T'was the Night Before Christmas by Carmelinda Hoover

T’was the night before Christmas and all through heaven

All the angels where sleeping except for seven

T’was almost Christmas but the houses were quiet

Some were left silent but the others a riot

When they looked down they saw good, old, jolly Saint Nick

But then they realized it was an old cheap trick

They saw kids tossing and turning in their beds

You could tell there were thoughts of Christmas in their heads

They started getting loud and woke up the whole town

They saw an angel come out, he looked like a clown

The lights of the town started going off and on

Then all the angels some looked down and saw a nice fawn

Then they remembered it was almost Christmas day

They remembered the manger in which Jesus lay

The birth of Jesus Christ is very important to them

Why Jesus came as a baby to save all men

After that thought some angels went back to their house

Most angels saw an angel wearing a blue blouse

The angels that stayed up started to sing and sing

The angels sang and then some bells started to ring

They sang beautiful classics like joy to the world

The kids in heaven were having fun and they twirled

"Nobody should be sad or mad on Christmas Eve"

Said the choir director named Mr. Joe Steve

Christmas day was only a few hours away

All the angels stopped singing and started to pray

Out of nowhere graceful snowflakes started to fall

They heard a voice say, "Merry Christmas one and all!"

　

　

　

A Costa Rican Holiday Celebration

One of my favorite things to eat in Costa Rica over the holidays are tamales. This year I decided I wanted to learn how to make them. My friend, Esmeralda from Talamanca, my other friend, Kimi and I, along with our families, decided to have fun making them together. Here is how you make them!

The fire is set. Esmeralda is adding chicken broth, salt to the boiling water.





The pork is cooking.





Our men making sure the fire keeps going and talking about the next soccer championships!



Chop, chop, chop!



Put cilantro and garlic in the blender.

And of course rice!

 

Cutting and cleaning the banana leaves.







Mixing the dough.



It smelled SO good!






Keren and Margarita









Boiling the tamales.





 





Banana/Plantain leaves.



The ingredients; potato, pepper, pork, rice and the dough.



The finished product. Now to eat them!



Sweet Daugher of Ours

Dear Carmelinda,
You are growin up SO fast! Your're 10 1/2 years old now. I can hardly believe you're almost as tall as I am (I know that doesn't take much) and have bigger hands and feet than I do (and that doesn't take much either)!
Your dad and I are so proud of you. You're our favorite girl in the whole world!
We love when you want to try things out on your own, like difficult Math problems.
I love to hear you sing to Jesus. I can tell you love music in general.
You are also a social butterfly, much like your dad. That's good because you're able to fit in anywhere and make friends anywhere. You're very adaptable to your surroundings.
You love going to church, not only to see your friends, but to worship and learn about God.
We believe there is a call on your life that we're waiting for and that will be revealved in God's timing.
You love to bake and are very creative.
You have a sensitive spirit, especially when you know you've done wrong and are quit to ask for forgiveness.
You love animals and have a compassionate heart.
You love to pray for others in need and continue to pray for them until God releases you of the request.
You love living in Costa Rica! This is home for you.  
I love acting crazy and laughing with you and, of course, going shopping!
You take on your dad's side when it comes to soccer and football teams! 
You love when your dad takes you out on dates. We can tell your little love tank fills up!
I love when you kiss me on the forhead just because you love me.
Your dad and I LOVE when we hear you say, "I love my family!"
We love you honey and ALWAYS will!
Love,
Mom (written for dad too)

Baking apple pie!



Baking apple pies with her friends for a school project.





This is what happens to pre-adolescent girls when they spend too much time in the kitchen!



The End and the Beginning

Shortly after we arrived in Costa Rica, we took our national staff on a well deserved trip, after a long summer, to Barcelo Tambor Resort. It was a wonderful time to re-connect with them and end our eight month sabbatical.



Samuel and Margot



Raul and Kimi



Francisco, Esmeralda, Leo, Keren, and Margarita



We are starting a new era, a new beginning, and back to a routine. It has been a good change.
Carmelinda has enjoyed getting back into school. She is now in the 6th grade. Here is one of her first projects. It's called the WID (Washing Iron Dryer) sold for $199+ tax (if anyone is interested!).

At the beginning of October, we moved! Up until that time, we were traveling everyday taking Carmelinda back and forth to school, which took us 50 minutes to 1 hr times four! Also, on the  weekends, we were traveling the same route to go to our church. We decided to make our lives a little simpler, so we moved closer to school and church. Now it only takes us about 15 minutes to get to both places! It has been a wonderful change! So now we live in San Rafael de Alajuela instead of San Rafael de Heredia!

Here are some pictures of our move and our "new" house!

Our kitchen

Up stairs balcony



Living room





Our little yard. Since we're now city residents, we walk our dogs twice a day! It's actually been a fun thing to get into as a family. And the dogs love all the attention!




Carmelinda's Room



Back to the Land of Paradise!

Returning to Costa Rica was quite the event for our family, especially after being in the United States for eight months. Gloria's brother, Louie and sister-in-law traveled with us and all our luggage plus our little dog! It was an absolute joy having them help us with our transition. Before they left we went to one of our favorite restaurants, Saga, so celebrate, Louie's 40th birthday, as well as Cheryl and Gloria's birthdays!

We found our house intact, thanks to our friend, Randell. Thank you, Randell!!! You did an amazing job loving our animals and keeping the house beautiful.

It was so nice to sleep in our own beds, sit in our living room, lite all my candles, eat rice and beans, sing in Spanish, enjoy all our beautiful flowers, hearing and seeing the humming birds right outside our bedroom window, going to the beach, eat organic bananas straight from our yard, and the list goes on.

We brought home with us our sweet Morkie, Snickers, who has fit into our family quite well, only that she thinks she has to bark at every noise that she hears outside! The noises we hear here are quite different than those in Plain City, OH! Like cows mooing, chickens and roosters crowing and cackling, buses stopping in front of our house, vendors going by selling things, people just walking by our house talking, birds singing outside, other dogs barking, so many things to make her day interesting!

Fred makes sure that Snickers knows he's the KING of this household!

Carmelinda LOVES being back at Lighthouse International School. We're so glad she's able to make the transition quite easily. She's so happy to be with her her friends again, her kitty, sleep in her own bed and of course, eat lemons everyday straight from our lemon tree in our yard!

It's good to be back. We are now looking forward to some good changes that are happening in the ministry as well as for our family. We will update you on those changes as they happen.

Thanks to all of you who have prayed for us during this transition. We would appreciate more prayers during this time. It always takes awhile for one to feel "settled" again.

Summer Fun

One of the best things about our sabbatical is visiting with friends, we haven't seen for awhile! Our friends Conrad and Leslie Weber and family came last week! Leslie roomed with Gloria at Rosedale Bible College, so there are many good memories over the years! Since we all love Skyline Chili, of course we had to go there! We also went putt putting, and did some other fun things! Here are some pictures!


YUM!!!!



This week, our special friends, Chad Groff and Kathleen Doll, came to visit us for the last two and a half days. These guys are so special to us because they have been so encouraging and loyal to us as a family. They have served on staff in the past years at VidaNet.

We decided it would be fun to visit the Columbus Zoo, since it's one of the best ones in the US, thanks to Jack Hanna! So here is the fun we had!