Newsletter - March 2006 edition
March 2006 Newsletter (pdf format) March 2006 edition Gillespie family the life and times of a seminarian and his family z Luke William Is Here! z Born February 10th, 2006 Our fourth child, Luke William Gillespie was born on Friday February 10th, 2006 at 6:26 a.m. He was our smallest birth-weight of 7 lbs. 12 oz. (He has now gained more than a pound in five days!) He was 20.5â€. Anne had one of her easiest labors albeit long. She had contractions on and off for about 30 hours before going into heavy labor at about 3 a.m. During the actual delivery, Anne didn’t do any forced pushing. The final contractions pushed the baby out naturally. Our midwife brought her birthing stool which made it easy for Anne to squat and be relaxed. This was a new experience and a good one. Finally Luke was baptized this past Sunday at our field work church, Trinity. Many of our family and friends were able to attend and we welcome Luke into the family of Christ. Thank you for the continual prayer and financial support! The Family Ethan & Elsie are thrilled to have another sibling and Gabriel is excited to be a big brother for the first time. They all want to hold and pat Luke and have been very good helpers. There have been no cases of extreme jealousy for which Mom is thankful. We all enjoyed the Olympics. They were very helpful during the first few days when Anne couldn’t do very much. Anne has recovered well and is happy to not be pregnant anymore. Getting back into housework is a little bit challenging, but we’ll figure it out. Chris is relaxing a little on break this week, catching up, spending time with family, and of course, cooking. Seminary Life I have now completed my second semester of training and learning. The new understanding and insight continues. Last semester we went through the Gospels of Luke and Mark. We covered the Augsburg Confession and its Apology, I had my first sermon writing and preaching experience in Homiletics I. I passed my Old Testament pre-seminary course. Finally we continued with Greek Readings (and will continue for the first two years.) This spring semester I will be taking my first doctrine-specific course on Baptism. I will have Pastoral Counseling and Introduction of Missions and Evangelism. Finally I will be in Church History II (6th Ecumenical Council until the Reformation.) I plan to take Hebrew, Church History III, and Lutheran Church in America this summer. I might hold off on the history courses and take Latin with Hebrew. Latin is not required but useful. I’ve been serving as Liturgist at my fieldwork congregation and will be making hospital calls this coming quarter. I look forward to the expanded duties and training I receive there.
