma Jo." No daddy Jo yet.

I finished up a month working on the Burn Unit last month. It was productive, overall. I learned a lot and feel much better about managing burns, wounds, skin grafting, etc. Also, I got to put in some central lines and chest tubes. We're coming along well in enhancing the curriculum and didactics as well.

I've moved on to working with the Trauma team this month. I have had some experience running traumas in emergency rooms in small towns around Kansas, but this is definitely revolutionizing the way I approach trauma. The surgery residents have been great to me and I look forward to the remaining half of the month.

We continue to make preparations for leaving for Zimbabwe in January, as well. My girls headed to Kansas City to see family last Friday, as I worked most of the weekend. They will stay there until I meet up with them tomorrow. At that point, we'll head out to Louisville to the Global Missions Health Conference.

http://www.medicalmissions.com/GMHC/Home.html

It's a life changing conference where most missions organizations with a medical ministry will have a presence. It was there that I first heard my favorite speaker, Dr. John Patrick, talk. I love being in the presence of men and women who have served the Lord on the mission field. Generally, aside from being interesting and full of compassion, they are the kind of people that I just want to be in the presence of- just hoping some of their character and essence will rub off on me. They are some of the neatest people you'll ever meet.

I traveled to K.C. to surprise April and Abigail yesterday after I woke up from working all night Sunday. April's grandparents were in town, staying with her uncle. So, I figured it would be a nice opportunity to see the family. I snuck up on April when I got there, and she was quite surprised to see me! It's always nice when a surprise plan works out!

We had a great visit, catching up with April's family and, of course, loving on my little girl. April and I had a great evening together. Abbi seems to say everything under the sun now, and has moved into a phase where she always has her baby doll or stuffed bear with her. I love my girls more than anything on this earth. I'm so thankful for her family and for the legacy they've given me in their daughter and in my daughter. On the way back home today, I dropped in on my mom in her classroom. It was wonderful, as usual, to see her. I'm blessed more than I could ever ask for, having families on both sides of the family that care so much about April, Abbi, and I. I don't deserve such goodness in my life and I am thankful to God for it.

In other happy news, I we'll be adding to our family in December when my sister, Becca and her fiance get married on New Year's Eve. Becca is a beautiful person and I look forward to getting to know Joe better in the future. I'm very happy for them.

OK, on to the pictures...

Fall days

It's been a long time since our last post (way too long if you're a grandparent). I thought I'd take a few moments on this lazy Sunday afternoon to update any interested parties on just what's going on in our life.

The trees are a brilliant array of fall colors (yes, even in Kansas). The prettiest of the trees, just outside our building, stand bare, having been robbed of their leaves by the constant Kansas winds. Despite their noble attempt, the colors of Kansas cannot rival those of the Ozarks in southern Missouri. Dad and I took a much needed fishing trip two weeks ago to Bennett Springs, Missouri. My uncle Monte joined us too. I love him, and his presence was a huge bonus. Dad, Grampy, and Monte taught me how to fly fish in those waters when I was knee high and I find the waters there deeper in meaning each time I return. I like to watch my father fish there, the sun dancing in the ripples in the water around him. I suppose he liked to watch when his father and his grandfather fished there, too. Each time I return, fishing in the stream in the day and digging through piles of my grandfather's letters and photos, I realized I am returning home and walk away from the trip knowing just a little more about who I am.

After returning from the trip, I did my last week of faculty night call. It's always nice to work with the residents, but it's kind of a bear being up all night and sleeping during the day. The call schedule is set to change next year, with the next class of international fellows taking much, much less faculty night call.

This last week has been fun. With fall here, it's dress up time. We got Abbi to put on her ladybug costume this weekend and she really seemed to enjoy it, despite having pants that are much too big for her. April and I went to a residency haloween party. I've included some less embarassing photos below: