Luke 18:15

^"15People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. ¹⁶But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁷I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."

I've been running the pediatrics ward here lately, so this passage took on new meaning. If you get swamped with people when handing out stickers, just think how ear splitting the situation must have been when the Son of God showed up to hold and love the kiddos. I bet he was just inundated by loud requests from all the moms. I have more appreciation for his patience and love for these little ones, now. Especially now that I am in a culture that does not particularly value children, much like the culture in Jesus' time.

It's hard to believe that our time here is nearly halfway over. For me, that creates a sense of urgency to learn as much as I can while we're still here- that is to learn as a husband, father, friend, and physician.

We're having a lot of rich time here as a family. April is really appreciating being able to spend so much time with Abbi. She is an excellent mother and finds the time at home, which this year affords her, both exhausting and invaluable. April has been cooking "sadza" recently. The local staple food, which is basically a corn meal and water mush about the consistency of dense mashed potatoes isn't much to look at. But, it goes down nicely with the various traditional local sauces April makes to accompany the stuff. Abbi keeps us laughing, she's so great. The other day she was touching our fruit basket which she knows she is not suppose to do. April looked at her and said, "Abbi, now what is our rule." She quickly responded, "Abbi don't eat playdough!" Funny kid. She's been working on potty training recently. She has been taking to it pretty well, except that she recently developed a phobia of the birds that chirp outside our bathroom window. So, she's kind of afraid of the toilet and the birds that might get her these days. She must think that they are right behind her or something.

April and Abbi are really blossoming here, especially in their relationship with the Zimbabweans. The two of them attend "Kids Club" 3 times a week. It's a "club" for kids whose parents have died of HIV. some of them walk greater than 5 miles each way in order to come and get food, medicine, and hugs from April and the others involved in the ministry. All of them are destitute. We have been really falling in love with these kiddos. The other day we had 2 kids that were sick - Praise and Wilma. These two orphans are some that just break your heart. Praise was crying the entire time, and I found out that his ear had been hurting, so I took him down to the hospital to be examined. He laid his head on April's chest and just held on like it was the only affection he would get for a long time. His mother died 3 years ago from HIV. Wilma is another one of the HIV orphans who walks to kids' club barefoot with her 4 year old little brother, Tino over 5 miles of rough terrain. These two never show any emotion and I've never seen them smile. It really makes one wonder what is going on in their "foster" home- there's just no safety net for at risk kids around here. Wilma had a wound on her big toe, so I took her down to the OR a drained it. We would have just kept the two in the hospital, but pediatrics ward was so full, that two patients were sleeping on the floor. So, we decided to fire up the Land Cruiser and drive the children home. We couldn't just drive 2 of the children home, so April ended up with 7 of the kids club kids sitting in our living room while I worked on the little girl's toe at the hospital. I guess the kids just looked like deer in headlights when they walked into the guest house where we live- they froze and just looked around amazed. Many of them just stared at the moving ceiling fan like they didn't know what to think! The kids all crowded onto the couches and had pink lemonade and each one got a gummy vitamin. It was a good moment for all of us!

We all piled into the big blue land cruiser and bounced over the rain-worn dirt roads singing childhood hits such as "Jesus Loves Me" and "Jesus Loves the Little Children." I got pretty choked up singing with those kids. Yes, Jesus does love them, but with both their mother and father dead, they are truly vulnerable kids with very few adults to protect and love them in this world. While we drove the children home they would yell out the window at people they saw that they knew - they felt like rock stars, I'm sure! As we sang "Jesus Loves Me" over and over as they would say "again, again." This is a sweet memory that will be forever stamped into our memories. We drove over the dirt roads and continued on and on like what seemed like forever - I thought at one time they were just taking us on a joy ride! But they kept saying "let's go" and pointing ahead. All the time in the car I just kept picturing little Wilma and 4 year old Tino making this trip barefoot and Wilma with an infected toe, 3 days a week, just to make it to kid's club for a meal and an hour of fellowship. It took us almost 1 hour round trip driving to get to their home and back. Tino weighs a lot less than Abbi and does not look well.

I just returned from the most challenging C section I've done here. A woman who was in labor for 2 days or more showed up. Her uterus had ruptured and we had a bear of her time putting her back together. Her baby did not do so well. We have been given more and more freedoms both in the wards and in the operating room as our time here as progressed and feel very good about our educational experience here.

We humbly ask that you pray for us in regards to the following items

1. Saftey and health for the kids

2. That we would come to know and love the Zimbabweans we are serving

3. That the gospel would advance through our work here

4. For strength in our marriage

5. For wisdom in parenting Abigail

Abbi loves coffee! She is a McQuillen for sure!

Wrestling with dad.

rounding on the peds ward with Abbi. April and Abbi love coming around and handing out stickers to the kids and then heading to Maternity Ward to see the babies.

Abbi lookin' spiffy in her rain boots and pig tails.

Nope. She's not pregnant with quintuplets. I removed 22 liters of fluid from this woman's abdomen.